Page 73 of Tied Over

“That’s a lie.”

“No, it’s true. You’re just broken.”

“I’ve been telling you that for years.”

His growl was loud. “You’re not broken, you idiot.”

“You just said I was.”

“Fuck all this,” he yelled, fisting his hands as he kept pacing. “I’m so fuckin’ pissed at you.”

“Me? Why’re you mad at me?”

“Because this is all your fault!”

“What’s all my fault?”

“Everything. All of it.”

“What’re you talk—”

“I’ve been so twisted up that I talked myself into thinking I could be in this. I could be fine and good and happy with letting my life play out with no ups, no downs, just safe and steady and simple. Everything could just be easy for once.”

I stared at him, watching him continue to pace.

“I mean, why not? Why would anyone want to live in a fuckin’ tornado if they didn’t have to? It’s insane.”

“So not following.”

He ignored me. “But see, somewhere along the line, when no one was looking, I slipped into the eye where it’s stable, and now watching things whirl by makes sense.”

“You lost me.”

“No, I only thought I did.”

“What?”

He glared at me like I was an idiot.

I huffed out a breath. “Fine. May I take a stab at what you’re saying?”

“Go ahead.”

“Here’s what happened, without your whole twister-whatever metaphor,” I told him, shooting him a look. “When you and Hayden met, we weren’t partners at the moment, we weren’t roommates anymore, and we weren’t hanging out all the time. He got you, but he had no me.”

“Yes,” he concurred. “That’s exactly right.”

“And everybody knows, if you don’t get me, with you, then it’s not the real you.”

He stopped walking and looked at me. “That’s true, isn’t it?”

“And Jesus Christ, if you’re not yelling at him, how does he know you care?”

“Right?”

“You just hafta tell him you didn’t mean to fool him or anything, but this is how it really is. This is the Callahan and Redeker show in its full glory,” I said playfully, trying to lighten the mood. “But it’s only because we’re in the same place at the moment. It won’t stay like this. We’ll still be partners, which will keep me from going nuts, but he’ll have you at night and on the weekends and—”

Crossing the room to me, he stood near the end of the bed. “What do you mean, that will keep you from going nuts?”