Page 18 of Killing Me Softly

They’d had this brief, sun-drenched glimpse of what their obsession with each other looked like outside of shadowed classrooms and dead bodies and secrets pressing too heavily on them both. It hadn’t just stood on its own, it hadsoared. Glorious and terrifying in equal measure. But now they were descending. Physically. Metaphorically. The wheels were turning, ready to land back in England, where everything reverted to its rigid categories.

Professor. Student. Secrets. Facades.

And no one—no one—could know.

Kenny shifted in his seat, fighting the temptation to look at Aaron for too long, as if someone could read the yearning in his gaze. It wasn’t an instant dismissal offense to be in a relationship with a student, but it was a breach of trust in the eyes of his peers. A blemish on the image and reputation he’d so carefully cultivated. Worse, it could be wielded against him. He wasn’t justanyfaculty member. He was waiting on the outcome of the full professorship. The culmination of everything he’d spent his academic life working toward. And now, with tenure in his sights, the stakes had never been higher. There was no margin for error. No room to stumble, to be seen as unprofessional, to give anyone a reason to whisper his name in the faculty hallways.

But it didn’t stop him from thinking about Aaron.

He wasalwaysthinking about Aaron.

Aaron’s scent clung to his skin. Citrusy and warm. He could still see how the sun caught the golden strands of Aaron’s hairwhen he tilted his head, could still feel the imprint of Aaron’s body beneath his fingertips, soft yet scarred by all the ways the world had tried to undo him.

And God, Aaron’smind. Fierce, clever, and fragile in ways Aaron didn’t even realise. It was like staring at a rare, intricate machine and knowing he’d never see another like it, and how devastating it would be if it broke. Aaron wasn’t just a distraction. He was an addiction Kenny had no intention of recovering from. He was too far gone for that now.

But obsession didn’t pay bills or win professorships. Obsession didn’t protect him when the world decided he’d stepped too far out of line. Kenny had to balance these two fragile, opposing forces. The ambition shaping his future and the person who made that future seem bearable.

One more year.

Just one year of walking this razor’s edge.

He’d secure the professorship and tenure. He’d get Aaron to graduation. And when the world couldn’t touch them anymore, when the need for secrecy dissolved like mist, then, maybe, they could figure out what came next.

But as the plane began its descent, Kenny’s heart clenched. Because nothing about Aaron had ever followed a plan. And part of him already knew that Aaron wouldn’t wait quietly on the sidelines while he sorted his life into neat little boxes. Aaron didn’t do sidelines. Didn’t fit in a box. He shattered boundaries and left footprints in places Kenny hadn’t even realised were sacred until he’d touched them.

Aaron suddenly turned, meeting Kenny’s eyes through the space between them, and for a heartbeat, everything stilled. Kenny gave him a smile through a fierce, relenting swallow. He could survive the scrutiny of his peers. He could wait out the whispers and the doubt. But he wasn’t sure he could survive the possibility of losing Aaron. But before he could sink any furtherinto that fear, Aaron shifted beside him, and in one swift motion, he dropped his leg from where it had been resting, reached across, and snapped Kenny’s laptop shut with a sharpclick. The sound barely registered before Aaron surged forward, curling his hand around the back of Kenny’s neck, pulling him close. He then kissed him. All-consuming, and unapologetically fierce. And Kenny melted into it. Aaron’s lips claiming his, tasting of sunshine and urgency. It wasn’t gentle. It was a kiss that broke things apart and rebuilt them in the same heartbeat.

“That’s it,” Aaron said, sweeping his forehead to Kenny’s. “The last one.”

“Liar.” Kenny stole another one.

“I lie convincingly.” Aaron then settled back for landing.

Kenny popped his laptop back into his bag and not long after, the plane jolted as the landing gear deployed and they bumped onto the tarmac at Birmingham International Airport. Around them, holidaymakers jostled and stretched, their conversations buzzing in contrast to the grey drizzle streaking the windows. Back to rainy England. Back to reality.

They shuffled off the plane, merging into the crowd of restless passengers funnelling toward passport control, then baggage claim. By the time they reached the car park, the rain had turned torrential, hammering the roof of the shelter. Aaron tossed the bags into the back of the car without ceremony, his white T-shirt already soaked through to show beautiful pale skin, and Kenny slid into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. The car’s Bluetooth chimed, a tirade of missed calls and voicemails from the phone he’d been ignoring in favour of spending time with Aaron. But the low battery warning blinked accusingly at him as he plugged the phone into the charger. Aaron clambered into the passenger seat, shivering and swiping back his wet hair with a resigned huff. Water droplets shimmered on his cheekbones like beads of glass.

Kenny pulled out of the parking space, the rain cascading in sheets across the windscreen as they merged onto the motorway toward Ryston. The rhythmic thrum of the wipers filled the silence.

Aaron scrolled through his phone. “Ah, bollocks.”

“Something wrong?”

“Student Accommodation have done their end-of-summer checks.” He winced and shot Kenny a sidelong look. “They’ve noticed I haven’t been in my room for…” He drew his eyebrows in. “How long’s it been?”

“You’ve stayed at mine practically every night since summer break.”

Aaron gave a soft laugh before biting his lip. “Yeah…‘practically.’”

Kenny raised a hand from the steering wheel. “Correction, every night.”

Aaron scrubbed a hand over his face. “Shit.” He whooshed his thumbs across the screen. “As the new cohort are moving in tomorrow, they want to see if I still need the place. Fuck. I’ll just tell them I had some ridiculous job, working twenty-four-hour shifts. Slave labour somewhere. ‘Please don’t turf out a poor little care kid,’ etcetera, etcetera.”

Kenny snorted. “As you say, you lie convincingly.”

Aaron tossed his phone onto his lap and stared out at the rain-smeared landscape. “Do you want to take me back there now?”

Kenny tightened his grip on the steering wheel. For a second, he didn’t respond. Too preoccupied analysing Aaron’s words, what he was really asking, he had to tread carefully. “Doyouwant me to?”

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