Page 15 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

“Same with you.”

Slater kept his hands on his lap, his fingers fidgeting slightly. I took one of his in mine, which caused Cody to drop his hand from my arm. His warmth bled away, leaving nothing but cool air where he once was. What I wouldn’t give for him to touch me again, to offer that bit of comfort.

The sliding door in the kitchen opened, and voices carried into the house. Cody stood to close his bedroom door then leaned heavily against it. “So, you wanted to see me?”

“I’m sorry,” Slater said, his voice raw. He cleared his throat. “I shouldn’t have said what I did to you the night at the club. It was wrong of me. I apologize.”

Cody hung his head. “It hurt for you to think of me as a child, because I sure as hell haven’t felt like one for years. I appreciate you apologizing.”

I released Slater’s hand and motioned for him to go to Cody. It was clear by the way he leaned forward that he wanted to be near him. He didn’t move, so I had to nudge him to get him on his feet.

Finally standing, he went to Cody, but left a gap of a couple of feet. “I’m really sorry.”

Cody’s head lifted; his eyes holding Slater’s. “I heard you and accept your apology. Do you still see me as a kid?”

“Cody…”

“Answer the question.”

“You’re twenty.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious. I think you both should go enjoy the party.” He pushed off the door, careful not to touch Slater, and opened it.

“Please don’t,” Slater begged.

“Don’t what? Stand here and listen to you tell me how I’m too young? I’m not naïve to what most people think of when they hear a person is my age. They haven’t lived in my shoes. They haven’t seen their family ripped from them in the worst way. I don’t care how fucking old my birth certificate says I am. I don’t feel anywhere close to that age.”

“I’m not good enough for you.”

“I don’t need you to tell me who I should and shouldn’t want.”

They were getting nowhere fast, so I stood to be near them. “Why don’t the three of us head outside together? We could talk and get to know each other.”

“No,” Slater whispered. “I shouldn’t have come.”

I reached for him, but he slid away so my arm fell to my side. “Slater…”

His eyes lifted to mine. Wetness clung to his lashes. “Can we leave?” I wouldn’t deny him anything right now, but there was also Cody to take into consideration.

“Go,” Cody said. “You can head out the front, so they won’t see you. I’m going to stay in here. I’m not in the mood to party anymore.”

I looked back and forth between them, not sure what to say. Slater’s defense mechanism to keep Cody at arm’s length was still in place. If he let someone in, they could hurt him, and I had a feeling Slater had endured plenty in the past.

Pulling my phone out, I unlocked it, and handed it to Cody. “Put your number in.”

“Why?”

“Because this isn’t the end.”

7

CODY

My arms ached, my legs burned, and the smell of oil hung in the air. Grease covered my fingers, surely beneath my nails, as my hand slipped on the wrench I held.

“Tell me why we’re doing this again?” I asked Val. His full name was Valiant, but if anyone called him that, they’d get punched in the face. Valiant was a family name, one Val didn’t want to remember because of the shit that happened to him when he was younger.

“Xaiden said you’d worked yourself to the bone in the gym this week. We had to try something different.”

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