“Yes,” he nodded with a smirk. “I’ve been going to the gun range since I was teenager.”
“Oh.”
Enoch watched as I debated his solution.
“But where are you going to put it that you’d be easily able to grab it?”
Enoch frowned. “You think something is going to happen tonight that will warrant needing the gun?”
I flailed my arms out with a breath of exasperation, “I don’t know. And that’s the point. Something could happen at any point in time. And I can’t sleep knowing that I’m not prepared.”
“But you sleep okay at my house.”
I sighed, dropping my arms back to my sides. “Mostly. Yeah. But it’syourhouse. It’s not a leased apartment under my name where someone would come looking for me first.”
Enoch nodded, mouth twisting with thought.
“Okay. How about this, I move the gun, and I also move your couch against your front door? It’s definitely a fire safety hazard, but it’ll mean that no one can open the door without us knowing, because they’d have to manage moving the sofa out of the way.”
I eyed the sofa and the front door. My gut hated the idea of being trapped, but at least it would mean that Enoch was safe from my unstable mind.
“Okay.”
Enoch nodded once and I continued on my path to my bathroom.
After a hot shower and getting dressed in some pajamas, I found Enoch had changed and was laying on my bed on top of the comforter.
Enoch’s eyes trailed up my body. “I was hoping you’d come out in your towel.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes but then paused, looking to my bedside table. I opened the drawer to find my gun missing. I resisted the impulse to look around the room for something out of place, an indication of where he might have hidden it. There weren’t very many options when I had little furniture in the space.
“I moved the couch too,” he said.
I leaned my head out of my bedroom door to see he’d tipped it on its side and had shoved it straight against the door.
I let out a huff of a sigh and finally joined him on the bed.
“So,” I started, tracing a path through the creases in the comforter. “You want to talk about it?”
Enoch sighed, rolling onto his side to face me, tucking his hand beneath the pillow.
“I came home to find half my family drinking beer at our house.”
Ourhouse. He said it like I had any claim to the space I’d inhabited for six days.
“And then what?” I asked.
I watched as his brows creased and he seemed disappointed.
“I left as quickly as possible. Might have said some things I didn’t mean in the process.”
I nodded, moving my hand onto his bicep.
“I’ll smooth things over tomorrow; I just needed some space tonight. Needed…you.”
My stomach flipped and I squeezed his arm, struggling to keep the ill-timed smile at bay. I hated that he was in his head about what happened, but I loved that he came to me for comfort. It made me feel like maybe I was useful, good for something other than stirring up shit in others’ lives.
Enoch’s hand moved to my face and he scooted closer, until our mouths were inches apart.
