AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I flipped on the cooker hood light rather than blinding myself with the overhead lights, and screamed at a pitch I hadn’t achieved since my balls had dropped.
Huxley burst out laughing as I collapsed back against the oven, my heart beating out of my chest at the sudden shock of seeing him standing there. I could only stare at him. I’d never even seen him smile, let alone laugh. It transformed his entire face. With the animosity temporarily gone, he looked… He looked like someone I’d— No.
“Why the fuck were you standing there in the dark? I’m too young to die of a heart attack.”
He didn’t answer, his laughter dying away as he appeared to realise that all I was wearing was a pair of tight black boxer briefs. His gaze tracked across my body as he shifted on his feet, and there was something in his eyes that made my breath catch in my throat. Fuck. I cast around for something that would get his eyes off me. As my gaze lowered, I noticed two things. Firstly, he was also in a similar state of undress. That would have been epically bad, for various dick-related reasons, but the second thing I noticed put everything else out of my mind. He was holding a bag of ice to his chest, and above the top of the bag, I could see the bruising, so dark against his pale skin.
I’d hurt him there, when he’d already been hurt. I’d made it worse.
“Huxley. I’m sorry.” My voice was scratchy and loud in the silence. “I didn’t mean—”
“Forget about it,” he snapped. “I did just as much to you. And I’m not gonna apologise for it.”
“Yeah, but you were already—”
“I said, forget it.” His jaw clenched. Turning around, he opened the freezer and placed the ice back inside. I didn’t miss his wince.
I really hated feeling bad. Even though he’d been a complete and utter wanker, I shouldn’t have done what I did. “Uh.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I directed my gaze at the floor. “I’m making a hot chocolate. Want one?”
There was a long pause. His head was still buried in the freezer, but finally, I heard his quietly muttered reply.
“Okay.”
Okay? To be honest, I hadn’t actually expected him to agree. But he had, and now I…now I needed to get my fucking feet to unfreeze from the kitchen floor so I could get to the coffee machine to use the milk frother.
“Can’t sleep either?” Why were words still coming out of my mouth?
He grunted in reply as he closed the freezer door. It was then that I noticed the glass of water and his painkillers on the kitchen island in front of him, along with a tube of bruise relief cream. His pointed glare warned me not to offer to help him with the cream, so instead, I got my legs to unstick from the floor and headed over to the coffee machine to make a start on our hot chocolates. I pulled two slightly chipped blue-and-white-striped mugs from the cupboard, both of which belonged to my mum and had come from our flat, and then got to work.
While I’d been occupied making the hot chocolates, Huxley had disappeared. Carefully carrying the mugs, I padded down the hallway to find him, heading for the lounge. The games room door was open and there was a sliver of light spilling into the hallway, so I changed direction.
According to David, when he’d shown me around, the games room had once been Huxley’s playroom when he was a kid. As he grew older, they’d adapted it, and now the small room contained a huge TV and two games consoles, along with a large squashy black leather sofa, and a bookcase full of a combination of books and PlayStation and Nintendo games. The walls had posters of bands and concerts, and a guitar stand was placed in one corner along with a stool, microphone, and small amp.
When I entered, I saw Huxley curled up on the sofa with the TV remote in his hand, illuminated by a tiny lamp on top of the bookcase. He didn’t look up, but I knew that he knew I was there because his shoulders tensed.
“Here’s your hot chocolate,” I said, stating the obvious as I carefully placed his mug on the small coffee table in front of the sofa. When I straightened up to leave, he cleared his throat.
“I’m gonna watch something. You…you can stay…if you want.”
Was this him accepting a tentative truce? I’d made him hot chocolate, and now he was inviting me to watch a film with him? Images of his bruised torso played through my mind, and I knew there was only one acceptable way to reply.
“Uh. Yeah. Okay.”
His legs and most of his chest were covered by a dark blue chunky knit blanket, hiding his bruises. Even though I wasn’t cold, I grabbed my own blanket from the basket next to the bookcase. Because sitting there in just my underwear was too much. It left me feeling too exposed—and not only literally. We needed the comfort of a barrier between us. Taking a seat on the sofa, I sipped my hot chocolate while he scrolled through the film selections. He didn’t ask me what I wanted to watch, and I didn’t offer my opinion. It was enough that we were here in the same room and not at each other’s throats for once.
He selected Bohemian Rhapsody, muttering something about having seen it before and it not mattering whether he fell asleep, which I took to mean that I wasn’t the only one having trouble sleeping tonight. When he hit Play, I stretched out my feet to rest on the coffee table as I cradled my mug of hot chocolate in my palms. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he took his first tentative sip of his hot chocolate, his lips curving into a tiny smile as he swallowed before taking another, larger, sip.
He liked it.
I forced myself to concentrate on the TV.
I blinked.
Then blinked again.
And again. This time it lasted longer.
I placed my mug on the table.
