Page 32 of True Sight (Nat. 20, #4)

HENRY

W e spent the first few hours of Sunday lying around the house not doing much of anything.

I enjoyed having another body in the house for once.

I don’t mind living on my own, but having him around makes my heart happy.

Eventually, he decides he needs to go home to properly feed Annie and take a shower.

I offer for him to take a shower at my place but he politely declines.

“We’re taking it slow, remember?” he says as he steps into his trainers.

He’s wearing a pair of my joggers and a shirt I’d lent him since his clothes are still soaking wet from last night.

We meant to put them in the tumble dryer when we came home but seemed to have forgotten as soon as the clothes came off.

I groan loudly at his reminder and he pulls me into a hug, sinking his nose into my neck and breathing me in.

Before he leaves, we share a kiss and I pull him in for another for good measure before he steps out of my flat.

“I’ll see you on Tuesday,” he promises. With my back against the closed front door, I let out a happy sigh as I slide to the floor in a blissful haze.

I replay the last forty-eight hours with him and once again, feel like I’m living in a dream.

My little bubble of perfection is burst though when the mention of our Tuesday meeting hits me square in the face.

The laundry list of things I should have been doing all weekend comes back in a blur.

I still need to plan and practice this week’s choreo and make sure Alex is all prepped for her classes.

We’ve added more to her schedule since her classes book out so quickly with how much people are loving her.

The schedule is normally only open for an hour or so before every space she has open is claimed.

She assures me she can handle them and while I know she can and trust she will meet expectations, I still like to check in and make sure she isn’t feeling overwhelmed.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my wonderful boss and favorite Englishman,” she sings over the line when I call her later that afternoon. “Did you survive the storm?”

“I did, thank you for asking. Did you?” I ask, pouring myself a cup of tea.

“I did, I did. I was bored out of my mind all weekend, please tell me you did something fun.” She sighs and waits for me to respond.

The events of the last forty-eight hours rush into my mind and distract me from answering quickly enough.

Sensing my hesitation, she drops her voice an octave and purrs over the line. “Do something dirty ?”

Dirty? I mean, I would personally call jerking off the guy you’d been pining over the last couple months until he came in your hand dirty but I’m not sure what her standards are.

“Uhh, erm,” I stammer.

“Oh my god, you did do something dirty,” she screams, and it’s so loud I have to pull my phone away from my ear. “You have to spill, now .”

I laugh awkwardly as my brain attempts to come up with some cover story. “So?— ”

“Was it that guy you told me about before? The one who you weren’t sure if he was into men or not?”

“Well—” I begin but she cuts me off again.

“I told you he was into you, I told you. Did he kiss you? Did you kiss him? Did he confess that he’s had feelings for you this whole time? Did you see him naked?” Her questions are coming out in rapid succession and her voice gets louder with each one.

“Yes?” My voice picks up at the end as the single word comes out as more of a question than a statement.

“Yes to which one, sweetie, I just asked you twenty questions,” she spits.

“Yes to all of them?” I say meekly.

“To all of them?” She squeals loudly over the phone and I can just picture what she looks like.

Black puffer vest and AloYoga leggings with her long, dark hair slicked back into a sleek ponytail.

“Oh my god, I’m so happy for you. Tell me, was his dick delicious?

” I can’t help but burst into a fit of laughter when her voice goes from deranged school girl to smooth and cool in less than three seconds.

“It was…” I start. I wouldn’t honestly know if it was delicious or not, we hadn’t gotten that far. It felt delicious though, I can say that much.

“It was delicious,” she finishes for me.

I sigh happily. “I just can’t believe this is all happening.”

“Seriously, sweetie, I am so fucking happy for you. You deserve it. But hey, I wish I could gab more but I’m actually heading into a personal training session. Talk tomorrow at the studio?”

“Yeah, right. Tomorrow is good. You’re good with your classes and everything? That’s actually why I rang you in the first place.”

“ Sure , you rang me to talk about classes. Pshh, no you didn’t.

You wanted to call and tell me all about your weekend hookup, which you will do in detail tomorrow.

But yes, to answer your question I’m good for this week’s classes.

