Page 54 of Kiss Me Honey Hone

“What’s the ‘right way’ then?”

“Lean on people who care about you. And I know that’s hard for you because you’ve had no one to lean on before. You do now. You’ve got me, for starters. And I’m not going anywhere, even if you are a stubborn pain in the bubble butt. But you have agreatarse. Taylor was always commenting. So go shake it! Not for him. Not for anyone else. Just for you. Remember how you used to? Actually…” Mel then stood. “Up!”

“What?”

“You’re coming out. With me. To the bar.” She grabbed his arm, yanking him to his feet.

“You’re going on a date, Mel. And it’s not even with a bloke I can steal from you.”

“Ha ha.” She marched to his wardrobe and threw it open, rifling through his clothes. “Lottie already said this isn’t a date. So this can work both ways. One, if it’s not a date and you come with me, then I won’t make a fool of myself. And two, if she wasonly saying that, and she’s disappointed that you’re there, then I win.” She grinned over her shoulder.

“So all that stuff about this being for me…?”

“Was a lie.” She went back to rifling through his clothes. “You’re putting on something that doesn’t look like it’s been dragged through a gutter, and you’re going to look hot. End of discussion.”

Aaron groaned, but a faint glimmer of amusement tugged at his chest as he watched her rummage through his wardrobe. In her own way, she was right. Somewhere along the way, he’d lost touch with himself. Forgotten who he was. Or maybe he’d never really known. But there had been moments, hadn’t there? Times when he’d done things purely because they made him feel good. One of those things had always been dancing. If he were in London, he’d already be at Inferno, losing himself in the music and the energy of the crowd. So why was he here, wallowing in his room, obsessing over Kenny and Heather, when he could be out shaking his tail and remembering what it felt like to justbe himself?

Mel tossed him a crisp black button-up. “Wear this. And these.” She threw a pair of slim-fit jeans onto the bed, the ones that were more rip than denim.

By the time Mel finished fussing over him, fixing his hair, making him swap out his battered trainers for combat boots, Aaron barely recognised himself. He’d replaced the scruffy appearance he’d been favouring of late with someone who looked put together. Almost confident. The man he’d used to be.

Mel appraised her work with a satisfied nod. “Sexy as fuck.”

Aaron caught his reflection in the mirror, tilting his head and raking a hand through his quiff. Yeah. Sexy as fuck. He’d fuck him. But, then again, he wouldn’t let him. Because he was a tease.

Mel grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door. “Everyone is gonna want a bit of you tonight!”

They left his room where the first years on his floor were gathered in the communal area and downing their Bargain Booze efforts. But Mel looped her arm in with his to trudge across campus to the bar and dragged him through the crowd, weaving between groups of students shouting over the noise.

“There she is.” She nudged Aaron and grinned.

Lottie, perched at a high table near the back, sipped on a cocktail, smiled and waved as they approached. The dim lighting of the bar caught the golden undertones in her wavy shoulder-length blonde hair and her hazel eyes lined with a precise flick of eyeliner, faltered when she noticed Aaron.

So thishadbeen a date.

“You didn’t mention you were bringing company,” Lottie said, tone carefully neutral, but her brow furrowed in disappointment.

Aaron propped himself against the table with a casual smirk. “Don’t mind me. I’m just here to enjoy the fine ambiance of sticky tables and cheap drinks.”

Mel shot Aaron a look, but turned back to Lottie with an exaggerated shrug. “He’s been holed up for days. Thought it’d do him good to get out. Besides, it’s not like this is a date, right?”

Lottie’s lips pressed into a thin line, her response delayed long enough for Mel to suppress a victorious grin.

“That’s what I thought,” Mel said breezily, falling onto a stool and motioning for Aaron to do the same. “What’re we drinking?”

Lottie’s initial tension melted away after a few rounds, and Aaron relaxed as the alcohol worked its way through his system. They laughed about Mel’s relentless pursuit of Lottie, swapped ridiculous student stories, and bemoaned the state of campus catering. It was almost…normal. How it should be. Not him seducing his professor, a man double his age and talking about deadly kissing and murder andChildfuckingA.

When the conversation lulled, Mel tugged Aaron’s sleeve. “Let’s go downstairs.”

“The basement?”

“Club night, baby. It’s LGBT night! None of the straights will be in. Come on.”

Aaron knew exactly why Mel wanted to go down to club night. So she could make a move on Lottie. But because she’d been so kind as to drag him out of his hovel, he agreed, and the three of them drank up and made their way to the stairs which led to the union club.

The bass thudded louder as they descended and the air grew hotter, thicker, the room a haze of coloured lights and bodies moving in sync with the music. Yeah. This is where he belonged. Hidden among the sea of bodies. And the three of them stepped onto the dance floor where Aaron let the music envelop him. The bass vibrate through him, and the beat churn in his veins. Exactly how he liked it. Loud. Mind numbing. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he moved, swaying and twisting with a fluidity he hadn’t felt in months.

He let go.

---