Infuriating - Onley James Page 0,47

done that. Jackson had made him feel stupid and small and helpless. “I don’t think you’re defective.”

“Oh, well, that’s a relief,” Day choked out around a sob.

“Day, stop. Please,” Jackson tried. “Just tell me what the problem is, and we can try to fix it.”

“I don’t need to be fixed, Jackson!” Day shouted, turning on his heel and going into the bathroom. Jackson heard the lock click, his heart breaking as he heard Day dissolve into tears on the other side of the door.

“I got what I need,” Webster called from downstairs. “I’ll show myself out.”

Jackson didn’t even bother to answer. When he heard the door click behind Webster, he went to the bathroom door and knocked. “Day, please… I didn’t mean you needed to be fixed. You’re perfect. That’s not what I meant at all.”

“Go away,” Day said, voice thick with tears.

Jackson sighed. “I can’t do that. Not until we talk this out.”

Day sniffled. “There’s nothing to talk about. I’m fine.”

“You’re obviously not fine. I didn’t mean to upset you or make you cry. Can I please come in?” Jackson asked. There was no answer. “Day?”

Jackson listened intently at the door, but all sounds had ceased from the other side. Suddenly, Jackson thought of Wyatt lying in the hospital bed, white as a sheet, after he’d almost bled out from when he was a cutter. What if Day was hurting himself?

“Day?”

Jackson took a step back and kicked the bathroom door with enough force to drive the hollow door off its hinges. Day sat in the empty bathtub, now staring at the remnants of the bathroom door and Jackson in shock.

“What in the actual fuck?” Day asked, dabbing at his eyes with a washcloth. “Did you hit your head or something? Can’t a guy get five seconds of privacy to have a meltdown in peace?”

Jackson felt his face grow hot. “I just thought… Never mind.”

Day sniffled once more, his eyes red-ringed and bloodshot, his nose running. “You just thought…what? I was drowning?”

“Nothing. It was stupid.”

“So, I have to bare my soul to you, but you can’t even tell me why you just pulled a shock and awe on my bathroom door?” Day said before blowing his nose loudly with the roll of toilet paper he’d taken into the bathtub with him.

“It was stupid. I thought… I thought maybe you were upset enough to hurt yourself.”

Day’s mouth fell open, but then he scoffed. “You thought I’d slit my wrists in the bathtub because you figured out I’m fucking stupid and can’t read? Please, if people thinking I’m stupid was all it took to make me off myself, I’d have never made it past the third grade. My grandmother called me stupid so much, I was convinced it was my given name.”

Jackson stepped over the shattered remnants of the door and stepped into the bathtub, grateful it was a soaking tub and not the standard one in his Miami apartment. He picked Day’s legs up so he could sit, then refused to let them go, half thinking Day might run again. “I don’t think you’re fucking stupid. Don’t say that. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”

Day snorted. “Look, I know we’re sleeping together, but you don’t have to give me empty compliments.”

Jackson’s nostrils flared, and he ground his teeth until the muscle in his jaw popped. “Just stop, okay? Stop acting like I’m the kind of person who would give you fake compliments because I want to keep sleeping with you. That’s not who I am. It’s like you just said. You pay your own bills. You’ve found a way to get around not being able to read. Jesus, Day. You speak four fucking languages…”

“Five,” Day said, wiping his nose with his forearm. “Six if you count American sign language.”

“You’re not stupid. You’re…” Jackson floundered for the word. “You’re incredible.”

Day looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh, but it suddenly broke through, a high-pitched almost hysterical giggle. “Incredible? Wow. You really do love this ass, huh?” Day said.

“You’re such a brat,” Jackson snarled, but there wasn’t any heat behind it because Day pitched himself headfirst into Jackson’s arms, hugging his neck and kissing his mouth.

Jackson gathered him in his arms until they were both sat fully clothed, Day between Jackson’s thighs, his arms around him. Day tipped his head as Jackson kissed his way down Day’s throat, giving him more access. “I’m really not worth all this effort, Jackson. I don’t say this because I feel