Page 54 of Take My Hand

No more words were said as we continued kissing, my fingertips digging in as it deepened, as we both gave more soft moans of pleasure.

After what seemed an eternity, I heard the living room door open, and my dad clear his throat, giving us a few seconds warning.

I quickly moved back to my own chair and leaned nonchalantly on the table with one elbow, my head resting in my hand. Zak grinned and readjusted his jeans, moving his chair closer to the table.

“Yeah, so Amelia jumped in the deep end and nearly drowned,” he said, in a slightly too bright voice.

Quickly latching on, I joined in the conversation. “Did you go in after her and save her?”

“Yeah, of course I… oh hey, Mr Newman, erm, Will.”

“Hey, Zak.” Dad looked at me and frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged. “Look a bit flushed.” He moved over to the thermostat on the wall and turned the dial. “No bloody wonder, it’s turned up to twenty-three. I’ve told you, Maddy, it only needs to be twenty at the most.” He whipped around to look at me. “And I’m not made of money.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Zak. “Anyway, you were saying.”

He hesitated and looked at my dad.

“It’s fine,” Dad said. “I’m just coming in for a glass of water.” He ran the tap and filled a glass. “You can come and sit in the living room if you want to.”

“We’re fine thanks,” I muttered.

Dad grinned and shrugged. “Okay. Whatever. See you later.”

Once he’d gone, Zak breathed out a sigh of relief. “I lied. I am a bit scared of him.”

We both started to laugh until Zak leaned in for another soft kiss, and everything but him fell away from my mind.

Chapter Twenty

Will

Just before quarter past ten, Zak popped his head around the living room door and said goodnight. A minute later, the front door opened. Twenty minutes later, after lots of giggles interspersed with too-long silences, I heard it close. One minute later, Maddy entered the living room with a big, soppy grin on her face.

“Boyfriend finally gone has he?” I asked, shifting the cushion behind my head.

“If you mean Zak, yes. And he’s not my boyfriend.”

Turning the sound down on the TV, I sighed heavily. “Oh, yeah, I forgot you talk for a while first. Although,” I said, turning my head to look at her, “there wasn’t much talking going on at the front door, Madeline.”

“Am I in trouble for something?” she asked, flopping down into the armchair. “He didn’t stay too late. We stayed in the kitchen. We didn’t do drugs or drink alcohol.”

“I know.” God, she was a little shit at times. The looked on her face would scare most grown men. Narrowed eyes andpinched lips that said, ‘fuck with me if you dare’. I mean, I was glad in many ways that she’d never be walked over by a man, but it wasn’t so cute when it was aimed at me. “And less of the attitude.”

“I’m not giving you any attitude.”

“The face says it all.” Pushing myself up, I dropped my feet to the floor. “Now, shall we try again. Has Zak gone home, finally?”

She paused, only for a second, but long enough to show a little defiance. “Yes, he’s gone home. You said you wanted to talk to me before I went to bed.”

Pointing the remote, I turned the TV off and turned to her. “I do.” I had no idea why I felt nervous. It wasn’t like she didn’t already know about Maya. It wasn’t like she didn’t want me to get a girlfriend and settle down. She was always banging on about my love life and how I should stop having inconsequential relationships.

“Remember I told you about the girl I met on the night out in Leeds?”

She frowned, her nose scrunching up like it did when she was little and was told no and didn’t understand why.

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