Page 93 of He's the One

“It must have been my father.”

Col began to sort the blocks.

“Want me to give you a hand.”

“No thanks. There is a reason for the way I’m arranging them.”

“Like doing Lego? Colours and sizes?”

Col chuckled. “In a way. Are there any drawings?”

“Possibly. Shall I look?”

“Please.”

He carried on working after Theo had gone, sorting and laying out the stones. He understood why Theo felt as he did about the sea and the beach, though it was a shame. Was Felicity’s death part of the reason Theo’s brother had run away? Col could imagine how guilty he must have felt. Theo as well, even though he was not to blame, especially not as a seven-year-old.

Col understood the strength of guilt and the damage it could do. It weighed you down, affected everything in your life, could ruin it if you let it. He suspected Theo’s brother and maybe Theo had at some point wished they were the ones who’d died, just as Col had wished his parents had hurt him instead of Dominic. He’d even talked himself into thinking that if they’d touched him, he wouldn’t have kept quiet, he’d have told someone and they’d have made it stop and none of the rest would have happened. But he knew there was a world of difference between imagination and reality.

Over time, Col had worked through his feelings and accepted he couldn’t change what had happened, that some things could never be put right. So although he felt a debt to Dominic that could never be repaid, he was determined to do what he could to help his brother when he was released. At least Dominic was still in Col’s life. Theo had lost both his sister and brother, and didn’t have a good relationship with his parents. Despite that, Theo was bright and funny, and Col liked and admired him. He couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t feel the same.

By the time Theo came back holding ice creams, Col had made good progress.

Theo handed Col a cone with a Flake in the top. “I had to lick it. It was melting. I hope you don’t mind.”

Col swirled his tongue around the ice cream. “I don’t mind.” Especially considering the part of him he wanted Theo to lick.

They sat down together on a block of stone.

“You can tell a lot by the way someone eats a 99,” Col said.

Theo chomped the top off the Flake and licked his lips. “What does this mean then?”

Col chuckled. “Impetuous pleasure seeker.”

“The chocolate’s the best bit.”

Col put out his tongue and licked around the ice cream, smoothing out the ridges and collecting the dribbles. He watched Theo as he did it and Theo stared at him intently, his mouth open, his ice cream forgotten.

“Are you trying to keep the pleasurable grunting to a minimum?” Theo licked his hand where ice cream had dripped onto it.

“I don’t want to give any visitors the wrong idea.”

Col pushed the Flake down into the cone with his tongue and swirled his tongue around it again.

“Oh God.” Theo bit off another segment of the crumbly chocolate and continued to stare as Col pushed the Flake the rest of the way in before dragging his tongue over the top. Once the ice cream was level with the top of the cone and was hiding the chocolate, Col nibbled his way around, biting off a narrow band of the crumbly wafer, then licking over the top and repeating the action.

“I see your game and raise you,” Theo said, then slurped the rest of the Flake into his mouth but kept it sticking out between his lips. Col laughed but when Theo sucked and manoeuvred the chocolate in and out, Col’s laugh turned into a moan.

“So good,” Theo whispered. “Oh yes, yes, yes…”

Col’s heart lurched. He was still working his way down the wafer cone, but licking around the chocolate as he went rather than biting it.

Theo sucked the Flake into oblivion. “Lovely, except now I have nothing to look forward to at the bottom of mine. Why don’t they put a bit of chocolate at the base of the cone like they do in Cornettos?”

“I always ask the guy to squirt chocolate syrup into my cone before he tops it with ice cream.”

Theo widened his eyes. “Whoa. Hardcore. Next time I’ll do that.” He stuffed the remains of the ice cream into his mouth, chomped, chewed, swallowed and licked his lips. “All gone.”

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