“I know. But I’m glad you did. I’m not only your physical safe place, Glory. I’m here for you emotionally too. You need to talk, I’m here. And hell, if I’m not here, you have my number, and you have the business number to reach Libby. I uh… I’ll program others in your phone for you. Micro and Harley. Rocket. Oh, Ice. Dammit, no, Lissa. Fucking hell, I-”
I pressed a hand over his mouth as he tried to shut up his own babbling. It was adorable when he did it, because he literally seemed to be trying to keep up with his brain, and he didn’t need to rush, did he?
“I’m not going anywhere, N… Henley. So we can have these conversations over time. You don’t need to cram it all into one speech.”
“I know,” his muffled response came, but he didn’t push me away. In fact, we sort of froze right there, like one of those weird statues that makes no sense to anyone but the artist. He was still cupping my face in both hands, and I was covering his mouth. It was probably some artistic expression about silencing something, but for us it was just how we naturally ended up. He started chuckling as he realised it too, and I laughed a little breathlessly.
“We both made it weird this time,” I said as I lowered my hand, and the giggles kicked in. He was still cupping my face, but his laughter was almost euphoric, as if this moment was the pinnacle of our friendship. Maybe it was. This was as real as we’d ever been, both caught up in drama and fear, loss and regaining each other. Maybe it was-
His lips touched mine suddenly and we both froze again. What was he doing? Why wasn’t I pushing him away?
“Fuck,” he muttered against my lips, “I… fuck.”
He pulled back, his own fingers settling over his mouth. He looked horrified. Stunned. Was it because he didn’t want to do it, or because he really wanted to, and knew it was wrong? Was it disgust or shock?
“I… fuck me, I made it weirder. I’m so sorry.”
I swallowed again, surprised to realise I wasn’t horrified or angry. Just surprised.
I touched my own lips, almost a ghost of how it felt when his lips pressed against mine.
“I’m… it’s too soon, but I’m not sorry.”
Henley’s eyes widened at me. “It’s assault.”
Another laugh escaped me. “Hardly. It was… a surprise, but not a bad thing. It’s too soon for me to even consider-”
“I wasn’t… Fucking hell. Just forget I did it. We’ll uh, we’re moving on, that’s it. Uh…” he checked his expensive Seiko wristwatch and groaned, “I swear this isn’t a lie, but I do have to go take a call.”
His business was the kind that meant calls day and night were possible, even as the hands-off boss he seemed to be right now, so I didn’t argue.
“I’ll bring you a cuppa.”
His lips did that thing I loved, that wide happy grin that made him look a little like a puppy.
“You will?”
“Get back to work,” I sassed, and he laughed again.
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart. He’d always called me that, but was it just a term of endearment, or was there more to it? He kissed me. I’d been the one with the crush back then, but things seemed to have changed for him in the time I’d been gone. Was he my future? And if so, did I have the courage to reach for it? For him?
Chapter Fifteen
Prospect duty was againsomething of a relief because it gave me space to think, or it should have. Unfortunately I was on duty with Rocket and Simon, who were both giving their mouths too much of a workout, and it was frying my last nerve.
“My god, do you two ever shut it?!”
They both paused in their non-stop banter and smirked at me.
“Ooooh someone’s got a stick up his ass.”
“Yeah, it’s almost like he’s feeling menstrual or something.”
Jesus. I sighed heavily, moving over to lean on the gate, my favourite fucking place to reflect these days, since I couldn’t even rely on a little ‘bar duty’ to break things up.
“Give us a minute,” I heard Rocket say to Simon, who probably said something snarky back, but I was too busy groaning as loudly as I could to catch his words.