Chapter 10 #2
“Okay… Henry,” I said quietly, watching the way his eyes flinched at my use of his name. “It’s time to get you up those stairs over there. I’m going to need you to sit up for me.”
I didn’t think it would be so easy, but with another groan, Henry forced himself upright, making all sorts of grumbling noises as he swung his legs off the sun lounger and let his feet meet the ground; his hands gripping the edge of the bed with white-knuckle force.
“Ugh,” was all he said as he looked up at me through heavy eyelids and ridiculously long lashes, that unexpected vulnerability staring up at me again, drawing me into his complicated darkness. Into a world that promised destruction if I dared to dip my toe in it.
I held my hand out for him to take anyway. “That bad, huh?”
“There are three of you.”
“Focus on the one in the middle.”
“I want them all.” He said it so quietly, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.
A cold shiver of warning ran down my spine, followed by a rush of heat to my cheeks and every wanting, aching part of my body.
My mouth went dry, and my face turned blank as I stared down at him, waiting for him to laugh or mock me or do something that would make everything fall back into the realm of normality again.
Instead, he continued to stare, his expression serious, making me feel drunk when I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol in hours.
“Shit. I just said that out loud, didn’t I?” he asked, his voice croaky.
“Don’t worry. It’s just the drink talking, right?”
“Yeah. Right.” He pushed up from the bed with all his power, making every thick vein in his muscular arms pop before he swayed to full height in front of me, forcing me to look up at him. “That’s it, Phoebe. I lie when I’m drunk.”
“Thought so,” I whispered, trying not to run my hands through the mop of black hair that had fallen forward.
Henry rubbed his lips together, his eyes soaking me in… until he swayed to one side a little too much and he stumbled to the right.
I caught him with as much strength as I could muster, but thankfully, Henry still had enough of his wits about him to find his footing and correct himself. Still, I held onto his biceps, glancing down at his bare feet to make sure they were stable enough before I looked back up at him.
“Oh, shit,” he half-laughed.
“Yeah, you’re a mess, soldier.” As soon as that last word fell free, I cursed myself internally. Had I really just said that out loud?
“Soldier?” He raised a brow, and goddammit, a small, drunk smirk stole my heart in a single moment, that sparkle in his eyes so new to me, I wanted to cling to it and let it light up the night sky until the sun rose the next morning.
“I don’t know where that came from.” I laughed softly, trying to cover up my embarrassment.
Truly, though, I hadn’t. I’d babysat for a few members of my family over the years, always having pet names that came out of nowhere for their kids, but I couldn’t remember ever using the term soldier on any of them before.
“I guess I’m just used to seeing you so rigid. Regimented. Formal, like…”
“... a soldier. Fuck, I must really be drunk to find that cute.”
I scoffed. “Please. I’m a hard arse.”
“You’re a smart arse.”
“That, too.”
Henry raised a finger, and he trailed it down my cheek and under my jaw with such delicacy, my entire body exploded with a lust that scared the hell out of me.
“I like that about you,” he said quietly.
For a moment, all I could do was stare up at him while my sedated heart awoke from its two-month coma. “I think we need to get you to your room immediately. You’re starting to sound delirious.” I eventually replied.
He smirked. “Whatever you say, Captain.”
“Oh, no. No pet names.” I pulled back to create some distance between us, even if that meant letting him go on his unsteady feet. I outright refused to become Rhea and Jace. Or worse, Bailey and Andy.
“You don’t like pet names?”
“Henry, we’re not discussing this. We need to focus.”
He pushed his bottom lip out, making himself look insanely adorable, despite his hard exterior, and I had to give myself an internal shake of the mental shoulders to get a grip.
“What we are going to do is get you moving, okay? We’re going to do this in one go, and you’re going to listen to everything I say.”
He nodded once. “’Kay.”
Stepping closer, I somehow wedged myself under Henry’s armpit, throwing his arm around my shoulder to take the brunt of his weight and encourage him to take one solid step forward. “Just follow my lead and we’re good. You’re room number thirty-two, right?”
I felt him glance down at me rather than see it, my entire focus on not collapsing beneath the muscle of the guy. “How d’you know that?”
“Jace told me,” I strained. “That’s it. Just keep walking. Like this. You’re good.”
“I’m good.”
“Yep.”
“Good soldier.”
“Stop it.”
“I can’t.” He huffed out a laugh. “Fucking soldier.”
“Okay, enough.” I came to a sudden stop, trying to glance up at him and only getting half a view of his face thanks to his chest being in the way. God, he smelt so good. “Do you want my help or not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I hate you.”
“Fine line between love and hate.”
“Not right now, there isn’t.”
I started guiding him forward again, and to Henry’s credit, he handled it pretty well, even when we got to the staircase.
I let him go, and he held onto the railing, hoisting himself up each step with a grunt of annoyance that shouldn’t have been as arousing as it was.
When he made it to the top, he turned as though looking for me, his face almost troubled until his drunken eyes landed on me only a few paces behind him.
“Hey,” he slurred, lifting his arm for me to go under again. “Gotta get me back to my room yet, Captain. There’s still work to be done. Muscle up.”
“You’re a pain in my arse,” I muttered as I slid into place, wrapping my arms around his half-naked body.
“That can be arranged.”
