Page 16 of ILY
I can hear muttering on the inside of the house and the sound of something breaking. My hand falls onto the doorknob, my hand on my gun as I push my way inside.
“Michael, you little shit,” I hear Leaf shout as another door opens and closes. “It’s time to die! This ends tonight! You ate your last fucking zucchini!”
I tiptoe my way inside, moving past stacks of boxes that are filled to the brim. The air is musty in here, and the decorations aren’t exactly what I’d expect a guy his age to have. But then again, who am I to judge. My apartment is small and bare. I don’t think I have a single decoration anywhere.
Maybe I should buy a plant, I think as I turn a corner and see Leaf on the front porch, binoculars pressed up against his eyes with one hand. With the other, he’s holding…is that abat? Withnailsin it?
And what the fuck is he looking at?
Suddenly, he rushes forward, pulling goggles over his eyes, his jacket flapping behind him. I can’t help but follow, pulling the sliding door open and trailing after him. He doesn’t even notice I’m here.
He really needs better self-preservation. I wonder if he’s hard of hearing, too, because he doesn’t react to what I know are audible footsteps running after him.
Maybe it’s because he’s so focused, moving around several planters, but he doesn’t swerve around one correctly and falls onto his knees. His hands splay out in front of him, his entire body falling face-first into the dirt, and I can just make out the way he grunts on impact. The bat rolls to the side, several nails falling off in the process.
Oh my god, did hegluethose on?
Leaf doesn’t move, and I just stand there, unsure of what to do.
Maybe he’s dead. Maybe his heart stopped from the stress.
The thought pushes me forward. I tuck my gun into the hidden holster I keep in the back of my pants, and I reach down, turning him over.
He grunts, his face covered in dust, his eyelashes an ashen brown.
When they flicker open, he blinks wildly.
“Am I dead? Is heaven going to be just one long hand job on the dark web?”
That makes me laugh, especially the way he signs it. So fucking clever. I help him sit up, and once again, I’m squatting before him and staring at his face.
A cute fucking face, if you ask me, which is not something I’m used to saying about men. Except maybe Henry Cavill or Pedro Pascal, which might be saying something about me. There were also a few times in training when I’d be working out with other guys in my class andthingshappened below the belt.
But it’s not worth thinking about right now.
“Why are you here?” he finally asks, using both his hands and his voice. I realize how easily the ASL is coming to me. Denver would be proud, which is not something I need to be thinking about right now.
I shrug. “Followed you.”
“Now, why would you do that? I told you it was forbidden. Verboten!”
I don’t answer. He wouldn’t like the actual reason, so I just shrug again. “Curious.”
“Well, you’ll be very bored, I assure you. There’s not much to see here.” He’s wrong about that. There’s so much here to process. It will take me an entire year to get through it all. “Oh shit. Michael.”
He scrambles up, almost knocking me back as he rushes forward.
I follow after him, my eyes taking in more now that I’m not running after him. This is a huge backyard, one with raised planter boxes, several sheds in various corners, and the entirety of it is surrounded by trees. Orchards, by the look of it. Those look familiar too. What the hell? Maybe I’m making things up because I’ve never investigated property like this before.
He did mention a failed farm at one point online. My mind must have latched onto that.
“He’s gone. Oh my god. I can’t believe it.”
“Michael? He was here?”
Leaf looks like he wants to cry as he drags a hand through his hair, dislodging some of the dirt. “Yeah. Fuck.”
“Where would he go?”
