Page 45 of Toy Boy

“Right,” she whispers, letting go of me and standing up, signalling that this is over now. Tonight. It’s done. “I should probably start tidying up.” She’s not even being subtle about it, but that’s okay. It’s fine, I get it. She’s still wary, and I’d kind of known she might be.

“I’ll help.”

I push my chair back and start gathering up empty glasses and plates, following her into the kitchen.

“I can manage. You should go, get some sleep.”

She’s the one with the early start, not me, not unless I want to get some surfing in before I open the shop, but I get that she wants me to leave now, so I’ll go. Her pace, remember?

“You’re still not sure about this, are you?”

She leans back against the counter and crosses her arms, her head turned away to look out of the open French doors. “I just…” Her eyes are back on mine, but I don’t miss the way her fingers are almost clawing at her dress. “I don’t want to wake up tomorrow and feel like…” She throws her head back and lets out a half-laugh/half-sigh. “I’ve loved having you here tonight.” She drops her head and our eyes lock and I’m just waiting for the ‘but’. “I love being around you, Xander, but my relationship history…”

“Means nothing.”

Her eyes widen and her mouth starts to curl upward, just a little. “It means nothing,” she repeats, her arms falling away from her body as I step towards her, circling her waist and pulling her against me. And when we kiss she moulds her body into mine and it’s all I can do not to let my hand slip down and touch her where I’m aching to touch her. But I don’t. That can wait.

“The past means nothing,” I whisper, but even as I’m saying the words, I know it means everything. After all, it’s the reason I’m here…

10

Megan

“Is Hanna not in yet? It’s not like her to be late. Did she not come in with you guys?”

Graham shakes his head and continues to crack eggs into a large bowl. “She still wasn’t up when me and Iona left the house.”

“Weren’t you all supposed to be going to a party together last night?”

“Not me,” Graham says, whisking those eggs like his life depended on it. “I was at The Swan with Mickey.”

“She was supposed to be coming to the party with me,” Iona pipes up as she fetches bacon and mushrooms from the fridge. “But she changed her mind at the last minute. We were already on our way to Jed’s, I went on ahead while she popped into the off license to buy a bottle of vodka, and then ten minutes later she calls me to tell me she doesn’t feel like a night out after all.” Iona shrugs and lays the bacon and mushrooms down on the counter. “Said she fancied an early night, and was going home.”

“Was she okay when you left the house?” I ask, sorting through a pile of breakfast menus to make sure they’re up to date. We’ve added a range of omelettes to the breakfast specials now and I want to make sure they’re properly listed on all of the menus.

“Yeah, she seemed fine.” Iona wipes her hands on a towel hanging from her apron pocket. “I’ve got no idea what made her change her mind like that, maybe she wasn’t feeling well.”

“She seemed fine at work yesterday.” I frown, because I’m a little worried about Hanna now. She’s never late, loves socialising with her friends, she’s never been one to shut herself away, at least, that’s how she always came across to me.

“Yeah, she was really looking forward to the party, so I’ve got no idea what happened.”

“Didn’t you ask her? When you got back home?”

“She was already in bed when I got back,” Iona says, picking up a handful of menus ready to lay out on the tables. “I was going to talk to her this morning but she was up and out before either Graham or me were awake.”

My frown deepens because that doesn’t sound like typical Hanna behaviour. “So, neither of you have seen her this morning?”

They both shake their heads. “I tried calling her, we both did, and we got other friends to try calling her too but her phone’s going straight to voicemail.”

“Okay… Well, we’ll keep trying, I suppose… Are you sure there’s been nothing bothering her lately?”

Iona shrugs again. “Nothing that any of us are aware of.”

“Alright. Anyway, we’d better get to work. We can manage if she doesn’t make it in, but you might have to pick up some of the slack in here, Iona. Is that okay?”

She nods and slides her pad into her apron pocket. “I’m sure I can manage to knock out a few omelettes and fry-ups.”

“Because it’s that easy, right?” Graham throws that at her, but he’s grinning, and Iona just pokes her tongue out at him and reaches for a pen from the pot on the corner of the serving hatch.

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