“Not for an hour.”
“Can you walk my brother down to the deli on the corner?” Merrick reached into his pocket and pulled out forty bucks, shoving it at Bryce before he could protest. “Make sure he eats.”
“I’m twenty-two,” Bryce argued, tossing the money on the counter. “I don’t need a babysitter, I just need directions.” His stare flickered to Holden, eyes darkening.
“Need to finish cleaning,” Holden said, and Merrick scoffed at him.
“You’re clean. I gave him enough for both of you. Please? I know he can do it alone.” Merrick looked at his brother. “I know you can do it alone, but it’s your first time in LA?—”
“If I can make it out of LAX, which I did, I think I can manage a walk down to a deli on the corner.”
“Not this corner,” Holden interrupted, clenching his jaw and immediately regretting getting involved.
Two matching brown stares drifted toward him, and he took a deep breath. “It’s…”
He gave up explaining and gestured weakly toward the neighborhood behind the shop.
“I can take directions,” Bryce said.
Holden had to turn away at that point, not wanting either man to see his face.
“Please, Holden?” Merrick asked.
“Sure.” He tossed the paper towel he’d been cleaning with into the trash and put some sanitizer on his hands.
“I don’t need an escort,” Bryce said again.
“What if he’s hungry too?” Merrick countered, knocking into Holden with his elbow as he headed toward the counter. “Are you hungry, Holden?”
“Holden,” Bryce murmured the name, and when Holden looked at the other man, Bryce pursed his lips like he hadn’t meant to be heard.
“I could eat,” he finally said.
Merrick grinned, and Holden couldn’t get a read on Bryce’s expression. For as similar as they were, he was quickly spotting the differences between them.
“Holden isn’t big on conversation,” Merrick said over his shoulder. “Don’t take it personally.”
“We can’t all be as chatty as you are, brother.”
Holden snatched the forty dollars off the counter and stuffed it into his pocket.
“Let me get your bag,” Merrick said.
Bryce passed his bag to his brother, they talked some more, and it gave Holden more than enough time to second-guess whether agreeing to walk Bryce to the deli was a good idea or not. Tired of waiting, he pushed open the door to the shop and stepped outside. The mid-afternoon air was warm, and he leaned against the brick wall of the building to wait for Bryce to finish talking with Merrick—which likely would never happen.
Five minutes later, Bryce did appear, though, a curious smile on his face and a subtle tilt to his head that Holden thought looked like trouble.
“Ready?” Holden asked.
“Wherever you lead, I’ll follow.”
A swell of heat rolled through Holden, and he ignored the comment entirely, pushing off the wall and heading down the block. Behind him, Bryce chuckled and jogged to catch up. Once they fell into step together, Bryce immediately started talkingand Holden wondered if it would literally kill the Shannon brothers to ever be quiet.
“Do you ever stop talking?” he asked, turning the corner, grateful the deli was finally in sight.
“If someone puts something in my mouth, sure.”
He shot Bryce a sidelong glance.
