Page 32 of Watch Over Me

Eddie held his breath as they stared at each other.

Seconds passed without either of them glancing away, and Eddie's heart started pounding in his chest.

Is he—? Will they—?

He tried not to even blink.

Please.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Still, I don't like it."

As if this was an obvious thing to say.

As if feeling resentful on James's behalf over something that had happened when he was a teen was a normal, everyday reaction.

James stared into Eddie's eyes, wondering what to say or do, because no one had ever done that. No one had ever taken his side in such a way.

Then, between one moment and the next, something had changed. The two of them had seen each other thousands of times, on easy days and on hard nights. They'd laughed and joked, or they'd said nothing and simply sat there in the office that was never completely silent. They'd helped each other through some difficult moments, but never like this.

James had never shared things from his childhood with Eddie—or anyone from KRK, aside from Ryan. It wasn't a secret, but also not something he advertised.

They'd never even been in each other's apartments before.

He shouldn't have gone up. He could tell they were on the brink of something, and he should've stepped away from the edge. But Eddie needed help, and James couldn't abandon his friend simply because of a feeling.

Now, though, sitting close enough that it would be so easy to reach out and touch him, so easy to put a hand on Eddie's neck, lean in, and—

No.

Absolutely not.

James's immediate instinct was to rear back, but hemanaged to catch himself in time to slowly lean further against the armrest of the couch, instead.

He clutched the glass in his hand and stared at it, his mind going a thousand miles an hour as he tried to figure out what came next.

Would it be so bad? Would it really be so bad if he—?

Yes, it would, he answered his own question, a dull ache spreading in his chest. He'd never had any trouble finding someone to hook up with, so sex was easy to come by. Friends, though—people he could trust—were much rarer. And to risk a friendship for adrenaline-fueled sex they were likely to regret in the morning would be the stupidest thing James had ever done.

And he'd done some stupid shit in his past.

"I should go," he said out loud, feeling like a coward but knowing that retreat was sometimes the only way to get out of a situation unscathed.

He made a mistake of glancing up right then, though, catching Eddie's disappointed expression before he quickly turned away towards the window.

I'm sorry, James wanted to say, chest hurting even harder than before.

Because he was. He was sorry that he couldn't be what Eddie wanted or deserved. But James had learned a long time ago that some risks were not worth taking, not when there was so much at stake. When you had little to hold dear, you would think twice—or a hundred times—before you chanced losing it for anything.

"Of course. I didn't mean to keep you up so late." Eddie got up and grabbed his empty glass from the coffee table. "We should probably both go to bed," he added, then winced. "To catch some sleep."

James put his glass down and got up as well.

"Yeah, the day seems to be catching up to me," he said ashe followed Eddie to the door.

It wasn't even a lie, merely the safest of truths he could share.

---