Page 62 of Beck

“Oh, I forgot my phone!” Kole said.

“The shop is only a few streets away. We won’t be long.”

As long as they didn’t go mad and buy the shop out, they should be able to carry it back. They didn’t rush, and Kole enjoyed the conversation and choosing the food Beck would make—and maybe let Kole help with. They couldn’t hold hands on the way back because both had two bags each, but at least it wasn’t the entire shop.

“You could do so much better.”

Koel glanced at Beck. “What?”

Beck looked at him, frowning. “What?”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Goosebumps rose on his arms, and he inhaled deeply before looking over his shoulder, almost dropping the bags when he saw a man standing extremely close to them. How he hadn’t felt him before then, he’d never know, especially as he usually felt it when he was being watched. He stared at him, taking a few small steps backwards, away from him.

“Andrew…”

“Kole?” Beck said.

Kole snapped his gaze to Beck and immediately back to Andrew. “Beck, this is Andrew. From Whitby.”

He saw the grimace on Andrew’s face when he looked at Beck, the top-to-toe glare of someone who didn’t like what they saw. Andrew turned back to him.

“You could do so much better. You don’t want him.”

“Andrew, you need to leave. You shouldn’t be here,” Kole said.

“Yes, I should. I’m saving you! He’s tainted.”

Beck’s breath caught, and Kole wanted to reassure him, but he couldn’t. He had to stop this before Andrew blew up further.

****

Chapter 19

Beck

Beck tried not to let the words hurt him—after all, the guy was unstable—but it hurt all the same. “Let’s just calm down here.”

“You’re tainted. You shouldn’t be with him! Kole, please, listen to me!”

Andrew went to grab Kole, but Beck dropped his bags and gripped the man’s wrist. “Unless you want to be in even more trouble with the police than you already are, you need to leave.”

“Kole! Listen to me. I can give you everything you need. Everything you could ever want. Listen to me!”

“Andrew, I’m sorry, but I just don’t think of you that way. I enjoyed what we had, but I’m with Beck now.” He put the bags down.

The placating tone was obvious, but it didn’t seem to get across to the man.

“You can enjoy it again! All you need to do is get rid ofhim,” Andrew shouted, beginning to draw attention to them from the passersby.

Kole held his hands out, palms forward. “Andrew, I need you to leave.”

“No! Not without you!”

Before Beck could blink, a searing pain went through his left hand, the one holding Andrew at bay. Reflexively, he let go, hissing as the pain increased and then cursing when he saw the pocketknife sticking out of the back of his hand. He jerkedhis hand away when Andrew went to yank it out, knowing, somewhere in the back of his mind, that if he did, he’d end up losing a lot of blood.

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