“What?”
Dylan withdrew his hand. “I’m kinda throwing myself at you here?—in real life, not in the club. If I’m making a twat of myself, justsay.”
Angelo’s arm shot out and grabbed Dylan before his brain formulated a coherent response. “It’s?—fuck?—it’s not that. Jesus, no. If anyone’s a twat here, it’sme.”
“It’s okay if it is. I can takeit.”
“I know youcan.”
Dylan responded to the innuendo with a devilish smirk, but his humour was fleeting, and he frowned as he threaded his fingers through Angelo’s. “What’s wrong, then? Are you inpain?”
Angelo shook his head. “Not exactly?—it’s hard toexplain.”
“Try.” Dylan popped a can of Lilt open with his spare hand and poured it between two paper cups. “I want tounderstand.”
Why?But Angelo didn’t say it. Dylan’s earnest empathy was beginning to seep into him and penetrate the armour he needed to get through each day. “My legs are buzzing. I don’t think that’s the technical term, but I don’t know how else to describeit.”
“Buzzing?”
“Like the nerves are short-circuiting. It doesn’t hurt, but I wish it did. I can deal with pain, but this shit freaks meout.”
“Can you movethem?”
Angelo shrugged. “It makes it worse, though. It’s fatigue that makes the muscles jump, but it doesn’t feel like that when they’re like this. It’s like this cruel illusion of energy... it’s the worst symptom that I get.” Acknowledging the false life in his legs seemed to make it more real. Angelo let go of Dylan and clamped his hands down on his tingling thighs. “It sounds so stupid when I say it outloud.
“It doesn’t sound stupid to me. Sam?—?” Dylan stopped and covered hismouth.
Angelo rolled his eyes. “I thought we’d established that it was cool for you to talk abouthim?”
“Maybe I wish itwasn’t.”
“Why?”
“So then I’d know that you were as crazy about me as I am aboutyou.”
Angelo didn’t know what to say. Dylan was the only light in the mammoth tunnel his life had become, and he spent every waking moment thinking about him. But what did it mean? Where could it go? Angelo was a mess, and Dylan deserved the whole fucking world. “I am crazy about you,but?—?”
“Don’t.” Dylan moved his palm from his own mouth to cover Angelo’s. “Don’t say whatever negativity you’re about to come out with. Just let things be, okay? Give yourself achance.”
Angelo had no answer to that. He nodded slowly as Dylan dropped his hand. “I think I need to gohome.”
“My place oryours?”
The temptation to crawl back to Dylan’s pristine bed was so strong Angelo could taste it. “Mine. I need to get myself together for the rest of theweek.”
Dylan smiled. “Okay, mate. I’ll walkyou.”
Chapter Nine
Dylan tossedhis phone on the bed that still smelled of Angelo, glad that it landed screen side down. It was Thursday?—three days since Angelo had kissed him outside the derelict garage he apparently slept in, and apart from a couple of vague WhatsApp messages, Dylan hadn’t heard from him. Though, what he’d been expecting, he wasn’t entirely sure. After all, Angelo hadn’t exactly professed his undyinglove.
Undying love? What are you? Fuckingtwelve?
Dylan kicked off his shoes and lay down on his bed. Despite knowing better, he reclaimed his phone and opened WhatsApp. Angelo hadn’t been online since the arse crack of dawn, and though Dylan knew he was likely still working, it was hard not to worry... at least when he wasn’t convincing himself that it wasn’t even his place to henpeck a dude he’d pretty much only justmet.
But still. Dylan worried. How many times had he assumed that Sam had gone to bed early, only to find him half dead in the morning?Too many.Dylan shuddered, and his thumb hovered over the Call button, but his phone buzzed before he could press it, and he jumped amile.
The phone flew out of his fingers and sailed over the side of the bed, landing on the hardwood floor with a sickening clatter. Dylan scrambled to reach it and toppled onto the floor, thwacking his knee on the radiator just in time for the call to ring out. He grabbed the phone and turned it over.Angelo.Dylan’s heart skipped a beat. He called straight back, but it went to voicemail without even ringing. He tried again and again, but the calls didn’tconnect.
