Page 99 of Psync
“But—”
“It’s just Jace. He’s not going to eat me.”
“He might,” Haruka muttered.
“Don’t be that guy, man. Healthy relationships are based on trust. You trust Eli, don’t you.”
“Of course.”
“Then trust his ability to choose the right people to hang out with.”
“Yeah . . .” Eli said weakly. Jace didn’t know about Ash, otherwise he would have known not to use that particular argument.
“Fine.”
It had worked? Nice.
Haruka unwrapped himself from Eli but didn’t look happy about it.
Eli jumped on the chance before Haruka changed his mind and decided to forget his promise. “Great, let’s go,” he said to Jace, already walking down the path toward their dorm. “I’ll text you later.” He promised over his shoulder.
Jace filled Eli in on what he’d been up to on the farm until they got to their room.
Once they were inside, his face grew serious. “I’m sorry about being so pushy, but I wanted to talk to you away from him to make sure you’re okay.”
“Me? I’m great, why do you ask?” If Eli got any happier, he was fairly certain rainbows would start shooting out of his ass.
“You couldn’t stand the guy before I left. You do remember that, right?” Jace moved the boxes off of his bed so he could sit down. “I just want to make sure you don’t have Stockholm Syndrome, or something.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. Actually, there’s something I should tell you.”
Ash was Jace’s friend, after all. He had the right to know.
He told Jace everything—minus the mental bond he shared with Haruka.
“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m going to kill him.” Jace jumped off his bed and started to pace. His hands twitched like he wanted to strangle someone.
“He’s looking at jail-time, no need for murder.”
“It would make me feel better.” Jace folded his arms and sat on the edge of his desk. Eli’s was no longer beside it, having been moved to Haruka’s room weeks ago.
“Well, it wouldn’t make me feel better, otherwise Haruka would probably have already done it.”
“He does give off that impression, doesn’t he?” Jace rubbed his chin.
“Come on, he isn’t that bad.” Eli patted his bed. “Come on, let’s watch this show, I want to get as far as we can before you have to leave tonight.”
“I don’t have to go tonight. We can watch all night if you want to,” Jace said hopefully.
“Don’t push your luck.”
???
The show was cheesy as hell, and Eli loved it—once he forgave the original Starbuck for not being a girl.
He didn’t even realize Haruka hadn’t bombarded him with texts until three episodes in when his stomach began to rumble. It had been so long since he’d had a chance to get hungry—Haruka usually stayed on top of feeding them both.
A bag of Doritos and two episodes later, Eli started to get downright worried. Had something happened?
