“Danny La Rue… Fifty-two.”
I glance absently across the room at all the bowed heads worshipping at the altar of Bingo Bonanza and wonder if Danny and I should just excuse ourselves and head back to my place. After all, I did make certain promises that I’m eager to make good on.
“Clean the floor… fifty-four.”
I’m just about to turn to Danny when I feel a strange yet familiar shiver roll down my spine, and I shudder hard. I could swear it was the same odd feeling I had that night at Sunrise Care Home.
I turn sharply and glance around the busy room. It’s only when my gaze falls on the double doors leading from the hall that I see a dark shadow rush past the glass. I stand abruptly, barely noticing the loud scraping noise of my chair legs across the battered hardwood floor. Ignoring everyone around me, I hustle through the maze of tables and chairs, buggies and walking frames, and push my way through the doors into the small quiet foyer.
I skid to a halt, my still-wet shoes squeaking as I freeze, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. There’s a dark black shadow hovering two feet above the ground, and I can see right through it to the door of the gents’ toilet. Although it has no face, just a deep-cowled hood surrounding its head, I get the distinct impression it’s staring at me.
My mouth is dry, and my heart is trying to pound straight out of my chest.
“Tristan, wha—” I feel Dusty appear beside me. “Holy fuck! What the fucking fuck is that fucking thing?”
The door behind us bangs open and I hear Danny’s calm voice. “Tris, are you alright?” The moment he speaks the dark-shrouded apparition shoots upward and disappears through the ceiling.
“Tris.” I feel Danny’s hands cup my face and turn me toward him. “You’re all cold and clammy.”
“I uh…” I clear my throat, shaking my head slightly to try and make some sort of sense while my brain is still clearly stuck inWhat the fuck did I just witness?mode.
“You rushed out so quickly,” Danny says in concern. “Are you feeling okay?”
I latch onto the excuse. “Actually, I’m not feeling that well.”
“Well, your clothes are all damp.” He frowns as he looks down at me properly.
“It’s left over from getting caught in the rain earlier.” I offer him a small shaky smile.
“We should get you home.” He rubs my arms in a soothing manner. “Don’t want you to catch a chill.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, and my gaze drifts across to the patch of ceiling that thing had disappeared through. Suddenly, I just want to get as far away from this place as possible. I have no idea what the hell that thing is, but it can't be a coincidence that I’d seen it twice now. All I know is I want to be cocooned back home, warm and safe, with Danny’s arms wrapped around me.
I turn back to him and draw in a shaky breath. “Take me home, Danny.”
7
Ijolt violently, startling myself out of sleep with the same kind of abruptness as if I’d dreamt of falling. For several long seconds, my mind is confused, trying to recall the details of a dream that are fading fast. I shiver and pull the covers up to my chin, then reach out to grasp my glasses and fumble them onto my face so I can read the time on my phone.
Urgh, five thirty.
I toss my glasses back onto the bedside table. Rolling over, I burrow down into the bed, feeling the chill right down to my bones. With a strange sinking feeling in my chest, I reach out and run my hand over the empty space next to me. I can’t quite recall the details of the dream that had awoken me, but it’s left me feeling unsettled. I wish Danny was here. Usually I don’t mind being alone, but something about the day before and the dream has left every nerve in my body frayed. I grasp the pillow on Danny’s side of the bed and hug it close, burying my face in the cool cotton and breathing in the lingering scent of him.
It sucks when he has to go home. It’s crazy, we’ve only been together six months, but now I just can’t imagine my life without him in it. I feel like at some point I should be panicking, but I’m not so far.
Holding the pillow a little tighter, I rub my cheek against it and wish I was cuddled up next to his warm, hairy chest instead as the wind howls outside. The windowpane rattles loudly as the aged frame lets in a draught. No wonder it’s so cold in here. I’m sick of trying to get my landlord Mr Ahmed to fix anything in the flat. I really am going to have to look for a new place, not that I want to.
My gaze locks on the nearly full saucepan of water in the corner of the room and then tracks upward to the expanding brown stain on the ceiling. Yeah, it’s definitely time to move on. I’ve been here for almost four years now, having moved in when my dad went into Sunrise Care Home and we needed to sell my childhood home. I’d spent years, even through school and Uni, looking after Dad as his condition worsened until he needed full-time nursing care.
Moving into my little flat had been lonely in the beginning, which is why I’d ended up with Jacob Marley, and even though he’s a contrary little shit, I do love him. In fact, I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without his company those first six months. My default setting has always been shy and introverted, even at school, but after losing Mum and dealing with my dad’s illness, it became even harder to make friends or build relationships.
Then came Danny. My gorgeous, sweet, kind, sexy-as-hell dream man from the North. Sometimes I wonder if he’s even real, he’s so perfectly in tune with me… so perfect for me. It was like he was custom made and my name was on the order form.
Right now, though, I want nothing more than his warm body wrapped around me, holding on tight. I want his voice rumbling against my ear as we talk about silly random things. In fact, I want him with me all the time, I want him here, not going back to his flat and leaving me in this draughty old flat that leaks like an old barge.
Lately, I’ve had this little voice in my head, and it just keeps getting louder and more insistent.
What if Danny and I moved in together?
