“Berko.” Nero glanced out the window as the train passed through Watford Junction. “Won’t be long.”
And indeed it wasn’t. The train rolled into Berkhamsted a few minutes later, and Nero guided a grumbling Lenny off and through the station until they hit the canal path that led to their real destination.
“It’s posh round here.” Lenny looked around at the well-kept houses and neat gardens. “Is this where Tom’s from?”
“Never asked. Cass seems to like it well enough, though.” Nero cut across the lock. “Come on.”
Lenny frowned. “I thought the Dragonfly was on the high street?”
“It is.”
“So why are we headed in the opposite direction?”
“How do you know what direction the high street is? You’ve never been here.”
Lenny inclined his head at a nearby sign. “Can read, though, innit? And isn’t this where the bosses live?”
Balls. Oh well. Nero pointed down the street. “The house is down there. They wanted to see you on your birthday, so I said we’d drop in.”
“Drop in?”
“For fuck’s sake!” Nero finally lost patience with the daft secret that had been forced on him by a mischievous Cass. “There’s a few people there, okay? From work. They wanted to surprise you, if you’d just do what you’re fucking told and get in there.”
Lenny burst out laughing. “I knew you’d crack. Do you honestly think I didn’t know you were up to something? Man, I thought you’d at least hold out until we got to the doorstep.”
“You knew?”
“Course I knew. Why else would you voluntarily take a Saturday night off work?”
“Because it’s your birthday?”
“I already told you I don’t give a fuck about shit like that any more than you do.”
“Yeah, but I really don’t give a fuck about my birthday. I saw your face when Spanks came in with that cake this morning. Made your day.”
“That’s ’cause I like cake.”
“Whatever. I heard a rumour that there’s cake in that house too, if you want to go in and have a look? You’ll have to act surprised though.”
Lenny sighed. “You’re an arsehole, you know that?”
“Yes.”
“And I love you. You know that too, right?”
Nero pulled Lenny close and kissed the tip of his nose. “Yes, and that’s why I took tonight off, ’cause there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Lenny admitted defeat and they walked, hand in hand as always, into the big Victorian house that Tom, Cass, and Jake called home. The house had changed a lot since Nero had first visited eight long years ago, and the small reception rooms had been knocked through into a space large enough to hold the two dozen friends and colleagues who’d taken Lenny in as one of their own. Lenny’s faux surprise was flawless, and it wasn’t long before he was stolen from Nero’s side and dragged to the ad hoc dance floor in the middle of the room.
Nero let him go and retreated to the sidelines, rum in hand, and watched, awed as ever, as Lenny owned the room, dancing up a storm like Nero had never seen until Lenny had turned his world upside down. Damn, the boy could move. Was that shit even legal?
“Your boy’s got stones.” Cass appeared at Nero’s side, echoing Nero’s thoughts as Jake joined Lenny: “They look good together.”
“Hands off. You’ve got two of your own.”
Cass chuckled. “Don’t I know it? They’re more than I deserve.”
“No, they ain’t.”
