Chapter 6

When Liam went upstairs,I exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Rich, stop being a fucking idiot,” I told myself. “Jesus Christ, you have to stop getting a hard-on over your kid’s best mate. That doesn’t exactly make you Dad of the Year material.” I sighed and shook my head, disgusted with my behaviour.

I finished up the curry, set a plate on the breakfast bar for Liam, and called out upstairs to tell him it was ready, then took mine into the living room and put on the TV.

I heard him coming back down and I braced myself to stop being a lecherous old dickhead. When he came in with his plate and sat on the other sofa, I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Had he been beside me, I don’t think I could have controlled myself.

We sat there in silence and ate as the news reports scrolled on by on the screen in front of us. The tension in the air between us was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Neither of us could look at each other. When we did and the other party caught us, we looked back at the TV as fast as we could. Silently, he stood. He lifted his empty plate and came over to me, took my plate from my lap, and disappeared into the kitchen.

I rubbed my hand over my face. This was going to be harder than I thought. I shook my head, and he came back in with two open bottles of beer, handing me one before sitting beside me.

I looked over, and he smiled and held up his bottle. “Here’s to good curry and good company.” I nodded, clinked the neck of my bottle against his, and then took a long sip. This was definitely not a smart idea.

“Did you record that film you were talking about last week?” He was talking about the 1980s classic Pretty in Pink.

“I did.”

“Do you want to watch it? There’s nothing else on.”

I shrugged. Did I really want to watch a story about unrequited love? About teenage angst, and about a guy liking someone all the social norms said he shouldn’t be with, with someone who was pretty much my personal embodiment of that story. Sure, I did.

I brought the film up on the TiVo and hit play.

I settled myself on the sofa, put my feet up on the coffee table, and drank the beer Liam had brought me. I wasn’t really watching the film. I was constantly side-eyeing Liam, watching his reaction to the movie. As he watched and drank his beer, he nestled into the sofa and got closer to me.

The first time his arm brushed against mine it was like a lightning bolt had sent electrical energy surging through my veins. The second time, the electricity headed straight for my crotch, bypassing every other part of my body.

“Back in a second.” Liam smiled and disappeared upstairs. I took the chance to roll my eyes at myself and adjust my hardening cock in my jeans. All the same familiar thoughts kept swimming round and round in my head on repeat. I needed to stop being a dirty old man. Was that really what I was being, though? Was I all that old? Sure, he was the same age as my daughter, but I had been a reasonably young dad. My life was hardly over. I didn’t need to be put out to pasture just yet. Was it really such a hideous idea? I puffed out a huffy sigh. I needed to get a damn grip of myself. He was the same age as my only child; they had been through thick and thin together. I wasn’t about to take that away from Annie, even if I did want to find out how things could be with Liam if I just let it happen.