Page 52 of Should Our Stars Collide

“Kieran, you can barely walk straight,” Ash says, forcing himself to stay calm, to go easy on him. “You really think that it’s a great idea to go swimming? Do you have a death wish?”

“And you call me dramatic.” Kieran huffs, but something about him is softer now, not as guarded. “I’m not gonna drown in five feet of water. I’m not coming out; it’s fucking hot outside.”

“Okay,” Ash decides diplomatically, changing tactics. “You don’t mind if I keep an eye on you, do you?” To demonstrate, he lowers himself to the ground, letting his legs hang over the edge of the pool.He got himself so riled up, the cool water swallowing his feet is actually doing wonders for him.

“I’m not a child that needs to be supervised.” The pout that appears contradicts that statement.

Ash tries not to smile, but it’s a losing battle. “I beg to differ.”

Kieran harrumphs.

“And no jumping. It’s too shallow, and you can slip.”

Kieran splashes water everywhere with an exaggerated flail of arms. “Stop telling me what to do! I don’t?—”

“Kieran.” Something about Ash’s voice makes Kieran pause. “Please, just… I’m worried, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

After another lengthy pause, Kieran sighs. “Fine.Jesus. Way to kill my buzz.” He twirls around, swimming away from Ash.

Ash smiles. He can’t help it. Kieran is such a good boy, and he doesn’t even realize. And Ash can’t do anything about it, because they’re not in that kind of relationship yet.

God, this is killing him.

While Kieran swims around, purposefully ignoring him, Ash’s mind wanders. He replays the events of the past two years, but his focus hones in on the weeks that followed after that night—after he’d brought Kieran home from the pub, staying until he finally fell asleep.

Kieran’s behavior after that night makes complete sense in hindsight. All the things Ash had been so thrown off by are suddenly clear. The drastic change in Kieran’s demeanor. The chaotic energy around him that seemed to have suddenly settled like dust after a storm. The way he’d spoken like he knew something that Ash didn’t, which, frankly, had been the most baffling of all because when hadanyoneever known better than Ash? Not much you don’t know when you have access to people’s minds.

Not to mention all those things Kieran did after?—

A loud splash breaks through Ash’s little trip down memory lane.

“Done?” he asks as Kieran climbs up the small ladder out of the pool.

“I’m getting pruny.”

Uh-huh. Sure it’s not because he doesn’t like Ash watching his every move.

“I see.”

“You’re not going in? Aren’t you hot?” Kieran’s gaze travels over him judgmentally.

“Maybe later.”

Kieran shrugs, plopping back onto the lounger, soaking wet. He makes an instant grab for the margarita glass, pouting when he notices it’s empty.

“Hey, excuse me?” He waves the glass at the waitress collecting the dishes a few loungers over. “Can I get another one?”

“Of course.”

“Cheers.” He shoots a suspicious glance towards Ash. “What, no reprimanding speech this time?”

“Would it help?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Kieran says with a grin. Oh, the trials this man puts Ash through. “What’s your tattoo mean, by the way?”

Ash’s gaze slides to his forearm, as if he just now noticed it. “The compass? It’s a psychology thing.”

Kieran snorts. “Shocker.”