to darken my mood even more.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked gruffly.
I saw Lex's hands come to a stop on Brewer's body and his whole frame went stiff. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said. I could hear the confusion in his voice, and I wanted to kick myself for being such an asshole. It wasn't his fault that I was so messed up in the head about him… about everything. I wanted to just get back on track to the way life had been before Lex had arrived. I missed my mundane days where routine was my best friend. Where keeping busy kept me from having to think about things.
Moving up the steps, I reached for Lex's arm. He followed without hesitation and when I called out each step to him, he took them with confidence. His trust in me was humbling.
Once we were settled in the truck, I said, "Is Merv's okay? It doesn't have a huge selection, but it's got some decent stuff. Otherwise we have to drive over to Bluewater Ridge to go to one of the grocery stores there."
"Yes, that should be fine. Thanks for doing this, Gideon. Andre wasn't able to make it yesterday because of the weather and then today the car broke down, so I was running a bit low on stuff. I didn't want to risk going another day living off granola bars."
"Granola bars? Why in the world didn't you call me sooner?" I asked angrily. The idea that Lex had risked a diabetic crisis by eating foods that were only meant to supplement his diet made me crazy. "Did you have any episodes? How are you feeling right now? Did you test your blood sugar?"
"First off, I'm fine and my blood sugar is fine. Second off, why are you getting so upset?" Lex asked. Even if I hadn't heard it in his voice, the anger in his expression was clear.
"Because you should've called me!" I snapped impatiently. "What if something had happened? I told you to call me if you needed anything! It's been a week and I haven't heard a single thing from you!" I wanted to call back the last sentence as soon as I said it. If he read it the wrong way—
"Maybe I didn't call because I figured if you wanted to talk to me, you would've actually stopped by to say hi instead of sneaking around and doing things behind my back."
I opened my mouth to argue with him but before I could say anything he added, "And don't play innocent with me, Gideon. I'm blind, not deaf. This truck of yours doesn’t exactly have a stealth mode."
"You heard me?" I asked.
"Yeah, I heard you. I heard you moving around the porch and the only thing I can think of is that you were restocking the log pile because I checked and it's not very big, yet I never ran out of wood all week. And when the power went out, I hadn't even made it down to the front door before I heard you pulling up. I waited each time for you to come say hi, but you didn't. So I figured that was the way you wanted it, and I only called you today because I didn't want to risk my health. Believe it or not, Gideon, I'm a grown man and I don't need to take this shit from some guy I barely even know. I have four older brothers who have the overprotective thing down pat. But with them, at least I know they do it because they love me, not out of obligation or because they feel sorry for me."
Before I could even process Lex's tirade, he was reaching for the door handle. I automatically snagged him by the arm to keep him from getting out of the truck. "Where are you going? You said you needed a ride."
"Don't bother. I'll figure something else out. Sorry to have troubled you." Lex tugged his arm, but I found it impossible to release him. He was right. My reaction had been over the top.
"I'm sorry, Lex. You're right, I overreacted." I could tell that my apology had fallen on deaf ears when Lex continued to try to escape my hold on him. I knew that if he got out of the truck, I’d never get a chance to talk to him again. He'd found the courage to call me and ask me for help, and the second I'd arrived to give it, I’d