Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,53

if you want.”

“That’s...not what I meant,” Caleb said with a sigh.

But once more, he tried to tell himself not to look too closely into Sam’s behavior. Samuel had never been a very good morning person, even if that morning happened to take place in the early afternoon. If there was ever a time where Samuel could be described as genuinely cranky, it was shortly after he woke up.

“Sleep well?” Caleb asked, hoping it was a benign enough question.

“Not really. Kept waking up,” Sam grunted.

Ah, well, that would go a long way toward explaining his behavior as well. Just as Caleb had been good about falling asleep quickly, he woke up fairly quickly as well. For Sam, though, it was an arduous process that he described as plugging back into reality. While the plugging-in was going on, he was generally confused and disconnected, and apparently, he just wasn’t a fan of being confused.

Caleb left him alone as he went about the rest of his morning routine. They took turns in the shower, which helped wake Sam up to the point that he didn’t look like he was trying to figure out what everything was by staring at it in bemusement. Yet there was still little conversation coming from the other man, and by the time they had about half an hour before they would have to leave, Caleb could feel his patience beginning to strain.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Caleb finally asked when Sam sat quietly on the couch, staring at his phone.

Sam looked up, and at that moment, Caleb knew there was something wrong. There was no confusion or puzzlement in the man’s eyes, only irritation and wariness.

“Why?” Sam asked with a huff. “I told you last night that I’m fine.”

“Well,” Caleb snorted, setting his mug down on the coffee table. “It’s really telling that you immediately knew I was talking about last night too.”

Sam scowled at him. “Not really all that hard. Whenever you start overthinking things, you immediately start connecting all the dots. After so many years, I’ve gotten really good at figuring out where you’re coming from.”

“Really?” Caleb asked with a raised brow. “Because if that was the case, I think you would have said something. Unless this is just your way of once again telling me that you don’t really care so long as you’re left alone when you want to be.”

Samuel’s eyes widened, and he shoved his phone into his pocket with a scoff. “Really? This is what you’re going to start with? After all that talk about how things are different? You’re going to drag up old stuff and then make the same old, tired accusations?”

“Well, if you weren’t acting like the same old you, then maybe I wouldn’t be mentioning it,” Caleb hissed, feeling his temper rising to the point of boiling.

“I’m literally sitting here,” Samuel gestured emphatically at the chair. “Minding my own business and enjoying a nice, quiet morning. You’re the one who’s got a bug up his ass.”

True, but he also knew the habits, he’d seen the patterns, Caleb knew what was happening. Worse yet, Samuel surely knew as well, but rather than let himself be called out and address the issue, he was going to deflect and fight Caleb tooth and nail instead.

Just like he’d always done.

Caleb tried to get his temper under control before it spiraled out of control. The one thing he’d always privately prided himself on was his self-control. Yet there was one person who could push Caleb past his limit with startling speed, the same one sitting across from him, glaring.

“Look, I’m not trying to argue with you,” Caleb said calmly, taking another deep breath. “But there’s a very big difference between how you were early last night and how you’ve been...well, since we slept together.”

“I’m just sitting here,” Sam said stubbornly, averting his eyes.

Caleb’s jaw clenched as he tried not to rise to the bait. Sometimes, he didn’t know if the man acted like this on purpose just to piss Caleb off or if it was just an unfortunate byproduct of a character flaw. To the former, he could only say that it was absurdly effective, and to the latter, well, he had no idea what to advise for that.

But he’d told himself they were better than this, and maybe, just maybe, he could be the one to take the first step to end the pattern.

“I know you are,” Caleb said, nodding his head slowly. “But it feels like something