Free All the Things I Didn't See by Cindy Sutherland Page B

“Not everyone is as brave as you, Josh.”
Josh shook his head. “I’m not brave, Mary.” He looked down at Sam’s hand in his.
    Sam couldn’t stand the pain and anguish in Josh’s face. He looked up at his parents, pleading with his eyes for them to understand. His mother apparently got the message. She smiled at him and then turned to his father.
“Come on, husband of mine. You owe me dinner someplace with a bit more atmosphere than Chez Cafeteria.”
    Kenneth nodded at her and leaned over to kiss his son on the forehead before doing the same to Josh. Mary followed suit, and they turned to leave.
“We’ll be back in a couple of hours, sweetheart,” Mary called back over her shoulder.
     
Sam shook his head and pointed at the notebook. Josh held it for him as he jotted down a few sentences and waited for Josh to read it.
    “He says to go back to your hotel and get a good night’s sleep.” Josh looked at Sam wearily, and they had another one of their silent conversations.
    “He’s right, you know. You both need some sleep. I’ll stay tonight while you guys get caught up on some Zs.”
Kenneth started to argue. “Josh, you’re as tired as we are. You need to get some sleep too.”
Sam snapped his fingers to get his father’s attention. Grinning wickedly, he patted the bed beside him.
“Oh, I see. Josh’s gonna sleep with you, is he?”
    Josh could hear the amusement in Mary’s tone, but right now? Crawling in beside Sam sounded like an awesome idea.
    “You guys go, I’ll be fine. They brought in a sleeping chair for me, and it’s surprisingly comfortable.”
Sam frowned over at the chair pushed into the corner across the room. It was too far away.
“Sam, are you sure, honey?”
Sam looked at Josh, felt the tight hold he had on Sam’s hand, and nodded at his mother.
“All right, we’ll see you in the morning.” She knew when it was useless to argue with her son, even when he couldn’t talk. She leaned in and kissed them. “Love you both.”
“M’ NOT sleeping with you.”
    Sam ran his fingers through Josh’s hair, smiling at the noise that was almost a purr coming from Josh’s throat. “Why not?” Sam’s voice wasn’t much more than a squeak. “Too good for me, bitch?” The fondness in his voice belied his words.
    “No.” Josh sounded like a four-year-old who’d been teased too long. “Just not safe. Might hurt you.”
It wasn’t like they’d never curled up together to sleep. Neither of them seemed to have much sense of personal space around the other.
Josh’s head was back on Sam’s hip, sleepy eyes all adorable as he looked at Sam.
“Can’t hurt me. Promise.” At least not physically.
“Still, gonna sleep in the chair… in a while. Comfy here for now.”
Sam kept running his fingers through Josh’s hair, taking as much comfort as he was giving.
He sighed, which turned out to be a bad idea because it caused him to start coughing again, and that shit still hurt!
Josh’s head popped up instantly.
“You okay?” The worry in his voice pulled at Sam’s heart.
“Thirsty,” he managed to croak out.
Josh reached over and grabbed the water glass, letting him drink a little.
When Sam was finished, he looked up at Josh. “Move chair closer,” Sam pleaded softly. “So we can touch, please?”
Josh looked at him questioningly. “You scared, Sam? Reynolds is dead! You’re safe here.”
Sam shook his head. “Bad dreams. You shot. Need to feel you… touch you.” He looked away, embarrassed at being so needy.
Josh just stood up and kissed him on the temple before moving the chair close enough to the bed that Sam could just reach out and touch him. If someone had a problem with it, too bad.
“Thanks.” Sam’s voice was quiet, but Josh could hear the gratitude in it.
“Anything else you need? Do you… do you want me to call Evan?”
Sam just shook his head again. “No, tired. Sleep.”
Josh smiled at him and ran his hand through Sam’s hair before settling into the