Rory figured he was all in, now. He hunched into his coat. ‘Haven’t touched his dick or anything. But we’ve kissed and done that.’
‘That’s a pretty bigthat.’ Graham waggled his eyebrows theatrically. ‘I take it back, mate. Having a fella’s fingers up your arse is a bit more of a giveaway, right?’
He descended into laughter until Rory muttered, ‘Ain’t funny,’ and he quietened down.
‘Aye, sorry,’ Graham said, giving him a nudge. ‘Is abitfunny, though.’
Graham meant it with warmth, which somehow made the whole situation feel lighter on Rory’s shoulders. He allowed himself a chuckle. ‘Yeah, all right. But what’s not funny is I don’t know what to do about it. How far I want to take it, like.’
‘How far up yer arse, you mean?’ Graham rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t give me that look. You want my advice?’
Rory kicked the pack of beer. ‘Have I got a choice?’
‘Right. I say if you like him, have a go on him. Worry about all the labels after.’
‘You make it sound so fucking simple.’
‘Cuz it is. Either you like sucking his cock, or you don’t.’
‘And if it turns out I don’t?’
‘Easy. Ditch ’im.’ Graham took a deep swig of his beer. ‘Find a new one. Or don’t. Find a lass instead. Or don’t. Up to you.’
‘And what if, hypothetically, I couldn’t ditch him? Say he keeps turning up, no matter what I do?’
Graham slung him another sideways look. ‘You need me to punch this fella’s lights out, or something?’
‘No! That’s not what I meant.’ Rory hid his grimace behind his can. ‘Just we’re sort of drawn to each other. Dunno if he’s got any say in it, exactly. Dunno if I have, for that matter.’ He trailed off, feeling embarrassed trying to put it all into words. The soul bond stuff was too out-there even for Rory to get his head around. It was all a little too close to sounding like magic for his liking.
Graham seemed to have read different meaning into his words and phrased his next question carefully. ‘You really like him? Deeper than skin, I mean.’
‘I don’t know…’
‘There’s a lot of not-knowing going on for someone you just want a quick shag with, that’s all I’m saying. You wouldn’t usually put this much thought into it, would ye?’
True enough,Rory thought.But I wouldn’t usually be thinking about sleeping with an ocean monster who wants to romantically run away with me and who also apparently lays eggs.
Graham leaned forward, looking serious. ‘Rory, listen closely. You need to fuck off.’
‘All right, I know I’m being a twat but like—’
‘Nah, mate. Shut up.’ Graham banged his can on the seat to drown Rory out. ‘I mean you need to fuck off somewhere else. Out of Ullapool. Like you should’ve years ago. Bet that’d set your head straight.’
‘You know I can’t do that.’
‘But you want to.’
The accusation rang like a siren in Rory’s ears. ‘That’s in the past…’
Graham shook his head. ‘You should’ve fucked off to uni with the rest of the eggheads from school. I know you wanted to. What was it you wanted to study? Eco-wassname or something?’
‘Ecology and Wildlife Conservation,’ Rory said glumly.
‘Yeah, that. Well, why don’t you?’
Rory scoffed. ‘I can hardly keep theStarafloat, let alone pay for Dad to be looked after by someone else—’
‘Sell me the boat,’ Graham replied patiently. ‘The whole business, even. Don’t I keep offering to buy you out? I don’t care whether you work for me, or not. You’re welcome to. But I reckon you’d be better offfucking offsomewhere else and actually enjoying your life, you fucking prat.’
