Page 12 of Chasing You

“Your breath smells like toad ass.”

Kash blinked and turned his head to find Adele in the bed with him, spooning his side. He licked his lips and grimaced at the cotton mouth making his tongue sticky. The muscle relaxers the doctor had put him on knocked him on his ass every time.

“Why do you know what toad ass smells like?”

Adele snorted. “Junior year? Your dad’s weed?”

Right. Yeah. Their bad-boy phase. His dad was a classic seventies stoner and thought he was clever about where he kept his stash. The boys had raided it the night of Adele’s seventeenth birthday and had gotten high with a partially crushed Coke can on the football field. Neither of them could handle their high.

They ended up splashing around a pond in the woods behind the field trying to find frogs, and Adele had gone on a long-winded rant about licking one until Kash remembered that it was only rainforest frogs that were hallucinogenic—but that was after Adele had a fat American toad a centimeter from his lips.

“We’re never supposed to speak of that. I don’t want Gage to find out the shit we did when we were his age,” Adele whispered. “I cannot handle the thought of him screwing around as badly as we did.”

Kash snorted as he stretched his arms out and flexed his fingers. His toes were more mobile too. The pills had done their job, thank God. “I’m pretty sure he knows you had a rebel phase, darling. And I’m pretty sure he was raised to handle things when they go sideways.”

Adele flushed and rolled his eyes. “Uh, he doesn’t know anything about that, and it’s going to stay that way.” He slung his arm around Kash’s waist and hugged him until Kash melted into his embrace. Being held like this felt like the worst tease, but he could never say no. “And I’d rather him stay innocent for a little while longer. I know he’s going to fuck around in college, but let me live in ignorance for a few more months.”

Kash laughed very softly. “Fine, fine. Have it your way.”

He couldn’t resist these moments he was allowed to hold Adele without any kind of reservation. He had no ideahow long it would last. If his plan worked, Adele would be on his way to his happily ever after long before Kash was facing the light at the end of the tunnel, and there was every reason to believe his new partner wouldn’t love the idea of Kash and Adele having snuggles in bed.

“Is your friend here?”

Adele shook his head. “He said he’ll be by in about an hour. I figured I’d get you up so you have time to make yourself look pretty.”

Kash rolled his eyes and made no move to get up. “I was thinking about my brother today.”

“Oh yeah? For any particular reason?”

Only that I was told I might have a terminal illness, he thought to himself. But he didn’t voice it aloud. “I haven’t talked to him in a hot minute. He, ah…he doesn’t exactly know what’s going on.”

“Kash,” Adele scolded.

He sighed. “I know. And I’m sure he’ll give me hell about it, but I was waiting until I have some answers first, and I’m not even close to getting those yet.”

Adele sighed and nestled a little closer. “I get it. I do, and he’ll understand too. How is he doing? Is he still an EMT?”

“I haven’t seen him in a while, but last I checked, he was good,” Kash admitted. Colt had gone up north near the university, while Kash had fled across the country. They’d lost touch apart from texting each other memes and videos that reminded them of their weird childhood, but they never talked about anything deep.

“Is he still with, ah…what’s her name?”

The last time Kash had talked to him for more than a minute, Colt had been dating a grad student named something like Jan or Jill. He figured his brother would havementioned if the relationship had gone south, but then again, Kash was keeping big secrets too, so he didn’t want to assume.

“He hasn’t said, but I’m sure they’re fine.” He bit his lip, then said, “I feel like an ass for shutting everyone out. I…I didn’t know how to handle it all. I don’t even know howIfeel about it.”

“I get it,” Adele told him. “You have no idea what’s going on, and the doctors are stumped. Why get people all worked up when you don’t even have a clue what’s going on, right?”

A lump formed in his throat, and Kash was suddenly afraid he was going to choke on it. He shoved that aside and quickly changed the subject. He didn’t want to talk about Colt or anything else that could lead to a more complicated conversation because he was tired of lying to Adele, but he also wasn’t ready to talk about the truth.

“Well, I should hop in the shower.”

Adele waggled his brows. “Want to impress the hot firefighter?”

“You know I don’t shit where I eat,” Kash said, though he wasn’t a firefighter anymore. Not really.

Adele didn’t call him on it. Instead, he rolled off the bed, then stood up with all the grace that Kash would probably never know again and held out his hands. “Come on, your royal highness. Let me help you up.”

Kash took his hands but shook him off the moment he was standing. “I’ve got it, you giant turd. Go clean something…unless you want to wash between my butt cheeks.”

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