Chapter 9
Declan
Ibarely took in Erik’s cottage as we entered it.
It had seemed to take forever to get here but I knew that, logically, it hadn’t.
Erik carried Sonny like a bride over the threshold and headed straight through the nearest door.
I followed behind just in time to see Erik place Sonny on a large bed and start unlacing his skates.
As I stepped inside the room, the floorboard creaked under my prosthetic and Erik looked at me, his dexterous fingers still working.
“We need to get these wet jeans off him.”
I walked forward, feeling unsteady, and held on to the dresser and wardrobe as I passed, just for balance.
The room was small, so I reached the bed without having to take a step without support, and I leaned my thigh against the bed to steady myself while I worked at the other skate.
Sonny murmured, “What…?”
Erik’s voice was soothing and calm. “Don’t worry, Sonny. You’re going to be okay, I promise. You just need to warm up.”
His teeth were chattering and he tried to huddle further inside the borrowed coat. I blinked at it. I have no idea who that young man had been, so I didn’t know how we were going to return his coat to him.
Once Sonny’s skates were off, Erik reached up to work open Sonny’s jeans.
Sonny gasped and his hand batted at Erik’s, his eyes fluttering open and then closing again as though the weight of his own eyelids was too much to fight against.
“You need to get these wet clothes off. They’re keeping you cold and you’ll catch hypothermia.”
When Sonny gave a nod, Erik undid his jeans and began to peel them off Sonny’s long, slim legs. I’d seen those legs in the summer, especially when he wore swimming trunks. In fact, I’d seen him swimming in that very lake countless times.
His legs were flawless. So long and lean and lightly muscled with soft, fair hairs. Now though his skin was mottled blue and red from the ice.
Erik was efficient and stripped Sonny completely, including the borrowed coat which was now damp on the inside. As soon as he was done, he manoeuvred Sonny under the sheet and drew a blanket up over him.
I couldn’t do anything except stare, completely useless, as he opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of jogging bottoms and a hoodie, which he yanked on over his own pale and goose-bumped skin.
“Your clothes?” I asked.
I wasn’t the most articulate right at that moment.
Erik met my eyes and held them. I thought I saw something in the depths of them, a glimmer of something below the surface. Just like I’d seen a glimmer of something else below the surface of the water.
No, that was impossible.
“I pulled them off. They were dragging me down.”
I nodded and he seemed to think that was okay. But I was nodding because I didn’t know what else to do. It didn’t make sense. Just like an octopus that size didn’t make sense in our little lake.
I only stopped nodding when Erik’s hand gently cupped my cheek. Even without meaning to, I leaned into that touch, feeling the cool skin of his hand and wanting to just close my eyes and surrender to… to whatever was going to happen.
“Get into bed.”
I blinked at him, not sure I’d heard right.
His hand slipped from my cheek, brushing his fingers close to my lips and making them tingle with awareness.
A tugging at my chest made me look down. Erik’s hands were working at my coat, undoing it and sliding it off my shoulders.
“You need to get into bed next to Sonny to warm him up. Body heat is the best way. I’m taking this off because it’s cold and wet on the outside, from the ice.”
All I could do was nod again.
Then he worked at my flies and I did exactly what Sonny had, moving my hand there automatically to stop him.
He looked up at me, standing so close, his hand still pressed against my hip. “Take these off as well. They’re wet. They’ll make Sonny colder.”
It was silly to want to keep my trousers on, to conceal the imperfection of my legs, especially from Erik. He’d seen them two dozen times already.
“Okay.”
Erik’s hand moved from my hip to my groin and I swallowed as he undid my trousers and slid them down my legs. As when he helped me dress or undress in his physio room, Erik knelt before me and unlaced my shoes, sliding them off and easing my trouser leg over my prosthetic.
He drew the blanket and sheet back and I sat down, lifting both my legs into the bed so I could lie down, and Erik covered me and Sonny both.
Instinctively, it seemed, Sonny turned onto his side, burrowing closer to me to absorb my warmth. I slid my arm under his head and pulled him close, letting him rest his head on my chest.
This was exactly what I’d wanted for so long, this closeness, lying in bed with Sonny in my arms… I just didn’t want it if it cost Sonny his health or—
It hadn’t cost him his life. He was here, in my arms.
He was still freezing and I wished I could transfer my warmth to him directly.
The floorboard by the door creaked and Erik entered the room. I hadn’t seen him leave.
He closed the door behind him and said softly, “To keep the warmth in. There’s no central heating. I’ve turned the portable heater on, though.”
He was carrying a crocheted blanket which he spread out across me and Sonny. When he lifted the corner and slid inside with us, something in me eased. I hadn’t realised I’d been holding myself tightly but my muscles seemed to unclench and I relaxed into the mattress.
Erik plastered himself along Sonny’s back, sharing his heat, and I felt the brush of his fingers on my chest. I felt like the worst man in the world because this was really nice. Somehow, having Sonny sandwiched between me and Erik felt really good.