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“Thank you for being honest.” Which is ridiculous because they both know he’s lying about his chest.

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“You need it, Logan.”

“I can’t,” he insists, holding the jacket tightly, gaze fixed on Robert standing above him.You decide, he thinks, but he can’t say that either.

“I have to work for a while and then I can have lunch.”

“So… I’ll come back?” Logan doesn’t want to leave.

“Or you can wait for me.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“Then don’t,” he says, sounding a little annoyed. “Can you be still and quiet while I work?”

“Yes,” he whispers. Is it a trap if Logan wants to be caught? If he goes into the spider’s web and wraps himself up in soft silk and burrows in tight, then is the spider really the one at fault?

“Good b—Logan,” Robert says, correcting himself with a sigh. “Don’t sleep, just wait.”

Logan shakes his head, watching his hands fist into the material of Robert’s jacket. “I’m not. Besides, we both know I’m lying to you.”

“If we both know, then I guess it’s okay.”

“It isn’t.”

Robert touches the side of Logan’s face, and then he’s cradling Logan’s jaw, tilting his head up so they make eye contact. “You’re punishing yourself, Logan. You’re too miserable and I do not like it. But you are not mine. If you want to sit here and hurt for a while, then I’m inclined to let you.”

“Why?” he asks, blinking back tears.

“Because this is your life and you have to decide how to live it. You have to do theworkof living, Logan. I’m worried about making a mistake with you. The only option I have is to let you decide. You will make decisions, and hopefully you know that any decision you make, I will accept. That includes changing your mind. We don’t know if something suits us until we try.”

Logan presses his cheek into Robert’s hand and tries to swallow past the lump of emotion in his throat. “I hurt everywhere,” he confesses. “I can’t tell any of it apart.”

“You deserve better than that, Logan.”

That’s funny. What does Robert think he “deserves”? What doesanyonedeserve? And when the hell has anyone ever gotten what they deserved? Daniel was the sweetest, kindest person in the world and now he’s locked away in the dark, frozen and cold, and maybe his existence is even worse than death. Does Daniel know that time is passing?

“Fuck,” he says, trying not to cry.

Nothing is fair. Or just. No one gives a shit about making sure anyone is rewarded for doing what is proper.

“I want to stay with you,” Logan confesses.

“Good. I want you here. Rest, Logan. You have my jacket. You’re in my office. I’ll watch the door and keep us safe. When I’m ready for you to eat, I’ll come get you.”

That makes him dizzy, the orders and promises of protection. Logan sighs in relief, shifting the jacket over his chest. A sharp zap of sensation courses from his nipple to his groin and he flinches.

“Poor boy. Does it hurt?”

“Yes.”Please don’t call me boy, he thinks, but he doesn’t have the strength to protest the endearment.

Robert leans down and kisses him on the top of his head. “I’ll help you if you ask me. Rest, sweetheart. Let’s see how you feel when I’m done with my work.”

He means to say something but there are no words.

Robert walks away from him and Logan settles back on the couch, adjusting the jacket over his chest, and once again that soft brush of material hurts. He moves his hands so they’re cupped over his aching pecs, protective, as if his own touch is enough to keep the agony contained.

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