Love Is Always Write Volume 4

sounded more threatening than he'd meant it.
    "Excuse me?" Zeb's voice rose comically.
    "That's what I would say to my lunch." He sat up in the bed, trying to make himself comfortable against the headboard, and rubbed his eyes. Half asleep and disoriented, he was a long stone's throw away from coherent thought. "If I were going to talk to it that is. After all, if I'm going to be eating it, it should be afraid don't ya think?" He heard Zeb's laughter burst out of him and Chad couldn't help but close his eyes and smile. God, he'd missed that sound.
    "You're a nut, you know that? And you haven't changed."
    "I…" Chad started but stopped. Opening his eyes he looked around the room, blinked a few times and sighed. He had changed. A lot. And now Zeb's words reminded him of not only why, but that he shouldn't be this happy to hear the other man's voice. He was pissed, not giddy – pissed. "How'd you know where to find me?"
    "Last night you told me where you were staying."
    "Oh, yeah."
    "Is it okay that I called? Shit, I probably woke you up. I thought it would be late enough. You were always an early riser."
    "Yeah, just… I don't know if lunch is a good idea." In the mood he was in he wasn't sure if he'd end up crying or screaming at Zeb.
    "Oh. What's wrong?"
    "What's wrong?" Chad hoped his ex could hear the sneer in his words. "Zeb, do you have any idea how mad I am?"
    "I figured, maybe, but you didn't seem so mad when you answered."
    "Yeah, well I was half asleep. Hearing your voice first thing in the morning must have sent me back in time to before you walked out on me, back when I was still a happy, carefree person." Chad snapped.
    Silence.
    "Sorry. Pissed… remember?" Chad took a long breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't really mean that. I just don't think lunch is such a great idea today. I'd probably bite your head off. I've only slept a couple hours and…" Damn it, why was he making excuses?
    "I didn't sleep either." Chad heard him say quietly. "And I understand why you're mad."
    "Do you? Do you get it? Cuz I gotta tell ya…"
    "I get it. That's why I'm calling. I'm sorry it's so early. Actually, I almost called even earlier, until I saw the clock and realized it was five in the fucking morning and hung up."
    "That was you?"
    "Shit. Did it wake you? I hung up as soon as I saw the clock. I just knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until I talked to you."
    "Nah, it's fine." Chad yawned and wished he had some coffee. He also wished he knew why Zeb was calling. Something was niggling in the back of his brain, something about the shore. But as soon as he thought he'd grasped it, it was gone, like déjà vu. "I'm a little too out of it to think right now. Did you say something about talking?"
    "Yeah, I mean, we don't have to right this second. But if we can meet for lunch?"
    "I thought we said everything last night. I didn't want you to leave, you didn't want to leave, but somehow we got our wires crossed? Right? You didn't make it sound like you wanted to do any more talking about it."
    "Last night…" Chad heard a loud breath before Zeb went on. "…last night I couldn't think. You surprised the hell out of me, you know, by showing up out of the blue like that, and being so angry when I thought I was the one who should be pissed off. It was… God! I didn't know what to think, what to believe. You know?"
    "I think so, yeah. But it doesn't change the fact..."
    "Yeah, I know. But I kinda figured maybe you'd want more of an explanation than what I was able to give you last night."
    That stopped Chad short. "An explanation? There's more?"
    "Can we talk about it over lunch? Please?" Zeb's voice sounded so sweet, so pleading. Chad closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the headboard with a little thunk . He honestly didn't know what to do. Did he really want to drag this out longer with Zeb, knowing it couldn't go anywhere? What could Zeb even tell him that would make it any better?
    When he didn't answer right away Zeb jumped in again. "I know I deserve to get yelled at, okay? All I've done since you left last night was sit up and think, and think, and think. It was driving me insane. And finally I figured out the problem."
    "What do you mean? What problem?"
    "Like I couldn't reconcile the Chad I'd been mad at, the one I blamed, to the one in front of me. Well, what I should have been doing was reconciling the Chad I knew before, with you last night. About a half hour ago it hit me that the