CHAPTER FIVE
PATRICK PULLEDthe door closed, the soft click sounding overly loud in the quiet of the flat. He slumped against the wall for a minute, closed his eyes, and tried to collect his thoughts, because he wasn’t entirely sure how fucking-awesome sex had suddenly turned into something so awkward.
He wasn’t blaming it all on Will either. As soon as they’d both come and got their breath back, Patrick had felt a gnawing in his gut telling him that his urge to turn over and cuddle up to Will wasn’t something he should act on.
He should grab his stuff and go back to his own room. But the thing was, he hadn’t wanted to—still warm and lazy from his orgasm. Worst of all it had seemed the natural progression of things to curl into Will’s chest and go to sleep.
He’d been half tempted to do it anyway, but then Will had thrown him his T-shirt and made the comment about the water, making it fairly obvious he wanted Patrick to leave.
So Patrick had sucked it up, slapped a smile on his face, and pushed whatever feelings he had on the matter far away, and left.
He knew he had a tendency to get attached too quickly. His last disastrous relationship was evidence enough, but he had hoped setting ground rules at the start would prevent him falling for Will. How fucking stupid could he have been? He’d liked Will for nearly three years, so of course actually sleeping with him was going to make it ten times worse. No way Patrick could have any sort of sexual relationship with him and not get attached.
He banged his head against the wall a couple of times, hoping to knock some sense into his stupid brain, before eventually heading back to his room. He hoped the aftermath wouldn’t be too shitty. He’d still have the rest of the summer to get through, and he’d rather not spend it moping around feeling sorry for himself.
Patrick felt surprisingly lighter after finally admitting he’d fucked himself over big-time where Will was concerned. There was no point dwelling on what he should have done or beating himself up about it. He’d follow Will’s lead and deal with the consequences later. Probably with lots of alcohol.
With everything more or less sorted in his head, it didn’t take long for Patrick to fall asleep.
HE WOKEup to the sun streaming through the window and directly into his eyes. Jesus Christ, he must remember to close Ben’s curtains at night. A quick glance at his phone told him it was only seven fifteen, far too early to be awake. He had his first shift at the coffee shop today, but that didn’t start until two this afternoon, so he had no reason to get up.
Except he could hear Will moving about in the kitchen, and Patrick wanted to see him before he left for work. He didn’t want things to get weird after last night, and he figured they might if they didn’t get the morning after out of the way first.
Not bothering to get dressed—Will had seen him naked enough times now for it not to matter—Patrick stumbled out into the hallway in his underwear and headed to the kitchen, yawning as he walked.
“Morning.” He stretched his arms above his head in an attempt to shake off some of his remaining tiredness.
Will looked up from making his cup of tea and promptly spilled boiling water over the counter. “Shit!” He jumped back out of the way, grabbing for a tea towel to mop up the mess.
Patrick grinned, not bothering to hide his smug expression. He couldn’t have asked for a better reaction.
“Warn a guy next time if you’re going to wander around half-naked. You’re a menace.” Will finished cleaning up the water and turned back to face Patrick, letting his gaze linger on Patrick’s chest this time, a slow, easy smile spreading across his face. “Tea?”
“Yeah, please.” Patrick moved to lean against the counter next to Will, relieved there was no lingering awkwardness from the night before.
Will’s trousers clung to his hips and his arse, and Patrick was more than ready for a repeat performance. If the way Will kept stealing glances at Patrick’s crotch was any indication, then Patrick wasn’t the only one.
Unfortunately Will had to get to work, and apart from a few accidental touches whilst manoeuvring around the kitchen, nothing happened. Much to Patrick’s disgust, there was no kiss good-bye either.
Will looked back over his shoulder on his way to the door, shouting that he had football after work and wouldn’t be home until late. His smile was still warm and genuine, but Patrick couldn’t help but remember the way Will had said good-bye the previous morning and feel a sharp pang in his chest.
He collapsed on the sofa and let his head fall back against the cushions, frustration making him fidgety and anxious. There was only one thing to do when he felt like this. He had a quick glance round to make sure Cleo wasn’t likely to jump up and disturb him, then slid his hands into his underwear.
Thirty minutes later after a shower and a wank, Patrick felt much more relaxed and grabbed his phone before settling back down on the sofa. He had a text from Ben, some horrendous selfie, clearly taken after copious amount of alcohol.
I’m embarrassed to call you my brother, he typed, smiling at the photo and saving it to his albums.
Ben’s reply came about ten minutes later.
Fuck off. U wish u were more like me :)
Patrick’s phone rang before he had a chance to reply.
“Why are you up so early?” he asked as soon as he accepted the call. He grinned as Ben scoffed on the other end.
“It’s nine thirty and the sun is out, why wouldn’t I be up?”
“Because you must have been well pissed last night, judging from the state of that picture. I figured you’d be sleeping off your hangover this morning.”
