Catch - Excerpt
Warden Drake stumbled through the front door of his lower city apartment only to have one of his boyfriend’s stupid acting trophies fall on his head. He kicked it as he rubbed at the throb of pain. He’d told him not to put them there!
He moved through the kitchen into the living room, flicking the light on as he went, before halting in his tracks. His jaw clinched and nails dug into his palms. What the fuck? The apartment was a absolute deserter. Warden hadn’t seen a place this trashed since his time in the fraternity back at Providence Academy.
There was a stack of empty pizza boxes and an assortment of mostly empty bottles on the coffee table. A sea of beer cans overflowing from the trashcan onto the floor. One of his large fern trees was overturned, a mix of dirt and white rooks strewn across the carpet. A stack of mold growing dishes in the sink and a huge pile of dirty clothes outside the laundry.
And plastic cups.
Literally everywhere!
Even on his book shelf! He eyed them, wondering how hard it’d be to pull finger prints and track down the bastards who dared to threaten his precious crime novels.
Warden’s sight got caught and drawn in by a splash of bright pink amongst all the silver and red. He frowned, stepped over to the island, shoved a few cups and cans out of the way, and froze.
Notice of evection!
A fucking notice of evection. By the tenth. That was tomorrow!
He was too fucking tired to deal with this! He’d been awake for over seven Kyklos. That might have been a walk in the park down in the Brightlands but up here in the Twilight Zone Warden was dead on his feet. He needed sleep if he was going to deal with this shit. Or coffee. Or coffee and sleep. Or hell, Warden glanced around the apartment, crack at this point.
He caught sight of the notice board on their fridge.
Oh god. His diaphragm locked up and his heart rate sky rocketed. Shield’s Child Service were scheduled for a drop in visit at any time! And he wasn’t even going to have a place for them to drop in to. Fuck!
He’d been looking for a new place, this tiny apartment was no place for his sister’s little girl. Not to mention the complex wasn’t the safest place in the city to live. But, the case had completely derailed his search. And a apartment was better than no apartment. If well kept with an explanation of finding something new SCS shouldn’t of had a problem with it.
He’d told Nick this! If SCS denied him custody of his own goddamned nice he was going to murdered him.
Warden grabbed up the paper and stormed through the beaded curtain separating their bedroom from the living room.
“Nick!”
He was dead asleep, his is face buried in a pillow. His long dark hair fanned out over the bed. The twilight seeping through the blinds reflected off his pail skin and made it glow.
Warden slapped a hand down on his back. Hard enough to sting but not do any real damage. Nick shot up with a groan.
“What the fuck man? I was sleeping,” he muttered, trying to rub strands of hair out of his face.
“That’s a good question! What the fuck is this?” Warden waved the eviction notice at him. Nick stared at it blankly for a moment before startling.
“Shit! I completely forgot about that!”
“You forgot…” he cut off with a growl and clinched his eyes shut, praying for patience. “This says we have to be out by tomorrow! Why the hell didn’t you pay the rent?”
Nick went quiet. Warden opened his eyes to glare at him.
“Ronnie came by the other day…” he fidgeted with the sheets, before looking up at him with big dark puppy-dog eyes. “I’m sorry Ward… I… I slipped up.”
Warden felt the room sway. His insides quivered as his neck and ears grew hot. He’d given so much to keep Nick afloat. His house. His savings. His fucking car. He’d only been able to talk the loan sharks down because he was an Agent and they didn’t want any trouble with Shield.
He couldn’t do this again!
Nick scrambled out of bed looking frantic.
“Baby… I’m sorry! This isn’t like last time. It… It won’t happen again, I promise. It was just a lapse in judgment.” He pushed forward to grip at Warden’s shoulders before hesitantly pulling him into a hug. Warden refuse to return it. No way was he letting him of the hook that easily. Not after everything. Not with an eviction notice still clenched in his fist.
“Come on War,” Nick stepped back, looking him over, “you look exhausted. How about I make you dinner and you can get some sleep?”
Warden bit back a scoff. Nick’s cooking left much to be desired. But he was dead on his feet and food sounded good. Especially if they were going to have to fucking move out everything in the goddamn apartment!
Nick seemed to be ignoring that little fact.
He watched with satisfaction as Nick suffered momentary panic at the state of the apartment. He fidgeted in his ridged stance before hurrying to grab a trash bag. Warden leaned on the archway, half asleep, and watched him snatch up cups and cans.
“Baby, what you want me to make you?”
“Pancakes.”
Nick’s back stiffened.
“Chocolate chip pancakes.” He’s sure the Bastard had expected him to say something simple like baked chicken and pasta. The only two things he could make without burning or over seasoning… Or dropping on the floor. After all pancakes weren’t a dinner food and shouldn’t be eaten before going to bed.
But Warden highly doubted he’d be getting to sleep any time soon.
“Okay… If… If that’s what you want.” There was a tone of dejection in Nick’s voice that Warden berated himself for feeling guilty about. He rolled his eyes and noticed the light on the answering machine was blinking.