“I’m twenty-six years old and I don’t have to tell you,” Seth responded as he left the office, realizing for the first time that it was true. He was supposed to be a grown man, and it was time he started acting like one.
Once he was safely in the elevator, he got his phone out and scrolled to his last conversation with Oz.
Would Oz want to hear from him? It had only been a few days, but Seth was sure Oz would have moved on by now.
On the other hand, that was what this argument with his father had been about. Oz. Oz, and Seth’s chance to be happy with him.
He knew that chance was non-existent. He wasn’t so stupid or naive that he believed in fairytale endings anymore. Seth knew what reality looked like, and he knew thatin reality, there was no way in hell he was ever going to be anything to Oz other than a fun distraction.
All he wanted was the chance to dream for a little longer. He couldn’t handle having it snatched away this fast.
My dad is an asshole, he texted. It was probably best not to dance around the subject.
Before the elevator even got to the lobby, his phone vibrated.
What happened?
Seth sat down on the fancy couch no one ever used, ignoring concerned stares from people coming and going.
He’s trying to marry me off, as expected. We argued.
You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Oz responded.
Seth laughed bitterly. It wasn’t that simple.
He had no money, no skills, and no redeeming qualities that could keep him alive, much less remotely comfortable, on his own. All of that had been deliberate on his father’s part, and he was just now realizing the extent of what it meant.
Do you need me to come up there?Oz asked in a second text.
Seth stared at it in shock. Oz was willing to do that for him?
He probably expected Seth to say no, but he’d made the offer. That counted for a lot.
Maybe…
Can I come to you? I know it’s too much but I really need to get out of here for a while.
Of course. If I’m not home by the time you get there, call up to apartment 6 and Mrs. Hashimoto will let you in. Don’t worry, she’s sweet.
Wow. Oz had a plan and everything.
Seth could imagine being the latest in a long line of birds with broken wings that Oz had brought home. Oz had told him once that he’d tended to collect them as a kid. That was probably why he already knew what to do.
All the same, Seth was going. He didn’t care how many people had cried on Oz’s shoulder right now. He needed it to cry on.
Okay. Thank you.
No problem, Oz texted, along with his home address.
Seth looked at it for a few moments, committed it to memory, and then switched his phone off. He didn’t intend to switch it back on again until he was on the other side of the country, too far away for his father to get hold of him.
Oz would make things better. He always did.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You’ve really figured out exactly how to seduce me,” Seth said, sitting back from the table and licking his fingers.
