A swelling.
A tingle in his spine.
That’s what he thought!
He smiled a small feral smirk of lust and wanted to go back and wake Nikolas Mikkelsen.
What the fuck?
Again.
He sighed and went to put his mug in the sink.Who’d come and washed the tea things?Who’d taken all the sheets and the mattress and returned it all to a pristine state?How had the bathroom looked as if no one ever used it?Who took care of the fucking horses?Didn’t horses need mucking in or something?What was this place, where everything was so beautiful and gleamed in moonlight?For one tiny, embarrassing moment, which he knew he would always remember with a deep cringe of horror, he wondered if instead of losing his memory, he’d actually died and gone to heaven.
Strange heaven though…in some ways.
He saw a flicker of light on the counter.
Nikolas’s phone.Unread texts.
Somehow, Ben knew without even knowing who he was or who Nikolas was that he wouldn’t be allowed to read Nikolas’s texts.It was just the way things were between them.This much had been made clear in the three days he’d spent with this strange, challenging man.
He picked it up and thumbed read.
Nikolas wasn’t to know he knew he shouldn’t do this.
Apparently he was BenRider-Mikkelsen.Wasn’t it up to him how he interpreted that?
There was one message.It was from a woman called Emilia.It read
:make sure Ben does NOT find out about our plans for Xmas.Will be with u on 22ndStill working on your present.xxxxxxxxxxxx Love u more than u love me Emilia.?
And there it was.
The thing that had sent his memory spiralling into the ether.Emilia.
Nikolas and Emilia.
Don’t tell Ben.
I love you.
He’d been right.He shouldn’t have read Nikolas’s texts.
He didn’t love Nikolas Mikkelsen, of course, but this still stung like hell.It hurt for the Ben he’d been, the one who’d found out about this betrayal.He was rubbing the scar on his wrist and suddenly glanced down.He hadn’t asked—what would he have said?Did I try to kill myself?It was unthinkable.But now, maybe not so impossible…But had this scar been connected to his memory loss?Had this come first?Find out about Emilia…the wrist…memory loss…
What the fucktook on a whole new meaning.
* * *
Nikolas woke when his phone hit him and broke, the back falling off and the battery clattering out on the bed.It hit him on his nose and cheekbone, which was unfortunate, as he’d suffered injury there before and they were both sensitive.He sat up and got punched, which sent him off the bed onto the floor.Being who he was, it was the last hit Ben got in, for Nikolas was then up and on him and had him pinned to the wall before Ben’s fury could inflict more damage.
“What the fuck, Ben!”
* * *
“Who’s Emilia?You bastard!Youdid this to me!I found out about Emilia and that’s why I’m like this, isn’t it?”
Nikolas’s eyes widened.He bit his lip.He began to tremble slightly.
