Page 30 of Headcase
Zane snapped his gaze to him once again. “What?”
“Is this going to be too much for you?”
Zane shook his head in confusion. “Why? Are you—the guy who handcuffed me to a radiator—now concerned about my mental well-being?”
That was fair. “Yes.”
“And if I am? Then what? Then you kill me?”
That was also fair. Zane made a lot of good points. “No. I’m not going to kill you. But if you can’t handle helping me on this case, then we’ll…figure something out.”
Zane blinked at him, mouth gaping, before he said, “Figure something out? Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Asa said honestly, hopping out of the SUV and walking around to open Zane’s door. He helped him out and escorted him to the door. The door where he’d stripped him naked just hours ago. Fuck. Maybe this was why Asa had never brought anybody he wasn’t paying to his house before.
He placed a hand on Zane’s lower back, leading him inside and directly up the stairs, into his large bedroom.
Zane gazed longingly at Asa’s king-size bed as he continued to gently guide him into the bathroom. He handed him a towel, a pair of joggers, and one of his t-shirts. “Go shower.”
Zane frowned, glaring at the bathroom door. “Now, you trust me to shower alone?”
Asa grinned. “No, but now, the house is in lockdown. You can run anywhere you want, but you won’t get out unless I let you out. If you want to exhaust yourself trying, be my guest. Or you can take a hot shower, then slide into a bed with a thread count so high you’ll think literal fucking angels stitched them. Choice is yours, Lois.”
Zane didn’t answer him, instead marching to the shower, yanking the water to scalding. He started pulling off his clothes before Asa even left the room, clearly too tired to care whether he was there or not. Or maybe some part of him wanted Asa to watch. Which was good because he had to visibly tear his gaze away from Zane’s naked body.
He left him to clean up, choosing to rinse off in the shower down the hall, before retreating to the kitchen and making Zane some toast. He needed to have some food in his stomach or he was going to wake up even sicker tomorrow. He poured him a glass of juice, too, and carried his offerings upstairs.
Zane was coming out of the bathroom just as Asa entered. He hadn’t bothered with the shirt, just Asa’s much too big joggers that clung for dear life to Zane’s narrow hips.
“What’s that?” Zane asked, eyes narrowed at the toast.
“Food. You need to eat something.”
Zane made a face, shaking his head.
“Please, don’t make me make you eat it. Just…behave.”
Anger flashed in Zane’s eyes, but it died just as quickly. He crossed the room and stuffed the two pieces of toast in his mouth in one go, chewing angrily before swallowing, then reached for the orange juice and slammed it back like it was a shot.
Asa gaped at him for a solid thirty seconds before saying, “I’m not going to lie, I’m a little turned on right now.”
Zane rolled his eyes. “Where am I sleeping?”
“Pick a side.”
Zane’s brows knitted together. “You don’t have a side of the bed that you prefer?” he asked, clearly suspicious.
Asa frowned back at Zane. “What? No. Who does that?”
“Everybodydoes that,” Zane said, exasperated. “Except psychopaths.”
Asa tilted his head and raised his brows, a smug smile spreading over his face. “See? You have your answer. Pick a side.”
Zane picked the side closest to the bathroom.
Asa snagged the pink fuzzy cuffs from the chair in the corner of his room. “Get comfortable.” It was clear Zane wanted to fight, but he was just too fucking tired. He rolled onto his side, facing Asa’s half of the bed. Asa couldn’t help but smile. “I definitely thought I’d be the last thing you wanted to look at tonight.”
Zane scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I just don’t think I’ll get much sleep with my back turned to a psychopath.”
