By Any Other Name by Tia Fielding Page A

occasionally after work or on her lunch break. She worked as a vet’s assistant, and since the clinic wasn’t that far, she came home to let her dog out when there was time or on her breaks. Kara was nice and calm, and even though she seemed positive and sometimes a bit giggly, she was considerate. She did have this funny, kind of snarky side with plenty of sarcasm to boot, and her verbal battles with Dru made Skye laugh. It was something that was new for him, laughing so much. It made him feel good, alive.
     
    Without really noticing, his exercise routine had taken an hour and a half, and he finally went to the adjacent shower and tossed his sweaty clothing into the laundry. It wasn’t until he grabbed a clean towel from the cabinet that he realized he had forgotten his clean clothes upstairs. Hoping that Dru wasn’t up yet, he sneaked out of the bathroom and found the kitchen and the loft empty. There was humming from the master bedroom, so he supposed Dru was dressing after his shower or maybe to go jogging. Dru hadn’t been joking, Skye thought as he quietly walked past the bedroom door to his own. His friend worked out regularly and a lot, no matter the weather.
     
    He got dressed in his room and checked his e-mail, which confirmed that Al had called the new shrink, Patricia, and Skye had an appointment every Tuesday and Wednesday from next week on. Skye sighed. It was something he had learned to depend on, the therapy. It had been rough doing only phone sessions with Al since he’d arrived. Maybe he should have been less interested in spending what would most likely be the rest of his life in therapy, but hell, it did help him. Without Dr. Al, he wouldn’t be half the person he was now.
     
    Still in his thoughts, he walked out of his room and heard some music downstairs. Leaning over the loft railing, he saw Dru in the kitchen. The radio was louder than usual, probably because he seemed to like the song. Skye laughed under his breath and backed away enough to be able to see Dru and still stay somewhat hidden himself.
     
    The blond was frying eggs and dancing to the song he was listening to. The low-riding jeans and white tank looked stunning against his tan and light hair. Lost in the song and the movement of his own body, swaying and waving the spatula in the air, Skye’s friend was beautiful. And then it hit him: he was thinking like that about someone. In a way that made him feel something . Like he wanted to maybe touch Dru and… and hold him .
     
    He backed away even more, enough to end up sitting on the couch. Staring into nothing, Skye used his skills from years of therapy to first calm himself down and then think about it rationally. He had never found anyone attractive. Not women, not men. Nobody. Ever. Truth be told, he hadn’t really wanted anything to do with the giggly, stupid girls while still in school. He had hung out with Dru. Then, before he had even kissed anyone, he was taken away from Rowan Falls and…. And then in the Institute, a few weeks into his stay, while he was heavily medicated, one of the other patients, a crazy lady everyone called Miss Yvette, had come to his room and….
     
    Luckily Tim had come in to check on him before she could do anything really bad, but he still felt violated and betrayed. He was supposed to be safe. It had set his progress back for months. When he was finally off enough meds to be able to go out of his room, he had heard that Miss Yvette had been moved to another floor of the Institution and was being kept under surveillance. He had to be given sleeping pills for a long time to be able to sleep for the night. He just couldn’t sleep knowing she was in the building.
     
    After the episode with Yvette, Skye had been absolutely certain about two things: one, he never wanted to be that heavily medicated again, and two, women could be as abusive as men. It had been the same thing again, not being able to do anything but watch, out of it but still able