“Let me make up for my ex-friends’ bad behaviour and look after you both. Please.”
“His shit is not on you.”
“Perry!” Evan called as he tried and failed to juggle the brooms.
“I have to go.”
“Please,” he said again.
“Whatever.” I pushed the door open. “Suit yourself.” Gingerly lowering myself out of the cab, I didn’t wait for him to park the truck as I hurried for the building.
“Why is he parking?” Evan asked, balancing the last broom over his shoulder.
I sighed and started to pick up the others.
He took the brooms from me, still failing to get them into any sort of order. “Is he coming in?”
“Seems so.” I held the door for him to wrestle the brooms inside.
“Why?”
“Because he’s nosy and controlling.”
“He wants to make up for Jason hitting you.”
“That too, I guess.”
We were halfway to the elevators when there was a knock on the glass door of the lobby.
“Oh!” Evan dumped the brooms against the wall. “Shit. Sorry!” He sprinted back to let Channing into the building.
I had the brooms all collected and pointed in the same direction by the time they got back, and Channing took them from me. “Lead the way, Evan,” he said.
“Yeah. Right. Sure. Over here.”
Because the huge silver doors of the elevators dominating the sparse lobby were hard to find, I guess.
CHAPTER 11
EVAN
Normally,as soon as the door closed behind us, my nerves would begin to unspool. Normally, Perry was right on top of it—and me—to help get the jitters left over from Out There under control. Today was different. The jitters were bigger and badder than usual, and Perry was in no shape to help me with them.
Then there was Alan Channing.
I watched him calmly place our brooms in the umbrella stand by the door that we kept there for exactly that purpose. That was usually my job. I glanced to Perry, unsure what to do next, but he had lowered himself to a chair at the table we never used and sat with his eyes closed.
I hesitated, my coming home pattern skewed, and for a second, completely lost in the uncertainty of broken routine.
“Evan.” Channing’s quiet tone drew my attention. “Do you have ice packs? Tylenol?”
“Y-yes.” I blinked at him.
“Fetch them, please.”
“Yeah. Yes. Right. One sec.” I hurried for the bathroom cabinet where we kept the pills.
“Don’t tell him what to do,” I heard Perry say.
