“And as we know, you like puppies.” Roach said and put a thick scarf on Zane’s shoulders.
The gesture was so sweet Zane found himself leaning in for a brief kiss. “You know me so well, Roachie,” he said and entwined their fingers.
“Inside and out.” Roach grinned, and Zane caught himself realizing that he’d never smiled in such an uninhibited manner when they’d first met. This smile was joyful, without any darkness to dim it, and if Zane’s presence was part of the reason for it, then he was happy Karla wasn’t around yet. Because the man Roach has become deserved a chance at happiness, regardless of how difficult that thought was.
Many times, he’d found himself wondering that maybe Roach really hadn’t known what would happen once he left Zane with the other bikers. Maybe he’d thought they’d strip him of money and kick him out. Why else would a man who claimed Zane had stolen his breath away have left him to so much suffering?
They left the room hand-in-hand, each of them wearing one glove. The weather was a miserable mix of rain and snow, but they didn’t have to go far. The staircase was twenty yards away, a single flight of stairs, and following a couple more strides, they were knocking on Gale’s door.
It opened after several seconds, revealing Gale in an oversized beige sweater that hid his thin form. He looked much better now. His face had gotten a bit more color, and the room itself wasn’t as messy as it used to be, but Zane suspected Gale had a long way to go still, because it hadn’t even been a month since his overdose.
Roach couldn’t afford a rehab facility, so he’d hired a nurse who was a friend of a friend to come over and stay with Gale during the detox. He still owed her lots of money, but at least was able to pay her in installments.
“Hi.”
Roach smiled at Gale and quickly closed the door behind them, to shut out the cold. “Hey. Zane wanted to come over and keep us company. Hope that’s okay?”
Gale shrugged. “I’d offer you coffee, but the kettle’s not working,” he said, pointing to the side table where he kept some of his food. “You’re such a lifesaver, Reed.”
Roach laughed, but started coughing so hard it brought tears to his eyes. “Hardly, but I can fix a kettle, so there is that. You’re running low on coffee, I’ll get you some tomorrow.”
Gale cleared his throat and leaned against the wall, close to a large hole that must have been punched in before someone mended it with plaster. “About that… I think I should get back to work. You already helped me so much.”
Such a bad idea. Gale was a sensitive kid, and Zane didn’t need a master’s degree in psychology to realize Gale’s addiction and his earlier profession had created a vicious cycle that had made his life spin off the rails. If he went back to work, the risk of him returning to drugs was too great. But Zane didn’t have to voice it, because Roach glanced over his shoulder, already poking at the bottom of the kettle with a screwdriver.
“I think it’s still very early. You need to rest and take care of yourself. I’ll make sure you have something to eat.”
Gale swallowed, sinking into his sweater as his face twisted from fighting back tears. “Thank you, Reed,” he mumbled in the end, but when his gaze accidentally met Zane’s, he was quick to open a drawer and rummage through it just to avoid the eye contact.
Zane exhaled and looked at Roach, who sat on the vanity stool and removed some part from the bottom of the kettle, staring at it as if it were made of living worms, not plastic. Could he ever call Roach with his given name? It came so easily to Gale and Culver, yet Zane felt blocked, as if it were difficult to pronounce.
Maybe giving in and calling him Reed would have been that final straw that meant he’d given up on his revenge?
Reed.
A nice name for a hot guy who gave Zane great head and paid for his rent.
Unlike Roach, a dirty, nasty biker who’d left Zane for torture and battery.
How could these two be the same person?
It wasn’t like Zane to want a boyfriend, yet here he was, attracted to a man he’d meant to kill for his heart and ego to finally be whole again.
Roach shook his head at Gale. “Don’t look at me like that, you’re not a bother. You’ll go on to do great things, and then you’ll pay me back.”
Roach was ready to support Gale for as long as it took him to get better, and not because he wanted something in return. He was a decent person at heart, and maybe—just maybe—couldn’t get over the mistake he’d made that first night he’d met Zane, and wanted to make up for it by helping others?