Page 39 of Total Creative Control

Aaron laughed. “Great!” He turned around with a broad smile. “I mean, great for Toni. Sounds like a relaxing evening.”

“I don’t think she’s one for hiking,” Lewis agreed.

They left the house the way they’d arrived, down the grand staircase and through the vast, empty entrance hall with its abandoned skateboard. Neither spoke, and they walked quickly, Lewis casting cautious glances around as he went. But there was no sign of Charlie, thank God.

Finally, they were outside, standing on the broad gravel driveway. It was beautiful, the early evening sunshine still warm and the sky the kind of pure, cloudless blue you only got near the coast. Lewis took a deep breath, filling his lungs, genuinely relieved to be out of the house’s oppressive atmosphere.

“Okay,” Aaron said, studying his phone. “There’s a footpath we can take to save walking on the road the whole way. Looks like we can cut across the grounds and pick it up…” He squinted, lifting a hand to shade his eyes. “...over there, through that gate in the wall.”

“After you,” Lewis said, with an extravagant sweep of his arm.

Aaron smiled, and off they went.

Safehaven loomed behind them, and Lewis had to actively resist the temptation to glance over his shoulder as they crossed the pristine grass, making a beeline for the tall wooden gate.

“I keep thinking he’s going to come running after us,” Aaron said with a nervous laugh. “To drag us back.”

“He can try. But I’ve got a couple of inches and at least half a decade on him.”

“And I’m a pretty fast runner, when I’m motivated.”

Lewis could believe it. Aaron had a runner’s build, long and lean and lithe. “You look like a runner,” he said. “Where do you run?”

“Where? Er, for the train sometimes?” He flashed a rueful smile. “I know I should make time to exercise. Colin was always telling me.”

“You probably have better things to do,” Lewis said. Fucking Colin.

On that subject, though, he felt a nagging twinge of guilt. Relief had probably made him…insensitive when Aaron had told him about breaking up with Colin, and the memory of Aaron’s tight-lipped expression popped unhappily into his mind. They hadn’t spoken about it since, but the idea that his comments had genuinely hurt Aaron made Lewis uncomfortable.

They’d reached the gate by then, and Aaron was fiddling with the latch, trying to open it. While his back was turned, Lewis said, “I was a bit, um, blunt the other day, when you told me you’d split up with Colin. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings. It’s just that—”

“It’s fine,” Aaron said, rattling the gate. “There was no big drama—it might have been my decision but in all honesty, it was pretty much mutual.”

“Well, then he’s a bigger idiot than I took him for.”

Aaron glanced over his shoulder, the evening sun catching his hair and highlighting little threads of gold amid the brown. “Thanks. I think?”

Lewis huffed a laugh. “What I’m saying is, you can do better.” He frowned at the thought, realising he didn’t much like it. “Will do better, I guess.”

“I guess,” Aaron echoed, turning back to the gate. “Crap,” he said, giving it another shake, “it’s locked. We’ll have to go around.”

“Back down the drive?” Lewis peered into the distance. “That’s got to be at least half a mile.”

“Half a mile in the wrong direction.”

“Bugger that.” Lewis eyed the gate. “I reckon we can climb over it.”

Their eyes met in a glittering moment ofhell, yes! Aaron grinned. “Now it really feels likeThe Great Escape.”

“I’ll go first,” Lewis said and took a running jump, grabbing the top of the gate and hauling himself up and over, then jumping down the other side.

He landed in a meadow, lit golden by the low sun and dancing with wildflowers in all shades of purples, whites, yellows, and reds. Stunning.

Behind him, he heard a thud as Aaron jumped and then scrambled up the gate. But he ended up sitting awkwardly astride it, looking like he was about to castrate himself. “Fuck!” he yelped. “Now what?”

Lewis snorted. “Don’t stop there. You can’t straddle it.”

“I know! But I can’t get my other leg—”