“If you say so.” The numbers meant little to Zac. In his mind, he’d never been anything more than a dirtbag hooker and the fifteen years he’d lived before belonged to someone else. “It hasn’t always been quite like this, though.”
“Like this?”
“Not so, what’s the word? Civilised?”
Liam frowned. “Jesus, really? I know I’m probably not the most exciting john you see, but I don’t remember anything particularly civilised about the last few times we’ve seen each other.”
Again with the heat, but Liam was missing the point. Zac drained the last of his second pint and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I picked you up at the club because I wanted to, you let me because you wanted to, and then we fucked in my bed in my nice warm flat. Trust me, it’s a world away from the way shit has been in the past.”
Liam’s frown deepened before he seemed to make a conscious effort to school his features. “A new world is a wonderful thing.”
“Sometimes, but that’s enough about me. I want to know how someone builds something like you have in that factory. You’re like Bill Gates or some shit. How does that happen?”
Liam chuckled. “I wish I knew. Most days it feels like I was dropped into this life upside down. I got a job straight from art school designing surf-wear for Nike in California. Until I realised how fucked up global clothes production was, I kinda thought I’d be there forever.”
“You lived in California?”
“For three years. Sea Rave has an office there.”
“What made you come home?”
“Lots of things really,” Liam said. “But mainly Cory. I met him in India when I was visiting a factory in Mumbai. He was consulting for a charity promoting better conditions for low-paid workers and we both reckoned there had to be a way to produce affordable clothing without killing and maiming children. In the end, we figured we’d come home and try.”
“Cory is your husband?”
“Yes, he was.”
Was. Shit. Zac wanted to drop through the floor, but Liam didn’t react to his slip. In fact, by the way his eyes had glazed over, he might have forgotten Zac was there at all.
“We came back to live in Newquay because that’s where the waves were. We set up a tiny shop selling custom T-shirts and boards. It never occurred to us that it could become something as big as Sea Rave is now.”
“What brought you to Norfolk after Cory died?”
“Family,” Liam said. “I grew up in Holkham, and we’d been building a house there anyway so we could be closer when my dad started needing a bit of looking after. When Cory died, it made sense to leave Newquay behind and go back there.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Who? Cory?”
Zac bit his lip. “Yeah. I knew someone whose girlfriend died. He seemed okay after a while. Said being without her became normal.”
He didn’t add that the bloke in question had dulled every feeling he’d ever had with a bucketload of heroin. Liam didn’t need to know that shit. Besides, it was clear by the tightness in Liam’s jaw and his bright eyes that he did miss Cory, more than anything.
Dick. What the fuck did you have to say that for? Zac wished he knew, but something about Liam made him lose all his filters, and he doubted it would be the last time he put his foot in his mouth. If he even wants to see you again. Not like he’s asked to fuck you, is it?
Zac silenced the devil on his shoulder and reached for Liam’s hand. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“Dunno. Upsetting you? You probably don’t want to talk about your dead husband.”
“He wasn’t technically my husband; we called each other that because we wanted to.”
“You didn’t get married?”
“Oh, we did, but the ceremony we had in Thailand wasn’t recognised over here, and we couldn’t be arsed to do it again. We were married in our eyes and that was all that mattered.”
“It’s all that matters still,” Zac said. “Who gives a fuck about the technicalities?”
