Page 56 of Up In Flames
“Thanks for coming with me.” I’d practically dragged Hal to the pub. I’d wanted to see Will, but I was terrified to go alone. I wanted some kind of a buffer between his friends and me.
“Simon will be pleased to know that his employees are bonding outside of office hours.”
“Too bad it won’t get us out of the next team building exercise,” I lamented.
“What, you don’t like escape rooms?” Hal laughed and eased the car out of the parking space and onto the street.
“I don’t like being trapped.”
His head whipped to the side and understanding made his eyes widen. “The accident?”
I nodded. After a block or two, I found my voice. “I don’t remember everything, but I remember being stuck. Trapped in that car.”
Copper. Gas. Smoke. Copper. Blood. Smoke. Blood.
My gut tightened at the memory. I cracked the window for some fresh air. “Will pulled me out. Then… flames.”
“I’ll talk to Simon.”
“I can do it. I just… I didn’t want to seem like a big baby. Like oh, no, don’t lock me in a room that’s perfectly safe and I’m not actually trapped in. But the idea makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”
“Then you won’t go. It’s that simple. You can be involved in the exercise some other way. Or you can sit this one out.”
“Are you sure Simon will be okay with that? And what about everyone else? I don’t want them to think I’m getting special treatment.”
“Everyone else hasn’t gone through what you went through. It hasn’t even been a year, has it?”
I shook my head. Ten months. Three weeks. Four days. But who was counting?
“Not yet.”
“Simon will understand. I can talk to him if you’d prefer.”
It was something I should be able to handle on my own, but I didn’t know if I would. Chances were, if left up to me, I wouldn’t say anything. Swallowing past a knot of emotion, I nodded. Hal gave me a gentle smile, a head nod, and changed the subject.
What I liked about Hal the most was his ability to read people. He was good at knowing what to say and when, and when to say nothing at all. The rest of the drive passed in silence. He dropped me off outside my building and promised to talk to Simon first thing.
My apartment felt emptier than it usually did, and I turned on the television just so I’d have some background noise. Stripping out of my work clothes, I dressed in a pair of lounge pants and a shirt that Will had left at my place the week before. Or had I taken it from his place? I couldn’t remember now,but it didn’t matter. I liked wearing his stuff. I’d never been able to steal clothes from a significant other before. I suddenly understood why women liked to “borrow” their boyfriend’s hoodies. Wearing his shirt made me feel closer to him.
I was such a fucking goner for him. Maybe we shouldn’t hang out in public together. I’d been terrified that his friends would take one look at me and see the hearts in my eyes.
Dinner was a frozen pizza that tasted like disappointment after knowing what Will’s homemade pizza tasted like. The man could make anything. He’d made the pizza dough from scratch and insisted that we do our own toppings. I did note a distinct lack of pineapple among the options available and had called him on it. He didn’t care. According to him, only heathens put pineapple on pizza.
My pizza was half gone, and I’d slumped further down into my couch. Some kind of crime show played on the television, but I wasn’t paying much attention to it. It wasn’t particularly late yet, but I wanted to go to bed anyway. If I were sleeping, I wouldn’t be stupidly missing Will even though I’d seen him earlier on.
I turned the TV off and got up from the couch. I carried the pizza to the kitchen intending to put it away, but a knock at my door distracted me. Frowning, I padded to the door and looked through the peephole.
Warmth spread through my chest at the sight of Will in my hallway, standing there casually with his hands tucked in his pockets.
I undid the security chain, unlocked the deadbolt, and yanked the door open.
“Hey,” I breathed out, suddenly feeling lighter than I’d felt all evening.
“Hey.” A smile tugged at his lips, and he stepped inside.
“Couldn’t stay away?” I asked as I shut the door.
Will came up behind me, and hands bracketed my hips. Lips brushed against the back of my neck.
