Page 22 of Across Space and Time

“Ah, but now you have me!” Jack added with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “I have a feeling that with both of us working together, we’ll be unstoppable.”

Hugh chuckled at that. “We really only just met each other, Jack.”

“No matter,” Jack said, waving his hand. “When two people are destined to be together, they make things work.”

Hugh hoped that Jack was right about that. This case was perplexing, and he wanted to stop anyone else from being killed. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m sure we have much we will need to discuss, but for now, I should probably get some rest. Where are you staying?”

Jack blinked in confusion. “Staying?”

“Yes. Where do you live?”

“I do not have a permanent home here,” Jack said with a long-suffering sigh. “I have been staying in cemeteries when I am not on the rooftops.”

Hugh stared, then put his head down into his hands. “Well, no wonder people have been frightened out of their wits by you,” he said with a grumble.

“I have not intended to scare anyone,” Jack said, petulance like a child filling his voice.

“I know, but cemeteries are frightening places for some people, made even more so by unknown apparitions.”

“Point taken,” Jack said. “What do you propose I do?”

Hugh glanced around his tiny rooms. He was not exactly set up for guests, nor would his landlady be pleased to find that he had a gentleman staying with him under his roof, even if nothing untoward was happening. But he couldn’t just turn Spring-Heeled Jack back out onto the streets. If they were supposed to work together, if Jack was supposed to be his soulmate… “I suppose you shall stay here,” he said, giving him a wan smile. “You may have the bed. I’ll sleep here in my chair.”

Jack initially looked delighted by the suggestion, but then he frowned. “I shall not put you out of your own bed, Hugh.”

“It is no trouble.”

“I shall sleep in the chair,” Jack declared. He stretched out over it, draping his knees over one of the arms like an oversized cat. “See? I am quite comfortable.”

Hugh snorted a laugh. He himself would not have been very comfortable in that position, and Jack probably even less so being so much taller than him. But he just nodded. “Very well. There is a blanket in the corner if you need it, and the washroom is over there.” He gestured, and Jack nodded.

“Thank you, Hugh, you are most kind.”

Hugh grinned and shook his head. “Well, having a terrifying spectre in my house who could incinerate me at any moment tends to make one put on their best manners.”

Jack threw back his head and laughed. “Really, now, do not be so dramatic, Hugh. I would never harm you.”

“How can you know that?” Hugh asked with a slight frown.

Jack gave him a surprisingly solemn look. “Because there is goodness in you. You are a very kind and compassionate person.”

Hugh flushed a little. He was so unused to compliments, especially not from handsome strangers sitting in his living room. He ran his hand through his curly hair and gave Jack a slightly nervous smile. “Well, good night.” And he hurried into the bedroom, closing the door behind him so Jack would not see the blush that burned his face or the bulge that was starting to tent the front of his trousers.

Sleeping in his own home, knowing Spring-Heeled Jack was just on the other side of the door, was strange. Hugh wasn’t exactly afraid. He trusted Jack when the man had said he wasn’t going to hurt him. He had had countless opportunities to do so if he wanted to. But he had learned so much tonight, as well as had a brush with death, and he was unsure what to think anymore. The universe was suddenly much bigger, his own knowledge and part to play in it so small.

And all of this strange talk of ‘soulmates.’ While he still wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, he rather liked the sound of it. His life since his parents had passed had been rather lonely. He counted Constable Depesh and Dr. Ledbetter as friends, but it was not as if he spent time with them outside of work. Having someone to talk to had been pleasant, and Jack, in spite of his eccentricities, was delightful to talk to. And quite handsome to look at. The most handsome man Hugh had ever seen, he had to admit. They had barely touched, but Hugh’s mind still drifted back to a few days ago in the alley when Jack had nearly kissed him. What would it feel like? He had kissed before, but, as with any of his sexual encounters, they had been furtive and hurried. Here, in his apartment with no one to see them, maybe he could actually kiss Jack without fear or hesitation, assuming Jack was still interested in kissing as well. Hugh fell asleep with that hopeful thought running through his mind.

Chapter eight

Hugh wondered to himself if last night had all been a very strange dream. Maybe he really was so stressed about this investigation that he had imagined a creature eating a victim and Spring-Heeled Jack coming to his rescue. That thought immediately went out the window when he heard a clatter in his kitchen. He slid out of bed and hurried over to open the door. Spring-Heeled Jack looked sheepishly at him from across the small room in the little kitchen area, where the tea tray had landed on the floor. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“No,” Hugh said, rubbing at his eyes and stepping out into the main room before realizing that he was only in his nightshirt. At least it was quite long, almost to his knees. “Can I help you with something?”

Jack shook his head. “I was going to make you breakfast, or perhaps it would be considered lunch at this time of the day. Breakfrunch? Hmm, there must be a better word.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Hugh said quickly. “I can make food for both of us.”

“I insist!” Jack said, tossing his hand dramatically into the air. “I am a guest in your humble abode, and I shall earn my keep by making you lunchfast. Hmm, no, that doesn’t really work either. I shall keep thinking on it.”

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