Page 49 of Inevitable

Drew stared at him for so long that Bas was half expecting him to say no.

“Okay.” Drew looked surprised. As if it was so rare for Bas to want to spend time with him. It was disconcerting. He wanted Drew to feel special. Because he was, and Bas wanted him to know it. Wanted Drew to realize that he was one of the most important people in Bas’s world. Had always been.

“What do you want to do?” Bas asked when they’d gotten dressed and were pulling on their boots.

Drew shrugged. “I don’t really care. We can just walk for a bit, and I’ll be happy.”

Bas pulled his hat over his ears and frowned. “Really? You can go crazy, you know that, right? Ask me to take you skydiving or arrange a flash mob for you.”

Drew laughed and shook his head, looking lighter already.

“No. I don’t need all of that. Let’s just see if Ezra wants to hang out, drag him away from his books, and wander around for a bit. Maybe find something fun to do on a lesser scale than a flash mob.”

Bas nodded.

“That sounds pretty much perfect.”

“Let’s go, then.”

* * *

“You’re going down, Jackson.”

Ezra was holding the basketball in his hands. Bas had never seen him look so cocky, and he had to admit that it kind of suited him.

“Bold words,” he said, mimicking Ezra’s stance. “I’ve seen you try to throw a paper ball into a wastebasket. Face it, Morgan. You suck more than a suck machine set on suck a lot.”

Drew snorted and Ezra’s lips twitched.

“With insults like these, I’m starting to think you’re the reason they put instructions on a shampoo bottle,” he replied.

“I hope you’re ready. You’re about to have your ass handed to you.”

Ezra’s eyes shone with mirth as he shook his head.

“Please. You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”

He and Ezra stared at each other for a few seconds before Ezra grinned.

“You’re going down.”

Drew stepped between them and threw his arms over both of their shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah, Downtown,” he said. “Can we play now? There are kids in line, waiting for us to get on with it.”

Bas took his place in front of the basketball machine. They’d spent hours at the arcade already, playing and ribbing each other good-naturedly.

Bas sent Drew and Ezra a challenging gaze.

“Let the ass-kicking commence,” he announced.

Drew rolled his eyes, but when he looked at Bas, his gaze was filled with pure, unfiltered affection.

In the end, Drew won. By quite a lot. Even the fact that both Bas and Ezra had eventually resorted to sabotaging him hadn’t helped at all. Not Ezra trying to startle him by shouting behind him and not even the wet willy Bas had in store for him. Nothing had stopped Drew from wiping the floor with them.

“This was fun,” Ezra said as they took their seats at a nearby pizza place. It was getting late, but none of them cared that much.

“How did your exam go?” Bas asked as he watched Ezra scarf down a slice of pizza like it was the first food he’d seen all week.