Chase’s jaw dropped. “You’re what?”
And that was too many words, so I leaned over and whispered into his ear, “To feed the kittens at night. It’s not fair that Mason has to do it all on his own.”
“You can’t sleep somewhere else,” Chase said.
It wasn’t a refusal. It was a statement of fact. At least, as far as we both knew. But then, there were a lot of things that we thought were true that had changed. Maybe this had too.
“Won’t know if I don’t try,” I whispered.
Chase didn’t say anything else, but he gave me some serious side-eye, and I couldn’t exactly blame him. Going to stay at Mason’s could be a disaster, and I hadn’t even asked Mason first. The idea had just dropped into my head as a fully formed thought and I’d gone with it.
But I hoped it would work out. I’d seen the shadows getting darker under Mason’s eyes over the last week until they were almost the color of bruises, and I knew from experience what that meant. At least if I took over feeding the kittens, then he’d getsomesleep. And he needed it more than me—I was used to running on only a couple of hours’ worth.
Chase stared at me for a moment longer and then nodded. “Call me if you need me to come get you. I’ll kick Danny out of bed and he can drive me there.”
Danny shrugged. “If you need to, sure.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said with a hell of a lot more confidence than I felt. But Dog would be there and so would the kittens. And since the kittens needed me, I didn’t get to tap out, right? And maybe it wasn’t just the kittens that needed me. Maybe Mason did too, even though he hadn’t asked. You could need something without knowing it. And when someone needed looking after, you stepped up. That was what Chase and I had been doing for each other our whole lives. So maybe I could be there for Mason too.
Because who else did he have in his corner? In all the time I’d spent hanging out at his place, he’d never invited a friend over—and okay, he didn’t know anyone in town yet, but sometimes he seemed lonely.
Mason did important work, and he needed his sleep. And he needed to know that someone had his back, even if that someone was just the guy who mopped his floors and folded his towels. Except I thought—hoped—that I was more than that now. We were friends at least, weren’t we? Friends who didn’t talk much, but we shared our space. And maybe we were more than that, because I didn’t think I’d misinterpreted that moment between us in the treatment room.
He was attracted to guys—he was attracted tome—and I was attracted to him in return, and we’d almost kissed.
And if that moment had felt so big, as big as the universe, and so heavy and giddy at the same time, then what would an actual kiss feel like? I didn’t know, but maybe if I was brave enough, I could find out.
“I’ll be fine,” I said again.
And this time, I meant it.
It wasdark by the time I got to Mason’s. Dog must have heard the dirt bike coming because I could hear him whining and scratching at the front door before I even made it onto the porch. A second later the lights came on inside, and the door opened.
“Cash!” Mason had one hand on Dog’s collar. His face split with a smile. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“Sorry.” I made myself hold his gaze. “I had to go home and get some stuff.” I held up my backpack. “I thought I could stay over and help with the kittens.”
Mason’s expression froze and then wavered, and then he pressed his mouth into a line and swallowed. He cleared his throat. “That’s—shit, Cash, that’s great. Seriously.” He tugged Dog back inside and closed the door behind us. “I’d do the whole polite ‘Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly let you!’ except you might take me up on it and leave.”
I snorted.
He knocked me gently with his shoulder. “I like having you around.”
My stomach did a couple of flips. “You do?”
He grinned. “I had to mop my own floors. It was a travesty.”
I snorted again, but the anxious knot inside of me that had been growing on the ride over here—that one that told me I was being stupid and Mason wouldn’t want me here—dissolved into nothing at his grin.
Dog sniffed excitedly around my ankles as we headed for the kitchen. The back door was open, and Dog darted outside.
“Did he have his food yet?” I asked.
Mason nodded.
“And the kittens?”
“Not yet.” He checked his phone. “They’re due for another feed soon, though.”
