Page 55 of Lovers in Lockdown

‘Will pancakes and bacon do for you, my highness?’ I tease, climbing out of bed and bowing extravagantly.

She laughs, ‘Why, thank you, kind sir. Pancakes and bacon will suffice.’ She punctuates her sentence with a curtsey so awkward and uncoordinated that she nearly topples over.

God, I fucking love you.

Having spent so long with her trapped inside this shitty apartment, I’ve seen her heart from every angle. I know that she cries at soap operas even though she thinks the acting sucks. I know her best friend is called Ellie and is even crazier than she is - a fact that both intrigues me and terrifies me, because, let's be frank, Honey’s a nutcase. I know that she doesn’t hand out diagnoses like they’re going out of fashion because she’s a medical know-it-all with projected hypochondria, but because she genuinely worries about the people she cares about.

Her heart is golden.

And mine is going to shatter into a million fucking pieces when the time comes for me to leave her.

I push away the agonising thoughts and follow Honey through to the kitchen to knock us up some breakfast. She’s taking a seat at the breakfast bar when there’s a knock at the door. Well, not so much a knock, as someone trying to punch down the door.

It would terrify me if I didn’t already know who it belonged to. Truth is, I’d know that knock anywhere. It takes me back to my uni days when Reid would go out and get hammered and then come home without keys. He’d just hammer on the door until someone let him in.

My stomach flips.

He doesn’t know about Honey and me. Not yet. We haven’t told him. Why would we, when it has to end anyway?

And I know he said that he doesn’t care about defending Honey’s chastity - not that she was virginal before we started shacking up, she’s actually taughtmea thing or two - but that doesn’t stop my balls jumping up inside of me at the sight of Honey answering the door to her older brother in nothing but panties and my t-shirt.

And I know he’s not the brightest spark there ever was, but let’s give the man some credit. It’s not hard to work out what we’ve been doing by Honey’s wild hair and the fact that I’m flipping pancakes in a pair of tighty whiteys.

‘Well, well, well,’ Reid grins and leans casually against the doorframe. ‘This all looks very domestic.’

Guilt swells in my stomach and threatens to spill out my mouth. I can’t look him in the eye. Can’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes.

‘Can we help you?’ Honey asks indignantly, resting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at him.

If I thought she could shoot daggers at me when she’s angry, she’s firing cannons out of her eyeballs at her brother. Even I’m scared. Reid, though, is unfazed, or just pretending not to notice.

‘It’s good to see you both looking so cosy. Guess you solved the problem of where you’re both going to sleep, eh mate?’ he winks at me.

Huh,he’s taking this surprisingly well.

I allow myself to laugh.

Honey growls.

Reid grins even wider.

‘Why are you here?’ Honey’s still glaring at her brother and hasn’t blinked once since she opened the door. Terrifying woman.

‘Relax, Honey Bee. I’m not here to cockblock,’ he holds his hands up in mock defence. ‘I just wanted to pick up my banana plant.’

My eyes narrow in suspicion. Who travels halfway across the country for a pissing banana plant? ‘You came all the way here to pick up a plant?’ I ask, my voice hesitant and disbelieving.

‘Correct.’ He doesn’t blink.

‘You travelled nearly a hundred miles to pick up some shitty banana tree?’

‘I just said yes, didn’t I?’

‘Butwhy?’

Because it’s special to me,’ Reid whispers after quite a lengthy pause, looking down at the floor and fiddling with the buttons on his expensive looking trench coat.

‘You’ve been just fine without it for the last few months,’ Honey chimes in.

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