Here is Home • The Pack

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Preston waited at the hospital until midnight. He realized waiting around for anything to happen was useless and Alfie was at home with Ruby. It's not like Preston didn't trust him, it's just that leaving a teenage boy with a toddler was not the smartest idea. So, he dropped Rob and Jess off at home then headed to the police station.

"I'm going to fucking kill them all."

Was the first thing Lachlan said to Preston. He sighed, and pulled four bottles out of his sweatshirt pocket. "I got my meds from Jackie. All there," he said.

Lachlan froze, and turned to look at Preston. The bottles looked pretty full considering Calvin had them.

"When'ja get these," Lachlan asked Preston softly, squinting at the partially-scraped-off labels.

"Last Wednesday I think? Maybe Thursday?"

"What. Fucking. Day."

Suddenly, Preston remembered, remembered it was the day Lachlan pushed him hard against the window, and then— "Last Tuesday. The day those blinds got broken."

Lachlan looked up. "The blinds? What the—," and then he stopped, a blush pushing hard against his cheeks as he remembered. He cleared his throat. "Okay. Okay, Tuesday. Stick your hands out, like this," and he pulled Preston's hands, cupped them together.

Lachlan dropped the contents of the first bottle into Preston's hands, staring at the pills in his hands. He poured the other bottle's contents into his own. Stared again. Preston squinted, confused.

Lachlan carefully slid them back in their bottles. "Again," He said, and they held out their hands as the second set of pills dropped. Lachlan's eyes moved fast over his palms, then Preston's. Preston tried to dip his head, catch his eyes, but then Lachlan looked up, eyes wide. "No fuckin way. All the pills are there."

"Why is that so surprising?"

Lachlan shrugged, slid his thumbs over the back of Preston's hands slowly. "Just glad we got 'em back. But I swear to fucking god. He tries this shit again—"

Preston closed the last shred of distance to kiss him, slow and full and soft, a tiny laugh inside it.

He pulled away slowly, smiled, clicked his tongue. "Such a tough guy."

"Fuck you." Lachlan said, but smiled back.

"Later, maybe, but first we need to bail Jerome out."

• •

It took all night for the officers to make a decision on Jerome's bail. Lachlan was getting irritable. It's the fucking south side. Who doesn't have some kind of illegal weapon or drug on them at all times? Arresting Jerome was a new low for them. If they wanted to arrest someone, they could walk outside and find three druggies or criminals screaming 'hey arrest me!'

Preston was asleep on Lachlan's shoulder when an officer came out to where they were sitting. He smiled softly, "You're a real good brother. If I fell asleep on one of my sibling's shoulder, they'd shove me out of the chair."

"What?"

"Jerome told me all you did for him today." He pointed at Preston.

Lachlan's brows furrowed. "Wait, you think he's my brother? No, he's my boyfriend."

"I thought Jerome was your boyfriend."

Lachlan could swear he puked in his mouth a little, "That's disgusting. No-no, Jerome is my brother. And he-" Lachlan pointed at Preston, "-Is my boyfriend."