“I figured we could stop at the shopping centre before we head to the hotel.” Malachi said.
“Hotel?” Alfie murmured.
He looked over to his mate to see if he was bothered by the fact they were going to be staying together at a hotel, especially since it would be their first night alone.
“You mentioned last night that your family’s last vacation was before your dad died, and you all went to Brighton beach. So I thought maybe we could go on our first vacation as a family.”
“As a family,” Alfie repeated, his voice choked.
Chi took his eyes off the road, took Alfie’s hand in his, and squeezed. Before focusing again on driving, he added, “That’s what I hope we become… are becoming.”
Alfie turned his hand in his so that they were actually holding hands, their fingers entwined.
“I would love that.” Alfie’s voice was low, and when Malachi looked over at him, his mate’s eyes were fixed on the road like the man didn’t want Chi to see them. Alfie would soon learn that he didn’t have to hide anything from his mate, but his grip on Malachi was enough for now.
The drive was silent for a bit, but a comfortable silence, and when Alfie realised they were going to Blackpool, he lit up like a Christmas Tree.
“I should have known this was where we were going. I always wanted to come down here and go on the Pepsi Max ride, but I think they’ve changed it. I don’t know if they changed the name of the roller coaster too. I love roller coasters.”
“They’ve changed the name, not the coaster, so we will get a chance to ride it,” Malachi replied, and when he looked over at Alfie, his brow was raised.
“I did some research on things we can do while we’re there.” Chi felt his cheeks heat admitting that. He could feel Alfie’s eyes on him.
“Thank you.”
The words were soft, but Chi could hear the emotion in them, and he couldn’t help it, so he glanced over at his mate. Alfie’s eyes on him were filled with unshed tears and something else… something more.
At least, Malachi hoped he wasn’t just imagining.
He lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed Alfie’s hand. “You never have to thank me, love.”
If his mate was so emotional by a trip to Blackpool, then he couldn’t wait to take him… everywhere.
Alfie probably didn’t understand what being mates meant, but he would soon. Until then, Chi would do everything in his power to make his mate understand that there was nothing else in the world that was more important to him than his mate’s happiness.
Twenty-Three
Alfie
Alfie was trying not to cry. What he hadn’t said to Axel was that, as much as he’d travelled with Rupert, they’d never done anything together. He was just travel candy. Everything he’d seen was by himself. Whenever he’d asked Rupert to go out with him, there was always a meeting or something.
He’d never come first, so the fact that Malachi had planned stuff for them, it just had him wanting to jump on the man and wrap his legs around his trim waist and kiss all over his face.
Alfie had never felt so seen—not even by his siblings, who he knew loved him.
The car finally came to a stop and Alfie looked out of the window on Chi’s side and saw the beach. When he looked straight ahead there was the “Big One” roller coaster.
Excitement coursed through him. From the day he’d gone to Alton Towers on a school trip a few years ago, he’d fallen in love with roller coasters, and he couldn’t wait to go on this one. And for some reason, he was also excited about going on with Chi.
“We’re practically on the beach.” The awe in his voice was hard to miss.
“Well, not exactly, but it’s as close as we can get.” Malachi sounded like he was unhappy by that fact. Before Alfie could reassure him that it was okay, he began speaking again. “But if you love the beach, there's a beautiful resort in the Maldives and another over in the Seychelles. Oh, one of my favourites is in Mauritius. Now, those beaches are spectacular, and we can beonthe beach with the resorts out there. We’ll have to visit soon.”
Malachi was so animated as he mentioned all these places, and Alfie honestly couldn’t even locate any of them on a map, but Chi’s excitement was enough. The fact that he wanted to share all of this with Alfie was, by itself, ample enough reason for him to become excited about going to them together.
“I would love to go to all those places with you.”
Malachi's eyes lit up, and he said, “I will hold you to that.”
