Page 77 of Charlie Sunshine
He looks at me in consternation. “Have you actually met him?”
I bite my lip. “Okay, he would do that.” I cheer up. “At least he isn’t going to be cross with me. I’m going to try to move away from you so he doesn’t think I was involved in the plot. I hope that’s okay.”
A smile flits across his full lips. “Thank you so much, Charlie. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate your support.”
“We are a full-service organisation,” I intone.
“I know,” he says, his eyes darkening.
We’re both thinking back to when I’d blown him earlier, kneeling in the hallway and taking him into my mouth as soon as he came in from work.
I shake my head reprovingly, and he smiles, the white of his teeth gleaming.
We reach the group, and Jesse grins at us. “Alright, people? What’s in the bag, Charlie? Is it alcohol?”
I give him an exasperated look. “No. The last thing we need on a charity walk is to be drunk.”
“Really?” His vivid face is alive with laughter. “I’d think it would be a requirement. Like having an ambulance on standby for when we collapse with exhaustion.”
“It’s a slow walk through London, not a marathon through the Sahara Desert,” Zeb says, shooting a wary glance at Felix and Max who are hissing something at each other.
Jesse follows his gaze and sighs. “Zeb. When you decide to meddle in other people’s affairs, you really should be fully prepared for everything that comes your way.”
“Everything?” Zeb asks, giving the two men another uneasy look.
Jesse shrugs. “Everything. This is Felix we’re talking about. You should really start to cultivate a sense of self-preservation, lover. Especially at your advanced age.” He laughs as Zeb glares at him. He reaches up for a kiss which the older man willingly supplies.
I smile at the two of them. I’d been sceptical when they got together. Zeb is gorgeous, but in addition to being his boss, he’solder than Jesse and seemed extremely set in his ways. However, Jesse’s natural charming exuberance had worked its spell, and the two have been inseparable since they got together. They look very right together, like two jigsaw puzzle pieces that have snapped into place.
I open my carrier bag and pull out the glow sticks I’d packed. “Thought we could wear these,” I say cheerfully.
Misha groans. “Can I just register my displeasure with this idea? It’s bad enough that we have to walk through London when there are a multitude of taxis that could drive us wherever we want to go, and now we have to do it looking like a relic from a rave in the nineties.”
“You can certainly register that thought as long as you’re aware that I’m going to completely ignore it like the rest of your whingeing.” I smile widely at him. “Get your glow on, Misha.”
He laughs, grabbing a stick and giving my hand a squeeze before wrapping the stick around his wrist where it glows in vivid colour in the darkening night. He pulls me close. “I’m doing this for you and I hope it’s suitably appreciated later,” he says in a low voice, and I swallow hard before smirking at him.
“I will be so appreciative that I’ll be struggling to walk tomorrow,” I whisper and his eyes flame.
“Promises, promises.”
I step away to offer the rest of the sticks to the group, only to find them silently staring at us, including Max and Felix, who have abandoned their fight.
“What?” I say nervously.
Jesse folds his arms over his chest. “Don’t ‘what’ me, Charlie Burroughs. For shame. What’s going on between the two of you?”
“Erm,” I falter, looking at Misha. We haven’t made a contingency plan for this. We haven’t said it’s secret, but we equally haven’t been racing to tell everyone.
He gives me a long look, and I can’t decipher his expression, but then he turns to the men. “Charlie and I are together,” he says simply. “I would request that you keep the piss-taking to a minimum, but the intense realism that’s a major part of my personality tells me that you load of twats won’t be able to comply with that.”
“Not at all,” Jesse says mournfully. He shakes his head. “I’m just not very good with any form of authority.”
“A fact that we’re all very aware of after existing in the same workplace with you for years,” Felix says tartly. He’s wearing very skinny jeans that cling to his thin figure, and his T-shirt is knotted sassily at his hip rather than hanging loose like everyone else’s. He’s also, for some reason, wearing heart-shaped red sunglasses. His hair is its usual tumbling mess, and I smile at him. I’m very fond of Misha’s sassy younger cousin.
He grins back at me. “So, you and Misha are together now?” I nod, and he turns, snapping his fingers at Zeb. “You owe me a hundred quid.”
Zeb makes a resigned face and digs in his pocket for his wallet. “Okay, but I need to check the betting book to see whether you’ve won that much. I’m sure the odds changed this week.”
