Down London Road (On Dublin Street 2)

The morning of that Saturday I was up early because Mum had woken us up smashing empty bottles of gin in the kitchen sink. I’d got to her before she did too much damage, wrapped a few plasters around little cuts on her hands, held her while she curled into me and bawled like a baby, and finally accepted Cole’s help getting her back into bed. The muscles in her legs were wasting away – it was a wonder she could even walk. Cole and I had given up trying to get her out and about, and seeing the damage I began to feel guilty.

Trying to shake off the grim sadness that always overwhelmed me when Mum found a way to let us know she was just as angry at her addiction as we were, I thought I’d spend a rare Saturday morning reading while Cole hurried down to Cam’s flat. Since I was still trying to weigh whether we could afford the expense of Cole taking up a martial art, Cam had started training lessons with him on Saturday mornings. Cole loved every minute of it, and honestly, I think Cam was enjoying teaching what he’d learned.

I was immersed in the translation of a romance novel by one of my favourite Japanese writers when the doorbell rang.

It was Jamie, Cole’s friend.

As soon as I opened the door, the short, slightly chubby kid turned beetroot. I bit my lip, trying not to smile. ‘Hi, Jamie.’

‘Hi, Jo.’ He gulped, his eyes looking anywhere but at my face. ‘Is Cole in? He was supposed to meet me outside fifteen minutes ago.’

Clearly Cole had lost track of the time. I stifled my aggravated sigh and stepped out of the flat, shutting the door gently behind me – I had been at a really good part in my book. ‘Let me take you to him.’

After I knocked on Cam’s door, he yelled for me to come in. I left Jamie waiting outside and entered the flat to find Cam and Cole standing in the centre of the living room beside a mat. All of the furniture had been pushed to the edges of the room. Cole was grinning, perspiration running down his neck, damp patches all over his T-shirt. Cam was wearing a T-shirt and joggers, not looking that much the worse for wear.

I raised my eyebrows at Cole. ‘Did you forget about something?’

He frowned instantly. ‘No.’

‘Tell that to the kid on Cam’s doorstep.’

‘Oh, sh–’ He stopped himself. ‘I forgot Jamie.’

‘He’s waiting.’

Cole hurried to grab his socks and trainers. ‘Cheers for the lesson, Cam.’

‘No probs, bud.’

‘You better wash and change your clothes before you go out!’ I called after him as he disappeared into the hall. ‘And text me to let me know what you’re doing –’ I slammed my mouth closed at the sound of Cam’s front door shutting. I turned back to Cam. ‘Why do I bother?’

He threw me a crooked smile – my fourth favourite after the lip twitch – and curled a finger, beckoning me to him. ‘Care to take up where he left off?’

I immediately took a step back, shaking my head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Come on.’ He suddenly grew serious. ‘I’ve seen the way some of the customers are with you, and Joss told me she’s had to rescue you more than once in the past from an over eager punter. This will help you learn to deal with the way you freeze up.’

I imagined it might be pretty nice to be able to handle aggressive ass**les by myself rather than relying on protective friends. But training with Cam? No. That would be fanning the flame.

‘No, thanks.’

Cam sighed but gave in. ‘Fine. You want a cup of tea?’

I nodded and followed him into his kitchen, trying to keep my eyes on anything but his muscled shoulders and tight ass. I didn’t try very hard.

Standing by his kitchen counter, I was lost in thought about the evening ahead of us as Cam made the tea and coffee, when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I glanced towards it and nearly had full-on heart failure at the size of the spider clinging to Cam’s kitchen tiles.

‘Oh, my God!’ I squealed, skittering back away from it, a lump of fear in my throat the size of Canada.

‘What – what?’ Cam spun around, his eyes wide on me.

I stared round-eyed at the spider. ‘Get rid of it or I won’t be able to move.’ I wasn’t kidding. I was literally frozen with fear. I don’t know where my phobia of spiders originated, but it was bad enough that we had to invest in spider repellents that plugged into the sockets in our flat. We got the rare few spiders nevertheless and Cole always took care of them.

Cam looked from me to the spider and then back to me again. I could see the beginning of a smile start to curl the corners of his mouth.

‘Don’t even think about laughing. It’s not funny.’

His gaze softened as he seemed to finally realize the extent of my fear. ‘Okay. Stop panicking. I’ll get rid of it.’ He reached into a cupboard and pulled out a pan.

I scowled. ‘What are you doing? Don’t kill it!’

Cam froze, cocking his head in bemusement as he gazed at me. ‘Why don’t you want me to kill it? I thought you were frightened of it.’

‘I am terrified of it,’ I corrected him. ‘But what does it say about humans as a species if we go around killing things just because we fear them?’ Not anything good, that’s what.

Cam’s gorgeous eyes warmed even more and I found myself forgetting the fear and falling into his gaze.

‘What?’ I whispered, feeling my chest swell at the way he was looking at me. No one had ever looked at me like that before.

He shook his head. ‘Nothing. You just … Nothing.’