Page 46 of Only Ever You

“Nonsense.” Interrupting, Michèle waved that idea off. “You cannot have four of you within one bed and have a comfortable night's sleep.”

“I’ll stay with Faye.” Bash’s voice cut through the kitchen like a knife.

He’ll—Whatdid he just say?

Faye swivelled on her stool, wide eyes burning into the side of his face.

Bash caught her look implyingwhat the fuck are you doingand shrugged, one hand already playing with his ear. “It’s not like we haven’t shared a room before.”

It wasn’t, was it? But everyone else didn’t need to know that. Her eyes bursting from their sockets hopefully said as much.

This isn’t happening, Faye said to herself. Bash hadnotjust told his entire family that they’d shared a bed before now, right? She couldn’t check to see her cheeks had grown redder than the claret wine warming on the counter without it being obvious.

The chuffing cough that sounded like it meant to cover a chuckle was most definitely from Matt, and Faye panicked at all of the eyes zeroing in on her waiting for her response.

She gulped. “That’s … fine by me. I don’t mind.” Though her heart raced at the prospect. Sharing a bed with Bash hadn’t been on the revised cards when she’d agreed to let him kidnap her for Christmas.

“Thanks lad,” his uncle said. “Thought you’d be staying in the same room as your girlfriend anyway.”

“She’s not?—”

“We’re not?—”

Mortimer’s laugh broke, mug of tea raised to his lips. “Right. And I’m Santa Claus.”

“What?” The girls both bolted upright.

Now you’ve done it, Faye thought towards Mortimer, silently fuming.

Chuckling with a glare like death, Saira stood and gathered her daughters. “Uncle Mortimer is just being silly, girls.” She tossed an exasperated look over her shoulder out of Mortimer’s sight. “Why don’t we find some of the board games in the living room?”

The girls both hopped down from their stools without complaint. Faye wanted to jump down from hers too but not whilst Bash still silently breathed fire millimetres away from her.

“Yes!” Arthur flustered around as if to corral everyone. “Why don’t we all go?”

Bash didn’t move except to acknowledge the brush of Matt’s hand to his arm as the herd including Mortimer left the kitchen, so Faye didn’t either.

This day was turning out to be more unexpected than she’d thought, and the time on the clock had only just tipped into evening.

Palms pressed down flat, Bash stared at the swirling grey and white countertop like he was composing himself. That, or attempting to burn a hole right through the marble with his glare. Rarely was he ever angry. If something irritated him, it was with good reason.

Faye gave him a moment, then slipped her hand down his arm to curl her fingers around his wrist. “Bash … ?”

He spoke eventually. “Mortimer’s the only one who’s ever hated my career. I don’t even think it’s about being a creative type, but successful. He took early retirement, not because hecouldbut because the medical board pushed him to instead of landing him in a ton of legal trouble. Too much was going wrong under his care.”

Still, that didn’t make sense why Mortimer would only singlehimout in front of their family.

“Matt’ssuccessful … ” Faye led on.

“Matt’s not trying to be more than Mortimer ever was.”

“And neither are you.” She didn’t stop herself from brushing away the curl of hair that’d fallen into his forehead. “Your uncle should be proud of you, and if he’s jealous of what you’ve made of yourself, then that’s his fault, not yours.”

Bash’s eyes flicked to her across his shoulder and darted away like she’d uncovered some sort of truth he didn’t want to show. “I know. I just wish that he wasn’t …him.”

Faye wrapped both of her hands around his solid arm in a hug and tipped her head against his shoulder, his jumper soft under her cheek, letting Bash compose himself for another minute more.

“Why don’t we go and play these games the girls sound like they’re already breaking?”

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