Luka #3
“Then I’m wrong. Addicts aren’t inherently bad people just because they’re addicts; they’re.
..people in a bad place, and if they’re willing to accept it, they need help.
Maybe you are that person who needs help, and you’ll need to accept it.
But if not, if I was right to believe you from the moment you started explaining yourself, then we can figure something out for that too.
Maybe not me, figuring out what to do about that seems above my pay grade, but that’s the point of Arete, Rowan, to help people who need it.
The important part is that you need to be willing to make that step and ask for help. ”
“Is this attitude a product of your job, or the reason you have this job?”
“I like to think my view is why I have the job, but even then, I still have a job to do, rules that need to be followed.”
“I meant what I said. I won’t begrudge you needing to report this. Once you were aware of it, you became complicit in what I was doing. I understand how this works.”
“I appreciate your understanding, but,” I leaned in closer, planting a kiss to the back of his neck, “I also need you to understand that even if I wasn’t obligated by the rules, I would still want to bring others into this.
No matter what’s going on between us, what we share or don’t share, I want to help you.
And sometimes, helping means understanding that you lack the tools, resources, or even personality to help someone directly. ”
He snorted softly. “If only more people understood when they were in over their heads.”
I laughed a little. “Seriously? I’ve been in over my head; kinda comes with bouncing between jobs, locations, and friends.
Eventually, you find yourself staring down the barrel of a situation you’re not ready for.
I learned a long time ago that the only way out of a bad situation is to seek help. ..or get the hell out.”
“Escape does sound good,” he muttered, making me smile. “For whatever it’s worth, thank you...and I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“Being here, being forced to deal with this.”
I snorted. “Shush, that’s literally what I signed up for.”
“Exactly this?”
“Well, no, but the possibility. And I’m glad to, so stop.”
To my surprise, he did stop, taking a deep breath, and I felt the last shreds of tension leave his body as he lay there, letting me wrap my arms around him.
It was probably confusing to have someone believe him so readily, but I had noticed over the weeks that he was surprisingly good at accepting people for who they were, without trying to change them.
He might have been irritable about how people were, as he had been with me, but once he found something that helped him understand someone’s behavior, he settled in comfortably and did not worry about changing them.
It had allowed him to accept how Clay was, though I still didn’t know what he’d seen that had let him accept the man as he was.
Closing my eyes, I listened to his breathing and felt my body relax.
I couldn’t fall asleep, but I felt myself enter strange territory where I was still thinking, but it just drifted through my thoughts.
I didn’t know what the future held for either of us, or if there would really be help for Rowan, but I had to try.
Maybe he would accept help, or maybe he would leave Arete without looking back, returning to the way he had lived his life before.
That was ultimately up to him.
I only became aware of the passage of time when a sharp beep jerked me back to reality, and I looked around in confusion.
Rowan was stirring. I smirked when I realized that, despite everything, he had fallen asleep.
Another beep brought my eyes to the door, and I frowned at the pad beside it, seeing it was lit up.
Grunting, I got up, hearing Rowan grumble as I jostled him while clambering over his long limbs to go to the door and see that there was someone outside trying to get in.
“The hell,” I muttered as I looked at the time. Not only was it too early for a guest to be visiting, but I had never known Rowan to have a visitor that wasn’t me. I glanced back to find Rowan sitting up in bed, looking at me with an unreadable expression, before he gestured at me.
Assuming it was permission to open the door, I deactivated the privacy mode and opened it, blinking when I saw who was standing on the other side. “Uh, good morning.”
Reggie stared at me for a few heartbeats, regret creeping across his face. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”
“We spent the night talking,” I told him, speaking slowly, not just because I was surprised to see him here so early or at all, for that matter, but I didn’t want to give away the fact that I had been here a lot longer. “What, uh, what’s going on?”
Reggie stepped forward, looking around the room, then sighed and closed his eyes. “Damn.”
“What?” I asked, trying to figure out what could be causing him distress, until my eyes fell on the table. “Oh, shit.”
We had left the pills out.
“Yeah, shit,” Reggie said with a sigh. “Okay, well, I guess what’s done is done, the two of you, come with me...now. Leave everything here, come as you are.”
I looked back and expected to see anger, bitterness, even sadness on Rowan’s face, but there was only resignation and determination. When he met my eyes, they shone with a hard light I didn’t recognize, but his smile at least seemed genuine. “You heard the man, let’s go.”