Page 101 of Everything That Kills Me
Zeph shut up so abruptly Jack glanced at him, but Zeph closed his eyes and tipped his face to the sun. Too much chatter. This wasn’t about getting to know one another’s dreams. Jack had made that clear. Zeph shouldn’t forget. It was easy to forget everyone lived in a different reality.
“Thomas got himself a dog,” Jack said.
“You sound surprised.” Zeph looked at him.
“I am.”
“What sort of dog?”
“One that will open the door for a burglar, then show him where the silver is.”
Zeph laughed.
“He’s called him Django. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“About the name or getting a dog?”
“Getting a dog. The name’s fine. It meansI awake.”
“I like that.” Zeph grinned. “I wonder if Django jumps up on the bed in the mornings telling ThomasI awake!”
“Sounds like you.” He patted Zeph’s head.
“Woof. Did you ever have a pet?”
“No.”
“Me neither. Mum said when I was older, she’d think about it, but… Now I can’t. I wouldn’t have anyone to look after it and what’s the point having a dog if you’re not there for them? Someone once told me that dogs teach you the love you deserve. I like that idea. Maybe Thomas is lonely, especially if you’re not around now.”
Jack was stroking Zeph’s arm again. This time he didn’t pull away. Zeph didn’t want the touching to stop.
“Maybe.”
Though to Zeph’s ear, that didn’t sound as if Jack meant it.
Back at the house, they hosed the salt from themselves and the rash guards. Because the hose had been lying in the sun, the first few blasts were as warm as bathwater. The next few weren’t. Zeph shrieked and as he tried to get away from Jack, who was firing directly at his arse and laughing, he fell in the pool. Jack switched off the hose and jumped in.
Zeph pushed water at Jack’s face. “I’ll remember that. You’ve been warned.”
“Noted.”
Jack swam underwater and Zeph lay on his back and floated like a star fish. Jack came up at his side and the water lapped at their bodies.
“I love this,” Zeph whispered. “Being here is so peaceful. Blue sky overhead, sea on the doorstep, warm water and…” He wanted to sayyoubut didn’t.
“And what?”
Say it!“The best company I could hope for. Bearing in mind Theo James is unavailable.”
“Who’s he?”
Zeph went under for a moment as Jack caught his foot. He spluttered as Jack towed him to the steps, then sat him on the second one down.
“Who’s he?” Jack repeated and curled his fingers in the top of Zeph’s trunks.
“No one important.”
“Sure?” Jack rubbed his thumbs around Zeph’s navel.
