Page 42 of The Other Side

“I didn’t encourage anyone to be my friend. I couldn’t take them back to the care home and going to their houses hurt, because I should have had that, and I didn’t.”

He pulled up at the side of the cottage. “I’m exhausted.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“You haven’t even heard about the rest of my day. You think you can open the garage so I can put the car inside, please? Here’s the key.”

Osian took his bag, violin and satchel with him when he got out. Drum pulled in and Osian locked up behind him.

Drum brought his cap and police shirt into the cottage and sagged against the wall.

“What can I do?” Osian asked.

“Let me just lock the door.” Even though Osian was watching, Drum still checked it three times. Then he gave a heavy sigh.

“Is the safety check because of what I told you?” Osian asked.

“No, it’s because of something that happened to me. I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

“Okay. Are you hungry?” Osian asked.

“No.”

“Thirsty?”

“No. Just tired. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“We could share.”

Drum hesitated, then nodded. “The shower is down here. You go up and I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Okay.”

Drum was as quick as he could be and after he’d dragged a towel over his body, he pulled on the T-shirt and shorts he’d left in the bathroom that morning. Sharing a bed with Osian when they’d been kids had been fine, now he found it a little overwhelming. An inappropriate erection seemed more than likely. He was confused about how he felt. He’d loved Osian when they were children, but had that love changed into something deeper now?

Drum stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, one hand on the banister. The cottage was quiet except for the wind nudging at the windows. He was too tired to untangle any of it tonight.

By the time he reached the bedroom, Osian was already in bed, leaning against the headboard.

“You look awful,” Osian said.

Drum managed to laugh.

“I mean tired.”

“Tired and confused. There’s so much I don’t understand. I mean, if I’m a faery, how come no hospital has ever freaked out about my DNA?”

“I have no idea.”

“Chimpanzees and Bonobos have the closest link to humans. We share 98.8% of our genome. Though we share 99.7% with Neanderthals. Except they’re extinct. Maybe faeries descended from Neanderthals.”

Osian chuckled. “You might not want to suggest that to a faery. Neanderthals weren’t exactly pretty.”

“You’re pretty.”

The words had slipped past his filter and Drum swallowed hard but Osian’s smile reassured him. “So are you.”

Drum smiled and climbed into bed. He wriggled down under the duvet and so did Osian.