He looks a little better now. “Yeah. It is. All I want is for him to understand that he’s too fucking young to give up on life. He doesn’t need to wither away and die because his first marriage wasn’t his forever.” He hesitates, then adds, “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead or whatever, but Liam wasn’t a very nice guy. And I don’t think Leo was happy with him.”
I say nothing. There’s nothing I can say. I met Easton and Leo well after the whole hiking accident, and Liam’s nothing more than the few stories Easton has told me.
He heaves a breath, then shrugs. “Anyway, I’m going to spend the afternoon trying to find Leo a place to live. He won’t be able to get back into his house for god knows how long, and my place is way too small for him to recover in. I could ask around here.” He bites his lip in thought. “I bet one of the guys could take him in. Maybe Axel. I think he’s single and has an extra room.”
“I have room,” I blurt. I can’t help it. I don’t want Leo staying with someone like Axel, who is objectively hotter and better than me in almost every conceivable way.
Easton frowns. “Uh…”
“I mean,” I stutter.
I technically have room, but the second bedroom in my house has fucked-up floorboards, and I still need to fix them before it can hold furniture. The third room is set up for storage and is wall-to-wall boxes.
“You sure, man?” Easton asks with a frown.
“Yeah,” I add after an awkward silence. “He can take my bed, and I can crash in the living room. That way, he doesn’t haveto give up the neighborhood, and you come over all the time anyway, so you can see him whenever you want.”
Easton grimaces. “That’s a good point. But are yousuresure? I mean, you two haven’t always been the best of friends.”
That’s putting it mildly, but things have most definitely changed, and my offer is very, very selfish. If I were a better person, I’d feel bad about it, but I’m not. So I don’t.
“It’s totally fine, man. We can do this until he finds out if his place is salvageable or not.”
“Ah, shit, that reminds me. Do you want to go over there with me this afternoon? Teddy’s doing his assessment of the scene, and I need to see if I can grab anything for Leo to wear.”
“Count me in,” I say. Anything to help Leo feel better.
Easton drags me into a hug. “Thanks, bud.”
“Oh. Are we doing hugs?” Ozzie asks.
Easton rolls his eyes, but he opens his arm. “Get in here, rookie.”
Ozzie does, fitting his body against ours, and hums. He smells like tires and motor oil. “Mm. This is nice.”
“You’re weird, rookie,” Easton says, giving his shoulder a shake. “Never change.”
Ozzie smiles at him. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan to. Well…I don’t know. I mean, my boyfriend says I smile too much, which is probably true. And that I talk too much.Andthat I don’t do a great job at cleaning up, which I blame on my ADHD, but I am trying. Anyway, I’m working on changingthosethings, and maybe then I’ll?—”
“Your boyfriend sounds like a dick,” Easton cuts in. He looks Ozzie up and down. “Don’t try and tear yourself into pieces for someone who will never be satisfied with the shape you’re in.”
Ozzie says nothing as Easton walks away, and then he turns to me. “Do you think Easton’s right?”
“I think Easton’s right about most things,” I tell him. “And if your boyfriend can’t see what a catch you are, he’s not the one. Because you’re great.”
Ozzie smiles, but there’s something in his eyes that tells me he’s not happy. I can’t think about that now though. There’s too much on my plate, but I hope Ozzie realizes that if he needs help, any one of us would be there for him.
No matter what.
Leo’s house is a mess. It’s not often that any of us go back to the scene of a fire we put out, and seeing Leo’s place like this is a special kind of awful.
Teddy’s walking around, taking notes with the certified fire investigator, but there’s no arson here, so I don’t feel even a lick of anxiety over it. Easton’s watching them like a hawk though, like he’s ready to throw hands with one of his best friends if he even looks sideways at the scene.
Standing on the porch, I can see through the mostly missing living room wall to the soot and puddles of black water that cover the floor. Leo’s furniture in that room is gone—nothing but char left behind, and the smell is both moldy and burnt.
I hate it.
Squeezing my arms around my middle, I turn toward the railing of the porch on the side that didn’t take damage, and I see a single black crow feather sitting on the railing.
