Page 59 of Collin: Episodes 4-6
Collin bit the inside of his cheek. That “something’s off” feeling in his stomach grew an additional size. This wasn’t how The Residency worked. This wasn’t how he’d felt when he’d first joined Mr. Reevesworth and the family. Everyone was separate and hurting or stressed, and no one was accepting help from anyone else.
His shoulders slumped. Well, no one but him. He was helping Ash. But Ash wasn’t technically part of The Residency.
Mr. Moreau extended his arm, passing Collin the key. Collin wrapped his hand around it. Loneliness. He wasn’t supposed to be holding this key. It wasn’t his. If someone else wasn’t using the key, there was no point for there to be a key.
Mr. Moreau turned away, entering the elevator.
Ash crept up behind Collin and grabbed his upper arm, peering around his shoulder. “Was that…Mr. Reevesworth’s husband?”
“Yeah.” Collin sighed and put the key into his pocket. “Come on. We should get going.”
“You’re not going to tell on me for sleeping in the office?”
It was on the tip of Collin’s tongue to say, No, because I have bigger problems, but he clamped down on those words, hard. Too many times he’d heard the same thing, and it wasn’t kindness. It was cruelty. Fucking up and then being told you weren’t important enough to deal with or fix was worse than being yelled at. At least when you were yelled at, you knew the people in charge had enough energy to care. That someone would try.
When no one had the energy to care, that was the day you knew you could slip away into oblivion, fall off a cliff, and no one would come looking.
So instead, he sighed and grabbed Ash around the shoulders with one arm, dragging him toward the elevator.
“Oh, I’m absolutely going to tell on you. Sleeping on the floor with nothing but a blanket is a crime. You don’t even have carpet. But I’m glad you’re somewhere safe. So, for now, don’t go anywhere, okay?”
He grabbed a bit of Ash’s bright red hair and pulled on it, smiling.
Ash shot him a mixed look of relief and exasperation. He pulled away and ran his fingers through his hair, making it lay down flat.
“I like it better at the office.”
“Work-life balance, my man. You need it.”
Ash grumbled under his breath and shoved his hands in the front of his hoodie. “Who says?”
Collin put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the side of the elevator, looking up at the old-fashioned ceiling for inspiration. There wasn’t any. “Oh, smart people. People who once ended up in an ambulance because they didn’t manage to have a work-life balance.”
“That’s all code for ‘Collin’, isn’t it?”
Ellisandre met them at the door of their condo in a housecoat clearly inspired by a Japanese kimono. Bright red, orange, and pink fans spiraled across its length. Their hair was white this week and almost shaved along the sides with gelled spikes on the top.
They leaned languidly against their door, clinging to it as if they were too tired to stand and stared balefully at Ash. “Is this what you brought me? Collin…” Their voice trailed off dangerously. “The only saving grace is the haircut.”
“His hair matches your robe.” Collin smirked. “If you rescued my sorry ass, just remember, Ash here is seventeen. He has even more excuses than I did.”
Ellisandre rolled their eyes and stepped away from the door, revealing a wineglass half full of something pale gold and fizzy. “Enter.”
Ash stepped inside like he was about to be asked to fight cobras. His eyes skittered over the space. It was mostly white in various textures. But there were points of colored light fixtures, which when used would suffuse the place in color. Ellisandre was relying on natural light at the moment, however, flooding in from the mostly north-facing, full-length windows of the living room.
“Shoes off.” Ellisandre sauntered down the hall.
Collin and Ash shucked their shoes and followed them.
Ellisandre entered a space that might have been intended to be an office but instead was a wardrobe, the likes of which Collin had only seen in movies his sister had made him watch. There were lights and mirrors and racks of clothes and shelves of shoes. Not to mention all the drawers. Each shelf was lit from inside.
Collin swallowed. “I knew you knew clothes, Ellisandre, but this…”
“This is my domain.” Ellisandre smirked and sank down on a green chaise lounge. They pointed to a round platform six inches above the floor in the center of the room. “Up, Ash. Let’s see what we’re working with.”
Ash cast Collin a pleading look.
Collin raised his hands. “Let the master work.”
