Suddenly uneasy, I dropped to my haunches and shook him carefully. “Charley, mate, time to rise and shine.”
He still didn’t move. I untucked the duvet from around his shoulders and rolled it down his body, exposing him to the cool air. Not even a twitch. I placed my palm over his rib cage and tried to feel it expand. Still nothing.Oh, Christ, please no.
I stood up and took a deep breath. Then I rolled him onto his back. I captured his wrist and desperately tried to remember how to feel for a pulse. How many fingers did I use? Was that my heartbeat or…No, that was definitely mine. I kicked myself for not having noticed the lack of his heartbeat in my subconscious beforehand, but it wasn’t as if I went around deliberately listening to other people’s bodies. Not often anyway, as I usually tried to suppress my powers. It was mostly handy if I wasn’t sure about someone coming onto me, or occasionally if I suspected a fight was brewing. And since Sophie left I’d not had anyone stay overnight, so I wasn’t attuned to having half an ear on another person.
I gave up with his pulse, and put my ear to his chest. Then his mouth. His skin was cool, but not cold, but I’d noticed when we fucked that he didn’t run hot like I did. He didn’tlookdead though.
The hell!? What did dead guys look like anyway? Wasn’t like I’d seen a bunch of them either. I shoved at his chest furiously with both hands, suddenly overwhelmed by panic, and an irrational fury that my chance at a relationship with this guy was over before it could begin. Some small part of me wondered how Charley had wedged himself under my skin so quickly, but I didn’t have time to analyse it, not when my blood ran cold at the thought of being implicated in the demise of someone I’d just fucked.
I heaved his dead weight into my arms and all but shouted into his ear. “Charley! Fuck’s sake, wake up, please! I can’t do this. I don’t know what to do! Please don’t be dead!”
I didn’t do excessive emotion, another fault Sophie had flung at me. She’d be laughing if she saw me now, on the verge of tears over a cute stranger who was little more than a hook-up.
There was a minute sigh, the tiniest of exhales. My own heart skipped a beat as I shook him again, more carefully this time, then held him at arm’s length, face to face. “Charley? C’mon, dude, wake up.Please.”
His eyes popped open. I shrieked. He startled, and I almost dropped him. Conscious my fingers were digging into his flesh, I relaxed my hold on him, and he blinked at me in slow motion. “What in fresh hell are you doing, Luc?”
I shuffled along the bed, relieved and embarrassed in equal measure. What could I say? I went for the truth. “I thought you might be dead. You were so still, and I couldn’t see you breathing, or find a pulse, or…” I damn near bit through my tongue rather than continue that ramble. My shoulders heaved and I dropped my head into my hands, eyeing him out the corner of one eye. Just shoot me now. To add insult to injury, my brain now processed the steady thump of his heart, slower than any human I knew, but it was definitely there.Obviously, idiot, he’s awake and speaking to you.
“Can you…close the curtains please?” He was speaking as if he had a mouthful of cotton wool. I jumped up and yanked the fabric across the wide expanse of glass at speed. Turning back to Charley, I watched as he shuffled backwards on the bed, seemingly unselfconscious about his nakedness, but with a puzzled look in his blue eyes.
“Would you like a drink? Some water, a coffee, tea? The coffee’s only decaf, but the tea is the proper stuff. Well, as much as anything in a budget hotel is.” Fuck’s sake, I was still rambling.
“Coffee is fine.” He remained motionless until I sat back down and offered him the mug, then he reached for it as if his joints were stiff. Guilt raced through me. “Was I too hard on you last night? I wish you’d said something.”
“Ha, no. Last night was perfect.” His eyes crinkled now, mirth evident in their depths. He took a few careful sips of the coffee. Sighed. Took a few more. “I have some—” He broke off and I could see him wondering how to explain. “Some weird symptoms, I suppose you’d call them. My sleep can be really disturbed, but if I fall asleep in broad daylight, well no, in direct sunlight specifically, I’m very hard to rouse.” He drained the remainder of the coffee in one long gulp. “I’m really sorry I frightened you.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to deny I’d been scared, but it was bloody evident I’d had a fright. I gestured at him vaguely. “And your limbs? They’re moving as if you’re not quite sure they’ll work. Is that part of it?” I was so relieved I could once again hear his steady heartbeat. What was I thinking, once again? I was such a fucking idiot! Of course, it must always have been there, but I’d panicked and somehow missed it. Hadn’t I?
