Page 11
“And you decided to get me.”
“I could ask Dad, but he’s inside somewhere.”
“I can help.” Samuel put his book down on the bench and got up. He stretched, his spine cracking, making him wince. “Show me the tree.”
They didn’t have to go far, but it was a little more complicated than Samuel expected. He was grateful Jason had decided to get him instead of trying to do it himself because, by the time he was back down on the ground, he was sweating. Jason was happy, though. He took his ball with a grin and ran away, clearly not done with it. Samuel just hoped he wasn’t going to get it stuck up in another tree. Samuel wasn’t sure he could survive retrieving it again.
He was pretty sure he’d pulled a muscle while climbing, so he moved slowly as he made his way back to the bench. The only reason he didn’t notice Thorne earlier was that he was distracted, wondering if he might actually have torn something.
“What is this?” Thorne asked.
He raised the book Samuel had been reading. Samuel almost swore when he saw that he hadn’t put a bookmark in it and Thorne had lost his place. “Now I’m going to have to find where I was,” he complained.
“Which you wouldn’t have to do if you treated these better. I told you that library books couldn’t be left outside.”
“I didn’t leave it.”
“Didn’t you? It was abandoned on the bench, and you were nowhere to be seen.”
It would be easy for Samuel to give Thorne an explanation. He was sure that if he told Thorne about Jason, the man would relent.
Or maybe not. Thorne had a stick up his ass, and he was controlling as fuck. Samuel had enough of keeping that to himself, and he had enough of Thorne yelling at him for stupid things. “It’s a fucking romance novel,” he snapped. “No one would care if it got ruined, and if it did, I could just buy a new one.”
“That’s not the point,” Thorne said as he pointed the book at Samuel. “This is not your personal belonging. It’s something everyone in the house shares.”
“And again, I would have paid for it if it had gotten ruined. I was coming back, anyway. I was actually reading that.”
“Were you?”
“Look, I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but you need to stop micromanaging everyone,” Samuel said, trying to keep his voice down. He didn’t want to alarm Jason. “And stop trying to control me.”
“No one is trying to control you.”
“Aren’t you? You’re telling me where I can or cannot put my things. You’re always on my back about leaving stuff around.”
“Because you’re showing zero respect for the people who live with you.”
“The people who live with me don’t care. Do you really think Jarvis cares about that book? Or that I sometimes leave a cup of coffee on the coffee table? You’re the only one who does, man. You need to learn how to relax.”
“This is my job. I won’t relax when I’m doing my job.”
“I think you really need a vacation.”
“I do—from you. Stop leaving things everywhere. Stop taking library books outside. Stop being a pain in my ass!”
Thorne was almost panting by the time he was done. Samuel was impressed. Thorne hadn’t been yelling, but it had been close, something that never happened before. Samuel would almost be proud of himself for managing to push him that far.
“Done?” he asked with an arched brow.
“You’re infuriating,” Thorne said with a growl.
He turned around and strode towards the door, clearly done with this conversation. Samuel was, too, so he was glad it was over.
“My book,” he called after him, but Thorne didn’t even turn around. To Samuel’s surprise—and amusement, he could admit it—Thorne raised a hand and flipped him the bird without even looking back.
Maybe there was something more to the man than the uptight suit. Samuel wasn’t hopeful that he’d ever find out, though.
* * * *
