Page 42 of Inevitable

Bas frowned. “Maybe you should take it easy today. Otherwise, you might trigger another headache.”

“If that happens, I’ve got you. Or are you abandoning me already?” Ezra joked. “You’ve only been hired for a few minutes and you’re already trying to skirt your duties.” He straightened himself. “I’ll be fine. I can’t afford to fall behind. I need to maintain my GPA, and if it means pushing through a headache, I’ll just have to deal.”

He started to get up, but Bas’s hand was on his shoulder before he could even properly move.

“Where are your books?” he asked.

“I can get them myself. You don’t have to look at me like you’re afraid I’m going to faint. I’m feeling much better already.”

Bas rolled his eyes.

“You can’t make anything easy, can you? Just tell me where they are.”

“My bag is in the hallway.”

Bas got out of the room only to peek his head in a moment later.

“What am I looking for, exactly?”

“Quantitative Human Physiology.”

Bas was back with the book in no time at all. Ezra reached out his hand, but Bas ignored it and plunked down on the bed next to Ezra once again.

“Okay. Let’s do this. What are we reading?”

Ezra stared at Bas until the man glanced at him and quirked his eyebrow.

“Ez? You still with me?”

“Sure,” Ezra said, suddenly finding it difficult to control the warmth that flowed through him. The feeling of being taken care of was becoming dangerously addictive. He swallowed and nodded toward Bas’s hands. “It’s the chapter with the cardiovascular system.”

Bas threw him another glance before he cracked open the book and started reading. Ezra settled in to listen, but it was almost impossible to register anything Bas was reading when all Ezra could do was concentrate on Bas’s smooth voice as he read to him about mechanical forces related to the cardiovascular system and… Ezra was sure there were other things Bas was saying and that they were very important, but for the first time in his life, he pushed school to the back seat and let Bas’s husky voice lull him into a wonderful sense of tranquility.

* * *

He woke sometime later with a crick in his neck. He blinked at the ceiling. His side was all warm from being pressed against Bas. The man himself was snoring softly beside him, mouth slightly parted. Ezra had never seen him look so calm. Usually, Bas had a restless energy about him. It was almost as if he was always vibrating, ready to go, go, go.

It was strange seeing him like that. Peaceful. Relaxed. Ezra reached out his hand, unable to help himself, and brushed away the lock of hair that had fallen over Bas’s eye. He didn’t even move. Ezra wondered if he’d slept at all in the last few days. He didn’t look like he had.

Bas mumbled something in his sleep and turned on his side. His soft breaths landed on Ezra’s lips. His eyelids fluttered like he was dreaming.

Ezra got out of bed carefully, determined not to wake Bas. He slid a comforter over Bas and made his way into the kitchen. Being that close to Bas was messing with his head, so it was better to put some distance between them.

He had just laid his books out on the kitchen table when Drew stepped in the front door.

Ezra heard him move around, taking off his jacket and boots and dropping off his stuff in his room before he came into the kitchen.

“Hey,” he said, smiling as he looked at Ezra. “Was that Bas I saw conked out on your bed?”

“Yeah. My textbook was too boring for both of us.”

Ezra recapped the events that led to the sleeping Bas in his bed. Drew laughed, and Ezra couldn’t turn his eyes away. He didn’t know how to interpret the tenderness he saw in Drew’s gaze. Didn’t know if he’d dare to even try.

“It was nice of him to read to you.” Drew leaned against the counter, one foot crossed over the other. Ezra tried not to stare. It was a familiar struggle, and sometimes he couldn’t help but indulge. It had happened more and more often during these last few weeks, and Ezra was starting to dread the way his eyes would constantly find Drew, even if his brain told them not to. He glanced at his book to give himself a reprieve. Fiddled with his pen. Chewed on his bottom lip.

“Bas is… he’s really nice. I mean, he tries to say he’s not. Tries to put himself down and crack jokes and make it look like he’s some sort of a selfish ass, but he’s really not.”

The tenderness in Drew’s gaze increased. “I like that you see him. The real him,” he said. “With Bas, I don’t think it’s so much about trying to put himself down. It’s more that he believes all those things he says about himself.”