Afterglow by Jace Alex

Author:Jace Alex
Language: eng
Format: epub

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Later that afternoon while Rich was working on his laptop in his armchair, Parker said,

“Did you want to go into town? Maybe get a drink?”

Rich glanced at him, startled. Parker was sitting at Rich’s feet again, his fair head against Rich’s knee. Rich had been absently playing with that light gold hair, ruffling it then smoothing it, while Parker rubbed his cheek into Rich’s palm and practically purred. Parker seemed so hungry for affection, as if he had been starved of it for a long time.

“I thought you didn’t want to,” Rich said. “I mean, yes, I’d love to. Everyone would love to see you again. But last time you said no.”

They did not talk about it often, but Parker was in hiding. Parker had been afraid to go down into the little town where they had grown up in case anyone recognised him.

Maybe Parker was feeling more secure now. Safe. Rich was charmed.

“I thought he might come looking for me here,” Parker said in a low voice. “He knows I grew up here. But it’s been weeks, and he hasn’t come. So he probably won’t.” It was half a question. “Right?”

Sinclair. The man who had driven Parker to trudge eight miles through the snow one bitter winter’s night to fetch up on Rich’s doorstep looking for shelter. The man who had left all those bruises all over him. The man Parker was so terrified of that Parker still wouldn’t talk about him. Sometimes Parker got up in the night and checked the locks.

Rich touched his shoulder, warm cloth over strong bone, and rubbed gentle circles with his thumb. “No, he won’t.”

“Because I…” Parker swallowed hard; his voice tightened, his shoulders drew inward. “If Sinclair showed up…”

“Hush,” Rich soothed him. “It’s all right. It’s safe here. You’re my secret, remember? He won’t find you.”

Parker pressed against Rich’s knee. “You should stay with me,” Parker said in a whisper.

“In town.”

Just in case. “All right,” Rich said, his voice gentle. “I’ll stay with you.”

So they got into the battered Land Rover and bounced down the lane, which was no more than two deep ruts carved into the earth. Hedges raked at them on both sides, slashing lines of ice across the windows.

After eight twisting miles, they descended into a little town. It lay cupped in a hollow, its tiled roofs glinting in the sunlight beneath a layer of ice. Smoke curled upward from chimneys into a sky of charcoal greys.

They pulled up outside a little pub called the Wayfarer that looked out over the curve of the river. The pub was so old that only its coat of ivy held the crumbling stone together. It was a favourite of the locals, and Rich had vivid memories of sneaking into the pub underage for a quick pint. Now his baby cousin Kelly was old enough to work behind the bar.

When they got out of the car, Parker slammed the door, then stopped abruptly. It seemed to have hit him that after two weeks in total isolation, far from anywhere, he was now back in the real world.

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