“We could. Get the blanket up on us.” Snuggle. Who cared about anything else? It was like, three a.m.
Jase got them settled, got one cheek on his shoulder. “I hope Momma will start to understand. It’s gonna be better, doing it like this.”
He wrapped his arms right around Jason, holding that skinny-assed body close. “She will. This will work, Jase. I promise.”
“Shh.” Jason kissed him, eyes closed. “We’ll figure our shit out.”
“You know it.” Hell, a good night’s sleep would go a long way toward getting them back on track.
Chapter Twenty-Four
He could hear knocking, rapping, tapping, but he didn’t know where from. Jason sat up, hands out straight in front of him, trying to figure out where the fuck he was, what the fuck was up.
“Bax! Bax!” He stumbled up out of the bed, falling over something and slamming to the ground. “Andy Baxter!” Oh, fuck. Where was he?
“Right here, honey. Right here.” Bax’s hands landed on him, holding his upper arms, helping him orient himself. “Sorry, Mini. I was in the bathroom.”
“Where…? What the fuck is that noise?” He held on, heart pounding. “Bax, Bax, I can’t do this. I cain’t. I can’t wake up over and over forever and not fucking see where I am.”
“Shh. Hush, now. It’s just all new, is all. You didn’t do this at your momma’s once you got used to it.” Bax stroked his cheek, solid and warm against him.
He took a deep breath, then another one, bound and determined not to lose it altogether and start screaming. The deep breath helped, so he took another, then another. “Hey. Hey, Bax. Sorry, I. I’d been dreaming.”
“Yeah? Anything good?” Oh, asshole, laughing, stroking the back of his neck, tickling like crazy.
“Dreaming that people were hunting my ass, trying to get my hat.” Stupid, but true.
“Oh, that’s not a good dream at all.” They got him stood up, Bax lifting him right to his feet. “You hungry? Or you want to hit the head and have a shower first?”
“I need a shower and stuff and I need you to show me around, huh?” He didn’t know how to do this. Momma’s house he knew.
“You know it. Let me move the bags into the closet, huh? Then we’ll do the tour.” Bax sounded completely reasonable, which meant he’d at least gotten enough sleep.
“‘kay.” That banging came again, rap rap rap. “What is that?”
“Huh? Oh, I dunno. I think Coke is helping roof something.” That sounded about right. Coke would have been up hours ago.
“It’s weird, hearing things and not knowing.” He heard Bax put the bags away, heard the closet door shut.
“You’ll get better at it, I know.” Bax helped him up, helped him back to the bed. Shit, that was all Bax fucking did, for chrissake. “Let’s start here, huh?”
“It’s in the middle of the room, by a window.”
“It is. The headboard butts up against the window, in fact.” Bax led him around the bed, and he counted the steps. Two, three, five. “You go from here straight across to the bathroom.”
“Cool. There’s nothing in the way? His fingers found the edge of a dresser, followed it around.
“Nope. All you have to do is stay away from the wall. Looks like there was a rug, but they took it up.” He could actually see that, in his mind’s eye. The darker spot on the floor where the sun neverhit.
Okay. Okay, he could do this. The bathroom was almost easy—sink, linen cabinet deal, tub, pot. He could do that. Hell, everything was just where he’d thought it was, and the water faucets were set up with the hot and cold where they should be.
He did his business—sitting down, which burned his ass—and washed his face, hands. “Okay. I’m ready for more.”
“Yeah? How about a shower. You and me. Naked and all.” Bax helped him turn to the shower, helped him find the shower head and angle it away.
“Oh, hell yeah. You got a bag for your cast?” The tub was big enough, the water pressure strong enough to sting his skin.
“Yeah. I got one out of the backpack.” Bax laughed, pinching his ass. “Wanted to be ready.”
