Page 62 of Forced Proximity
The poor man.
This was likely killing him and bringing up quite a few memories of the loss of his son.
Once he’d let himself into my bathroom—having stripped all his clothes off but his underwear as he went—I made us a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I was on my second one when he came out of the bathroom.
I placed two sandwiches in his hand and said, “Eat this,” as I moved into the bathroom.
I took the world’s fastest shower, threw my clothes in the hamper to get cleaned tomorrow, and exited the bathroom.
I found him in my bed, under the covers, on his belly.
His face was twisted to the side, so I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not.
I climbed in beside him anyway, and scooted close until I was pressed against the length of him.
This wasn’t sexual.
This was plain, old comfort as I wrapped myself around him and held on.
I fell asleep like that, clinging to him as I tried and failed to keep his pieces from breaking apart for a second time.
Twelve
Don’t come around me if your dokies aren’t okie.
—Apollo to Copper
APOLLO
I was asleep and in the best place I’d ever slept before in my life, when I was jolted awake by a banging on the front door.
Irrational anger surged through me at the interruption. Followed right on the heels of my anger was a wave of sadness that felt like it nearly overwhelmed me.
My breathing hitched, and my eyes squeezed shut as I tried to block out what had happened yesterday.
We’d only been asleep for a total of two hours at that point, and as I looked at the clock on the bedside table, it made me even more angry because whomever was on the other side of the door knew they were waking us up.
Six in the morning was an insane time to visit.
I got up and took in the sleeping woman who hadn’t woken despite the banging on the door.
Fuck, she was a heavy sleeper.
Which scared the piss out of me because if she was this heavy of a sleeper—and could sleep through literal pounding—that wasn’t safe.
The building could be on fire and someone could be pounding at her door to wake her up, and she’d sleep through it.
Deciding that was an issue for later, though, I headed for the front door and glanced through the peephole.
I spotted her sister on the other side, and I nearly groaned.
From the texts I’d read between the two women after I’d bought her a new phone, I knew that they weren’t on the best of terms right now.
And based on the luggage with the woman, I had a feeling that she’d done the right thing and had moved out of Eugene’s place.
I opened the door, keeping it blocked from her.
