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Nick choked on his breath The heat in the roo into a bitter chill He shivered
Ada hiainst Nick’s hair "I promise It’ll be--"
Nick jerked free and hit hie and fear "It is not okay!"
As soon as he did it, he regretted it With the light on, he could see every ounce of hurt in Adaer
Nick took a breath "I’ his shirt on, shoving his phone into his pocket, heading for the door
Nick went after hi his arm "Please," he said
"I’o, Nick"
"I don’t want to" He paused and moved closer "I’m sorry I didn’t--I wasn’t ready for that--"
"You knohat?" Adam looked at him now "I’ve heard it before, okay?"
Nick jerked back "I would never hurt you"
"Too late" Adao Now"
Nick couldn’t take the pain in his voice He’d build a rainbow banner in the front hall announcing his sexuality if it would fix this "Please Adam, stay Please"
Now Adarip "I told you to let o" He didn’t wait for a response, just walked out the door
Nick followed, buttoning his pants as he jogged down the steps after him He had no shoes, no shirt, but he was ready to follow Adam down the street barefoot if he had to
"Stop," he pleaded "Wait--wait At least let irl, Nick" Adam didn’t even hesitate at the front door
"Please wait Please--I’m sorry"
Ada in the light "You knohat sucks about sorry? It’s the worst word in the world Because it always happens after you fk up so Nick went after hi of Adam’s fury
Adaht now Do you understand? You’re so worried about what everyone else will think? I’ll make it real easy for you"
"Stop it Let’s talk about this"
"What’s to talk about? You care more about what people think than you care about ain
Nick took a step, but Ada the cops"
He was serious Nick could feel it in the air between the
It broke his heart and al down the driveway
Instead, he dropped onto the wooden steps and watched Ada Adam’s presence even after he disappeared fro on to that tiny connection, until Adaot on a bus
Nick lost the sense Adao back in the house
Hunter wasaround in the kitchen Nick had no idea what he was doing He didn’t want to face hi if Hunter had texted anything to his brothers Sitting in his roo for the on death row
He found his shirt on his bedroom floor and went back downstairs
But once he was there, he couldn’t walk down the hallway
He sat at the bottom of the steps and put his head in his hands
He didn’t want to cry, but apparently his eive a crap about what he wanted
He’d fked this up with Adam He didn’t even kno to fix it
He didn’t even know if he could
You’re going to break my heart I can feel it
Yeah, he’d sure lived up to that
He wished he could talk to Quinn, but he’d fked that up, too
The air told him Hunter was in the hallway before he heard him
Nice Why couldn’t the air have told hiht’ve been distracted by Adam’s hand down your pants
Nick couldn’t look at Hunter He swiped the last tears off his cheeks This was so huh the door
Hunter stopped beside the staircase bannister He didn’t say anything for a long moment
Nick stared at his shoes and waited, ready for
"I made you a cup of coffee," said Hunter
Surprised, Nick looked up, but only halfway, to see that Hunter carried two s
Coffee So unexpected that it hit Nick like a fist to the face
Honestly, a real fist to the face would have been less surprising
He was so on edge that he was ready for Hunter to say Just kidding and duht you ht need some"
No malice in his voice, but Nick still couldn’t look at hi, inhaling the steam "Thanks"
"Can I sit down?"