Page 69 of Devoted

“Sam.” I put my hand on his knee, stilling it. “You don’t need to apologise, honestly. I get it. Your brain is loud on a normalday. When you’re put in a high-stress situation like you were tonight, it makes sense that you couldn’t reason with it.”

“Thank you.” He put his hand on top of mine, unleashing butterflies in my stomach. “At least it all ended okay. This time.”

Now I was in his life, he wouldn’t need to worry about things like this anymore. Again though, it wasn’t like I could tell him that. Not yet, anyway.

“Fuck knows how I’m going to be able to sleep here,” he said, exhaustion weighing heavily on him. “My lease is up soon. I might see if I can break it earlier. I’ll lose my deposit, but it’ll make it worth it for the peace of mind.”

“What will you do until then?”

He sighed. “I know it’s stupid, but I really can’t stay here, so I’ll probably look for a cheap hotel. I’ve got a bit of money put aside, so I can stretch it out to a week or two.”

I studied him closely, trying to decide the best way to pitch this. “You could do that…or you could crash at mine.”

He looked at me sharply. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Why is it ridiculous?”

“We’ve only just met, Zeke.” My hand slipped from his thigh as he got up and began to pace. “We don’t know each other.”

“Yes we do.” I fought the urge to get to my feet, to argue the way I would with anyone else. It was surprisingly easy to do. “We might’ve only met in person today, but Iknowyou, Sam. What’s more, you know me. Better than anyone else, at this point.”

He came to a halt, his head dropping. I could almost see the two sides arguing in his brain. The logic warring with the emotional. “I can’t intrude on your space like that.”

“You won’t be. Believe me, we have enough space. You’d have your own room, complete with a lock on your door.”

“Oh.” His eyes darted up, then away, a flush brightening his cheeks. “I wouldn’t be sharing with you?”

Was that disappointment? Fuck, I hoped so.

Getting to my feet, I approached Sam slowly, giving him plenty of room to retreat. When he didn’t, I took both his hands in mine. “Don’t get me wrong, baby. If my bed is where you want to be, I’ll happily accommodate you. But given everything that’s happened, I figured it might be better if we took things slow.”

Sam chewed at his lip. “What about your housemates? There’s already so many of you living there, I’m sure they won’t want another person under their feet.”

I laughed. “That’s hilarious.”

He scowled, freeing one of his hands to poke me in the ribs. “I’m being serious, Zeke.”

My laugh faded. “I know, baby. But you’ll understand why it’s funny when you see how big the house is. I told you before, I have my own suite. We spend a lot of time together as a group, but we don’t have to. Everyone has their own space to retreat to.”

Sam looked stunned for a moment before shaking his head slowly. “I don’t know, Zeke. I’m not an easy person to live with. I’ll end up upsetting everyone. Then they’ll be upset with you. You might end up having to move out because I’ve made them all hate you and?—”

I gently put my hand over his lips. “Sam, there’s not a part of me that’s worried about that. If anything, I’m concerned about them irritating you. They’re a bunch of nosy fuckers who love nothing more than interfering. It comes from a place of love, but it’s annoying nonetheless.”

I removed my hand so he could speak. “Shouldn’t you ask them first? They might not want me there.”

Sensing he wasn’t going to budge unless I did this, I pulled out my phone. Opening our group chat, I typed out two messages in quick succession.

Ezekiel

I’m with Sam

In other words, ‘don’t say anything that’ll land me in hot water, fuckers.’

Ezekiel

I’m trying to persuade him to stay but he’s worried you might not want him there.

“You did not just say that,” Sam hissed.

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