Free Fireside Romance Book 1: First Flames by Drew Hunt Page A

needed to know before they’d part with a penny of the taxpayer’s money.
    “It’s a good job we went clothes shopping yesterday,” I said.
    “Why?”
    “Because I just know they’re going to ask for your inside leg measurement,” I said with a straight face.
    “You twit.”
    “Look, Mark, they want details of what you’ve been doing for the past few years. I know you had a job in a supermarket up in Newcastle, but how do we explain the last 6 months?”
    Mark went quiet for a moment. I knew this kind of question would be on the form.
    “We tell them I was homeless, it isn’t exactly lying.”
    “That’s true!”
    I carried on filling in the form. I had to ask him for the answers to many of the questions. After all, I had only known him for a few months, and many of the questions weren’t the sort of things that cropped up in general conversation. After we’d finished, of course Mark wasn’t able to sign the forms, but there was a section which I could sign to say I had filled the forms in for him.
    “We’ll need to get you a sick note from the doctor, because obviously you can’t work at the moment.”
    “We can ask the nurse about that tomorrow when I have my bandages changed.”
    “Good idea. Look, I don’t know about you, but all this form filling has given me a bit of a headache. Do you want to go out to stretch your legs?”
    “Yeah, I could do with a walk.”
    “Right, we’ll call in at the Chinese take away on the way back if you want. They do a fantastic sweet and sour.”
    Mark’s face lit up. “I love Chinese.”
    * * * *
    There was a small wood about five minutes from the house, so we decided to walk there. Once we’d reached the security of the tree line, Mark put his arm around me. I did the same to him. We continued walking deeper into the woods in a comfortable silence. The only sounds came from the twigs snapping under our shoes and the birds singing up in the trees.
    We spotted a fallen tree trunk. Without either of us indicating to the other, we both walked towards it, still with an arm around each other. However, we had to disengage in order to sit. Once settled, Mark put his head on my shoulder and gave a contented sigh.
    “Comfy?” I asked.
    “It’s so peaceful here. Seems a world away from all the horrible things that’ve happened over the past few months.”
    “I know.” I rubbed his arm.
    Mark stayed silent for quite some time. He swallowed, then said, “I’m not a bad person. I’m not evil, I don’t go around molesting little kids or anything like that!”
    I wondered where all this was coming from. Then I had an idea. “Did your father accuse you of being those things?”
    Mark shuddered. “Yes, it was horrible. I never really got on with him, but when he found me and Danny messing about in my room, he just lost it completely. He hadn’t got over mum’s death, BUT THAT WAS NO EXCUSE!” Mark shouted.
    I said as calmly as I could, “No, it was no excuse. Your dad needs to seek professional help for his anger, but you’re out of all that now. You had to leave, and I understand why you had to work on the streets like you did. I’ve never judged you, and I never will.” I pulled him tighter into my chest. “You are a precious and beautiful human being, who—like the rest of us—deserves to be happy.” This certainly was not the time to tell him he was the key to my happiness.
    “I never told you all the details of why I ended up selling myself, did I?”
    “You said you had no money, nowhere to live, but Jake let you stay at his place, so long as you worked for him.”
    “That’s only part of the story. When I got off the bus in town I sat on a bench in the bus station. I had no idea what to do. I must have sat there for hours just glad I’d gotten away from my dad, but I’d run away without thinking where I was actually running to.” Mark let out a long breath.
    I kept rubbing his arm, offering silent support.
    “It was getting dark, and I