“We’ll be right back.” I hurriedly drag Reid out of the chair and out the front door. Slinging my arm around his shoulder, I keep a careful eye out for the man I noticed earlier. He’s there, a hundred or so feet back, but he’s easy to spot when I’ve spent the last few years keeping an eye out for people exactly like him.
“Is he there?” Reid whispers.
“Yeah, but I’ve got you.”
Reid lifts his hand to twine his fingers with mine at his shoulder. At any other time I’d find the move adorably cute, but I recognize it for what it is now. Reid’s anxious as hell, his eyes crinkled at the corners in concentration. I follow Reid into his house, carefully toeing my shoes off like last time.
“Reid?” Mason calls out from the kitchen.
Mason wears a soft smile when he spots his brother, but his eyes turn curious when he sees me trailing slowly behind. I lift my hand in a shy wave.
“What’s going on?” Mason asks, clearly worried.
Reid awkwardly clears his throat. “I’m going to stay with Dante for a few days. Nothing big. Will you be in town? Or do you have a business trip?”
“I… No, I'm staying here. What’s going on?” Mason repeats, an edge of hysteria creeping into his voice.
Reid steps forward and goes to touch Mason, but hurriedly retracts his hands as if burned. I watch as Reid stuffs his hands into his pockets, eyebrows furrowed as he stares Mason down.
“I just need to get away for a few days. We might take a trip to the mountains, get away. Okay?”
“Alright,” Mason says softly. “You’re okay?”
Reid smiles, but it’s clearly fake. At least to me. “I’m fine. The best I’ve been in months. I’ll text you.”
I follow behind Reid up the stairs. He immediately shoves a bag into my arms with a strongly muttered curse. Reid packs in a flurry of movement, seemingly grabbing things at random, but I’m sure there’s a method to his madness. It’s disconcerting how little he packs before telling me he’s ready to go.
“That’s it?”I ask in disbelief.
Reid holds up his hand and ticks one finger down. “I sleep naked.” He ticks another finger down. “My backpack is already at your house.” He ticks another down. “There’s food for me there.” And he puts his thumb down so that only his middle finger is left up. “I’m not staying there forever, I’m coming back home.”
“Maybe I’ll keep you forever,” I say before crashing our mouths together.
“Hey!” Reid squawks against my mouth, but that just makes it easier for me to kiss him. Once he’s still in my arms, I pull away to stare down at him in awe. A perfect creature.
“This means you have to do what I say because I’m ordering you around to keep you alive.”
Reid snorts. He punches me in the stomach hard. “Get bent.”
The grin on my face burns as I stare after him. When Ifinally descend the stairs with his bag in hand, I find Reid standing close enough to Mason to almost touch. Now that they’re so close, I can see the similarities. If Reid had his natural hair color, they could almost be twins. The same gentle slope to their nose, heart-shaped face, and cheekbones that could cut glass.
Reid reaches up to tap his nose three times, making me tilt my head. Mason smiles softly and lifts his hand up to repeat the tapping on his own nose. They both smile at each other, before Reid stomps out of the kitchen and toward the front door. I wave at Mason again before fleeing after Reid so he doesn’t get himself stolen in broad daylight.
“What was with the tapping thing?” I ask.
Reid stomps faster so that I have to jog slightly to keep up. He might be shorter than me but damn he can walk fast. What the hell.
“It’s how we say goodbye,” Reid says with a little too much forced cheer. He’s lying.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Reid repeats.
“Does he need someone to watch him? Do you want that?”
Reid’s eyes twitch again. “If it’s possible, I’d like someone to watch over him. If something happens to him because of me or you, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Done.”