His blue eyes were totally guileless as he nodded. “Yeah. First time it happened, I freaked out. Thought I’d become one of those living skeleton people you read about. Damn near shit myself at the idea.” He smiled at me, and it seemed as though he’d come back to whoever he was normally. “What’s the time?”
I checked my phone. Oh crap. “Twelve minutes to midday. Can you be ready to leave in ten minutes, or do you need me to book another night?” I would, and gladly, because even though my gut told me we should keep moving, I was concerned about Charley. There was something pretty big going on, and I didn’t mean with whoever’d been chasing him.
“I can manage. I’ve got ready quicker than that.” He passed me the empty mug. “I’ll shower if you want to stick everything in the car to save time.” He grabbed his boxers from the floor and grinned up at me. “I’ll chance a second day in these. I only put them on to tease you then took ’em straight off again.” He fastened his backpack and handed me the room key. “I’m not getting out of the shower to let you back in.” He picked his way carefully across to the bathroom and made a shooing motion. “Time’s a-wasting, Luc.”
6
CHARLEY
We headed first for a truckers’café which Luc found via a phone search. Luc chose the GutBuster Breakfast, but my stomach rebelled at the thought of the cheaper cuts of meat, so I asked the woman behind the counter if they’d make me a vegetarian meal. She nodded sharply. “What’ll you have instead?”
I frowned. “I’m sorry?”
“Instead of the meat. You need eight items. You decide.”
Oh. My brain wasn’t ready for this right now. “Can you just double everything up?”
Seated opposite Luc, who had the largest mug of tea I’d ever seen, I dug in. The tomatoes were the tinned variety but they felt like nectar on my tongue as I chomped and swallowed, washing every few bites down with a surprisingly excellent coffee. The eggs were greasy and utterly divine, and the mushrooms were plentiful and cooked to perfection, getting a thumbs up too. The great sex we’d had, followed by a really deep sleep had gone a long way to restoring me, but the fry-up was hitting all my pleasure points and for the first time in weeks, I didn’t feel I was being pulled down by what I could only describe as an invisible weighted veil that someone or somethinghad placed over my head.
Luc chuckled and I raised my head. “What?”
He pointed at the empty space on my plate. “I thought you might be deliberately starving yourself, or sick and unable to eat. It’s nice to see I’m wrong.” He speared a forkful of mushrooms and sausage and chewed thoughtfully. “I’ve had an idea about where to head next, but I’ll need to make a phone call first, okay?”
“Yes, of course.” I gestured at his own plate. “You’re no slacker yourself, the short time it’s taking you to clear that lot.” Luc ate at speed, neatly, precisely and was ahead of me, and I wasn’t dawdling. “Can’t imagine you treat yourself to a feast like this often with your body.” He couldn’t do, because no amount of gym time would compensate for this gluttony.
Luc glanced down before his eyes shone with amusement as he looked straight at me. “You have no idea how much I can eat.” It sounded sexual, but I was aware enough to realise I was still fuck-drunk from our session, and my brain would twist anything that way given half a chance. I huffed a small laugh and returned my attention to my food. I was pleased to see Luc seemed to be over his earlier wobble. From the way he’d reacted, you’d have thought he’d happened on my corpse. He gave off responsible vibes for all his eagerness to have an adventure, so perhaps he had that sort of mentality. He’d probably been a prefect at school.
I paid, insisting it was the least I could do, but as we left, Luc grabbed some muffins, fruit and cold drinks and swiped his card before I could extract mine. Then I realised I wasn’t supposed to use mine anyway. He shot me a glare when I offered him a tenner, then lobbed the snacks on the back seat of the SUV, pulling out his phone.