Are you good for this week’s classes?” I can tell by the sound of her voice that she knows I’m not.

“I will be by tonight,” I promise before saying goodbye and letting her go.

I stand from where I sat down on the sofa and place my cup on the island counter, heading towards my bedroom.

There’s a pile of damp clothes in the corner that I lean over to pick up.

Gently, I place each piece over my arm before turning around to pick up my own set of clothes that had been forgotten as well.

Luckily, my flat has its own machines to do your washing which means I don’t need to go anywhere to do laundry.

I open the washer and toss our clothes in before stripping the sheets off my bed and adding those in too.

After I add the detergent and press all the buttons to start the load, I take a step back and watch as our clothes tumble and roll around, mixing and getting lost in one another.

Kind of how we had last night.

And kind of how I hope we do again soon.

“Hello?” I hurry out, trying to collect my things and dash out the door.

My morning class ran over and the delivery guys for the studio were late which made me late in getting home to change and head back out for our Tuesday meeting.

When I hear my phone ring I don’t even check to see who it is before clicking answer and pressing it between my ear and my shoulder.

The person on the other end starts speaking but my phone slips and I can’t hear them over the sound of my water bottle falling from my hand and crashing to the floor.

A loud, echoing clanging sound fills my flat as my phone falls to the floor as well.

“ Shit ,” I sneer to myself. I know I’m doing too many things at once but I’m late and I know how much Conrad hates when I’m late.

This is the first time I’ll be seeing him since he left on Sunday and I want him to remember why he talked to his therapist about me in the first place.

Needing to quickly reset, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, shimmying out my shoulders as I do.

“Now just slow down and start over,” I whisper to myself. Feeling calmer, I bend over to pick up my phone. The person on the other line is still talking.

“Hello? Henry? Are you okay, what was that sound? Hello, sweets? You there?”

I smile widely to myself as I bring the phone back to my ear and hear his voice. He sounds concerned which warms my heart to a dangerous degree.

“Well, hello there, love,” I hum back to him as I bend down again to pick up my water bottle.

“Jesus, Henry, you scared me. I heard you say hello, then a big crash, then nothing. I thought you were hurt or something.” My bottom lip pouts as he speaks because I can just see his face in my mind.

Stressed brows, hand running through his hair, completely bent out of shape.

All because of me. I feel my cheeks flush.

“I’m sorry, I just had too many things in my hands. I was just on my way to meet you and?—”

“Shit, have you already left?” I stop in my tracks at his question, key dangling from the lock.

“Will you be mad if I say no?”

“Actually, for once, your propensity for being late works in my favor. I was going to ask if you wanted to meet at my place for our meeting today?”

My chin dips to the floor as a smirk grows across my lips. “Your place?”

“Yes, the place in which I live. My place,” he replies with a hint of condescension in his voice.

“Is there a particular reason you’re asking me to come to your place instead of the coffee shop, Mr. Miller?” My backpack is on my shoulders and my hips sway side to side as I walk down my hallway.

“Do you wanna meet at my place or not?” he sighs, sounding on edge and I grin.

“I’ll see you in twenty.”

After my Uber picked me up and dropped me at his place, I head up to his apartment and knock on his door. As soon as my knuckles rap against the heavy wood, Annie explodes on the other side to signal my arrival.

“Stop it. Annie, knock it off. Move out of the way, you damn dog ,” I hear Conrad groan.

Most people might think that by him calling her ‘damn dog’ that means he doesn’t like her but I’m quickly realizing the grumpier he is with you, the more he likes you.

And I know that he loves his dog more than he likes most people—even if he doesn’t openly admit to it.

When the door finally opens, I can’t help but smile like a complete twit.

“Hey”—he sighs, matching my smile—“come on in.”

I side step the two of them and am working to slip out of my shoes when, after closing the door, he slides a hand under my arm and spins me to face him.

Before I know what is happening his lips are on mine.

We hold each other for a moment, our lips crashing into one another’s, before he pulls away to look at me.

I trace the half smirk he’s giving me with my finger.

“Hey,” he says against my lips, our faces hovering just a few inches apart.

“Hey,” I mimic. I reach to take his hand in mine and squeeze it.