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Kingston
“Y
ou’ve been busy. I haven’t seen you much,” Eve commented, sipping her iced coffee. They were sitting on the deck chairs in his yard in the shade cast by the big poinciana. It was only 8:00 a.m., but the sun already had a bite to it that to even his perpetually cold body was like a warning to stay somewhere sheltered.
“I have. Been going to a friend’s house every arvo to tutor him, then we’ve been doing dinner most nights too.”
She tilted her head. “You’re not seeing Adelaide?”
“She’s in Sydney for school. She’ll be home in a couple of weeks. Liam, the guy I’m tutoring, is her brother’s best mate. Adds studies with him too.”
“Cool.” She took another sip and stretched her legs out, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
“What’s new with you?”
She shrugged. “Not much. Work, been out on a couple of dates but we agreed that we’re not seeing each other again. Finished my Christmas shopping. I’m just happy tohave a day off.” Eve sighed and took another sip of her iced coffee. “How’s Adelaide going in her course?”
King told her how Adelaide was killing it in Sydney, the potential placement she’d secured, and confessed that he couldn’t wait to see her again. Eve sat up, turning on the chair and planting her feet on the grass. She rested her elbows on her bent knees and studied him with a furrowed brow and a small, secretive smile tilting her lips.
“What?” he asked, looking at her.
“You’re different. When you talk about Adelaide, you get this spark in your eyes and a warmth in your voice that I’ve never heard before.” Eve leaned forward and playfully punched his arm, laughing when King batted away her hand. “Aw, King’s in love!”
He shifted mirroring her pose. Smiling, he thought back to when he’d first uttered the words to Adds. He’d known for much longer, but it had taken him a while to put his feelings out there. The realization had seeped into him, permeating until it settled into his very bones. The night of the power outage, he’d watched Adds sleep in the light of the flickering lantern after they’d made love. He’d brushed a piece of hair off her face and in that moment, he’d known. King finally had a name for the emotion that left him filled to bursting point with unicorns and rainbows, laughter, and a warmth in his chest that lit him up. But it still took him longer to tell her. It wasn’t a fear of commitment that had stopped him—he could see himself marrying Adds one day—it was something else. Someone else.
Adds was the love of his life. She owned him heart, body, and soul. But he couldn’t deny that his feelings for Liam were there. Their friendship was entirely platonic, even though it ran deeper than any he’d ever had before. He couldn’t explain the intensity in his desire to bring a smile to Liam’s lips. Knowing he was happy gave King a high that, if he allowed himself to admit it, he only ever got when Adds smiled.
Liam’s friendship was a part of him, one that stood out, and he wouldn’t ever pretend that he wasn’t a priority for King. Their bond had only grown stronger since he’d said “I love you” to Adds too. He didn’t know what kind of person that made him. A shitty one, probably. But even though Liam had snagged a part of his heart with the unshakeable friendship they’d formed, he didn’t love Adds any less. If anything, it was as if he was feeling more, like his capacity for love was increasing to encompass the two of them.
It was that worry—the concern he was a shitty boyfriend for having a friend as important to him as his girlfriend—that had frozen the words inside him. But Adds always had been braver than him. She’d told King she loved him and in doing so, had freed him. Given him the strength to shake loose from the hesitation plaguing him. Her words had allayed his concerns that his attraction to Liam somehow detracted from how genuine his love for Adds was. Confessing his love had been easy after that. “I love her,” he replied to Eve, smiling one of those love-heart-eye smiles. Heat suffused his cheeks as he rode the high that came with falling in love.
“You told her, didn’t you? Oh my God, tell me everything.”
He laughed, rolling his eyes at Eve’s eagerness. That moment was private, one he didn’t want to share. Eve was one of his oldest friends, but this was between him and Adds. “Well, we were in bed—”
“No!” she cried, scandalized. “You didn’t tell her after you’d gotten off, did you? Or during? King, tell me you didn’t do that,” she groaned.
“Okay, I won’t.” He winked, grinning cheekily at her.
“Urgh. Tell me about her friends. Have you met them yet? Does she have any single guy friends she can introduce me to?”
He rolled his eyes, Liam immediately popping to mind. He should introduce them. Liam deserved happiness and someone to dote on him, but… no. Eve wasn’t right for him. She was one of the best people he knew, but she wasn’t for Liam. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly why—or maybe he didn’t want to—but he just knew.
But there was Eli.
“Her brother is single.”
Eve raised an eyebrow. “Not Liam? The media has him on eligible bachelor lists.”
“Liam’s... Liam.” King couldn’t help the private smile when he thought of the other man. Their conversation the night before had broken his heart. He’d known from the way Liam responded to his touch that he was starved of affection but learning about the tough childhood he’d had, the coldness he’d lived with daily and seeing the scars it left, hurt King deeper than he cared to admit. He’d needed Liam in his arms as much as the other man did. That morning, he’d called his mum. He’d spoken to her honestly for the first time in a long time, explaining why he needed her to stop feeding him so much. He’d begged her to understand. Then he'd told her about Liam, and his mum had cried. She’d demanded that King bring him home.
“You like him.”
“I do.” He bit his lip, his chest warming again. After all he’d been through as a kid, King could understand why Liam’s self-confidence had taken a battering after failing statistics twice and having an average year playing in France. The last season he’d played had been a massive improvement, and yet he was perhaps the most critical of that. He knew Liam blamed himself for the team’s loss, which ended their chance to play for the premiership trophy, but that was ridiculous. There was an entire field of guys wearing the same jersey who should have been fighting for the win too. Liam couldn’t carry the weight of their loss alone when the others were playing too. “He’s a great guy. Smart and we have fun.”
“Does Adelaide know you’re falling for her study partner?”
King’s gaze shot to Eve’s. “What? That’s ridiculous. I… I don’t… No.”
