Page 79 of A Long Way Back
“No, I want you to do a striptease.”
Ink laughed, but Tay had only been half-joking. One glance at Ink’s forearms, and he wanted to stroke the soft dark hairs. Desire shot to his groin.
Ink dropped down at the other end of the couch. He was like a skittish horse. It would take very little to make him run—and keep running.
“If you could live anywhere, where would you live?” Tay asked.
“I don’t have a specific place in my head. I’ve found something good in most of the towns I’ve been to. London’s great, but I like to move around.”
“Until you settle in your little house by the sea.”
Ink chuckled. “Yep. What about you?”
“I’d been starting to realise London was a mistake, but now I don’t think so, because if I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have met you, and I’m really glad I did. But I’m not going to stay in London. I’m not good at making friends and I think this is a city where you need friends. People to meet after work or at the weekends. Do things together. I’m lonely. Iwaslonely.”
“Do you have friends in the north?”
“A few.”
“And Jonty?”
“And Jonty, although he probably thinks he’s lost me as a friend, since I refused to see him and told my mother not to tell him where I’d gone.”
“You think you could ever let him know how you felt about him?”
“I don’t see any good coming from that, but I need to stop blaming him for what happened to me, and to stop using it as an excuse not to see him.”
“You’ve had an epiphany?”
Thanks to you.“I’m beginning to see a different way of thinking would be better for my health. I’ve had an invitation to go to the reopening of the hotel Jonty used to work at. He’s still going to be working there for a while. Would you go with me?”Oh shit.He hadn’t meant to voice that last part. “I need to go and lie down.” That was much safer. Except now he’d made it look as if he didn’t want Ink to go with him. “I’d really like you to go with me.”
“To the hotel or to bed?”
“Both.” He’d said it and not freaked out. Neither had Ink.
Tay lifted Dog off his lap, pushed to his feet and held out his hand. “Come with me?”
“I haven’t slept in my new bed yet.” Ink stood up.
“But I might need you in the night. I might…choke, panic, fall out of bed, get cramp, catch fire, need a glass of water… If I catch fire, I’ll need more than one glass.”
Ink laughed.
“I want to fuck,” Tay blurted.
That wiped the smile off Ink’s face. “How did we get to sex without me noticing? Where were the clues?”
“I’ve been dropping hints like crazy. Questioning you about what you’d do if you were ill, asking you to take the pizza out of the oven, leaving the plates half-washed, worrying about catching fire. Obvious clues.”
“And not asking me to do a striptease?”
“Did I?”
“Come on. Let me give you another massage. You’re all tense.”
Tay only just held back his whine.
He thought Dog would follow them, but when he looked back, he’d stayed sprawled on the couch, though he gave Tay a look and cocked his head on one side.Yeah, good idea. You ought not to watch.
