25. Chapter 25 #2
The hinges of the door squeaked. Oh, come on! Had Aya grown that impatient—Ian stood in the doorframe with his arms crossed, his lip curled into a snarl, his eyes hard as stone.
Baz’s heart stopped. Sami jumped away as if he had burned himself on Baz’s skin.
“My, my. Isn’t this heartwarming?” Venom dripped from Ian’s every word.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Sami yelped.
“You little slut.”
The words hit Baz like a slap. A violent heat rushed into his head. He stepped in front of Sami. “Don’t talk to him like that.”
“Or what?” Ian scoffed. “Are you gonna protect your little boyfriend?”
Baz clenched his jaw to stop himself from spitting on Ian’s condescending face. “Yes.”
“News flash. You’re not the first he’s seduced, and you won’t be the last. Look at him. He doesn’t give a fuck about you. He only does what I tell him.”
No. Baz would not fall for that again. Sami had just said that this had happened on his own terms, and Baz believed him. Ian must have overheard it and tried to exploit a weakness, that had to be it.
“You can shove your head up your—”
“It’s true,” Sami declared. The sniffle was overshadowed by the faintest of smirks that transformed his face into the aloof mask Baz had never wanted to see again. Not targeted at him. “Mediocre sex means nothing to me. It’s best you leave, before you embarrass yourself even more.”
Bullshit. That wasn’t the real Sami talking, it was Ian’s influence. What was he so scared of? Didn’t he see they could fight him together?
“You don’t have to pretend—”
“Who’s pretending? Seriously, Baz. You need to get out, because this is pathetic.”
A burning pain tightened Baz’s gut. Who didn’t trust who now? “Sami—”
“Go.” His glare left no room for arguments.
Fine. If that was what Sami wanted, he’d go. But not without crashing his shoulder against Ian’s on his way.
Pathetic. Mediocre sex. Please! As if Sami would have kept coming back as often as he had if he had such a terrible time—actually. All he had said was that he wouldn’t care about mediocre sex, not that theirs was mediocre. Either Baz was delusional enough to cling to a technicality, or that meant—
“You’ve been screwing him this whole time?” Ian’s growl permeated through the door.
Without thinking, Baz squeezed himself into the corner between the door and wall, peered through the gap in the door hinges just as Sami backed away from Ian’s looming presence.
“No, I swear—”
“You work for me!”
“I know! I-I was just trying to get intel—”
“Like what, huh? What has he told you?”
Sami’s lips disappeared between his teeth. Not giving Baz up when he had seen his weaknesses firsthand.
Ian stepped closer. Sami withered.
This was wrong. Baz ached to leap out of hiding, hit Ian over the head with something heavy, grab Sami and run away. His body refused to move. Sami had sent him away. There had to be a reason.
“Exactly!” Ian thundered. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, Sammy. What did you think would happen? I’d let you ride into the sunset together?”
Let him?
“No!”
“Does your Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass even know about half the stuff you’ve done? You think he’d still want you if he did?”
Baz frowned. Stuff? What stuff? What did Ian have on Sami to make him this scared?
“You mean the stuff you’ve done.”
Ian’s laugh was dark. “Oh, Sammy, I got so much shit on you, I could hide your body in it, and no one would find it until it’s fucking decomposed. Remember your goddamn place.”
How dare he speak to Sami like that? Baz’s legs grew hot with the urge to march in—
“Yes, sir.” Sami’s trembling chin lowered to his chest.
“Pull yourself together. And if I find out you told him anything, I swear to god, you’re done for.”
Footsteps bellowed on the floor. Baz sucked his breath in, squeezed himself into the corner. The door rushed toward him—the dampers kicked in an inch before his face.
Ian stormed around the corner. Monster.
Before Baz had time to consider all the reasons why this was a mistake, he caught the door and slipped inside. Sami was bracing himself on the sink, his cheeks wet.
“I told you to leave,” he rasped.
“He threatened you.”
“I said go!” Sami spun around. His whole body quivered.
“No! I’m not gonna leave you, Sami! Not again.”
Sami shook his head and darted for the door. Baz caught him by the elbow. “Wait, please! Let me help—”
“Can’t you see you’re making it worse?!”
The force of his words made Baz’s hand drop away. “What?” he muttered.
“You were right not to trust me. Go win your case and forget about me.”
But… No! Sami wasn’t okay, and it was all Baz’s fault for confronting him here.
“Sami—”
“Stop! Stop caring. For both our sakes.”
“But—”
Sami ran. The door crashed into Baz’s shoulder as he followed. All he saw was Sami disappearing into the crowd of plaintiffs. Gone.
Fuck.
Baz clutched the doorframe. He gasped for air, squeezed his burning eyes shut.
If he had picked up the goddamned phone after Eevee told him, if he hadn’t been so obsessed with himself…
And now Sami was hurting, losing a fight with Ian that Baz had no idea about, that he couldn’t fix. And Ian knew, a-and…
“Baz?” Aya’s voice was soft, somehow in front of him. “Hey. It’s okay.”
Nothing was okay. He’d ruined everything, got Sami into who knew how much trouble—
“Whatever just happened, let it go,” Aya said. How could he? He deserved to be haunted by the look on Sami’s face, deserved every ounce of this soul-shattering pain.
“I messed up. Sami, he…”
“We’ll fix it later.”
Baz shook his head. That wasn’t possible. “He hates me.”
“I’m sure he just needs space to cool down like you did.”
But what if he was in danger? Because of Baz…
Aya snapped her fingers in front of his face. Baz flinched and met her eyes.
“Listen to me. The hearing is about to start, and I need you to focus, or you will regret it. This is your chance, Baz. You can win the case and put Ian in his place. That’s what you want, right? Don’t throw it away.”
He already had. By being the most self-absorbed idiot on this planet. He had been so busy considering all the ways in which Sami could screw him over, he hadn’t once stopped to consider what was on the line for him.
No wonder Sami hadn’t confided in him about Ian after Baz accused Sami of the worst over and over again, hurting him. The way Baz acted, he wouldn’t trust himself either.
He drew a shaky breath. Giving Sami space was the least he could do.
As long as he kept Ian busy at court, he couldn’t harm Sami.
Maybe he could buy Sami some time and kick Ian’s ass on behalf of both of them.
Or would that get Sami into even more trouble?
Would Ian think Sami had fed him information?
If I find out you told him anything, you’re done for. What did that mean?
“Ready?” Aya asked.
No. Far from it, but Baz didn’t have a choice. He swallowed against the tightness in his throat. Forced himself to nod.
“Come on. Let’s give them hell.” Aya inclined her head toward their courtroom, nodded encouragingly like that would make things better. Baz spared a last glance over his shoulder. Sami was long gone.