“YessIdo,” he agrees immediately, like it’s one word.
Before I can respond, a tall blond man turns around and shoves Chad, practically shouting at him. “Yo! What the fuck, watch where you’re going, shithead!”
“Sssorry, didn’t mean to, man” Chad slurs with wide eyes as though he’s actually afraid of the guy, who I’m assuming is also drunk and feeling cocky. Chad is far too pure to ever look so helpless, and something in my chest twists at the sight of him looking afraid of upsetting this guy.
“You almost hit my girl,” the man shouts back, clearly not wanting to let this go.
“Hey, asshole, leave him alone. It was an accident; he’d never intentionally hurt anyone,” I say, stepping in front of Chad so I’m standing between them.
“Ohhh, I see,” the guy says, looking between us, smirking as if he’s got us all figured out. “What, your bitch can’t stand up for himself?”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I seethe. I don’t want to fight this idiot, it’s absolutely not worth it, but I also don’t want him to think it’s okay to assume things about people, or be an asshole for the sake of trying to seem tough in front of his girl.
“Come on, Kevin, let’s go. Leave them alone,” the girl with him starts saying as she tugs on his arm.
“You heard her,” I encourage while still glaring at him. Chad crowds in against my back, and I reach my left hand around to grab his arm, for some reason needing to confirm that he’s okay.
“Fuck you both. Good thing my girl’s here, or you’d be really sorry,” he spits out before turning to leave.
I don’t need to get the last word in so as soon as I watch him actually walk away, I turn to Chad. He’s staring up at me and, for some reason, it looks like he’s about to burst into tears.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, burying his face in my neck. I let out a deep breath, letting my heart rate return to normal as Chad holds onto me, and I wrap one arm around his back. “Thank you, John. No one’s ever stood up for me before like that.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised because it was literally the most basic decent thing I could’ve done.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you did that.”
Should I not have?“It was nothing. That guy was just a drunk asshole trying to act like he had a big dick,” I say, soothing Chad still as he finds comfort in me.
“Just… means a lot.”
I grunt and peel myself off him; that was a lot of him pressing himself against me, and this night has been confusing enough.
His affection is more than I can handle, but it seems like it wasn’t enough for Chad. As soon as I start to walk, he links his arm with mine, saying, “Still need you.” Before I can think of a good reason to give him other thanyou’re too hot and too straight to keep touching me this much, he spots a restaurant up the street and announces: “We’re going there!” as he steers me toward it. The closer we get, he lets his hand slide down my arm like he’sunable to maintain his grip, but then he laces our fingers together.
It’s too much. “Chad? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
He looks down at our hands, then up at me, again like he’s confused by what I’m even asking. “What?”
“Why are you holding my hand? That’s not helping you stand at all.”
He shrugs, smiling at me with amusement shining in his big, blue eyes. “I just like touching you. I’m an affectionate drunk, and you defended me from that mean man who wanted to hurt me. You got me all in my feels, so it’s your fault, really.”
If anyone else tried to pull this, I’d be furious. I’m annoyed with myself for not immediately pushing him away, but I keep telling myself that Liam would be pissed if I let anything happen to him. I’m sure drunk Chad would accidentally wind up in another fight or getting his innocent self into some crazy shit.
So, yep, definitely doing this for Liam because him and Blake would be upset if something happened to Chad. The adoring way Chad is staring up at me is irrelevant and not affecting me at all.
He squeezes my hand again like I need reassurance. What for? I have no idea. Then he pulls me forward to the restaurant he must’ve had his eye on.
“This looks amaaazing,” he sings as we approach the restaurant.
“It’s just a burger place,” I point out.
“Per-fec-t.” He nods with drunken authority, saying each syllable like it’s a separate word. “I need meat in my mouth.”
I squeeze my eyes tight for a moment, taking a steadying breath becausedoes he not hear the words out of his mouth?As we get closer, I realize the line inside is backed up to the door. People are packed in, shoulder to shoulder, clearly having the same late-night ideas as drunk Chad.
“Do you really want to wait in this line?” I check, wondering just how hungry and drunk he is.
