Page 61 of Wants and Needs
“I’ll walk you to your door,” Liam mumbles, as he slips his hand away.
We meet on the pavement again and walk shoulder to shoulder up the steps to the front door.
“Thank you for tonight,” he whispers when we’re there, and I turn to smile at him.
“Just like I didn’t have to apologize, you don’t have to thank me, Liam,” I assure him. “This is what we do for each other, and besides, it was my fault in the first place for opening my big?—”
My eyes open wide when he moves faster than I can see and presses his lips to mine.
I stumble back after a second and raise my hands between us. Liam is frowning and tilts his head to the side.
“Was that not enjoyable?” he asks quietly, and I know that’s not really what he’s asking.
Still, even though I never thought I’d be the type of bloke to say it, I loudly blurt out, “I’m straight!” I can’t even focus on being delicate, the shock has shut down my brain.
Liam’s frown deepens.
“I—” He stops himself and breathes deeply, while I’m reeling inside. I can’t miss the blush spreading across his cheeks, though. It’s charming. And it makes me feel about a millimeter tall. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, and shifts his gaze to the floor. “I made the logical conclusion based on your friend group. There’s a clear statistic that states queer people tend to gravitate toward one another, and I made an assumption based on it. Again, I apologize. Have a good night.”
He speaks so fast I can barely keep up, and by the time I have, he’s jumping down the steps and walking quickly to the car.
I want to go after him, assure him everything’s fine, but my feet won’t move, so I watch helplessly as the car drives away.
I don’t want Liam to feel sorry. I don’t want him embarrassed. I?—
Fucking hell, I don’t know anything but those things.
Aimlessly, I take out my keys and open the front door, and I walk down the long hallway to the kitchen where, sure enough, Milton is brewing some tea.
“How was it?” he asks without looking up from the stove.
“Milton,” I say in a broken voice. That gets his attention right enough.
“What is it master Carter?” he demands, eyes wide in alarm.
“He kissed me,” I whisper.
Milton’s shoulder drop and his stern face appears. The same one he used when I came home with muddy shoes.
“Who did?” he asks as he goes back to preparing his tea.
“Liam,” I cry out. “He just... It was so fast, and I... What could I have done? There were no signs...” I trail off because well, there were some signs, I suppose, but I was focused on the mission. On making him feel secure and safe and... protected. “What was I supposed to do?” I whisper to myself, and then there’s the ruckus of my friends coming into the house again.
I don’t think, I just put one foot in front of the other, and when I’m within arm’s reach, I grab CJ’s arms and pull him to the stairs without an explanation—though he demands one several times as we climb to the second floor. I don’t say anything until the door to my bedroom is closed and I’ve paced in front of my bed for a good few minutes.
“Liam kissed me,” I admit eventually, and CJ sighs.
He goes to sit on the bench at the foot of my bed, crosses hislegs at the ankle, and leans back on his hands. Well, he’s just made himself at home, hasn’t he?
“Let’s get to it, then. Did you like it?”
That . . . is not something I’d asked myself.
15LIAM
“Fuck,”I hiss when one headphone jumps out of my fingers on its way to my ear. I scramble to turn on the flashlight of my phone and find it under the driver’s seat.
I can’t remember the last time my hands shook this hard, and I don’t have the energy to try right now.
