Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,37

need you to call. We need to talk. Love you, man.

Ben

“What the fuck?” My eyes stung, and I swiped the tears out of them with the back of my good hand. That asshole was the only family I had left, and he had the audacity to tell me that he loved me at a time like this? Clearly emotional manipulation, and damn, was it working. I so badly wanted to believe him that what had happened was all just a weird but completely explainable miscommunication. Why was I scared of my brother in the first place? Did I overreact to what happened? My head said no, but my heart wanted to give Ben a chance.

And at the very least, I deserve an explanation, to know what the fuck was going on, and it looked like that explanation was going to have to come from him.

With coffee-fueled fingers, I dashed out a reply.

Ben,

One chance. Your place tonight.

As soon as I hit send, I lay back and passed out. My body had put up with a lot, and with some potential answers finally on their way, I took the opportunity to nap. I dreamed of Dr. Dish rebandaging my wrist with slow, sensual touches that kept moving higher and higher up my arm until he’d wrapped me up in a deep embrace.

I must have slept deep. When I woke up, it was a little after four, and to my surprise, Google Maps told me I wasn’t far from Ben’s apartment—or mine. It was too early to go meet him, but I had to bust out of the Vanguard Tower before Derek woke up and tried to talk me out of meeting my brother and interrogating him until I was satisfied with the answers.

The small closet in the spare room was stuffed with clothes, presumably from past kidnapees, and I shoved my laptop and any clothes that looked like my size into a Hershel backpack I found on the back of the door. There was a pair of boots a size too big but close enough I could wear them, and I tucked them under my arm before making my way out of the room. I paused at Derek’s bedroom door and pressed my ear to the wood but couldn’t hear a thing. Just one last look…

I held back a groan when I opened the door. Dr. Dish, half-naked, sprawled across his bed, face-down and ass up, his thick thighs tangled in the sheets as he snored softly. How easy it would be to forget Ben and crawl into bed with Dr. Dish. I swallowed and tried to tear my gaze away, but I couldn’t stop staring at the rise and fall of his muscled back, his stubbled jaw, and his parted lips. Fuck, he was the whole package. Handsome, smart, kind, an out-of-this-world kisser. Too bad I had no shot at someone like him. Not yet, anyway. Maybe after a decade of career progress and real estate investment, if he didn’t find an eligible husband before then, I’d be able to, at least, earn his respect.

Shit, for all I knew, he already had some uber-respectable, insanely hot boyfriend waiting for him to get rid of his latest charity case. Maybe that was why he’d freaked out and acted like kissing me had given him a roaring case of the herps or some plague kind of thing that would attack his appendages.

I headed to the kitchen for a sandwich and shoved a bottle of sparkling water into my backpack. I felt a little sad as I pushed my feet into the boots at the front door, knowing it would be the last time I’d see the place. But who knew? Maybe I’d come back for his help one day.

Tying laces sure wasn’t easy with just one hand and a backpack on, so I shuffled over to the living room area and plopped onto the couch so I could prop a foot on the coffee table and lace the boots from there. I was almost all set when the door rattled. I held my breath. Surely it was locked…

No, of course it wasn’t, or if it had been, then Eli most certainly had a key. The Latino cutie stood in the doorway with his hellhound at his feet, and raised his eyebrows at me in surprise.

“You look like you're ready for an adventure.” He tilted his head to the side and sized me up.

The dog rushed over and dove onto the couch beside me,