As though he’d read Lenny’s mind, Nero guided them onto the right train, then turned to Lenny with a quizzical frown. “You don’t make no sense.”
“Excuse me?”
Nero shrugged. “You’re scared of your own shadow, but you get this weird sympathy in your eyes when we talk about that lunatic.”
“I can’t be angry with someone so sadistic. It would make me no better than him.”
“You’re soft in the head.”
Nero’s frown remained, but his tone wasn’t unkind, so Lenny chanced a smile, hoping it would soothe the anxiety attack still threatening his fragile calm. “I’m trying to be positive, mate. Help me out?”
“If you say so.”
It seemed to be Nero’s baseline answer when he wanted to be as infuriating as possible. Lenny resisted the urge—ha, craving—to bang his head against Nero’s strong chest, and let the subject drop, hoping Nero would do the same. After all this time, Lenny was done thinking about the bullshit that had kept him a virtual prisoner in Nero’s living room.
Vauxhall came around far quicker than Lenny anticipated. He’d forgotten how deceptive the slow rumble of the underground trains were. “I feel like I just blinked.”
Nero grinned a little in that maddening way of his. “You pretty much did. Thought you were asleep on me.”
Lenny was fast learning how amazing it was to do just that, but he poked his tongue out anyway. “Piss off. I was resting my eyes.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on. Off with yer.”
Nero took Lenny’s arm and guided him off the train. Lenny hopped onto the platform, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I’m excited.”
“Thought you were terrified?”
“Positive, remember?”
“Sorry.” Nero peered over Lenny’s shoulder, clearly and instantly distracted. “Look at that over there. Vegan chocolate cake. Gluten-free and everything.”
Despite the nerves churning Lenny’s stomach, he followed Nero’s gaze to the pop-up food stall at the station’s entrance. The wheeled wooden cart was painted bright pink and was surrounded by an orderly throng of lunchtime commuters. “Cake for lunch? I could live with that.”
Nero snorted. “You’d eat Haribo for lunch if I let you.”
“You don’t, though, do you? Can’t remember that last time I didn’t get my five-a-day.” Not that Lenny was complaining. Living with Nero had given him the best skin he’d ever had, despite the long nights he’d lain on the couch, counting the cracks in the ceiling, listening for the shuffle of grubby trainers that never came. And won’t come. It’s over, remember?
“Earth to Lenny?” Nero waved his hand in front of Lenny’s face. “Fine, come on. You can have some cake.”
Lenny let Nero drag him to the cake stall. Moments later, all thoughts of creeps in the night were gone, banished by a dark, decadent wodge of sinfully good cake. “Oh. My. God. You have to try this. It’s so good.”
Nero leaned back on the bench they’d drifted to while Lenny had been in cake heaven. “Nah, you’re all right. Chocolate and avocado ain’t my thing.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing. Here . . . try it.” Lenny held a chocolate-smeared finger to Nero’s lips, half-expecting Nero to bat him away like he often did when Lenny “tickled the fucking bricks.” But he didn’t. He held Lenny’s gaze and parted his lips, letting Lenny’s finger slip slowly into his mouth.
Jesus fucking Christ. Lenny had succumbed to the sensation of Nero’s tongue before—namely when it had been wrapped around his own—but this was something else . . . something that Lenny couldn’t overtly respond to because they were on a bench outside the Vauxhall tube station, Goddamn it.
Nero smirked, like he was immune to the inferno brewing between them, but Lenny remembered his face when he’d come, shooting his load all over Lenny’s hands. He feels it.
Lenny reluctantly reclaimed his finger and finished his lunch. “What about you? I can’t stuff my face while you go hungry.”
“I’m not hungry. I had breakfast while you were snoring this morning.”
Lenny smiled as the warm normalcy of Nero’s teasing washed over him. Christ, they’d only slept together a couple of times, but it was like they’d been doing it all along, and Lenny didn’t relish the idea of going back to the lonely couch. You’ll have to, though, won’t you? Unless he asks you to stay—
“Fuck’s sake, you’re off with the fairies today.” Nero snatched the paper napkin from Lenny’s hands and tossed it into a nearby bin. “You taking a nap, or you gonna wake your arse up and come to the site with me?”
“Fuck you. I’m coming.”
