Page 130 of Cohesion

He was dirty, and tired, and so full of emotions he didn’t know how to filter them all. They’d all been at a hundred and fifty too long and the drop was brutal. Maybe they could all just collapse in a puppy pile and sleep.

“On the couch you go,” Quinn said, fluffing up a pillow and pulling a throw blanket from the back of it.

“It’s like twelve hundred degrees outside,” Sebastian said. “I don’t need a blanket.”

“If it were that hot, we’d be dead,” Quinn replied. “And the night air is chilly.” He scrunched the blanket in a fist. “Indulge me.”

Sebastian sighed and sat gingerly in the corner of the couch, spreading one arm across the back. “Can I take my shoes off myself, or do you need to do it for me?”

“I can do it,” Will said brightly, dropping to one knee in front of him. They were a new pair that he and Peyton had gone out and bought when they’d realised that his kidnappers had taken his, and they couldn’t find them. They’d also gotten him a pair of pj’s and a suit he could wear when he left. It wasn’t as fancy as the ones he was used to, but at least he hadn’t had to put that horribly dirty one he’d been wearing back on. That one went in the bin. Will never wanted to look at it again.

“You know what I’d really like?” Sebastian said, dropping his head against the back of the couch to look upside down at Quinn.

“We’re not having sex,” Quinn said instantly.

“Not pretty enough for you?”

“You’re sore, and you’ve been through a lot. You need to rest, not get fucked.”

“Good thing for me that’s not what I was going to say, then, because that rejection would have been disappointing. Is this how you interrogate people?” He reached back, wincing lightly, and plucked at the buttons on Quinn’s shirt.

“What do you want, then?” Quinn asked, softening.

“I want you to relax. I’m here, and I’m okay. These will all heal. They didn’t do anything permanent, and I need you to stop looking at me like I’m broken.”

“I wasn’t—I’m sorry.” Quinn leaned down, resting his forehead on Sebastian’s. “I don’t think you’re broken, Seb.” He caressed Sebastian’s cheeks softly, then skimmed his palms down his neck and across his shoulders. “ButIam, and that doesn’t just go away because you’re here, and you’re okay. What could have happened is haunting me like a movie I can’t press pause on. So please, just take the blanket.”

Sebastian deflated. “Okay.”

Will slid Sebastian’s shoes off and then lifted his feet so he was lying across the couch. Quinn draped the blanket over him, tucking it into his sides.

“I could use some food,” Sebastian said tentatively. “If I’m being looked after and all that. Hospital food is as terrible as ever.”

“I can make you something.”

“Thank you.”

Peyton vaulted over the back of the couch, landing heavily beside Sebastian. “Scootch,” he said, lifting Sebastian’s feet and shifting under them so they were over his thighs. “I need some blanket too.”

“What makes you think I want to share?” Sebastian asked.

“What makes you think I was asking?” Peyton retorted.

Sebastian flung it over both of them.

Jericho leaned over the back of the couch, elbows sinking into the top. “This place is nice. You own it, Quinn?”

“It was my grandmother’s. I inherited it when she decided she was sick of the ‘country’ life and wanted to be closer to the nightlife so she could sow her wild oats.”

Wait, what?

Peyton barked out a laugh. “Yourgrandmothersaid that?”

“Ethel’s wild,” Sebastian said with a small smile. “I can see her getting out there on the dance floor and giving everyone a run for their money. I think she did that at my birthday. Does she still have that dog?”

“The Chihuahua?” Quinn asked. “Yes, and even in her middle age, she’s still as spoiled as ever. Pee-pee can do no wrong.”

“Did you just say her dog’s named Pee-Pee?” Will asked. Maybe he’d heard wrong.

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