Page 7 of Forged

Bax took a breath to answer, but before he could say anything, the canvas flap serving as a door brushed suddenly aside, and Nally Hawthorne stepped into the forge.

“Right. There you two are,” he said, breathless and full of energy. “Dad wants both of you up at the house right away.”

“What?” Bax asked, standing and facing Nally. “Where’s the fire?”

Nally laughed humorlessly. “He wants the film crew out of here as soon as possible, but the director is complaining that he needs more extras so they can get the scene done. He wantedto call some company that provides extras, which would have meant they’d be here an extra day or two, but Dad said he’d provide all the extras they need.”

“Which means us,” Bax said.

“I’ve got a class in an hour,” Nick said.

Nally shook his head. “Not today you don’t. Dad is canceling all classes and shoving all students and teachers into medieval clothes for the filming. That includes the two of you.”

Nick sighed and set his tools down. He removed his gloves and pulled off his goggles with heavy hands. He desperately needed to work on the unicorn, but he owed so much to Robert Hawthorne that if Robert said jump, Nick would jump.

“How long do you think this will take?” he asked as he untied his apron and stepped away from his workbench.

“All day, I’m afraid,” Nally said. “I’ve got to go break the news to Robbie and Toby. I’ll see you later.”

Nally ducked back out into the cold, leaving Nick and Bax alone again. Nick started tidying things up and locking down anything that could cause a fire or other accident within the forge. Bax rushed to help.

“This could be interesting,” Bax said, smiling as he reached for the same tool Nick was reaching for.

Their hands brushed, and for a moment, Nick felt the urge to hug Bax and keep him warm again.

“Yeah, interesting is one word for it,” he said.

His heart continued to race even after he and Bax moved apart. Something was going on, but at the moment it felt more scary than interesting.

THREE

Watchinga hunky blacksmith at work wasn’t exactly the fantasy Bax had imagined it would be. He’d been all set for Nick stripped to the waist and glistening with sweat as he wielded a heavy hammer. He had pictured sparks and fire as the sound of iron on iron rang out in the hot space of the forge.

Instead, he’d been fascinated by the precision of Nick carefully fastening tiny waves of thin metal to a surprisingly delicate unicorn’s head while swathed in safety gloves, goggles, and a thick apron.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure which was more attractive. He would hold onto his hope of seeing Nick sweaty and soot-covered someday, but in the meantime, simply watching the love he had for his work and the care with which he built his tribute to Raina warmed him more than the fire of the forge had.

He wasn’t even upset when Nally came along to burst the cozy bubble the two of them had found themselves in. Bax felt like he’d had a glimpse into a side of Nick that not many people saw, and as they headed up to the house to change into costumes for the crowd scene being filmed out in oneof Hawthorne House’s distant meadows, they kept that new connection between them.

“It’s cold out there, people,” the small, pert production assistant in charge of making sure the extras Uncle Robert had thrown together at the last minute made it into the right costumes called out as everyone dressed in the dining room. “Keep your coats and thermals on under your costumes, but make certain Wardrobe conceals them and approves of you before you leave the house.”

“Something tells me Wardrobe will never approve of me,” Blaine commented as he adjusted the ragged tunic he’d been given over his dark blue coat.

Bax laughed. “No one ever completely approves of you,” he said, nudging his twin.

“Oy! Alfie approves of me,” Blaine snapped back.

“Where is Alfie, then?” Bax teased him. “And why are you back here already? I thought the two of you had an appointment at the orphanage.”

Blaine sent him a wary look. “Alfie is at the appointment. Uncle Robert phoned to tell me I had to come back and be a medieval peasant or heads would roll.”

“Aren’t heads rolling in this particular scene anyhow?” Nick commented as a harried PA worked to fasten his costume around the bulk of his coat.

“Good point,” Bax said, grinning. He was impressed that Nick would try to joke with him. Then again, he’d delivered more than one off-color joke to Nick before, and he had no intention of stopping now. Maybe he could be a good influence to get Nick to loosen up a lot more if they became friends.

Right. Friends. Because that was all Bax wanted from Nick…not.

They were friends, though. As the costume fitting progressed, the two of them continued to banter and grin at eachother over the whole ordeal, and when they were shooed along to make-up, which Nick insisted he didn’t need, since they would just be part of the crowd while the real actors did the work but which he got anyhow, Bax watched him carefully for any signs of whether he stood a snowball’s chance in hell at more.

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