Chapter 21

Andrew

M y phone went off for a fourth time. My gaze landed on Rebecca after I uttered a curse. “I’m really sorry. I need to take a break for a second.”

She nodded as I stepped out of the pharmacy. The day had been insane. Patients had come from nowhere and everyone had an issue. You knew it was bad when they offered me extra hours to get them caught up. When I pulled out my phone only to see four messages from Brandon, all of them asking silly questions about missing him, I shoved the phone back in my pocket and went back to work. I didn’t have time to deal with that. He wasn’t the overly needy type.

“Everything okay?” Rebecca asked as I came back in and started helping the next person in line.

“It’s nothing that can’t wait.”

She nodded as we kept working until the pharmacy closed for the night. Even then, people groaned when we started to close the gate. There were four people still waiting when we finally had to call it. No one enjoyed leaving customers un-helped, but if we left things open any longer, people would just keep lining up. There had to be a full moon tonight or something.

“Thanks for staying and helping today.” Rebecca patted me on the shoulder as she left the store.

I waved to her before reaching into my pocket for my phone. It had continued to go off through the evening, but I hadn’t been able to get to it. I hadn’t even been able to take another break.

Seeing fifteen missed messages made my heart pound. That wasn’t like Brandon at all. He was normally fine if I didn’t get back to him right away, but scrolling through his messages, that level of unease only got worse. His messages changed from “I miss you” to “I’m sorry” to incoherent rambles that made little sense.

I lifted the phone to my ear, attempting to call him, but the call went straight to voicemail. I cursed because I didn’t have a damn car to get to his place. I would either need to walk or take a bus. It was so late, I wasn’t even sure the buses were still running.

A car pulled up next to me and the window rolled down. Taylor Swift blasting over the speaker system made me roll my eyes before I realized it was Rebecca.

“Do you need a ride?”

My shoulders sagged in relief as I nodded. I grabbed the door handle, and she moved her purse from the front seat and set on the floor behind her. Once I buckled myself in, we sat there for a moment before I realized I needed to tell her where to go. That meant telling her I needed to go to Brandon’s place instead of my own. She already knew about us, but that differed from asking her to take me there.

“I need to...”

“His place?”

I couldn’t fight the smile. It was nice to have a friend who understood and didn’t judge. “Yeah. I need to check on him. I’m a little worried.”

Rebecca’s eyebrows furrowed, but she only nodded and didn’t ask questions. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll get you there.”

Giving her directions kept me from spiraling and thinking of what could be going on with Brandon. He’d never been like that. It made me feel better that maybe he felt a little guilty for continuing to hide what we were doing.

“This is it,” I said as we pulled up to a nicer brick apartment building. It was only four stories and Brandon’s place was on the third floor. There was an elevator, but we always used the stairs. “Thank you for the ride.”

Rebecca grinned, reaching across the center consol and giving my leg a squeeze. She was so nice, and I was once again thankful that I’d met her.

The night was frigid once I climbed out of the car. My breath left little puffs of steam in the air as I approached the front door. I entered the code and opened the front door before turning to watch as Rebecca drove away .

That pit of dread was back as I climbed the stairs to Brandon’s apartment. The hall outside was quiet, and a sweat broke out on my back as I dug for my keys in my pocket. It wasn’t even a question when he got the place. He’d insisted that I needed a copy of his key so that I could get in whenever I needed to. It had meant everything back then and now I was thankful because if his phone was turned off, there was no guarantee that he would answer the door.

The click of the lock unlatching echoed too loudly. When I walked into the apartment, the living room light was on, and so was the light in the kitchen. That was unusual if Brandon had gone to bed. He wasn’t in either of the two rooms, so it seemed like the only logical answer. The shower wasn’t running and the bathroom door was wide open, so he wasn’t in there either.

“Brandon?”

Nothing.

Silence greeted me, and my heart continued to slam against my rib cage. What the hell was happening?

My feet were heavy as I made my way to his bedroom. The hinges of his door squeaked as I opened it and I instantly relaxed to see him curled on his mattress. That tension came back when I saw the almost empty bottle of tequila sitting on his nightstand. What the hell had possessed him to grab that ?

“Brandon?” I called out softly, so I didn’t scare him. When he didn’t stir, my concern grew. That bottle had been mostly full after we had started in on it a couple of weeks ago.

As I approached the bed, my ears rang, and I prayed he had only passed out from having so much to drink. Sure enough, the second I was right next to him, he rolled over and let out a loud snore. His glasses were still on, the phone clutched in his hand.

“Oh, Brandon.” I took his glasses off his face, folding the arms in, and placing them on the nightstand. Next came fighting the phone from his hand. It was dead, which explained why it had gone straight to voicemail when I had tried to call him.

There was no leaving him when he was like this. What had made him do this? Did he feel that guilty about what we’d talked about last night? We’d only really talked about getting locked in his parents’ store. I had been annoyed about his outright denial in front of our friends about what we’d been up to, but I hadn’t known how to talk to him about it without coming across as overly critical, so I’d let it drop. We needed to talk about it, and he obviously knew I was upset if he thought I was ignoring him.

I kicked off my shoes and slid onto the bed. Brandon spread out across the sheets, making it very difficult to slide into the bed next to him. Once my shirt was over my head, his eyes blinked open. He stared at me for a moment as I stood there like an idiot. Brandon had no idea that I was even coming over tonight.

“You’re here? ”

I leaned in and kissed his forehead. “I’m here. Now scoot over and give me some space.”

Brandon moved, but not by much. His eyes slid closed again, and he was back to snoring. I let out a small laugh before continuing to undress.

Once I was down to my underwear, I climbed over him. There was a little more space on the other side and I wrapped around him. If all else failed, I had a better way of making sure that he didn’t get sick or choke during the night.

Sleep didn’t come easily. I was too busy watching him and making sure he was okay. Halfway through the night, I got up to grab him a glass of water and something for the headache he was likely to have in the morning. I also gave up on sleeping in general. It was sad since I’d been so exhausted after work, but settled for sitting against the headboard and playing random games on my phone.

Around seven in the morning, Brandon’s first alarm went off on his phone. He cursed as he swatted at his nightstand, looking for his phone. Had I not plugged it in, his alarm would have never gone off.

“Jesus... CHRIST!” He fell out of bed when he continued to miss the phone. I climbed from the mattress, grabbed the phone, and silenced it.

He sat up quickly when the room went quiet, but then grabbed his head. “The hell?”

“What possessed you to drink like that last night? ”

Wide eyes looked up at me before Brandon grimaced again and then crawled back into his bed. He shoved his head under the pillow, not answering my question.