Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7 Read Free Page B

for any serenity in his life.
    After slowly depositing the thorny roses on the greasy countertop, Jeremy cleared his throat, his hands loosely folded behind him while leaning forward into the counter. A bass thump rang as a head struck the aluminium cool drawer containing Jeremy's chocolate. It was a welcoming sound as it meant that the intruder had not found the way to open the compartment. A relieved smile formed on Jeremy's face while he chuckled under his breath. Such a release was acceptable as the expletives expressed from the other man covered any noise Jeremy could make. However, he still quickly schooled his smile out of courtesy for the first sentient creature Jeremy had met in the flesh for decades.
    The man tried to scramble out of the cabinet at the sudden noise. The man retracted his leg behind the cabinet door centring his mass before attempting to escape the cabinet's confines. The motions were far from smooth or practiced as Jeremy could hear the guttural strains and the crack of a kicked cereal packet sliding across the floor as the intruder panicked and struggled fruitlessly to get out of the cabinet. Jeremy breathlessly spoke what came to mind, relieved that the violence was contained in the hollowed cavity and not released at him as the man intended.
    "Thank you for not eating the chocolate. I might have been enraged enough to sentence a punishment otherwise." Jeremy could not help the chuckle he disguised as a self-depreciating cough escape as he noticed, through the gap below the cabinet door, the stranger's bare buttocks smack against the ground. The man levered and shuffled out of the cabinet – every never-ending inch of him. His sweating thighs clapped against the tiles like applause of a sober audience. As he manoeuvred into a better position, he still hid behind the cabinet door.
    "If you really needed something, you could have asked," Jeremy continued with perfect elocution and inflection. He surreptitiously reached into the nearest cupboard and brought out a baking tray – just in case. He then leant further forward over the countertop. "It would have saved all the contortionist effort and the indigestion or heart burn you are bound to have after raiding my stock like that."
    The stranger's efforts became frenzied as Jeremy had him cornered with his accurate insight; frustrated gasps resounded through the room as the stranger slowed and flustered. Jeremy waited, and his smile unconsciously grew, as deep breaths resounded in the otherwise silent room, while the stranger heaved and the movements ceased. He sighed in sympathy and waited. The ridge of the stranger's back arched over the pine cabinet door exposing a broad expanse of rippling muscles the colour of acorns and covered in perspiration, before it receded from view behind the door like a leviathan to the depths of an ocean.
    "Well, if the posh twit," boomed the rich, honey baritone of the stranger, his voice becoming increasingly malicious, "would deign to help instead of laughing… and got the hell off his high horse before I come round and knock him off it…"
    A few consecutive bangs resounded from the cupboard as the stranger flexed and punched and kicked in exasperation. The cabinet and its door, made of the local oaks, stood firm against the barrage of blows and failed contortions. Jeremy continued to stand his ground, his grin melting into a sweet sympathetic smile at the obvious attempt of intimidation: it only endeared the stranger to Jeremy further. He could not refuse to help those in need, especially one who has found himself in such a unique position – figuratively and literally.
    After the blows reduced to a stop, Jeremy spoke to the stranger with a soft, but firm voice, "I don't mind you taking what food you need. I do mind you taking the chocolate – that is mine – so you need to ask permission, assuming I grant it, before you can have some. You did pass the boundary Wall and enter in uninvited; so slow down, calm