Page 33 of Unexpected Boyfriends

I sit bolt upright, shedding sleep in alarm. Beside me, Axel stirs.

He blinks at me sleepily.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“It’s morning! I should be home.”

Axel rolls over, picks up his phone and checks the time.

“It’s 4.30,” he murmurs, still half-asleep. “That’s not morning. It’s still night. Come back to bed.”

He moves to pull me to him. I resist.

“Axel, I have to get home,” I say urgently.

“What? Why?” he says drowsily. And then, his eyes open wide as he wakes up properly and suddenly registers our situation.

“Oh fuck. I forgot. You’re expected home at night, aren’t you?”

I nod.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sitting up, the quilt dropping to his lap and his magnificent abs on display. He cups my face in his hands and kisses me.

“I really do forget your age,” he murmurs against my lips.

I take that as a compliment and a sign that this thing between us can be real, but I’m worried about my grandparents finding out I didn’t come home. That will lead to questions… and I don’t want to have to lie, but the truth is not an option either.

I scramble out of bed and pull on some clothes. Axel does too, though he does it with more grace than I do, and with less of the panicked gazelle and whites-of-the-eyes approach than I’ve taken.

He checks he’s got his keys and we exit his room.

And freeze.

Axel’s mother is on the couch in the living room. She’s wide awake, a mug in her hand, the rich scent of brewed coffee in the air.

This is awkward.

She looks at me. Then she looks at Axel. She has a strange look on her face, and I don’t know her well enough to decipher it. But Axel has told me she’s cool with him having people stay over.Just maybe, not her husband’s employer’s grandson?

“Hi Mum,” Axel says, after a brief hesitation.

“Goodmorning,Axel,” she says, with emphasis on the ‘morning’. Then she looks at me and nods, “Justin.”

“Um, hi,” I stammer.

“I’m just dropping Justin home,” Axel tells her, heading for the door.

“I’ll talk to you when you get back,” she says.

Axel and I don’t look at each other until we reach the safety of his car.

Then we burst into fits of laughter. Then sober.

“That was embarrassing,” I tell him.

“Sorry,” he says, looking a bit chagrined.

“I thought you said your mum was cool with you, you know, having guys over?”

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