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“I have to replace the whole mechanism,” Will said, “so I thought the boys might as well stay in Liam’s old room.”
“Do you guys have an Android charger? My phone’s dead as a turd,” Ambrose said, wiggling it around in his hand as if to show just how dead it was.
“There’s one in the kitchen. I’ll plug it in for you,” Will offered, and Ambrose squelched across the floor to hand it over.
“Ambrose,” Fi said, obviously unable to help herself, “pop your wet shoes outside, there’s a good lad?”
Ambrose looked down like he hadn’t realised he was wearing soaking wet shoes inside. “Oh, right.” He squelched across the room, leaving a trail of muddy footprints on the hardwood. He didn’t apologise, and he didn’t offer to wipe them up, even though his own mother would have skinned him alive for a stunt like that.
Instead, he kicked the shoes off into a heap and peeled off his socks as well, piling them on top. He dumped his backpack and the gift basket on the kitchen table and asked, “So, any chance of breakfast? Worked up an appetite last night.” He followed it up with finger guns.
Liam’s ears went that delightful shade of red again.
Fi’s eyes widened. “I’m sure you want to put your bags in Liam’s room first,” she said.
“Oh, good idea,” Ambrose said. He slapped Liam on the arse and made a point of grabbing the sex basket and leaving Liam to carry his own bag as well as Ambrose’s. “And maybe we can work up even more of an appetite in the meantime.”
“Uh, yeah,” Liam said, very obviously not making eye contact with his parents. “I’ll show you where my room is.”
“Do you still have your Justin Bieber poster? I bet you had a Bieber poster when you were a tiny gay,” Ambrose said. “I had a Bieber poster.”
“I don’t have a Bieber poster,” Liam said.
“We might have to take it down, though,” Ambrose continued, ignoring him. “I really don’t think I can do the nasty with the Beebs watching.”
Liam picked up both bags and said, “Come on.”
Ambrose waved at Will and Fi and followed Liam through the house. The entire house was gorgeous, not just the few rooms he’d already seen. It was clearly old, but everything shone and gleamed like the foyer of a fancy hotel. Ambrose didn’t have much experience with fancy hotels, and the foyer was usually as far as he’d ever made it. He couldn’t speak to the quality of the rooms in fancy hotels, but he imagined they were something like Liam’s bedroom—large, airy and showroom worthy. That didn’t mean sterile though, at least in Liam’s case. This room had clearly been lived in once upon a time, even though it had been by a boy who was obviously a lot more organised than Ambrose had ever been. The books on the shelf—way too many on agriculture, honestly—had obviously been read, but they were also lined up in alphabetical order. There was a poster on the wall—not Bieber—but it was framed, like the Connellys didn’t know what Blu Tack was. Ambrose looked at it and laughed.
“The Mighty Boosh? Really?”
Liam flushed. “Why not?”
“You are a man whose still waters run deep, aren’t you, Liam Connelly?” Ambrose asked approvingly. “I also had a massive crush on Noel Fielding. I still do. In fact, if he called me now, I’d have to leave here immediately and go and meet him.”
“You’d have to walk. You got a ride here,” Liam pointed out with a grin.
“Oh, I got a ride all right,” Ambrose said, just to see Liam blush again. “And if I’m lucky, I’ll get another one tonight.”
Liam threw a book at him, and Ambrose dodged it, laughing.
“Where shall I put the sex toys?” he asked. “Do you have somewhere in particular you keep those?”
Liam looked vaguely scandalised, like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or throw something else. “Yes, I do, actually. I keep them in Sydney, where there’s zero chance of Mum finding them.”
“Oh,” Ambrose said, and winked. “Maybe you’ll show me them some day.”
“Maybe I will,” Liam said, and ducked his head to hide his shy smile.
Chapter Sixteen
Liam
The moment Mum suggested the best way to pass a rainy Sunday afternoon was a family game of Monopoly and Ambrose eagerly agreed, Liam knew it was going to be a disaster. Grandad Billy recused himself, and nobody tried to talk him into staying. Not after the Monopoly Incident of Christmas 2016. The Connellys got passionate about their board games, which was great fun, but something about Monopoly turned them into bastards. Liam bit back a groan as Mum dragged the board out and shooed everyone into the living room, and Ambrose hurried after her with an evil spring in his step.
“I bags the dog!” Ambrose called out, but he didn’t put up much of a fight when Riley grabbed it first. “Fine! I bags the ship!”
Marcus leaned in and snatched the top hat, tossing it casually in his hand. He didn’t even have the good manners to bags it first, Liam noted, which was just rude. There was etiquette to the distribution of Monopoly pieces, and Marcus had just ignored it.
