Page 67 of The Chemist

The man was right. The cramping in his stomach had stopped, but he didn’t want to take any chances. His throat was still sore from being sick, but the warm broth seemed to be helping.

“You should go check on the doc. There’s no point in wasting this opportunity just cus I’m an idiot and decided it was a good idea to eat a gas station sandwich.”

Zero straightened and shot him a glare. He bent over the bed and grabbed Diesel by the jaw.

“First off, don’t ever call yourself an idiot again. I hate hearing people talking down about themselves. The world is full of enough hatred and meanness; we don’t need to be doing that to ourselves as well.” Diesel wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he remained silent. “Secondly, I set up a dashcam to recordthe doc’s activities while you were sleeping earlier. I can review the footage tomorrow to see what we missed.”

Relief settled in Diesel’s stomach. At least tonight was not a complete loss.

“Okay, so what do we do now?” Diesel asked, watching Zero clean up the mess from his somewhat dinner.

“Now we watch squiggly TV.” Zero grabbed the remote and squeezed in next to Diesel on the bed.

It was in that moment that Diesel realized there was only one bed in the entire room.

“Sit up a bit,” Zero ordered.

Diesel did as he was told and froze when he saw the man slide his arm behind his body.

“Come. Lean here and relax.”

Diesel allowed himself to be pulled down so that his head was resting against Zero’s chest. Behind him, he felt Zero pull his body firmly against his.

“Comfy?” Zero asked as he flicked on the television.

Diesel nodded, unsure if he was or not. His head was screaming for him to pull away and insist that Zero sleep on the floor, but his heart was telling him to relax and let the man take care of him.

That feeling, that need to be taken care of, was so foreign to Diesel. He was so used to always having to rely solely on himself.

Then there was his dick. His dick apparently hadn’t gotten the memo that his internal organs were splattered all across the motel parking lot and the motel bathroom. Instead, the fucker was preparing for war by flooding himself with blood and preparing itself to invade whatever hole was available.

Not now, Big D.Talk about inappropriate timing.

Sinking his body into Zero’s warm embrace, Diesel finally decided to relax and let his guard down. This was nice. This was comfy. This was…sweet.

“Now. What shall we watch on TV?” Zero asked, beginning to flick through the channels.

Diesel didn’t care. He was warm and comfy and loved the feel of Zero’s warm body pressed up against his.

He wasn’t sure how long they lay in silence watching old re-runs ofI Love Lucy. Eventually, sleep came to claim him, and he willingly gave in to its welcoming embrace.

26

DIESEL

Shifting slowly, Diesel’s body protested. His cheek was pressed up against something solid, and his back was slightly curved upward. The last time he felt like this, he’d spent the night sleeping in a bathtub, a reminder of days he would rather forget.

His eyes jolted open when the surface beneath his face lifted before descending once again.

What the?

He jerked upright, startled, forgetting where he was for a moment. Then he saw Zero’s sleeping face.

The man looked so peaceful, lying there, mouth slightly open, chin pressed against his chest. The poor guy had fallen asleep propped up, no doubt not wanting to wake him as he slept.

He remembered them watching TV and Zero’s chest jiggling every time someone did something funny on the show. At first, it had been annoying—his head constantly being jolted around every time the man laughed at something stupid—but eventually, he began enjoying his laugh, especially when he began rubbing circles on the top of his arm. The gentle caresswas calming and made him feel safe and taken care of. Other than Jared cuddling him to sleep when he was recovering from his weeklong bender at that skeezy drug den, he couldn’t remember the last time anyone ever held him in such a way.

Zero was a good man. He may be annoying as fuck and pissed him off at the best of times, but considering how quickly he jumped into caretaker mode, doing his best to take care of him and make him as comfortable as possible, Diesel couldn’t help but admire the guy.

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