‘He’s gonna be mad I was gone so long.’
‘It’s a big party, plenty to occupy him.’
‘He’s always watching me.’
Lachlan has noticed.‘I want to show you something.’
‘What?’
‘You see where I’m taking your pulse?’
‘Yeah.’
‘If you press here and hold for six seconds, it’ll help prevent this.’
Jules looks up.‘Really?’
‘Yeah, it’ll even help now but you have to do it yourself.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you’re trying to find a middle ground between,I don’t feel anythingandouch, and it’s your body so only you would know that.’It’s not quite true, Lachlan could easily find hisNeiguanpressure point, but he wants to give this to Jules.A little bodily autonomy, the power to feel better.‘Two fingers, firm press, see if you can find it.’
Jules tries, frowning intently.He moves his fingers, head cocked.‘Oh.’
Lachlan smiles.‘There you go.’
‘Wow.’
‘A little secret weapon for you.’
Jules opens his mouth to thank Lachlan, it woulddefinitelyhave been a “thank you” that time but he catches it, says,‘Cool,’instead and that’s fine for Lachlan.He waits out by the mirror, giving Jules a few moments in the stall to gather himself.When the boy emerges, he stops dead.
Lachlan tenses up instantly.‘What’s wrong?’
‘You’re bleeding.’
?
Lachlan changes quickly, managing it without losing sight of Jules thanks to Rook in Control and Fenwick covering for him, perhaps the first genuine sign of solidarity between them.By the time he returns, clean again and freshly patched up by Blaire, Jules still hasn’t rejoined the ballroom properly.Instead, he lingers at the edges of the crowd, reluctant to throw himself back into the sea of drunken monsters just yet.
He’s laser-focused on Lachlan.
‘Did you pop a stitch bending down?’
‘Mm,’ Lachlan answers, a perfectnon-answer.He’s hardly going to explain but he doesn’t like lying to Jules.‘Shall we?’
‘No,’ Jules says, gaze fixed on Lachlan who sees Alistair casting around for his most precious treasure.‘Your shirt was soaked in blood.What the fuck happened?’
‘It wasn’t soaked and your father is looking for you.’
‘I don’t care.What did that?’Jules’ lips tighten.‘Who?’
‘Jules—’
‘Don’tlie to me, Bodyguard.That’s all we have.’
It’s so shockingly insistent that it catches Lachlan off-guard.He looks at Jules, reallylooks.This poor fucking kid, thischildforced to live this life, play this part, endure this glittering monstrosity.
