Page 16 of Kiss Me Honey Hone

“I’ll walk you to the car park, then.”

“Very chivalrous.”

She called it chivalrous. He called it, delaying his slope back to his room and staying out long enough to maybe, possibly, bump into Kenny.

On reaching the main car park, Sade clicked open the doors to a battered blue Peugeot. “I know it’s old as hell, but I love it.” She patted the roof.

“Hey, it gets you where you need to go.” Aaron had a pang of envy at the thought of his own lack of transportation. Unlike Sade, he couldn’t just hop into a car whenever he wanted. He relied on public transport, especially now he’d shot himself in the foot by telling Kenny he didn’t want to be in a car with him.

He did. Quite a lot.

Andwanted to be able to touch him while there.

Thoughts of Kenny had Aaron scanning the rows of parked cars, landing on a familiar golden Discovery, neatly parked in its usual spot with the staff permit sticker defacing the front windscreen. Kenny was still here. Hehadn’tleft yet. Aaron’s heart gave an involuntary jump. Maybe he was working late, or at the gym working up a sweat….

Or maybe he was somewhere on campus with Jack, reigniting whatever they’d once had, fucking him over the desk in Kenny’s office. Aaron’s gut twisted. Sharp and biting.

“Night, Aaron,” Sade called from her rolled down car window, snapping him out of his thoughts. “And don’t forget, you’re in charge of organising our first social.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Sade waved as she drove off and Aaron waited for her taillights to disappear, then lingered by the edge of the car park. Hoping, praying, wishing to catch sight of Kenny. He could pass this off as an accidental meet. Until time dragged on anddarkness shrouded him with only Kenny’s car and a couple of others left in the lot.

Resigning himself to a solitary evening of eating Super Noodles and reading up on research methods while his flatmates blasted party music down the hall, he headed toward his building when his phone rang. Foolish hopefulness sparked in his gut before he saw the name.

“Hey, sexy,”Taylor drawled over the line.

Aaron forced himself to be a decent boyfriend…situation friend. “Hey. How was your first day?”

“Not bad. They’re letting me run the department’s social media. Gotta do a story on that netballer. You hear about her?”

“The girl who dropped dead in a bar?” Seemed she was all everyone was talking about. Certainly popular now. He wondered if Rahul had been talked about this much.

“If I were gonna go, I’d want it to be in my best getup and properly drunk too.”Taylor chuckled.

Aaron didn’t know how to respond to that. Because even though he didn’t know Connie, never met her, had no clue about her thoughts, feelings, desires, he was sure she wouldn’t have wanted to die alone, surrounded by people who hadn’t cared.

But what did he know?

“My editor-in-chief mentor said she wants me to up their clicks. Local news is a bit boring. It’s always some uptick in bike theft or how the council plan to refurbish a derelict building to house mental cases. She’s working on one about care kids at the moment. Hey, reminds me, she’ll be in touch with you about it.”

“What? Why?”

“I told her my boyfriend had been in care. She asked to contact you. Didn’t think it was a problem.”

“Didn’t think toask, either.For fuck’s sake, Taylor!” When would he learn? Even revealing just that small piece of his past—that he’d spent most of his life in care—was enough to attract people looking to exploit it. Some wanted to make a quick quid,others saw it as a chance to boost their own status by pretending they cared. But if people genuinely cared about the kids stuck in the system, there wouldn’tbeany fucking kids stuck in the fucking system.

“I’ll tell her not to call you. But she wants me to find a story that’ll draw in the young crowd.”Taylor then stopped, probably waiting to see if Aaron was listening.“Max said he saw you pole dancing today.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “Yeah. For society sign-ups.”

“Should have done a story on that. You’ll draw in the crowds. Why don’t you bring the pole ‘round here now and give me a private show?”

“Already put it away.”

“Funny, cause I just got my pole out. Palming it right now. Could use a little company.”

Aaron was grateful Taylor hadn’t video called him and couldn’t see his reaction.

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