Page 39 of Someone Like You

He was in the middle of tidying up the kitchen when he heard the front door unlock.

“Phil?”

His heart sank. It was later than he’d realised. He wasn’t ready. He hadn’t stitched back together his morning mask yet and couldn’t look Abby straight in the eye without it. Especially today.

“Phil, are you home?”

“Kitchen!” he called out before Abby worried.

He had a handful of seconds, while she got rid of her shoes and coat, to gain some control over his hyperactivity spree. Standing still was difficult: it was like his bones were seething.

“Hey!” Abby padded in, radiant in a pink tailleur that accentuated the rosy blush in her tan complexion. “You look well!” Normally, she would’ve gone in for a kiss, but Phil didn’t move, so she simply smiled at him. “How was your sleepover?”

“Good,” said Phil absently. An electric ripple down his body reminded him just howgoodit had been. Ian’s kindness and care. His strong arms, his patience. Phil’s gratitude abruptly turning into arousal. The foreign feeling of his cock hard and sensitive in his hand. The flustering desire. The pleasure. Thepleasure…

“Have you been cleaning?”

Phil released the breath he was holding, tuning back to the present.

“Yeah.” He didn’t want to discuss that, but Abby was already beaming proudly.

“Phil, that’s—”

“Abbs.” He stood back when she made to lift her hands to his chest, then cowardly stared at the ground. “I don’t really feel like talking right now.”.

“Oh.”

“Can we do this later?”

The mellowed down tone chipped away most of Abby’s disappointment. It didn’t stop Phil from feeling awful. He had no right to be so testy — as if what was happening to him washerfault. He sighed inwardly, acknowledging the effects of one of his many mood swings, and took Abby’s face between his hands, stroking her cheeks apologetically. The pink bracelet on his wrist mocked him one more time.

‘U R my sunshine.’

Whatever the opposite of sunshine was, he felt like that.

A dark cloud.

Polluted rain.

“It’s one of those days when I can’t help being a dick for no reason. You don’t deserve this.” He hugged her, brushing a kiss to her forehead. “Please, stay away from me.”

Abby nodded, her unconditional sympathy more gutting than any anger could be. “Just tell me if anything bad happened with Ian.”

“No.” Phil was sickened by his own blissful smile. “We had a really good time. He handled my panic attack like a champ. I just… need some alone time.”

“Okay.” Abby pliantly slipped out of his arms. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Before she could leave the room, Phil reached for the bakery bag he’d dropped in a corner. “I got you brownies, by the way.”

Abby’s dark eyes filled with child-like greed. “You did? Virtual kiss!” She dipped into the bag, pulled a brownie out, and took a small bite. “Oh, this isto die for!It’ll be gone by the time I get upstairs.”

As she sauntered towards the door, Phil called her back one last time.

“Abbs? You know I love you, right?”

“I’ll doubt my own name before I doubt that,” said Abby over a mouthful of brownie, and in that very moment Phil knew with chilling certainty that whatever was going on with him right now was doomed to either seal the thin fracture in their bond or break them apart for good.

chapter 8

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