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8
“Morning.” I made a show of looking at my watch when Liam appeared in the lounge, clasping a large mug in his hands, somehow still managing to look hot despite the fact that he was clearly hungover as fuck. “Or should I say afternoon?”
“Fuck off.” He didn’t even spare me a glance, dropping to the sofa next to Damon, who was engrossed in something on his laptop, his fingers tapping along with whatever he was listening to through his AirPods. When I glanced over at Liam, his cheeks were flushed, and his grip on his mug was so tight, his knuckles were white.
Right. No reminders of last night. I got the hint that he was hoping we’d both forget about it.
It wasn’t that easy, though.
Last night…it had been a mistake to kiss that guy. I’d told myself that it was what I needed. This was part of what I’d been hoping my uni experience would be like—to be able to meet guys who were interested in me and to be out in the open with them. Not only that, but my enemy-slash-housemate had been occupying way too much of my headspace, and it had to stop.
But as soon as the guy had started to kiss me, it was clear that something was missing.
I’d tried to get into the kiss, but when he’d moved his mouth to my neck, I realised that it wasn’t what I wanted.Hewasn’t what I wanted. I’d been set to break away from him when I’d noticed someone watching us.
Liam. He was half hidden in the shadows, his heavy-lidded gaze focused on me, and his mouth open as he stared at us. He swiped his tongue across his lips in a completely unconscious movement, and that was when my dick had gone from barely interested to extremely interested. I didn’t know what had possessed me, but I’d moved away from the guy and palmed my cock through my jeans as Liam watched me, completely unmoving. I couldn’t make out his expression, but he looked so fucking hot right then.
I’dneverhad that kind of reaction to someone before. Yeah, I’d noticed how hot Liam was from the moment I’d first seen him, but right then, it was like someone had turned the dial all the way up, and everything had been amplified to the point where I couldn’t concentrate on anything else other than him.
He’d disappeared before I’d even had a chance to move. By the time I’d found him again, he was more or less passed out on the floor. A weird protective instinct had burned through me, seeing him like that, and I’d helped him out of the house. He’d passed out on my shoulder almost as soon as we’d got back inside number 3, and Travis and I had to practically carry him up the stairs. I’d managed to get him into the bathroom just in time before he’d been sick three times in a row, and then I’d just about managed to manhandle him onto his bed where he’d fallen asleep. I hadn’t dared to leave him in case he was sick again. I’d only taken enough time to find water and painkillers, and then I’d curled up on his small sofa and dozed for a few hours before he’d woken up and kicked me out of his room. That had kind of hurt, although it shouldn’t have. I hadn’t been expecting a thanks, given that we were barely on speaking terms.
Now, I took the chance to study him while he stared at the TV, drinking his coffee. I dropped the teasing because he really didn’t look good.
“How are you feeling?” I said softly.
“Why do you care?” he snapped. “It’s just a hangover.”
“Okay. Just a question.” I attempted to keep my voice calm, even though my natural instinct was to answer back. When he turned to glare at me, I stood abruptly and walked out of the lounge. There was no way I could stay in the same room as him anymore and not get into an argument, and I’d only end up feeling guilty if I antagonised him while he was in this state.
I ran into Travis in the hallway, entering the other downstairs room with all his media equipment.
“Noah! Just the man I was looking for. You got a minute?”
“I’m free. What do you need?”
He beckoned me into the room, where Kira was winding up a black electrical cable. “Babe. I found us a cameraman.”
A bright smile spread across her face. “Perfect. Shall we set up in the kitchen? Noah, can you grab that ring light, please?”
“This better not be a porno or anything. What am I supposed to be doing?” I asked as I lugged a light and some kind of reflector thing into the kitchen.
Travis set a small case on the kitchen table and unzipped it, handing me a camera. “No porn involved, so you can get your mind out of the gutter. It’s a project for one of my modules. We’re going to be baking, and you’re going to film us.”
I had so many questions, but the first one out of my mouth was, “Can you bake?”
They both laughed at that, shaking their heads. “Nope, but it’s for my project. I have to upload it to my YouTube channel and analyse—never mind. Point is, I have to do it, and it’s probably gonna be a disaster,” Travis said. With an amused chuckle, I leaned back against the counter with the camera in my hands, waiting for further instructions.
Once they had everything set up, Travis showed me how to work the camera and then showed me a couple of video clips to give me an idea of the filming style he wanted. He waved away my concerns about having never filmed anyone before. “You’ll be fine. Just keep the camera on us, zoom in whenever you think we need a close-up, and don’t let it shake. You can’t go wrong.”
By the time the two of them were piping the batter into their cake cases, the kitchen was a disaster zone. As Kira was flicking batter from the spoon at Travis, Liam walked in. He frowned at me as I placed a finger to my lips, then raised a brow as he took in the state of Travis and Kira. Avoiding the camera, he picked his way through the unidentified ingredients that had ended up all over the floor and came up to my side.
My whole body hummed with awareness as he leaned into my personal space, his breath hitting my ear. “How much longer is this shit going on for? I’m hungover as fuck, and I need food,” he whispered in a low rasp.
Carefully holding the camera steady with one hand, I held up my other hand, splaying my fingers.Five minutes, I mouthed.
He huffed and stepped away, and the tension drained from my body.
As soon as the cakes were in the oven, I placed the camera down and turned to face him. He was pale beneath his tan, and there were dark circles under his eyes. I couldn’t help the wave of sympathy that went through me, even though his pain was self-inflicted.
