Thomas grabbed Scott’s hoodie and his T-shirt, draped them over his shoulder, then took Scott by the wrist.
“Get out of my way,” he hissed to Russell and his friends.
Russell frowned, sliding his gaze from Thomas to Scott. He stepped aside. Scott registered his look of intrigue.
Thomas dragged Scott out of the shop and up the road until they were back at the car park. He spun Scott around and pushed him bodily against the passenger door.
“What the fuck was that?”
“I went a bit rogue, I’ll admit –”
“Rogue? You humiliated yourself, andme.”
Scott shook his head. “That’s not what I was trying to do –”
“Well, it’s what happened.” Thomas took a step back. “Would you really have gone through with that?”
“I knew you’d swoop in to save me eventually, that’s what I was waiting for, but you sure did take your time.”
Thomas squinted, shaking his head. It was rare that Scott ever saw Thomas truly angry. Even when he’d eaten his last Twix out of desperation during a lockdown, Thomas hadn’t looked at him like that, like he was disappointed and disgusted with him all at once.
“He’ll text you,” Scott whispered. He swallowed, avoiding Thomas’s gaze.
“What?”
Scott yanked his hoodie from Thomas’s shoulder. “The guy you like, Russell. He’ll text you.”
“He’s not going to speak to me again after that.”
“He will…”
“Whatever,” Thomas murmured. “Let’s go back to the house.”
No longerhome, but house.
Scott nodded glumly.
“I was right…” Thomas mumbled.
“Right?”
“I was right not to contact you after we left Brixton.” He strolled around the car to get in the driver’s side.
Scott blinked at the unexpected sting in his eyes. The floodgate he prided himself on, the one that kept a hold of how he really felt, took a hit, allowing a small amount of emotion to leak out. One inside the car, he stared at the passenger window to stop Thomas from seeing.
Chapter nine
Theydidn’tspeakonthe drive to the mansion, and once they were back, Thomas marched up to his quarters in silence, stepped into the snake room and locked the door behind him.
Scott trudged down the corridor to get to his room.
He’d messed up.
He’d only wanted to help Thomas and his obvious infatuation with Russell, but all he’d done was ruin the contentment Zara had rubbed into Thomas’s high-strung body.
Thomas had been relaxed, dared Scott think it, and he’d been happy, but his meddling had soured their day together.
“I was right not to contact you after we left Brixton.”
