Page 25 of Kiss Me Honey Hone

Kenny understood the terror behind those words. Aaron didn’t trust authorities. Hated being under scrutiny. His past had made him that way. Defensive. On edge. Which might have saved his life right then. So he nodded.

“Take me home.” Aaron went limp.

Kenny hesitated, conscience warring with his instincts. He knew what was right. But the look in Aaron’s eyes—the unguardedfear—made the choice for him, and he hauled Aaron up, slinging him over his shoulder. Aaron mumbled incoherently as Kenny carried him out of the alley, staggering toward his car. Somehow, he wrestled the back door open and lowered Aaron inside, where he fell back, splaying across the seats, legs dangling out of the door. Kenny had to drape over him and grip Aaron’s belt loops to heft him farther inside, and as he did, Aaron cupped his face in both hands, raking his fingers through his beard.

“You smell really fucking good, doc.”

Kenny froze, lips inches from Aaron’s. Vulnerability radiated off him, intoxicating and devastating. The urge to close the distance, to claim what he couldn’t have, tokissAaron, nearly overpowered him.

Then Aaron’s hands fell away and his eyes pinched, a tear slipping from underneath. “Fuck…I wasn’t supposed to fall inlovewith you.”

Kenny pulled back, heart jolting. But he had to shake himself free. They were the words of an intoxicated and compromised young man. They weren’t true. Even if Kenny wanted to believe them.

Which he didn’t.

Couldn’t.

“Rest. You’re safe,” he whispered instead, tucking Aaron’s legs into the car and closing the door.

As he rounded the car, Kenny caught sight of a man approaching the house, and for an all-consuming moment, Kenny had an overwhelming desire to launch over there and pummel Taylor to the ground. But Taylor lit up with surprise as he clocked Kenny, then narrowed his eyes in suspicion before the front door opened, and the revellers pulled him inside. Kenny climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car.

Aaron’s phone vibrated.Continually.

It didn’t stop until Kenny got home with Aaron unconscious in the back.

Whether Aaron meant for Kenny to take him back tohishome, his room in Halls, didn’t matter because there wasn’t a chance in hell Kenny was leaving him alone. So inside his house, Kenny carried Aaron upstairs and instead of utilising the spare room this time, he took Aaron intohisroom, where he laid him gently on his bed. There, he leaned close enough to feel the faint warmth of Aaron’s soft breaths settling on his cheek, confirming he was still alive. Then he plucked up Aaron’s wrist, pressing his fingers over his pulse, counting the beats. Chong’s words rang in his ears.The toxin was fast-acting. If it were the same, he’d already be gone.

That thought kept him from spiralling.

So he fetched water, setting it on the bedside table beforestripping Aaron down to his underwear, his body limp like a rag doll, and he lifted dead limbs to dress him in a pair of his own loose jogging bottoms and a T-shirt, then climbed onto the bed beside him, wrapping an arm around Aaron’s chest to rest his thumb over his radial artery.

Counting. Steady. Beats.

He held Aaron close, heart warring with his mind, knowing that whatever battle raged inside him, whatever lines he had crossed or rules he’d shattered, none of it mattered as much as the quiet rise and fall of Aaron’s breath beneath his touch.

Chapter seven

BadDreams

Aaron woke, head pounding, mouth dry, stomach churning, skin slick with sweat, with absolutely no idea where he was.

He blinked into the dim light, the room unfamiliar. It wasn’t Taylor’s. And it wasn’t Taylor’s arm draped around him, holding him close, fingers loose but firm over his wrist. It wasn’t Taylor’s breath on his neck, warm and rhythmic, either. Or Taylor’s hair tickling his skin.

It was Kenny’s.

Aaron stilled. He didn’t need to look to confirm it. He knew Kenny’s scent. That faint mix of cedarwood and coffee had become ingrained in his memory. And he knew the way Kenny’s hand lay on his wrist, thumb resting lightly on the vein, as if he’d been monitoring his pulse but fallen asleep in the process. Because they’d been like this before. And Aaron closed his eyes, savouring the significance of Kenny’s arm around him. How their bodies fit together like pieces of a puzzle. He didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to do anything that might shatter this fragile, stolen moment.

This was everything he’d ever craved. Everything he’d never admit aloud.

If he could freeze time, he would.

He’d stay here, wrapped in Kenny’s arms,forever.

But his throat burned, body screaming out for water.Hierarchy of needs. Survival trumped his fleeting fantasy and with a soft sigh, he shifted, reaching for the glass of water on the bedside table. His movements made Kenny stir and his arm slipped away as Aaron sat up, grabbing the pint and gulping it too fast and too desperately. Water dribbled down the corners of his mouth, soaking the front of his T-shirt, also not his. Nor Taylor’s. It was too big, swamping him to make him feel like a child.

A cared for child.

“Hey, hey, easy.” Kenny, rough with sleep and worry, cut through the haze and he bolted up, reaching out to steady the glass before it tipped. “You drink it too fast and you’ll make yourself sick.”

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