“What?” He snaps and I can see him come around between the seats as he leans over the console.
“It’s fine. His partner was there. He wouldn’t do anything.” I laugh as we roll to a stop in front of the house and he jumps out of the back, rushing and opening my door.
“Come on.” He laughs as he reaches up, holding his hand out for mine.
“Zane, why’d we come back here?” I tilt my head and he laughs. “When was the last time you were even back here?”
“This morning.” He smirks at me, making me even more curious.
“Why?”
“Let me show you.” He whispers before he’s pulling me out of the car and up to the porch.
“Okay, before this morning?”
“When Drew left for school.”
“You haven’t been back here in 5 years?”
“Didn’t really have a reason to.” He shrugs.
“And now you do?”
“I don’t feel like it was right having you live in the clubhouse. You can come and go as much as you want to. You can stay over there as much as you want to. But this also gives a lot more privacy.”
“In a giant ass house.”
He laughs. “It is. I never realized just how big it was until it was just Drew and I.”
I walk through the house, back to where I stayed with him the first time I was here, but he grabs my arm. When I look back at him, he’s shaking his headno.
“Upstairs.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to live back here, it’s upstairs.” He pulls me up the steps behind him and then to the right. I gasp when he opens the bedroom door and I see the view.
“Fuck me.” I mumble, his laugh echoing behind me.
“That was indeed the reaction I was hoping to get.” It makes me laugh as I look over at him. He leans into me, kissing me once before he pulls away. “I put your bags in the closet.” Walking over to the closet, I open the double doors and gasp again.
“It’s huge.” The lack of things I have in the closet is almost comical. Then I tilt my head and turn around, looking at him. “Where’s your stuff?”
He troubles his lip for a moment before he looks back up at me with a concerned face. It’s kind of adorable. “I don’t want to push you too much, or rush you. I know you’ve got a lot going on right now. I want to give you the space and time that you need. I came over here this morning and had to move out my parents’ furniture, because that would have been too weird for me. But this is your room, no strings attached.”
“Except for the string of, you know, sleeping with you in here.”
“Nah, this has nothing to do with it. If you wanted to take a step back, if it’s too much for you. You can still stay here. It’s not being used.”
“So…” I trail as I step into him. “Say I wanted to stop seeing each other.”
“You can still stay here. I really hope that’s not the case, but I would accept what you want. I mean, eventually I would. After you know, I tried to make some sort of effort.”
I keep a serious face as I nod my head and look up at him.
“I’m really regretting saying that already.”
I can’t help but laugh before I shake my head and whisper. “You’re too good to me.”
