Our Darkest Hour (Our Darkest Series Book 1)

by Sarah Bailey

  He searched my face for a long moment.

  “Am I making sense, A? You’re going to have to give me some indication that you’re understanding and taking in what I’m saying.”

  It took me a hell of a lot longer to process what he was telling me than normal. I hadn’t been sleeping well without him and my emotions were running riot inside me. Somehow, I had to answer him. So I latched onto the one thing which had made my heart go wild the moment he said it.

  “You love me?” I whispered.

  That made him smile. The sight of it almost broke me in half.

  “I see I should have saved that part for last.”

  “Rhys…”

  He let go of my hands, leant forward and cupped my face, wiping away my tears with his thumbs.

  “I am madly in love with you, Aaron Jackson Parrish. So please stop looking at me like I’m a crazy person because, you know, a guy is going to get a complex in a minute.”

  The only thing I could do was let out a choking sound which made his eyes grow concerned.

  “Jesus, come here, you idiot.” He let go of me, grabbing my shoulders and tugged me towards him so my face landed on his chest. “Anyone would think I just told you a puppy died with the way you’re staring at me.”

  I clutched his t-shirt, holding onto him for dear life as I felt like I was drowning.

  “Rhys.”

  “Shh, I know, A, it’s a lot for you to take in,” he murmured, stroking my still-damp hair.

  I broke down entirely and sobbed into his t-shirt. He held me, not once making me feel ridiculous for crying all over him like a big fucking baby. When I got hold of myself, I pulled away and stared up at him. He brushed my tears away again, watching me with a pensive expression on his face.

  “You know, I was going to ask if I could kiss you, but you’re a snotty mess.”

  He reached over and grabbed a napkin from the table before wiping my face with it. Then he leant his forehead against mine, cupping my cheek with one hand. I couldn’t believe it. This boy. This beautiful boy had told me he loved me and he was mine.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’m here now, A. I’m right here.”

  I couldn’t hold back any longer. Everything inside me wanted him so much, constricting my lungs and making my heart get tight. My hand landed on his shoulder before I pressed my lips against his. At first, it was soft, the relief I felt at knowing he cared for me in the same way driving me. Then it became heated and desperate, as if both of us couldn’t get enough of each other. He tugged at me and I pulled at him. Lips and tongues clashed in a battle of who needed who more. I don’t know how, but I ended up in his lap, straddling his legs as I held his face and kissed him harder. Lost in the sensations and feelings wreaking havoc through my body.

  “I love you,” I said between kisses. “Only you. Forever.”

  My hands were at the bottom of his t-shirt, attempting to pull it from him. He moved back and put his hand on mine, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Hey, hey, easy now. Did you think I set this out for nothing?” He waved at the table. “I’m feeding you first, A, then you can have me any way you want me.”

  “Any way I want you?”

  His eyes grew heated.

  “Let me put it another way, you can make love to me. I want you to.”

  I thought I might die from his words. The very idea of being inside him giving me heart palpitations. I didn’t want to wait, but I was also hungry. And if I wanted him in my bed for the rest of the day, then we both needed fuel for that.

  “Okay.”

  I nuzzled my nose against his before slipping from his lap and sitting back in my chair. He smiled before getting up and setting his chair back where it should be. As he disappeared back towards the kitchen, he stroked a hand along my shoulder. It felt like a promise of things to come.

  I sat there staring at the candles and the daisy in the vase, trying to process everything.

  Is this actually real?

  Had Rhys King just told me he loved me and he wanted me to make love to him?

  Holy shit, does this mean we’re together now? Like is he my boyfriend?

  I could ask him when he came back with food. All I knew is my heart was full and I’d literally just got everything I wanted in life.

  Him.

  Rhys King.

  And I would never let go.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  To say the last three days without Aaron were torture was an understatement. I wanted to see him, but I knew if I did, then we might be back at square one. I couldn’t take any chances here. Not with Aaron. Never with him. I wouldn’t play with his feelings. Not least because the conclusion I’d come to is that I loved him. Working out my sexuality paled in comparison to that revelation.

  I’d never taken any time to examine my feelings towards Aaron until this had forced them out into the open. And some fucking feelings they were. At first, they’d scared me. The depth of my need and desire towards him. It hadn’t started in the last few days. I’d been falling in love with Aaron for years. I just hadn’t known it because I thought these feelings I had towards him were natural to have about your best friend. Except you shouldn’t want to kiss and have sex with your friends. And you certainly shouldn’t want to spend the rest of your life with them. Belonging only to them. Forever and always.

  So now, having him on top of me, kissing me like I was the very air he needed to breathe. There was nothing else like it.

  The last hour whilst we ate had been filled with longing glances, small touches and conversations about what I’d done for the past three days. Aaron had asked me all sorts of questions about being demisexual after he’d got over the I love you business. I wasn’t an expert, but I tried to explain how I felt the best I could. He’d accepted it, he was just curious about how it worked. It meant he would never have to worry about me wanting anyone else. I couldn’t imagine being as close to another person the way I was with him.

