Chapter Eleven
Flynn shrugged the light jacket he’d brought with him off his shoulders, holding it out to Zach as they headed for the bus stop. He’d been shivering the whole way, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
It wasn’tthatcold, but Zach’s suffering had gotten to be too much for Flynn to handle.
Zach paused, looking at the offered jacket, and then at Flynn’s face.
“I’m not that cold,” he said, shivering again as if his body was just determined to prove him a liar.
“I don’t need it, and you do,” Flynn said. “My walk home is maybe two minutes. You’re gonna be sitting on a bus freezing your butt off for half an hour.”
“More like three-quarters,” Zach admitted, taking the offered jacket and pulling it around himself, sighing in contentment once he had it on. It was undoubtedly still warm from Flynn’s body, and the fact that it was at least two sizes too big for Zach probably made it feel like a cozy cocoon.
“You’ve already done more than I can ever repay,” Zach said, falling into step beside Flynn again.
“I don’t need repayment.” Flynn shrugged. “That’s not what this is about. You’re cold. I’m really not. I’musedto this weather. Whereas you’re a delicate desert flower.”
Zach snorted. “I’m gonna pretend that was a compliment.”
“Kinda was,” Flynn said. “I didn’t mean it as aninsult, anyway.”
“Just a statement of fact?” Zach asked, looking up at him. His eyes were sparkling with laughter in the low light of the street lamps, so Flynn figured he wasn’t actually insulted.
“Pretty much.” Flynn smiled, stopping as they got to the little shelter at the stop and leaning against it. Zach hovered in front of him, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his borrowed jacket.
“I'll have to get a car,” Flynn said, glancing down the street to see that there was no sign of the bus. They were alone at the stop, but it was a weird time on a Saturday night, so maybe it was just quiet.
Zach blinked at him. “Why?”
“So I can take you home instead of you having to take the bus,” Flynn said. “Obviously.”
“Absolutely not,” Zach said, his eyes widening.
Flynn chuckled. He was kidding.
Mostly.
Zach rolled his eyes. “It's not all that hard to believe that you’d do that for me,” he said. “Foranyone, honestly. You're so… goddamnnoble.”
“I love the way you say that like it's a bad thing.”
The jacket rustled as Zach shifted his weight, sighing heavily. “I just wonder sometimes if you ever think about whatyouwant,” he said, looking up at the sky.
“I want the people in my life to be happy,” Flynn said. “And you're one of the people in my life.”
He hadn't actually thought about it in those terms before, but Zach wasn't exactlywrong. It was just what hedid.
Taking care of people was the most natural thing in the world for Flynn. Callie said that was because he was an older brother, and Flynn had no reason to argue with that.
It was a good thing. The fact that people took advantage of it didn't mean it was something he needed to change.
Zach hadn't taken advantage. Not once, not for a second.
“You're incredible,” Zach said, his gaze dropping back down to meet Flynn's.
Somewhere deep in his chest, Flynn’s heart fluttered. That was… new.
He wanted to think it wasunexpected, but it wasn't. Not really. He liked it when Zach complimented him, when Zach made it clear that he was content in Flynn’s presence.
