He was falling for Marcus, just a day at a time, a minute here and there filled with promise, and abruptly he was ready to take a chance.

But eight years?

“I’m twenty-one in the middle of December.”

“You can buy the beers, then,” Marcus replied offhandedly. He had his head in the fridge rearranging eggs and whatever people did in their fridges for five minutes at a time. Liam suspected Marcus was hiding, although he couldn’t be certain.

“When is your birthday?”

Marcus shut the fridge door. “September 14th.”

Liam did some quick calculations. “So you’re only just twenty-nine. So for like nine months we’d be only eight years apart in age.”

Liam hesitated when Marcus frowned. Was he not making sense? Why the hell did these damn pills make him feel like he was drunk? He stumbled a little and held out a hand until it made contact with a hard surface.

“You probably should go lie down.” Marcus was being sensible.

“Don’t wanna lay—lie down. Hurts to lie down,” Liam said very deliberately. “I heard you. Didn’t mean to, or yeah, I did mean to. I hid there.” He waved a hand at the wall where he’d been standing. “Heard you say I was too young.” He extended the word too until it slid effortlessly into the word young.

Marcus spoke and Liam was startled when it was right in front of his face. His hand slipped on the surface, and Marcus steadied him. He was smiling and the smile reached his eyes.

“You are young,” he started. At least he didn’t call Liam on the hiding thing, perhaps that would come later when Liam was less…inebriated. “You’re twenty, I’m nearly thirty,” he added.

“You’re rounding up,” Liam accused Marcus. He leaned into Marcus’s hold, which despite Marcus being short was very firm and steady. “And I am way taller, which has to count for something.”

“Look at me,” Marcus ordered. Liam tried but he couldn’t focus in all this fuzziness. He wasn’t taking those pills again; he hated how they made him feel. “Are you okay?”

“Jus’, I am taller.”

Marcus chuckled. The fucker. Liam allowed himself to be led to the bedroom and even went pliant enough to be moved into position for sleep. At the last minute he grabbed Marcus and pulled him onto the bed as well. Somehow he managed not to have the man land directly on him but he still hurt. Gripping tight of anything he could in the way of shirt and pants, he held firm.

“Stay with me,” he demanded.

Marcus wriggled a little, then rolled onto his side so he was facing Liam.

“I’m staying. But there’s one thing you should know.”

“What?”

“When we lie down, height isn’t an issue.”

* * * * *

Marcus waited until Liam fell asleep, which took about two minutes. Poor guy had been hit hard by whatever pills he’d been given. It was kind of cute really. Age wasn’t really an issue for Marcus, well, not from his point of view anyway. He was more than happy to have Liam in his life; he just didn’t think it was fair at the end of the day. He was looking for something a little more settled than hand jobs in a dark corner or affairs that lasted two days of the weekend, then ended on a Monday. Liam didn’t need some wanting-to-settle-down guy lusting all over him when he had the whole world ahead of him.

Twenty was nothing in years. When he was healed, and maybe after he’d confronted what happened to him at the Bar Five, then they could catch up again and Marcus would tell Liam how he really felt. Because somehow, since the night he’d climbed out of the car and followed Liam down the road to the D, he’d fallen further into something bigger than lust. Love was the only answer. He’d never had that before.

It scared him.

He climbed out of the bed and sat at the small desk in the corner of his room. Firing up his laptop, he dealt with emails and updated pages on the Walker Clinic website, including posting the reference that Riley had written. Every person who went through the agency left feedback and it was all anonymous, but Riley had actually handed him this a few weeks back.

His stomach told him it was lunchtime long before he realized he’d been working—and therefore Liam had been sleeping—for four hours. Marcus made sandwiches, ate them, had coffee, stared some more at Liam, and was halfway through setting up an agency Facebook when Liam woke up.

Marcus heard him curse. “What the fuck was in those pills,” he added. Then Marcus heard Liam groan and assumed that he had recalled some of what he’d said before. “Fuck,” he cursed again.

“You want something to eat?” Marcus asked carefully.

Liam turned his head to face Marcus. “I think I need to go home.” He rolled onto his side and hissed before pushing himself upright. Marcus moved to assist, and between them Liam finally stood upright. Marcus handed him his boots and the slipper-type things he’d taken from the hospital. Silently Liam poked his feet in the slippers and said nothing all the way to Marcus’s car. Nor did he say much on the road to the D, and Marcus let him keep his silence. He imagined Liam was half embarrassed and half coming to the realization of what he’d overheard Marcus say. Finally they pulled up outside the D, and Marcus cut the engine.

“You want a hand inside?”

“No,” Liam said firmly. He made to open the door then stopped. “I owe you a thank you. There was no way I could have made it back to the D last night. Thank you for the bed and the eggs.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I enjoyed seeing you in my bed.”

Liam nodded imperceptibly. Then he reached out and cupped Marcus’s cheek. “Thank you. Are you staying?”

“You want me to stay?” Marcus was pathetically hopeful that Liam would say yes. Then he saw the regret painted on Liam’s expression, and he instinctively knew Liam needed space.

“I just need to get my head straight,” Liam admitted.

“If you need to talk…” Marcus left the sentence unfinished.

“Not now,” Liam said. His tone wasn’t hard; if anything he sounded sad. Marcus had so much he wanted to say. That Liam shouldn’t be alone right now. What would Liam say if he insisted on staying here?

“I don’t want to leave you,” Marcus said firmly. “Let me just help you get settled in bed.” He held up his hands. “I won’t try anything, I promise.”

Liam huffed a small laugh and Marcus was never more pleased to see the ghost of a smile on Liam’s face.

He stayed long enough to help Liam into bed, dosed up with some painkillers. Then he remained a little longer to make sure Liam would fall asleep, and he promised he would lock the door on the way out. But when Liam wouldn’t let go of him, he stayed to cradle the other man while Liam cried in his arms.

 When the light through the open drapes fell onto his face, Marcus woke with a headache. Liam was awake and staring over at him from the other side of the bed. He looked wary.

“You stayed,” he whispered.

“I did.”

“I said you should go.” The words weren’t accusation as much as confusion.

“I wanted to stay and help you when you were sad,” Marcus offered gently. “You’re kind of stuck with me now.”

“You really want me in your life? Despite how young I am?” He leaned in slightly, and they kissed gently.

  Marcus smiled. “You’ll always be younger; I’ll always be shorter. Whatever, we’ll work everything out.”

Grief was carved into Liam’s expression. “I thought I was doing okay,” he said. “What if I can’t get out of this again? I had to try so hard before.” So much remained unspoken, but Marcus thought he could understand what Liam was trying to say. Grasping Liam’s hand, he smiled encouragingly.

“Yeah, but this time you have me.”

It really was as simple as that.

Chapter 19

Jack slumped down off the bale of hay and stared at Robbie as he finished brushing Solo. He coughed to get Robbie’s attention. Finally Robbie looked up.