Rhapsody on a Theme Read Free Page A

face of Darren’s disgusted vehemence, he hadn’t had the heart to try too hard anyway. So this…
    This was…
    “You’d…really, though?”
    “Really. You might not ever get another one of those vouchers, so look after it.”
    Jayden kissed him again, mouthing gently around the edges of his lips, before pulling back just a little and saying, “I love you, you know. I really, really love you.”
    “I know, right? No condoms and everything.”
    Jayden laughed, pressing his nose into Darren’s cheek and kissing the faint traces of stubble coming through after a long day. “I’ll redeem my voucher later. Right now, I want you and me and no vouchers, just…you know, us, like we always are, and always should be, and…”
    Darren’s arms locked around his back and he was twisted to the side—and there they lay, in a pool of dying December light, joined at the mouth and exploring in a slow and idle way that was not really going anywhere, and for a brief moment, perfectly content with their own tiny corner of the world, until Mum called for dinner and the spell quietly died away.

Chapter 2
    “Mum!” Jayden called from the hall as Darren shrugged into his leather jacket. “We’re off!”
    “Stay safe, darling!” she yelled back. She was upstairs putting Rosie to bed; Jayden shut the door behind them before Rosie could kick off that they were going out without her, and slid his gloved hand through Darren’s at the gate.
    “So how was the secondment?” he asked.
    Darren swung their joined hands lightly. “Pretty good,” he decided eventually. “The work was heavy, but it was pretty good, all things considered. And I’m not going to complain about free room and board in London. Missed you, though.”
    Jayden smiled at the icy pavement and squeezed the caught hand. “But you were good,” he said gently. “I mean, you were doing really well, when you think about it.” The secondment had been offered to only a few of the crime scene officers, and Darren had been eager to go, even as Jayden had been afraid to let him. The force had offered it in the dreary summer; at the same time, Darren had been taken off his antidepressants, and Jayden had been worried sick about the upheaval in case it triggered one of his episodes. A bad one. A really bad one.
    But they’d been lucky.
    “Not looking forward to the new doctor,” Darren admitted quietly.
    “We’ll be fine,” Jayden reassured him and let go of his hand as they reached the main road, putting his own back in his coat pocket. “Especially now you’ll be back in the house and I can keep an eye on you.”
    “That sounded distinctly like a threat.”
    “It is,” Jayden confirmed, and Darren groaned. “Oh, shut up. You’ll love it.”
    “I won’t.”
    “You will. And,” Jayden bumped their shoulders, “you never know when I might redeem those sex vouchers.”
    Darren snorted as they crossed the road towards the bus stops that marked the edge of the town centre. There were a few people about, but not too many. It was a Friday night, but still early: Jayden had voted for having a few drinks in The Queen’s Head , maybe a game of pool if Darren’s shoulder was up to it, maybe the quiz machine if not, and then wandering home with food from the chippie in Market Square afterwards. Mum had fed them (apparently she agreed with Jayden that Darren had obviously lost a bit of weight in London) but there was always room for chippie food. (Darren was a dustbin anyway, so if Jayden couldn’t finish the chippie food, he could pass it off. Waste not, want not.) More than anything, Jayden just wanted a little time to be them, alone, before settling in for Christmas with his family, and then New Year with Rachel.
    “Knowing you, at the most inconvenient time possible,” Darren opined; Jayden laughed.
    “Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe next time you decide drip-drying around the house with nothing on is a good idea. I mean, come on, you do know Rachel is this