Page 35 of Saving You

Alora’s skin looked almost green. “You stay the fuck out of my marriage.”

“Sure. So long as you stay the fuck out of Oz’s house. Deal?”

She looked over at her mom, then back at Oz. “This isn’t over.”

“Oh, it is. And next time you try to ambush me, you won’t like what happens,” Oz told her.

There was a tense moment where both his mom and his sister looked like they were going to fight him. And then, it was over. They turned, and a second later, he felt the vibrations of his front door slamming shut.

Oz sagged back, and Ridge caught him again, holding most of his weight as he guided him to the couch. He sat, feeling boneless and exhausted, but he was grateful that Ridge didn’t pull away. Instead, the bigger man settled himself right beside Oz and took his hand, holding it gently between both of his own.

God, how was his hand so warm and so soft, considering what he did for a living?

“They must have showed up right after I got home,” Oz murmured after a beat. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I betthey were waiting in the parking lot. I was only in the shower for a couple of minutes.”

“Mm. No more than five,” Ridge said.

Oz felt his cheeks pink. “How long were you waiting for me?”

“Not long,” Ridge said. Something in his face was careful.Toocareful. Oh God, he knew.

Oz swallowed back all of his questions. Right now, he didn’t want to confirm it. He needed a moment to process. Was Ridge going to call him out on it? He wasn’t sure what he would say. A lie sounded nice right about now. But…so did the truth.

“Hey.”

Oz looked up, and Ridge lifted his hand, brushing it behind Oz’s left processor.

‘Off?’

Right. He could do that now. He was safe to do that now. ‘Yes.’

‘Me?’

He was asking to—oh. Oz was usually weird about people touching them. When he and Darcy first met, she was weirdly obsessed with pulling them off and putting them back on.

Then there had been the first morning, he’d woken up with his head roaring with sound because she’d slipped them on while he was still asleep, and it had damn near given him a heart attack.

She laughed her ass off and refused to apologize, even after he’d been knocked down with a migraine because of it. But the difference here was that Ridge was asking for permission. And Oz didn’t think he’d get upset if he said no.

He felt nervous, for some reason. Antsy. Edgy. ‘No, thank you. I like to do it myself.’

Oz was immediately proven right. Ridge didn’t get mad. He smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. ‘I’ll get food. You get comfortable.’

Oz made a noise as Ridge stood up, stopping him. ‘Lock the door first. Use the dead bolt and the chain.’

Ridge repeated the words, fingerspelling them slowly, then wiggled his first finger to show he was asking if that was right.

Oz nodded his head and his fist as he used his left hand to pull his CIs off. ‘Yes, please.’

Ridge winked, too fucking charming for Oz to be able to handle right then, and he turned to head for the door. The moment he was out of the room, Oz tossed his processors on the table, then sank back into silence.

He felt at home for the first time in a while. Safe. Relaxed. He was still trying to shake off the last of the stress his mother and sister caused, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t be back. Not tonight. They’d test his boundaries because that’s what they did best, but for a little while, he could count on peace.

He didn’t move again until he felt the couch jostle with Ridge’s weight, and he rolled his head to the side, cracking one eye open.

‘Hungry?’ Ridge asked.

He wasn’t. At all. But he also couldn’t let himself be impolite. Ridge had gone out of his way to bring him food, and he’d once again pulled him out of the fire with a kiss that made Oz want to abandon everything he thought he knew about himself and spend his days worshiping the man’s body.

---