Zane snapped his lips shut.Smiling, Chris said goodnight while explaining he’d be in the hotel across the street.A relieving thing to hear for Bailey, who felt much better knowing Chris was nearby.And with that, the two were left alone.Bailey tried to angle himself better so that he faced Zane.Zane was already looking at him, which made the boy blush.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “Chris took you in after Raiffel, right?”
Zane nodded.“He was undercover at Raiffel for a while.When everything went down, he dragged me out and,” Zane hesitated, like he felt he couldn’t say the rest.Bailey tilted his head, waiting for Zane, who eventually spit out, “He, along with some others, forged documents for me, hoping I could live a somewhat normal life.”
“What kind of documents?”Bailey asked.
“The tests, my level, my...relatives,” he murmured.“Chris worried that I’d end up as another lab rat.He cared too much about a kid he barely knew.”
“That’s because Chris is a good person and an even better father.”
“Yeah, he is.”
Bailey smiled.Zane looked away, feigning ignorance to that wide grin.One day, he would blurt that out in front of Chris, and Bailey prayed to be there to see the reaction.It would be a moment to never forget, much like earlier.
“You have a great family,” Bailey said.
“Don’t you mean we?”Zane responded, looking at Bailey with an almost hopeful expression that caused his heart to skip.
“Yeah.”He held Zane’s hand.“We have a great family.”
CHAPTER 31
Zaneremainedawakelonginto the night.He rested in bed, eyes glued on the ceiling and hands gripping the bed sheets.Across the room, Bailey slept.Zane wished to join him, but his mind was on high alert.Everything intensified; the noise of the hospital from every floor and corner.Without headphones and distractions, and after a long day of reliving the past, he struggled to drown out the noise.So he averted his attention to Bailey.
Seeing him without his glasses was always strange, though no less adorable.Zane smiled, focusing on Bailey’s soft breaths.The natural inhale and exhale drowned out the world.Though when he caught sight of Bailey’s cast, he bit his lip.He hated Antoine.He hated those bastards.He hated that something much worse could have happened.
What happened to the days when all he had to worry about was getting to work on time?What happened to the days when he could sleep soundly through the night or watch TV and not worry about every sound outside his door?He wanted all that back, the mediocre life he strived for before except with maybe one addition.
Zane looked away from Bailey upon realizing his own thoughts.His heart skipped at the prospect of a normal life with Bailey.Waking up together.Eating breakfast together.Taking a walk downtown and buying groceries and cleaning the house, everything seemed wonderful.Better than anything he could imagine.Hell, they could go on a date.But what would Bailey want to do?Go out to eat?See a movie?That’s cliche, but Zane liked cliche.Sadly, neither had the time to even discuss such things with all the chaos going on.
He sighed.He really wanted the mediocre life back.But knowing what had to be done to get it made his spine tingle.Antoine would not give up.Rebirth would be back.They would come for him.They would hurt Bailey to do it.Nothing could ever be normal with Rebirth around, which meant he had to do what he had always been running away from.
He had to face Antoine.He had to face his past.He had to move on and get rid of Rebirth for good.But he wasn’t sure he could do it.
Even after speaking with Bailey, the guilt over Isaiah’s death remained.Zane clenched his hand until his nails bit into his palm.
“Trouble sleeping?”
Zane found Bailey’s tired green eyes staring at him through the dark of the room.The only light came from the TV that remained on, even after he had fallen asleep.
“A bit,” Zane replied.
“What’s wrong?”Bailey yawned, rubbing at his eyes.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
“Everything?”
Bailey chuckled, reaching up to ruffle his hair before dropping his hand back to the bed.His gaze locked with Zane’s, the warmth of his eyes almost coaxing him to sleep.Funny, he had been struggling for so long, but a single look from Bailey made him comfortable enough to sleep?He had it bad.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”Bailey asked with his eyes slowly opening and closing like he was battling to stay awake.He probably was.It was a little past four in the morning.
“No, you’re tired.Get some rest.”
Bailey pursed his lips.“Not ‘till you do.”