  “Rhys,” he moaned against my mouth, his hand roaming down my side, clutching me to him. He ground into me, both our cocks rock hard already.

  The moment we’d got upstairs, he’d pulled me to him as if his desperation had reached fever pitch, but I stopped him from kissing me. I’d brought my bag up with me so I set it on his bed and grabbed a couple of things from it, placing them on his bedside table. When he’d looked at them, his face had gone bright red. Since I was pretty sure he hadn’t expected to be in this position, I’d bought supplies before I’d come over. Porn had opened my eyes about sex, as well as my own research. If we were going to sleep together, I wanted to know what the hell I was doing.

  We didn’t need to have a conversation about what they were or why I’d got them. Lube and condoms made it very clear where this was heading.

  “Aaron, I want you,” I groaned when his lips trailed down my neck.

  “I want you too, so fucking badly. You make me so hard.”

  I could tell but hearing it from his lips made my cock throb. His hands trailed under my t-shirt, stroking across my stomach. His touch was both teasing and sensual.

  “You’ll go slow with me, right?”

  His head popped up, blue-grey eyes full of arousal but also concern.

  “Are you sure about this? I’m scared I’ll hurt you.”

  Reaching up, I cupped his face as I smiled.

  “You do know what to do, right?”

  “Well yes, theoretically. I just mean we don’t have to like have sex yet.”

  “You don’t want to?”

  His eyes widened.

  “No, no, trust me, I do.” His fingers continued their path along my stomach, making me tremble. “Maybe we should work up to sex is all.”

  I saw the uncertainty and hesitation in his eyes. Dropping my hand, I ran it along his shoulder.

  “Would that make you feel better about it?”

  He nodded. Didn’t he know I’
d do anything to make sure he was happy and comfortable? The two of us could work it out together.

  “Anything for you, love… now come here and kiss me.”

  The smile which graced his face damn near killed me. He leant down and kissed me, his fingers pushing up my t-shirt.

  “I’m your love, am I?” he murmured against my mouth.

  “You have a problem with that?”

  “No… because I’m going to call you my boyfriend.”

  My heart rate kicked up a notch, my body heating further from that word. Boyfriend.

  “I’m more than okay with that.”

  His hand came up, his fingers tangling in my hair as he kissed me harder, his tongue darting between my lips. I lost myself in him, my hands curling around his back, keeping him locked to me. Our hips ground together, desperately seeking the friction between us.

  I heard the distinct sound of the front door slamming shut. I froze underneath him as a voice floated up from downstairs as we hadn’t shut the bedroom door.

  “Aaron?”

  He pulled back, staring down at me with horror on his face.

  “Aaron? Are you home?”

  “Fuck,” he muttered. “What the fuck are they doing here?”

  All my pent-up lust felt like it had ice thrown all over it. Aaron’s parents were home. The last two people I wanted to see… well… ever. Being around them was awkward since they made no secret how much they hated Aaron and I being friends.

  “They didn’t tell you they’d be back?” I asked.

  “No.”

  He got off me and sat up, running his hands through his hair as we both heard footsteps on the stairs.

  “Aaron?” came Kellie’s voice again.

  “In here, Mum.”

  I scrambled into sitting position, smoothing my hair down and adjusting myself so it didn’t look like we’d just been kissing and dry humping each other. Unable to see myself, I don’t know how successful I was. Aaron stood up and walked towards the door, meeting his mother on the threshold.

  “Oh, there you are, sweetie. Your dad and I are home for a few days.”

  Aaron’s back stiffened and I knew for a fact he wasn’t happy about it at all.

  “You didn’t tell me you were coming home.”

  “Oh well, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Kellie said, waving her hand at him before her eyes fell on me. “Oh… hello, Rhys, I didn’t see you there.”

  “Hello, Mrs Parrish.”

  She looked at Aaron again, her disapproval at my presence written all over her face. Aaron looked back at me, irritation painting his features. He did not want them here. And neither did I. Especially not since the two of us were about to get each other off. Something I wanted with a desperation it bordered on fucking madness.

  “Well, I thought the three of us could go out to dinner, how does that sound?”

  Aaron looked back at her with a frown.

  “The three of us?”

  “Yes, sweetie.”

  “I’m kind of busy right now.”

  She looked between us.

  “Busy? With Rhys? I’m sure he won’t mind going home now. You two have the rest of the summer to do whatever it is you’ve been doing.”

  I watched Aaron’s fist clench at his side. We’d been apart for three days. I minded a fuck load. It was meant to be my time with him. And I was sure he felt the same way.

  “Actually, Mum, I mind. A lot. You and Dad can’t just turn up unannounced and expect me to change all of my plans for you.”

  I had to put a hand to my mouth to stop myself from snorting in shock. Aaron rarely said no to his mum and never to his dad. He must be more pissed off about this than I realised.

