Page 93 of All That History
“Wow.Whatever happened to honor among knights?”
I made a face.“Unless I’m mistaken, this knight got grounded for a week over that.”
“And this knight got stitches, and a sexy scar to show off.”
“I’m sure all the boys are impressed when they hear the story behind it.”
Flynn winked.“I tell them it was a shark attack, it plays better.”
“Such a tiny shark,” I mused, leaning in and pressing my teeth against the slightly paler patch.I bit down, gently; enjoying the way his hand felt, sliding behind my neck.
His fingers kneaded as I worked my way up.Over the ridge of his collarbone; along the long, smooth curve of his neck, until my lips were pressed under his jaw and I could feel the throb of his pulse against them.Savoring Flynn’s heat and the scent of him.
“All that history together, and I’m still not sure I know you,” he mused, quietly.
The words were as much vibration against my face as something I heard.I wrapped my arms around his chest, hugging us closer together.As if greater proximity meant we could understand each other better.
“But maybe that’s the point,” he continued, as I licked and nuzzled in the hollow under his chin.“Maybe it doesn’t really matter how much you knew someone before.It’s always going to be different, when they’re your boyfriend.”
I stiffened, shocked somehow - despite everything, despite what we’d done already - at what felt like the presumption of his words.A declaration about what we were to each other, that some voice in my head insisted we’d barely even begun to negotiate.
Flynn stroked the back of my head, as though pacifying a startled animal.Only to suddenly stiffen himself, in my arms.
“Oh.”A voice from the doorway.
My mother’s voice.
I pulled back, horror sloshing through me like a torrent.Flynn’s weight on my lap akin to granite; a boulder pinning me to the spot, no way to move and so nothing I could do but gape at my parents standing there.Watching us with expressions I was too terrified to decode.
I opened and closed my mouth, but no words came out.
My mom looked shocked: skin pale, her eyes wide.Next to her, my dad’s face a mask; blank and unreadable.
Awkwardly, Flynn twisted off my lap.I wanted to look at him, to see what level of dread had twisted his features, but I couldn’t drag my eyes away from my parents.
It seemed like a million years, all of us frozen, until my father nudged my mom in the arm.
“I owe you a dollar.”
She frowned, glancing to him in confusion.“What?”
He was still watching Flynn and I, even as he answered her.“You said you’d bet they’d be at each other’s throats by the end of the week, and I didn’t believe you.”His lips quirked, just slightly.“Though maybe that’s because I lacked imagination.”
“George!”She glared at him, then turned and stormed out of the room.
For a moment he stood there, still looking where his wife had just been.Then he sighed and turned to us.“You’d better...”A jerk of his head, to me, in the direction she’d gone.
I could hear the noises in the kitchen.Pots and pans being moved around angrily.When I shot a look at Flynn, his face was pale, lips drawn tight.
“I’ll keep Flynn here company,” my dad said, gently, from the doorway.“But I think your mom would appreciate a word, Oli.”
The tiniest of nods, from the guy who’d only just described me as his boyfriend.
I pushed myself upright, willing my legs to obey, not to buckle beneath me.Held my breath as I walked past my dad.
He winked at me then jerked his chin a second time, toward the hallway.
After one, last, plaintive glance at Flynn, I followed the sound of slamming drawers and cupboard doors.
