Page 34 of Hold On

“No. They knew that life wasn’t for me. Will always had his head in a book. I only read when I had to. I bought an old 50cc bike when I was fourteen, rebuilt it in my spare time with the help of my grandpa, passed Compulsory Basic Training on my sixteenth birthday and crashed the bike that same afternoon. Wrote the bloody thing off.”

“Were you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to the leathers my mum had insisted on buying for me. Wrecked them as well, though.” He chuckled. “I’m a bit of a speed freak. I used to fly commercial jets. Waking up in different countries and having to check my schedule and remind myself where I was got old.”

“I’m still thinking about the bike and you wanting to take me out on it.”

“I’ve never wrecked a bike since. Youshouldbe fine.”

That made Dominic chuckle. Ren might be a mystery but if Dominic asked questions, then he’d get asked them back. Maybe the way to see this was as a brief…fling. A step into another feature of this new world.Sex.It didn’t have tomeananything. It could just be fun. If Dominic got his head around it, and that was a bigif.They were both recovering from something. Physical in Ren’s case. Mental in Dominic’s. They’d help each other out and move on. No need then to make any confessions about past histories, which meant there was no risk of his identity being revealed by a horror-struck guy, no risk of Dominic’s world falling apart. Again.

But what if… What if itdidcome to mean something? What then? How could he trust himself to do the right thing when he didn’t know what that was?

Dominic got to his feet, pulling Ren up beside him, then let his hand drop. He heard Ren give a quiet chuckle and wondered what he was thinking. That he was a coward for letting go of his hand? Yeah, he was. They walked back down the beach together. Dominic hoped Ren would talk to him but he didn’t.

Several yards in front of where Col and Theo were sitting, were two large piles of wet sand with spades, trowels and buckets by each.

“See any sharks out there?” Theo asked.

“Only a Great White,” Ren said.

Dominic saw the moment Col took in the many scars on Ren’s chest, but his brother said nothing.

Theo did. “You look like you’ve been playing with one.”

“Theo!” Col glared.

“Sorry,” Theo blurted. “I’m skilled at opening my mouth and putting my foot in it. If only there’d been a GCSE in that. A guaranteed top grade for me.”

Col hugged him.

“You don’t have to play with the sand,” Theo muttered. “Col said you might think it was childish.”

“Are you kidding?” Ren grabbed a spade. “I can’t wait to have a go.”

Theo grabbed the rolled-up windbreak. “Help me set this up. Then we can’t spy on each other until we’re done.”

Dominic held it while Theo unrolled it, and Col banged the posts down with a mallet.

“Can we make what we like?” Ren asked.

“Yes,” Theo said. “Whatever you like.” He picked up a spade. “No peeking until we’re done. Ready, steady, go.”

Ren bent to whisper in Dominic’s ear. “What do you think? Spaceship? Merman? Fish? Reclining male nudes?”

“I don’t mind.”

“The nudes then. You do one and I’ll do one. On their backs, holding hands. Lifesize. I’ll do you and you do me. Be kind.”

As Dominic worked, he was trying not to laugh at Col and Theo’s conversation, but Ren kept catching his eye and smiling.

“Not there,” Col said. “Theo, I said not there. Why would that be there?”

“But…”

“Really! Not there.”

Ren chuckled.

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