I lean over the centre console to kiss him. “We are a team. If he talks shit to you, I’ll throw him out.”
“Thank you.”
I face the steering wheel again and rest my hands on it. “Where now?”
“IKEA?”
“I haven’t got the flat yet.”
“Yeah, but you will, and it’ll be fun. I think we could do with a bit of fun, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Ikea. Pick up a takeaway on the way back to yours, and snuggle up watching anime.”
I smile at him. “Sounds like a perfect evening to me.”
20
FLYNN
I’m regretting my decision to be around when Billy shows up, but I’m not going to go back on it. Tony let me leave the farm a bit early, so I would get to Jimmy’s before Billy. He doesn’t know the ins and outs of the situation, just that I’ve been a nervous wreck for days.
Jimmy was successful in his application for the flat and will move in next Saturday. Not quite in time to show his parents around it. We spent Wednesday tidying up and cleaning his student house, which is bizarrely empty now he’s the only one in it. His housemates took all their stuff when they moved out, but didn’t clean, nor did they offer to chip in for a cleaner. It seemed unfair for them to leave it all to Jimmy. They all made the mess.
We’re on the sofa, watching anime, trying to stay calm—well, I am, I can’t speak for Jimmy—when the doorbell rings.
“That’ll be Billy.” He pauses the TV.
I inhale sharply.
Jimmy hugs me. “It’s not too late to vanish upstairs. Or sneak out the back, if you want. I can handle Billy alone.”
“You shouldn’t have to. I said I’d be here, and I meant it.”
He kisses me. “You don’t have to.”
“I do.”
The doorbell rings again. I swear it sounds more impatient this time.
“Wait here,” Jimmy says.
I nod, happy to follow his request. I curl up, my pulse racing as Jimmy’s footsteps get softer, before the front door clicks open.
“Took you long enough,” Billy’s muffled voice grumbles.
“Sorry. I was in the middle of something. Didn’t Mum and Dad stay to say hi?”
“Eh, they’ll see you tomorrow. Are you going to invite me in, or leave me standing on the doorstep all evening?”
The sound of his voice makes my skin crawl.
“Come in.” Jimmy’s voice is much warmer, though there’s a note of tension in it.
The door closes with a louder-than-normal bang.
“So this is where you’ve been living for the last three years. It’s a bit of a dive, isn’t it?” Billy asks.
