Page 6 of The Way Home

Caleb’s eyebrows knit together, and Jamie clarified.

“We call them pubs here. Not bars.”

Caleb snorted. “Right.”

“I don’t have any other plans,” Jamie said quickly. “My friends will probably go to a club, but I’ll just bike home.”

“Risky,” Caleb said with a nod to his beer. “Drinking and biking,”

Jamie swiveled the bottle to show the label. “It’s non-alcoholic.”

“Ah, right.” Caleb’s lips pulled at the corner. “Can I get your number? Or do you not have phones here?”

“No,” Jamie said, his eyes flicking down to Caleb’s lips and back up. “No, wedo. I have a mobile.” Jamie fumbled in his pocket for a small flip phone. Caleb hadn’t seen one of those in a hot minute. “I have a number, and I—”

One of the fans pranced over from the crowd—Ellie, if memory served—and plopped herself next to Jamie. She leaned drunkenly into him.

“I can’t believe it, but we are going to Darlings with the girls from Chelsea. Wanna come, J?”

“Oh, well, I’m not sure,” Jamie said, glancing at Caleb in silent question. “I actually might call it a night soon.”

Caleb smirked at the way Jamie ended his sentence like a question.

“Me too.” Caleb winked.

“Oh! Okay.” The woman seemed to catch on, elbowing Jamie. “Well, I’ll see you at home then. Take care.”

She bounced away with her friends, and Caleb made a silent promise to her that he would take very,verygood care of her friend.

Chapter 2

Jamie had oncehad scarlet fever as a child. All he remembered was the feeling of having a ridiculously high fever and not really being in control of his own brain.

That’s how he felt sitting across from Caleb Reed.

It was like one second, he had biked to meet Ellie at the pub, and the next, he was sitting across from some kind of Greek god. And then the Greek god was nudging his foot and asking him to…

Well, he wasn’t sure what Caleb was asking him to do.

But Jamie knew hewantedto do it. Even if he didn’t know whatitwas.

Okay, he kind of did. He’d been with a few men over the last few months, because Ellie and her friends seemed determined to drag him to every gay club in London and get him some experience flirting and hooking up with guys.

In Ellie’s words, he had a lot of catching up to do.

Just last week, they took him to Glitter, which ended with a very sloppy, somewhat uncomfortable blowjob in the loo that had left Jamie feeling unsatisfied and kind of grimy.

It was disappointing, because he couldfinallyadmit to himself that he liked men, and only men, but so far, he’d really not enjoyed the gay clubbing culture in this city.

“Is that your roommate?” Caleb asked, nodding toward Ellie as she pranced away with the Chelsea women.

Yep, and my ex, who made me realize I was gay, which, by the way, was just a few months ago, so… in regards to sex, I know nothing. But if you need help finding an old manuscript in the British Library, I’m your guy!

He blinked at Caleb. “Sort of, yes,” Jamie replied.

“How long is your bike ride home from here?”

“If I bike fast, probably about thirty minutes,” Jamie said. “Our flat is in Islington. Do you—erm, are you close by?”