15
Chris
“You’re sure you can take Evan to school?” I ask Martin for the thousandth time.
“I want to help out, repay you for letting me stay here.”
“Maybe that means I’ll actually get there on time today,” Evan interjects, chewing on another piece of bacon.
Martin’s been here for a few days now and, as if by magic, the house is tidy, the fridge is full, and breakfast is even ready and waiting on the kitchen table.
This isn’t the healthiest arrangement – for any of us – and I know I should tell him to go back to his apartment, but it’s so nice and reassuring to have a man in the house that I’ve decided to milk the pleasant family atmosphere for as long as I can.
I give him a kiss on the cheek, and grab my bag and my keys, ready for a new week of clocking in miraculously early. I take one last glance at the only men in my life, joking around in the kitchen as if nothing had ever changed, and I close the door behind me with a heavy heart.
I start the engine and head towards the town centre, relieved for once to have someone around to help, but also sad that it won’t always be like this.
I’m there in fifteen minutes, pulling into the practically empty car park. I walk the few metres that take me to the café, unlock the door and turn off the alarm. I put on some music, to create a more relaxing atmosphere for the customers, then switch on everything I’ll need to make breakfast. I take off my jacket and chuck it in the back, along with my bag, tie up my apron and pull my hair back. I take a deep breath and plaster a big, reassuring smile across my face – the same smile that everyone recognises, the one that greets the customers every morning and makes them choose my café over all the others.
I start to get everything ready for breakfast, waiting for my colleagues to arrive, and make my first – well, second – coffee of the day. While I’m slowly stirring, I glance over at the table I was sitting at yesterday. The same table I shared with Ryan while we ate our lunch.
I still don’t know how it all happened. He was there, standing in the middle of the street, looking disorientated, and I just couldn’t muster up any hate for him, despite our previous meetings. He needed someone to share his silence with and, well, let’s just say that I’m the same.
He was so different from all the other times, so small, so tired. His arrogant spitefulness was clouded by the sadness in his eyes, which weren’t icy like they usually are, but lost, lonely. His beautiful blue eyes – did I say beautiful?Shit. They were so empty that I wanted to throw myself inside them, give them a new, warmer colour, one that wrapped him up.
I tried not to pay too much attention to his shoulders, which filled out his tight shirt, almost making me want to rip it off him. I tried to ignore his lips, soft, inviting, biteable. When he raised his eyes occasionally from the table, his gaze was powerful, probing. His hair was smooth and light, the colour of the sun, tumbling sexily over his forehead. I tried to ignore the quiet thrill between my legs the moment his mouth brushed against the rim of his coffee cup.
Jesus, it would be so amazing…
I shake my head, trying not to think about it. I shouldn’t get all worked up like this here, when I have nothing to distract me from it at home.
Besides, nothing really happened. We had a quick lunch, painless, where no one opened their mouth – otherwise, we’d have ended up at each other’s throat, as always.
I push the thought away into the corner of my mind, and say hi to my colleagues, who are gobsmacked by my punctuality, seeing as it’s Monday.
“To what do we owe the honour?” Vic winds me up, grabbing the coffee out of my hands.
“Martin’s staying at mine.”
Vic literally spits her coffee out over my apron.
“Explain,” she says, her voice hard, drying her mouth on the back of her hand.
“He needed someone.”
“So obviously, you offered him a bed.”
“Vic…”
“Chris, you know I love you, and in some ways I love Martin too, but do you really think this is a good idea?”
“It’s only for a few days.”
“What happened to his super-fit, chiselled boyfriend?”
“He left him.”
“So he thought it would be best to come running back to you?”
