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Later that evening, when there was a lull in the action, I slid a Huxley across the bar—the cocktail, that was, not human Huxley—and watched as those black-tipped fingers curved around the glass with care. Huxley smiled at me, and it was warm and open, and it gave me fucking butterflies.
“Hux?” Leaning across the bar, I beckoned him closer with a crook of my finger. “Do you still want more?”
His gaze searched mine, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth as a million different emotions played across his face. Finally, he nodded.
I exhaled, trying to hide my relief. “Me too. Are we gonna do this?”
He sighed, reaching out his hand and hooking his little finger around mine. “I want to try. But if we do this…I don’t want to tell anyone. Definitely not our parents, and not our friends, either. It’s… The pressure will be too much. I can’t afford to fuck anything else up.”
Could we do this? Have a secret relationship, just friends and brothers on the surface, and we’d be the only two people in the world who knew the truth?
There was no other answer but yes. My feelings weren’t going away, and if both of us were prepared to give this thing between us a try, then I’d be a fool to say no. I wanted him too badly for that.
“Okay. We’ll give this a try. And it’ll stay between us.”
He gave me another smile again, releasing my finger, and leaned back, away from me. His lashes lowered as he slowly, deliberately licked his lips. Little fucking tease. “Get back to work. Once your shift is over, you’re mine.”
Two could play that game. I held his gaze as I planted my arms on the bar, my muscles flexing as I moved closer to him again. “Stay there. Drink your cocktails and enjoy the music. Watch me working. I’ll be serving all those other guys, but I’ll be thinking of you, knowing that your cock’s hard in your jeans watching them flirt with me, wishing it was you instead. Your jealousy turns me on, and it turns you on too, doesn’t it, baby? Makes you want to pin me up against the nearest surface so you can remind me who I belong to. So you can drive away all those jealous thoughts with your hand on my—”
“Cole.” His eyes darkened, his jaw clenching as he ground out the words between gritted teeth. “Shut the fuck up. Now.”
My grin widened. “I’m going back to work. Think of me.” Blowing him a kiss, I stepped away.
The end of the night couldn’t come soon enough.
21
It was official. I had blue balls.For the past few days, either Huxley’s dad or my mum seemed to be aroundall the fucking time. And not only during the day. When we’d arrived back from the club sometime after four in the morning, Huxley’s dad had been up, working in his dressing gown. He said something about a big project that they needed to prepare for, but it had meant that neither Huxley nor I had felt comfortable giving in to our baser urges. The most we’d managed was a few stolen kisses, not helped by the fact that Huxley was now properly starting his degree course alongside his band practice, and with my paid job begging me to do extra hours as well as the hours I was already committed to in my volunteer job, we were struggling to carve out some time to see each other. Yeah, it had only been a few days, but now that we’d agreed to try to be together, it was frustrating as fuck.
I paused my playlist—or, more accurately, the 2Bit Princes’ set list—pulling out my earbuds. I had to make time to see Huxley. I wanted him to understand that this was important to me. Thathewas important to me. And today was a big day because it was his first proper day at uni. I’d left this morning before he was up, so I’d only been able to send him a good-luck text, but I was sure he was feeling a bit nervous about it, even if he kept it hidden.
My bosses were pretty easy-going—as long as I completed the tasks they’d set, they were usually flexible with hours. Still, it was best to check before I made any plans. I headed over to Meera’s desk in the corner of our office and took a seat in the empty chair to her left.
She glanced up with a smile. “Cole. Perfect timing. I was hoping to speak to you. I was going to wait until Kaito was here, but he’s going to be out of the office most of the week, so it’ll just be me delivering the news.”
News? Meera and Kaito were my bosses…fuck, I hoped they weren’t going to tell me they were letting me go.
Shaking her head with a light laugh, she patted my arm reassuringly. “No need to look so worried. It’s good, or at least we hope it is. We talked about this a little before, but I hadn’t mentioned much about it until I knew we had something solid to offer you. How would you feel about being a paid member of staff? I can tell you now, it’s not much more than minimum wage—as you know, we run this charity on a shoestring—but we’d love to have you on board as a permanent member of staff. Still part-time because we don’t have the budget for full-time yet, but if you’re interested, the job’s yours.”
I grinned, the tension instantly leaving my body. A proper job, in a place I loved working in? “Yes! I’d love that. Thank you for the opportunity.”
She beamed at me. “We all love you here, Cole. You’re quick and efficient, and you get on with everyone. We don’t want to lose you.”
“In that case, I’d be honoured. Would it still be the same hours?”
Reaching into her desk drawer, she withdrew a small sheaf of papers. “Flexible days, sixteen hours a week to begin with, and we should be able to increase that to twenty hours in the new year. It’s up to you how you want to spread your hours out, and you can still work from home as necessary too. Here’s the contract, plus all the boring details about sick pay and annual leave and pensions. Have a read through, and bring the signed contract next time you’re in.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the paperwork with a smile. “I really appreciate it, and I’m glad you took a chance on me. Uh, I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m pushing my luck, but do you need me here until a set time today? That’s actually what I came over here to ask about in the first place.”
“Leave whenever you’re finished with those emails. Got any exciting plans?”
There must have been something in my expression that gave me away because she arched her brows, amused. “From that look on your face…I’m guessing…new love interest?”
Yes. Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell her that. Shifting in my seat, I shuffled the papers, attempting to act normal and not like a person with something to hide. “Uh, I wanted to meet my stepbrother. He’s just started at uni over at LSU.”
“Oh, he did? I went to that uni. Do they still do the annual kiss an eel day?”
“The what day?”
