Refrain (Off the Record Book 3) by Madelynne Ellis

Author:Madelynne Ellis [Ellis, Madelynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, LGBT
Publisher: Incantatrix Press
Published: 2023-07-24T18:30:00+00:00

-21-

Xane

As far as Xane could determine, Spook had been here at the cottage since around midsummer. Xane had been here a little over a week and he was already going stir crazy. It was no wonder he’d arrived and found Spook in the state he’d been.

“Set?” He didn’t linger to find out but marched off towards the boundary wall. He had to check his stride when he got there. Spook remained on the outdoor doormat, skin blanched a particularly ghastly shade of blithe-spirit, his eyes shot with anxiety. His neck was bent, like he could escape into a mud-puddle, even as his gaze twitched from side to side taking in their surroundings.

Swallowing his urge to sigh, Xane backtracked. “Stroll through the woods, okay? It’ll be fun.”

Spook’s lips squished into a sullen line. His gaze arched warily across the road to the forest as if he expected a troll to lumber out of there set on eating them both whole. “I dunno about this. I’d rather—”

It was too chilly to stand around mooching. He’d learned that from experience having spent the last week of evenings jigging from one foot to the other as he talked to Luthor etcetera while side-stepping increasingly pointed questions about his location and what the fuck they were doing there. “You need some air. We both do.”

That earned him a bitchy comeback, but it got them as far as the lane, so he let it go. This, of all the things he’d encountered since his arrival here, was the hardest to compute. Spook Mortensen was not the sort of guy who stayed home all day with the curtains closed. It was time to remind him of all the wonders that existed in the big wide world. Although, fucking hell, it was proving an effort to get him moving. Gradually though, one metre became two, then five, until they were out of the gate and down the lane. One positive, if you could consider it that, was the further he got Spook from the sanctuary of the bothy, the more likely it was that the daft bugger would stay at his side rather than bolting for the front door. “Reckon you can pick the pace up a bit?”

His friend shook his head. The wind was already blowing his fine hair into knots. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“You’re not going to be sick.”

He did not want to deal with vomit. Although, if it was going to happen, then outdoor vomit won over the indoor variety.

“My head’s spinning.” Spook clapped both hands to it for emphasis, only to change his mind and press them to his chest instead. Xane reached for him. He clasped one of Spook’s hands tightly in his, even intertwined their fingers. Spook’s flesh was like ice.

Damn, he knew things were bad, he just hadn’t realised they were this bad.

“You know what, slow is fine. We won’t go far. Just into the trees. Enough to stretch our legs and clear a few of the cobwebs away.

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