Page 73 of Collin: Episodes 13-15
Damian picked the story back up. “I left Paulsen behind without telling him why and drove north. While I was driving, I made calls. Ash dropped the video of Barker’s altercation straight to the judge, and that helped a lot. Sometime around the time I crossed into Nevada, Ash called and said you were all alive, that Mikhail was down, but that we didn’t know who else was in play. Alice and I met in Reno. I wrangled her a private flight to Michigan and called in Matthew and Hypatia.”
Damian looked at Collin. “Your sister has no chill. She’d had Ash rent her a new car twice, from different agencies, changed both of their clothes, hair color, and haircuts. I thought Dana was a boy when we met and half her age.”
Collin raised his eyebrows. “How’d Alice pull that off?”
“She had Dana in Spiderman pajamas, sucking her thumb, and carrying a stuffed Ninja Turtle with her hair cut short.”
“That girl did not hold back,” Émeric murmured.
Damian’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Not in the slightest. She gave herself a buzz cut and had on military castoffs with muddy sneakers.”
The nurse came up to help everyone to bed and administer medication. Collin wasn’t even sure all of what they had been prescribed. He just swallowed what he was handed. Mr. Reevesworth had been advised to sleep in the hospital bed for a while longer where he wouldn’t strain his mending ribs getting in and out of the massive master bed. For similar reasons, due to the bruising and surgery in his stomach, Émeric slept in the small bed. Damian and Collin crashed in the big bed together.
“This is weird,” Damian said, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling in the dark, once the nurse had left and all the lights were turned out. “I’m supposed to be in the small bed.”
“Consider it practice for when you have your own big bed and a cute subbie,” Émeric threw back.
“I’m not giving up my bed,” Richard called from across the room. “We can find Damian his own bed.”
“I have a bed.”
“But not a bed a cute subbie can join you in,” Collin disagreed. “They’d drown. They’d have to use your body as an island and call for rescue.”
“My bed is not that bad!”
“Pup, your bed is a morass of softness truly only tenable by a man of largeness. So, your future lovers should be at least as large as yourself.”
Damian grumbled and rolled onto his stomach, wrapping an arm around a pillow. “Why am I sleeping in here with all of you again?”
“Because you love us.” Collin patted Damian’s cheek.
Damian groaned. “Just wait till you’re all feeling better.”
Collin giggled. Because despite Damian’s growl, he’d caught Collin’s hand and was holding on to it and not letting go.
He fell asleep with Damian still gripping his fingers.
Even though they were home, Collin, Richard, and Émeric spent most of the next few days resting in the living room or actually napping. Theresa arrived and she visited Collin with Collin’s mother, then whisked her away to see the city, which Collin translated as take long walks, talk, drink mimosas, and have therapy while gazing at the lake from the observatory. Based on the pictures his mom started sending him and Alice in group texts, he translated correctly. Alice never texted back, but she did respond now and then through Ash, so Ash appeared to be forwarding things to her.
Ash visited once a day. Toward the end of the week, he sank down on his haunches by Collin’s chair and whispered, “Hey, question.”
Collin lowered the tablet he was reading a novel on so he could make eye contact. “Yes?”
“I’m not, like, pushing into your space if I moved in with Ellisandre, am I?”
“No.” Collin frowned. “I’m not sure how that would be pushing in.”
“Because…Ellisandre is like your family, and I’m…well, not family but we’re friends. I’m not trying to steal your family, dude.”
“Ash.” Collin turned off the tablet. “Families grow. If Ellisandre wants you to live with them and you want to live with them, then it’s growth, not stealing. Wait, are you two dating? Because if so, I did not see that coming.”
Ash blushed almost as red as his hair. “No! Ugh…just no. Alice just asked me what would be worth leaving the office for, and I said sewing and hanging out with Ellisandre and Ms. Linda. And I’ve been sleeping over there a lot during everything. I just wanted…to, well…ask. I didn’t want you to be mad.”
“I’m the opposite of mad, Ash. I’m glad you’re finding people who fit with you. Should I warn you that at this point Alice considers you one of her people?”
Ash’s cheeks flushed again. “She might have said something. She wants to see me in shorts.”
“Well, be afraid, be very afraid.”
