Roach was a damn fine-looking handyman. “But you could.”
Another one of those long pauses where Zane would give his toe to dig into Roach’s brain and understand what he was thinking.
He finally relented. “It’s just old stuff. My brother’s belts. I’ve gotta decide what to do with them when I have the time.”
Zane froze, the belts like a den of snakes that could crawl out of the cardboard and choke him in his sleep. One of them could still have Zane’s blood on it. “You should get rid of them,” he said and kicked the box with more anger than he’d intended.
Roach gave him a gentle slap on the forehead, as if he were disciplining a child, but Zane already had a bruise on there from the head butt, and it hurt. “I said don’t touch the boxes. I’ll deal with them in due time. Why do you care? Is it ‘cause you need space? I’ll clear out a shelf for you after work.”
Zane shifted, increasingly antsy. “I don’t want to have this shit around. None of it matters to you if you haven’t used it within the past two years. Just leave it at Goodwill!”
Roach squinted at him. “You’re coming with me.”
Good choice, because Zane would have Marie Kondo’d that shit the moment Roach walked out of the door.
“Fine. We can go and visit that medium lady once you’re done. I’d rather kill you and have this over with than get a shelf.”
Roach snorted and opened the door for him. Again. Did he think himself a gentleman? “You won’t kill me. You liked my ass too much.”
Zane scowled. Drastic action was needed, because his upper hand was evaporating fast. When they left the room, he toyed with lighting a match and throwing it under the door to burn all that waste to the ground, but his guitar was in there, so he gave up on that idea.
For now.
Chapter 10 - Zane
The day was taking for-ev-er.
If it had been up to Zane, they’d have taken the bike and gone straight to the medium lady first thing after the library visit, but no, Roach had “work to do”. And while one needed to work if they wanted to eat, there were exceptional circumstances that warranted taking a day off. Didn’t Roach want Zane out of his life too?
Being tied to another person like this wasn’t normal, and Zane felt unease whenever he couldn’t see Roach being safe. Because what if that idiot got shocked by electricity while doing repairs, and that would be that for them both? Or, even if he didn’t die, they’d both end up with burns? Would Zane lose his hair if Roach did? Likely not, since Zane shaved, and yet Roach still had a beard, so their cursed bond only affected flesh and bone.
“You’re not allowed in the kitchen. Stay out. I’ll get us free dinner. Marty’s always got stuff left over,” Roach said, pushing Zane back when he tried to follow him through the door.
“What’s the big deal? I’m not a food safety inspector,” Zane complained but leaned against the wall at the back of the diner and looked at the dusky sky. The day was almost over, and Roach still had one more repair to deal with before he was done.
“What if your hair gets into stuff?” But Roach seemed to say it just to have an excuse to touch Zane’s hair.
Zane should have recoiled, like he had from the kiss, but he allowed the appreciative touch, because Roach’s excuse worked for them both. He met Roach’s gaze as the sun hid beyond a hill far, far away, and the sky got a reddish tint.
“Fine. I’m a danger to society and their food.”
“It’s free dinner, so stop complaining,” Roach said, and left Zane with anxiety crawling under his skin.
What if Roach put his hand on a hot pan?
What if he grabbed a sharp knife the wrong way, because he was stupid like that?
Roach’s voice, raspy from those cigarettes that made his skin and hair smell masculine and tempting instead of revolting, came through the open door, a dark rasp to compliment the clatter of pots.
“Hey, Marty! Could you fix me two specials?”
A short pause, then, another voice. “Yeah, look, Reed, I don’t think you should be coming in here like this.”
Roach snorted. “What? I work here.”
“Well, you don’t exactly work in the kitchen, do you?”
“I do when I fix the piping in your sink, don’t I?” Roach grumbled.
“There’s nothing to fix here today.”
“Just those two specials then,” Roach was sounding irritated now. “What crawled up your ass?”
“Nothing, but your ass is probably another matter.”
Zane cringed at the pause that followed.
“Oh. So that’s what it’s about? I’ve known you for over a year, man, helped you move house. What the fuck?”
“I guess we don’t know each other as well as we thought we did. I’m no fag hater, but it’s just wrong, man.”