Page 37 of Beck

“It’s not his character I’m worried about.” Kole scratched his fingernails against his scalp as he tried to explain without explaining. “We both have issues, and I’m concerned that we might…hold each other up, so to speak. That we’ll begin to rely too heavily on each other and won’t…heal properly.”

Ethan nodded slowly. “You’re already in love with him, Kole. Whether you admit that to him or not, you’re already in deep. I don’t know how Beck feels because I don’t know him as well, but even if you don’t trust your own instincts, I trust you. I know you will do what you believe is right.”

And wasn’t that the conundrum?

Kole tossed back the vodka and orange and gestured for another. “It’s Friday, and I’m not working tomorrow. I plan to get drunk.”

Ethan frowned. “I thought you were going in tomorrow?”

“Only because I had nothing else to do. Instead, I’m going to sleep off my hangover.”

Ethan chuckled. “Understood.”

And by god did he have a hangover. When his body brought him to consciousness, he didn’t even need to move to know his head hurt. The jackhammers and steamrollers were playing in their playground, also known as his head, and when he tried to peel his eyelids open, he realised the gritters had also been out doing their job. He felt like he had a year’s worth of grit sliding across his eyeballs. And don’t get him started on his mouth. The inside of his hoover was probably cleaner.

Finally opening his eyes, his blurry gaze landed on his bedside table, and despite the weird angle advertising he was probably diagonal across his bed, he could just about see the outline of a glass of water. As carefully as he could, he crawled himselfforward until he could reach it and found two tablets beside it as well.

“Thank you, Ethan,” he whispered.

Shoving them into his dry mouth, he grabbed the glass, sipping it sideways so he didn’t have to move his head any more than he already had. He spilt half of it into his pillow, but he didn’t care. Putting the empty glass on the floor—because he had used all his energy and couldn’t reach up again—he pulled the duvet over his head and went back to sleep.

He jolted awake at the sound of a bell and groaned when the movement hurt. The bell sounded again, and he realised it was the doorbell, the annoying buzzing something he really wanted to change but had never got around to it.

“Go away,” he whispered.

The swarm of bees continued, and Kole finally dragged himself from the bed, using the walls and doors to keep him upright. He opened the door without looking to see who it was and came face to face with the person he’d least expected, but it woke him the fuck up.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

Drake smiled that fake stretching of his lips, and Kole’s stomach rebelled, but he swallowed it down. He tightened his hold on the door handle, wondering if he could get away with slamming it shut before the guy said anything, because Kole was sure he didn’t want to hear it.

“Yes. I’d like to talk to Beck.”

Over my dead body.“He’s not here right now. He’s out of the country, in fact.”

Drake’s smile turned to a sneer. “Is that right?”

That was the moment Kole realised he’d said the wrong thing, and a shiver went down his spine.

“Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll come back another time.”

Kole opened his mouth to say the apartment wasn’t where Beck lived but thought better of it. He watched Drake wander down the corridor to the lift. The man winked at him as the doors closed behind him, and Kole slammed his door closed, leaning back against it.

“How the hell did he know where I lived?” he muttered to the empty apartment.

Brushing the thought aside, because trying to think when he hadn’t recouped all his brain cells yet was impossible, he headed for the shower. Might as well try to clean up while he was on his feet.

Once he’d showered and dressed, he dropped onto the sofa after collecting some snacks and a drink—the non-alcoholic kind—and put on some crappy TV show. He didn’t have enough energy to figure out what else he could watch. But as the food and drink soaked into his body, giving it the nourishment it needed, he began to feel better. Well, better, but sleepier.

His front door opening had him jerking awake, but this time without the groan of pain. Darkness had fallen over the room, and he could see there was a person by the door.

“Beck?” He lifted himself to sit and rubbed a hand over his face.

“No, sorry to disappoint.”

The voice had Kole freezing in place. “How did you get in?”

“I was very persuasive with the landlord,” Drake said, moving forward more into the light of the screen.

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