“Gross.” But, damn, my mind went there, and I hated how little control I had over my own thoughts, let alone my body.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
“Henry, can you not… ouch. Honestly, why are you so heavy?”
“Because I’m built.”
“That’s one way of putting it. Oh, thank God, we’re here,” I said with a sigh of relief when I stumbled upon apartment thirty-two. “Where’s your key?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Back pocket.”
“Okay, get it out.”
“Can’t. Not that coordinated right now. Did I just say coordinated properly? Sounded fat on my tongue.”
“Henry, please…”
“Begging. I like it.”
“Stop that.”
“Fine.” He sighed. After somehow peeling himself away from me, he closed his eyes and fell back against the wall outside his apartment with a thud, his bare skin landing against the harsh white stone.
“Ouch. Jesus.” His Adam's apple sank and rose again, his lips parting as he sucked in more air. “That’s gonna hurt in the morning.”
“Let’s deal with the here and now first. Your key card?”
“Just get it out of my pocket, Phoebe. Soon.”
“I… right. Okay.” I blew out all the air from my cheeks, looking down at his swim shorts as I tried to navigate how best to do this without touching anything, despite the fact every part of my body wanted to touch everything.
Henry’s eyes were still closed, his chin raised to the sky as I stepped into his space and began fumbling around the back of his shorts, turning my face away and using my touch to guide me until I found a zipped back pocket that sat just at the top of his tight arse cheek.
Everything about him overwhelmed me: the smell of him, the feel of him, the mental imagery of what lay beneath these shorts, and I fumbled around like an idiot, aware he probably thought I was a complete amateur at this… whatever the hell this was.
For reasons I couldn’t understand, I imagined Rob standing behind us, watching me trying to act casual around someone I’d had bad thoughts about, and his voice suddenly took over everything.
You’re getting a key out of his pocket, Phoebe, not sucking him off. You’re such a child.
A virgin could find their way around a man’s body quicker than you do.
Every bit of heat in my body bled out of me in a matter of seconds, the ghost of that arsehole ruining more moments of my life than I thought I’d ever truly admitted.
Working on auto, I swiftly removed the key from Henry’s pocket, gripped it tightly, then took several steps back before holding it up to him in waiting.
It didn’t take long for him to lower his chin and open his eyes, and he looked at me like he could see into every dark and embarrassed part of my world I’d ever tried to hide.
“You’ve gone pale.”
“Just take the key, Henry.”
He pushed off the wall with little to no grace and took the key from my grip, his eyes not leaving mine until the silence suffocated the both of us.
I glanced away, looking towards the door, and Henry took the hint, fumbling around with the key over the lock until eventually, the light turned green, and he pushed the door open with far too much force to reveal his room.
I stayed outside, thinking my duties were now complete, but then he turned to me, looking up through cautious eyes. “I’m not in bed yet.”
“And?”
“You told Rhea you’d make sure I got there.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, do you?”
He shrugged, and right on cue, he swayed to the side again, proving that he was, in fact, completely wrecked.
“I’m too good of a person for this.” With a roll of my eyes, I resumed position under his arm and guided him inside to an insanely clean, neat apartment. Every surface was bright white and empty, not a scrap of holiday junk left out on the side.
We stepped into the living room area first, which had a small kitchenette in it, just like ours, only Henry’s apartment was twice the size, if not bigger.
And he had it all to himself.
“I knew I was right to have my suspicions about you,” I told him. “Only a psycho keeps their apartment this clean when they’re on holiday.”
Henry glanced down at me, a smirk to die for tugging his lips upwards. “You think I’m a psycho?”
“Without a doubt.”
“So much you don’t know about me, Captain.”
“That name has to go.”
“I’ll drop it once you take me to my bedroom, but only because I’m the one in charge in there.”
I had to push the thoughts of that statement far, far away.
My heart raced faster, and when Henry pointed to the right, I gave him a nod, and we stepped through into an equally clean, ridiculously large bedroom.
The bed had to be king-size at least, pushed up against the far wall, made like it had never been slept in.
I couldn’t look away from its crisp, white sheets, wondering how Henry slept: in boxers or naked?
On his back or on his front? Curled up around a random woman he was likely to never see again, or completely alone?
“You gonna take me to bed now, Phoebe?”
I turned to look up at him with wide eyes. “Is that what you want?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Henry.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that tonight.
You should know I don’t wish for shit. If I want something, I get it.
One way or another.” He leaned closer, and I saw my whole world caving in.
I saw my ‘no men’ rule being thrown out of the window.
I saw too many mistakes being made again, so I did the one thing I shouldn’t have done.
I stepped out of Henry’s embrace, watching his face change completely and his entire body stumble to the side until he crashed into the wall and slid down to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
He blinked up at me with wide eyes and a slack jaw, his shock obvious.
“Did you just…?”
“You’re drunk—too drunk,” I said, stating the obvious. “Climb into bed. I’ll get you some water before I leave.”
I turned away without waiting for a response, rushing back into the kitchenette, and opening the fridge to find several bottles of water lined up in a row.
Before even thinking about getting a drink for Henry, I uncapped the bottle of the first one I grabbed and poured the entire thing down my throat.
At least that was one thirst I could take care of without anyone getting hurt in the process.