He nodded. “Maybe a bit longer on top but short on the sides? Yeah, that would look so good on you.”
I quickly took a sip of my coke. It had gotten hot all of a sudden and I needed something to distract me from Dylan’s penetrating gaze.Had he always been so all-consuming?
Wanting to talk about something safe, I turned to work talk. “I have the weekend off, but then I’m starting my medium training on Monday.”
“You’re going to hate it,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
My brows furrowed. “You think so?”
Dylan nodded. “Can’t you remember how Pete was? And he’d even been born with his abilities.”
I shook my head. “I’d already moved out for college when he began training.”
“Oh, that’s right. I’d forgotten about that. Well, Pete was drained and mentally exhausted. He used his weekends to catch up on sleep and banished the house ghosts away from him so he could recharge.”
Mom had never said any of this and Pete had seemed fine whenever I’d talked to him over the phone.
“You think it’ll be worse for me?” Dylan knew less than me about these things, but I weirdly craved his worry and evident care as I went through whatever training my new boss Rino had set up for me.
Dylan shrugged. “I mean, you have way more to learn than he did. But I remember what helped Pete through it. I’ll simply do the same for you.”
“You’d do that?”
Dylan seemed surprised I’d even ask. “Of course? Wouldn’t you have done the same for me?”
“Yes, but…”
“But what?”
“Well, I’m older so…”
“If you’re about to tell me you see me as a little brother, I’ll hit you,” Dylan threatened, his tone a tad too serious for this to be teasing. Also,fuckme. Dylan being all serious was doing things to me. Things I really needed to work through in the privacy of my own bedroom.
“I wasn’t about to say that,” I hurried to say, quelling whatever fire had been in his gaze. “I just meant that it feels natural for me to care for others. Maybe it’s because I’m an older brother and its instinct at this point.”
Dylan shrugged. “As long as you don’t see me asyourbrother then we’re fine. But, Mike?”
“Yes?”
“It feels natural for me to care for you, too, so please just let me do that, okay?”
That sounded easy enough. Also, the one thing I’d longed for a partner to do for me. Something I never thought I would ever have with another person, especially not from a friend.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Why am I so nervous,” I whispered, staring at the mansion-like building from my car.
Erik sat next to me, eyeing the building we were about to enter. “Likely because you’re so new to this.”
I shook my head. “I’m not though. My mother and younger brother are both born mediums. I grew up with ghosts.”
Erik nodded thoughtfully next to me. “Maybe, but you couldn’t see or hear us before you met me. It’s one thing to know we exist; it’s another thing entirely to see that for yourself.”
“I’d hoped I’d never get the ability,” I confessed. “Life seems simpler without the burden of always seeing and hearing stuff others don’t.”
Erik smiled softly. “I don’t envy you. And I’ll be patient as you work through your training. Nothing I can do for Marcus now anyway.”
“You know,” I began, thinking this might be what was best for Erik. “The other mediums can help you, too. They can free you from me and take you on themselves. Then you wouldn’t be stuck with a newbie medium who barely knows what he’s doing.”