  Kellie looked taken aback and incensed at the same time.

  “Well, I’m sorry if your parents wanting to spend time with you is such an inconvenience for you, but I’m not taking no for an answer, Aaron. We have a table booked for later.”

  Aaron crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Fine, if you and Dad insist then I’m sure you won’t mind me bringing Rhys with.”

  Kellie stared at him for a long moment, but Aaron stood his ground as if daring her to say no.

  “We’d love to have Rhys along too. I’ll see you both downstairs later, shall I? No later than six.”

  “Yes, Mum.”

  She turned on her heel and strode away. Aaron watched her before shutting his bedroom door and banging his head against it.

  “For fuck’s sake.”

  “A, I don’t want to go to dinner with them.”

  “And you think I do?”

  He turned and trudged over to me before throwing himself on the bed and burying his face in my chest. His arms came around me and he let out a huff.

  “I fucking hate them sometimes. Why the hell did they have to come home?”

  I stroked his hair, knowing I’d go along anyway no matter how much the thought of spending an entire dinner stuck with Patrick and Kellie Parrish made me feel sick to my stomach.

  “Because they’re determined to cockblock us.”

  He was silent for a moment before his body started shaking with laughter. I grinned since it was the truth.

  “It’s okay, A, we can always resume later… oh shit, you don’t think she saw the condoms, do you?”

  He lifted his head as his laughter halted.

  “Shit, I hope not.”

  He scrambled off me and grabbed the items, shoving them in his drawer. Then he sat back on the bed and put his head in his hands, groaning.

  “This is the worst!”

  “Well… the worst would be if they’d come home and you were balls deep inside me. This is just kind of shit.”

  He reached out and slapped my arm. I could see the blush creeping up his neck.

  “Don’t say stuff like that. You’ll get my dick hard again… god, Rhys, how are we going to deal with them all evening? I can’t do this shit. I just want to stay up here in bed with you.”

  I leant over and rubbed his shoulder.

  “We don’t have to go downstairs until six, so why don’t you come here and we can watch TV and cuddle, yeah?”

  He grumbled but crawled up on the bed and sat next to me up against the headboard. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, grabbing the remote off the bedside table.

  “Fucking cockblocking parents,” he muttered.

  I held back a smile. Aaron and I had all the time in the world to be intimate with each other.

  “Someone’s impatient.”

  He looked up at me.

  “And you’re not?”

  I bit my lip, watching his eyes flick down to it and spike with heat. The raging storm brewing in those blue-grey depths made flames lick across my skin.

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  With no further warning, he leant forward and sucked my bottom lip into his mouth before biting down on it. I whimpered in response, finding myself growing hard all over again.

  “That,” he groaned. “Don’t do that… fuck.”

  His hand wrapped around my head and he kissed me, deep and hard until I thought we’d never come up for air.

  “Don’t tease me right now,” he murmured as he pulled away. “I’m this close to pinning you down and shoving my dick in your mouth to shut you up.”

  I stifled the urge to bite my lip again, knowing it would drive him crazy.

  “Why don’t you?”

  He scowled and sat back, hugging my arm to his chest.

  “Because my stupid parents are here and they don’t know I’m gay nor that we’re together. I don’t trust Mum not to come back up here. So we’re going to have to keep it PG… for now.”

  “And later, after dinner?”

  His eyes darkened.

  “All bets are off… and trust me, I plan to put that mouth of yours to good use.”

  Even though I real
ly didn’t want to go to dinner with Aaron’s parents, the thought of what he’d do to me afterwards made the inevitable suffering we’d both have to go through worthwhile.

  I can’t fucking wait.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  I hated my parents. I full-on hated them right now for coming home and ruining my afternoon with Rhys. Ruining my entire damn week. It was bad enough I’d gone through three days of absolute hell and heartache. To finally get what I wanted, which was me and Rhys together, only to have my parents cockblock me… well, that was the icing on the shit cake.

  Having to sit in an expensive restaurant whilst my dad seethed quietly, looking at his phone and Mum pretended everything was fine was not my idea of fun. Especially not when Rhys looked like he wanted to throw up. I don’t know why they even bothered coming home any longer. The two of them weren’t exactly parents of the decade. They cared more about my sister than they did me, especially now Harriet was getting married to fucktard… I mean… Ralph. They’d been together for so long, I wasn’t sure it’d ever happen. But no, he popped the question two months ago. My sister hadn’t stopped gushing over her 18carat rose gold diamond engagement ring.

  “So, how was the end of term?” Mum asked after we’d ordered.

  Rhys had looked at the menu and asked me what on it was normal food when my parents weren’t paying attention to us. I’d pointed out everything I thought he’d like. My poor boyfriend was completely out of his element here. He kept glancing around the room, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. I felt shit for dragging him here with me, but I could not deal with my parents on my own today. Not after everything I’d been through. I needed Rhys here to ground me. Especially since they’d interrupted us earlier and all I wanted was him right now.