Page 16 of Killing Me Softly

When she darted away, Kenny exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath. He tucked the card into his back pocket and sank down again. The silence gnawed at them until Kenny finally met Aaron’s gaze.

“Fuck,” he muttered, no pretence left.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. “She important?”

“No more important than I am.”

Aaron dipped a finger into his leftover yogurt, licking it off. “But you’re still gonna ditch me for her.” He peered up, holding Kenny’s gaze. “Aren’t you?”

“I didn’t tell anyone where I was staying.”

“Butshefound you.” Aaron glanced over to where she was asking the server for a coffee. “Funny that.” He turned back to Kenny. “Who is she?”

“A psychiatrist.”

Aaron barked a laugh so loud he surprised even himself. “No shit.”

“We worked together. Years ago.”

“Fucked her?”

“No.”

“Huh.” Aaron’s feigned indifference barely masked his flicker of annoyance as he glanced back at the woman who looked as though she wanted to crawl inside Kenny’s head. Orbed. “Missed opportunity there for a two for one deal on a session and a screw?”

Kenny fell back in his seat and there was that assessing look Aaron hated. “There’s no reason to be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” Aaron lied.

“There’s no romantic history with her. No flirting. No sex. Not even a poorly timed shoulder touch.” He waved a hand, gesturing to Aaron’s stiffness. “You can unbristle.”

Aaron fuckinghatedhow Kenny saw right through him.

So he sulked. “Why she wanna talk to you, then?”

“I’ve no idea.”

Aaron detected there was a story there. Perhaps not the scraping out of insides feeling that she was yet another person Kenny had slotted his dick into, but there was something Kenny was keeping from him. And he wondered, right then, if Kenny would ever be wholeheartedly honest with him about anything. Perhaps that was the whole power imbalance thing he banged on about when they first met. How Kenny would always have more knowledge than he. But if he demanded the truth, he knew howthis would end: another round of push and pull, unravelling the fragile balance they’d built. So he didn’t.

Kenny leaned forward, stroking his fingers over Aaron’s on the table. “I won’t meet her. I said I’d spend today with you. So let’s go.”

“You sure?”

“If she wants to talk to me, she can do it in work time.”

Aaron smiled. “Book a time slot, bitch.”

Kenny let out a soft laugh. “Exactly. Now…” He stood, fishing out his wallet and tossing a generous tip onto the table. “You’ve been planning this day for a week. You got that itinerary?”

Aaron shovelled more of the breakfast into his mouth, not wanting to leave a single morsel of the stuff behind.

“You don’t have to eat it all,” Kenny said, watching in amusement.

Aaron snorted, almost spraying crumbs across the table. “You’ve clearly never been denied food as punishment from arsehole foster carers.”

Kenny froze. “No. No, I haven’t.” He then picked up a leftover piece of pastry from his plate and handed it to Aaron. “Eat it. Eat it all.”

Aaron stood. Smiled. Took the offering and threw it into his gob. He then grabbed his phone and waggled it. “No museums. No boring shit. This day ismine.”

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