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“This would be the one time she does, just watch.” Sam let out a sigh as he dropped into the armchair. He glanced at his watch, then out the window at the darkening sky. “I don’t fancy being sacked because I hired some hetero perv to talk about why he likes watching women shake their bits and tits.”
“I feel like that’s super sexist, but I’m not really sure,” Oliver said with a hum.
“Oh, it is,” came Leo’s voice from the hall. He walked into the room, giving a little salute to Sam as he went for the kitchen. Oliver heard him flick on the kettle, and he came back a moment later. “You could ask Coco when she comes in on holiday. Only I think if you say bits and tits to her face, you’d lose the bits you’ve got.”
Oliver snickered as his sibling went for the sofa, laying lengthwise across it. “When’s her flight in?”
“Tuesday,” Leo said with a wave of his hand. “She’s almost a citizen now, you know. Job and everything, looking at filing for it.”
“This is that mate from California, yeah?” Sam asked.
Oliver nodded as he dropped on to the arm of the chair, and grinned when Sam’s arm came around his waist. “You’ll like her. She’s our raging-ace queen.”
“Raging ace?”
“Asexual,” Leo said mildly. “She’s the one who found that trans club I joined up there.” What left hung in the air was that it was the group who helped Leo get addicted to heroin and sent his life spiraling, but Oliver and Leo both avoided that topic with Sam—or anyone who didn’t know them intimately. “She’s fun. You’ll like her.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to meeting some of the people who knew you when you were American,” Sam said, which earned him a playful smack to the shoulder. He glanced at his watch again, then tightened his hold on Oliver’s waist. “We ought to get going. You know the traffic is going to be murder, and they’ll only hold our table for so long.”
Oliver rose, walking over to drop a kiss on Leo’s forehead. “Be back with your cake.”
“You’re the best.”
“I know I am,” Oliver said as he went for his coat. “You should tell me more often, though.”
“I like your head the size it is now, thanks,” Leo shouted back. “Be safe, boyo.”
The pair left, closing the door with a firm click, and Sam took Oliver’s hand in a tight grip. It was warm and comforting, and though Oliver should have felt contentment from a safe, healthy, loving relationship, he didn’t.
He missed Gabe, and he felt lost.
Pushing it aside, he gave his boyfriend a smile as he was led down to the street and dragged out for their date.
Twenty-One
The dinner was amazing. The food was wonderful, and the conversation was as pleasant as ever. For moments at a time, Oliver could forget everything—where he was and why, his past, the potential for his future. He was nothing more than a grad student working on his dissertation, with a sweet, caring boyfriend.
“Alright,” Sam said as he took care of the bill, “we should head for the tube, yeah? We can swing by Tesco and grab Leo his cake on the way.”
“He’s going to be less than thrilled to get a Tesco’s cake,” Oliver said with a slight laugh.
“Yes well,” Sam put his arm around Oliver’s waist and squeezed lightly, grinning, “that’s what the little shit gets for asking this late at night. All the good shops are closed.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, but they fell in step outside, holding on to each other lightly. Oliver rested his head on Sam’s shoulder as they made their way up the street, and he felt good. Maybe not content, but he started to wonder if he could settle for these moments of happy. He could build a future on that.
“I was thinking we ought to get away soon,” Sam said as they rounded the corner. The shop was just up ahead, and luckily it was late enough that there wasn’t much of a crowd. “Maybe a little holiday in Cornwall?”
Oliver pulled a face. “The bloody hell is in Cornwall?”
“A beach,” Sam said with a playful laugh. “A very nice room with a big bathtub. Nice pubs. The fact that we’d be on holiday together not in London. No dissertation,” he muttered, stopping before the entrance to the shop and pushing Oliver against the wall.
Oliver let out a groan. “Mm, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
Sam snickered as he pressed his face against the side of Oliver’s neck, leaving a slow, dull, sucking kiss. “Yeah? You like that? No laptops, no research material. No internet.”
Oliver giggled, low in the back of his throat as his hands came around the back of Sam’s neck and held him tight. “So, a weekend away? You think we’re ready for that?”
“Six months, you know,” Sam murmured, and lifted his face to kiss Oliver. “I think we’ve earned a short holiday, cariad.”
