Page 84 of When The Night Falls

When it was finally over, I was relieved. It had been as difficult as I had feared it would be, but I had done my best, so now I just wanted to celebrate that I was finished with it. Aaron was in a splendid mood; he had done great.

‘Have you got any plans?’ he asked as we exited the building.

‘What do you have in mind?’

‘You, me and a bed.’

I chuckled. ‘Yours or mine?’

He shrugged. ‘Tyler’s home, I think.’

‘Well, Jason won’t be home till five, so perhaps mine is better, then.’

‘Yours it is.’

We hurried home, eager to take advantage of our few moments of privacy.

I had barely entered the flat when Aaron pinned me to the wall and kissed me. I groaned against his mouth and gripped his shirt, undoing the buttons with impatience. He closed the front door, not bothering to lock it, and shrugged out of his shirt, all while he kept kissing me. Reaching for my blouse, he pulled it over my head and undressed me until I was completely naked.

‘Bedroom or here?’ he asked breathily.

‘Bedroom.’

He sank down, grabbed me below my bum, and lifted me up. I wrapped my limbs around him and kept kissing him as he carried me into my room.

Kissing Aaron had never felt wrong, but it had never felt quite right either – merely familiar. It had been weeks since I had experienced a kiss as entirely right for the first time – how consuming and intense it could be. Only one set of lips had managed to set my system on fire like that.

But they weren’t present.

A few minutes later, I was moaning nonstop as I closed in on my peak, but a sudden thud made us both freeze before I could reach it.

We stared at each other, stunned. Was Jason home already?

‘What was that?’ I whispered, frightened.

Aaron snapped out of his paralysis and climbed out of the bed. ‘Jason? Is that you?’

‘Hello?’ I called and heard subtle swearing outside my bedroom door.

‘Aaron!’ I whispered harshly when I saw that he was recklessly approaching the door. ‘It could be a burglar! Did we lock the door?’

He turned the lock, eyeing me with a furrowed brow. Full of anxiety, I gripped the duvet and covered myself.

‘Who’s there?’ Aaron demanded and lingered by the door.

I searched for my phone, wondering if I should call 999, but then I remembered that it was in my bag, which was still in the hall outside. My heart contracted with fear. What were we supposed to do now? Open a window and call for the neighbours?

‘I . . . It’s Will, Jason’s brother.’

Even though it was barely audible, I recognised his voice immediately. Air stormed out of my mouth as if I had just been punched in the gut. How long had he been outside? Had he heard us?

This was the last thing I had anticipated, so I had no idea how to handle the amount of guilt I felt.

What was he doing here?

‘Cara?’ Aaron prompted.

‘William?’ I called, on autopilot.

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