Cross My Heart. AM Hartnett

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       Chapter Three

      Passing by Evie’s door, Ryan heard the profanity and laughed under his breath. Most people expected Seth to be either crass or a gentle giant. For most of the time, the landlord fitted the latter category – but when he slipped into the former, man, could he ever swear. He made cussing an art form.

      It stopped when Ryan knocked on the doorjamb.

      ‘Need a hand?’

      Seth turned around and raised his thick brows. ‘No offence, but you don’t look like you know how to even unclog a drain.’

      Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. ‘I know how to put in a catheter. Do you?’

      ‘What is that? Some kind of threat?’

      ‘I’m just pointing out that we both know a bit about plumbing.’

      Seth shuddered. ‘That might just be the most disgusting thing anyone has ever said to me, and I suppose I deserved that. No, I don’t need any help. I’m almost done. I’m just sitting here pissed off at myself for fucking up to begin with and then not being able to get a plumber. Evie’s at your place, if you’re looking for her. She was chopping up veggies for something when I left her.’

      Ryan couldn’t help the thorn of possessiveness that pricked him every time he found out that Evie and Seth had been hanging out. Christ, how could he not? Look at Seth. If Ryan was still in denial about his sexuality, Seth Axworthy would have pushed him over the edge.

      He didn’t think he really had anything to worry about, though. Seth was still dealing with losing Rita, and Evie…well, he’d like to think that Evie had chosen him over other men, including Seth, but he knew that Evie still had a little crush on him.

      He had to trust her or go out of his mind every minute they weren’t together.

      ‘Heard you got a little surprise when you were in here earlier,’ Ryan teased, and Seth guffawed even as he strained against his pipe wrench like he was trying to pull Excalibur from the stone.

      ‘Yeah, quite the colourful collection. Could have been worse. She could have known I saw the stuff on the bed before she ran in here to clean it up.’

      Ryan laughed sheepishly. ‘You’ve seen worse.’

      ‘That’s what I told her, but I didn’t elaborate. I didn’t want to scar her for life.’

      ‘Thanks, I appreciate that.’

      He hiked his backpack up his shoulder and watched as Seth wiped his brow with his bare forearm, and he couldn’t help remembering the last time he’d seen Seth sitting on the floor of a bathroom. Rita had been there, sitting on the toilet seat with a beer in one hand and Marco, the kitten she’d fished out of the dumpster a few weeks ago, on her lap. When sweat got in her husband’s eyes, she automatically reached out and wiped it away with her sleeve, then tucked the beer into his hand.

      Ryan couldn’t begin to imagine how lonely it must be for Seth to be on his own after Rita passed. He didn’t see much of her, save for once, close to the end, when Seth was lifting her out of the car. She hadn’t even looked like herself. Even with all he’d seen at the hospital, Ryan had nearly blanched with horror at her skeletal frame before stepping forward to offer his help. He’d received a warning look from Seth and backed off, and a few weeks later she was gone.

      As badly as he wanted to go upstairs and lock himself in with Evie at that moment, he found the words tugging at the tip of his tongue.

      ‘Hey, why don’t you come up when you’re done? There’s always too much left over.’

      Seth grunted with effort. ‘It’ll be a while.’

      ‘Then we’ll get shitfaced on cheap wine until you’re ready. We’re fun drunks.’

      The throaty sound Ryan first mistook for a chuckle revealed itself as a growl as Seth settled back. ‘I wish people would stop doing that.’

      There it was, the same warning as that day outside with Rita, only with more menace. Ryan shifted uncomfortably, wishing he’d just kept his mouth shut.

      ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘I don’t need to be pitied,’ Seth went on, grimacing as he fought with the pipe. His next words came out as a hiss through his teeth. ‘I don’t need pity. I’m not some sad old man sitting around with his cat and a TV dinner, and I got enough free food after the funeral.’

      ‘I didn’t mean –’

      ‘No one ever does,’ Seth snapped, and cursed again before sitting back. He shook his head, and for a horrifying moment, as he pinched the bridge between his eyes, Ryan worried his landlord was going to cry.

      ‘Evie’s waiting for you. She kept checking the clock while I was up there. Go. I’ll slip a note under the door when I’m finished, though she might СКАЧАТЬ