They stumbled all the way up to the top of the high street, turned left at the church and took a shortcut through the shifter park. Johnny was locked in. As in, lips locked, an arm around Theo’s waist, with the omega giggling and kissing him back whilst trying to direct all four of them to his flat.
Taylor gripped Emily’s hand, pulling her along and trying to ignore the way her voice returned to that rushed, nervous way of speaking. He was pretty sure she was talking about Tolkien again, but he’d zoned out ages ago.
He couldn’t stop staring at all the places Johnny and Theo were connected. The way their fingers were threaded together and how Johnny’s mouth looked so fucking soft as it moved against Theo’s neck.
Johnny hadn’t looked at him once since leaving the restaurant. Usually there’d be a fair amount of winking and grinning and suggestive eyebrow waggling as they silently wished one another well on their nightly pursuits. There was none of that tonight. In fact, Johnny seemed to be doing his best to act like Taylor didn’t exist.
The growl that Taylor let out was so quiet it was almost silent, but he could feel it in the pit of his belly.
“Hey, slow down,” Emily said, spitting her hair out of her mouth. “My legs are shorter than yours.”
They stopped abruptly outside a block of flats on the outskirts of town, and Johnny and Theo continued to kiss loudly as Theo fumbled for his keys.
“Sorry,” Taylor said, dragging his eyes away from them to look down at Emily. The poor girl looked like she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. He softened his expression as he brushed some more of the hair out of her face, trying to focus on her lips and the way her nose pulled into the cutest little button. Letting out a breath, he ran a thumb down the length of her jaw.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered, pulling her against him as he tried to shut out the sound of Theo’s increasingly loud moans.
“It’s okay,” she said, gripping his wrist and placing it on her cheek so she could scent him. Taylor instinctively went to caress the nape of her neck, but as he did so his hand twitched and drifted back to her face.
“Finally,” Theo groaned, getting the key in the lock and dragging Johnny inside.
Taylor stared into the darkness that poured from the doorway. There was clattering, followed by laughter and the sound of a door slamming shut. It was a ground-floor flat so at least they didn’t have to navigate any stairs.
Emily let out a nervous laugh. “No point standing out in the cold,” she said, pulling Taylor into the flat.
Theo’s place was all kitsch fabrics and polka-dot teapots—cottage core, but with a massive flat-screen telly hanging from the wall and a PS5 rigged up to a headset. He had a fancy kitchen sink that seemed to function as both a shower and an air-powered dish drier, and Taylor wasted no time in pouring himself a glass of perfectly filtered water.
“Damn,” he said, handing the glass to Emily. “That is some grade A tapaleen.”
Emily laughed and took the glass. “Grade A what?”
“Tapaleen. Tap water?” Taylor shook his head and turned his attention towards the PS5.“Doesn’t matter.”
He was vaguely aware of Emily shucking her coat, but he found himself totally engrossed by all the textured blankets—of which there were many—covering the two small sofas. There was tartan, and check, and hound-something-or-other?—
Emily cleared her throat, and when Taylor looked up he realised she had tied her hair up and was standing in the middle of the kitchen. “D-do you want to…” She nibbled her lip as the words trailed off. “I mean… we don’t have to, i-if you don’t want to. I think the other two are going to be a while, so I think, maybe…” She looked at her feet, swallowing hard as the discomfort rolled off her in waves.
Taylor knew he wasn’t getting laid. His cock had decided that for him in the bar and then during the walk over to the flat. Emily’s expression only sealed the deal.
His mouth opened and closed as he tried to say ‘no thanks’ in the kindest possible way.
“I mean…” He closed the gap between them and placed both hands on her shoulders. “Probably not.”
Then he laughed for some reason. It was strained and sounded like it was coming from someone else. Emily let out a breathy laugh of her own and finally met his eyes.
“Thank you,” she said, a look of relief washing over her. “I didn’t… I wasn’t… I mean, no offence. You’re hot. Like,reallyhot. But I only broke up with my girlfriend a few weeks ago and I’m still not over it. Actually, I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, and I thought dating might help, you know? Maybe some casual fun. Theo makes it look so easy, and he showed me this dating app, and—” She took a breath and blinked.
Taylor gave her a soft smile and rubbed her shoulders. “It’s alright. You know, I’m not really in the mood either.” He wanted to say something profound—Johnny would have definitely said the right thing at that moment—but all he could come up with was: “Have you ever watchedTropic Thunder?”
She laughed again, warmer that time. “No, but I’d be up for that.”
They didn’t even make it to the drug cartel before Taylor felt Emily’s head flop onto his shoulder. He flexed his arm just to see if she had actually fallen asleep, and, yep, there was definitely a streak of drool on his shirt.
As one-night stands went, it definitely didn’t rank as one of his finest, but the sofa was pretty comfy and the tabby cat that had randomly made an appearancereallylike head scratches. He was just about to search the cat tree for toys when his ear twitched at the sound of the bedroom door opening.
He didn’t look up, because he wasn’t in the mood for watching Johnny saunter out, all ruffled and shagged and smelling of omega. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on the TV.It really was a fantastic bit of equipment, all thin edges and surround sound, and there were probablya lotof pixels.
“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat.
