Brad took a step back and Charlie was scared that she’d done something wrong.

Do guys not like it if you tell them what to do?

‘You don’t have to take your shirt off,’ Charlie said nervously as Brad swept a hand over his greasy brow and stared down at floor tiles.

Brad shook his head and breathed deep. ‘It’s not about the shirt.’

Charlie felt like a germ. ‘Is something wrong with me?’

‘You’re awesome,’ Brad said softly. ‘But I’m guessing you’re new at this …’

‘I’ll be sent back to White Boulder tomorrow,’ Charlie pleaded. ‘My whole life is shit. I might not be alone with a guy again for years.’

‘You don’t know you’re going back,’ Brad said.

Charlie slid off the cabinet, looking tearful. ‘With my luck, you can bet the farm.’

Brad surprised Charlie by closing again. He pushed her back on to the worktop and stood between her legs, teasing them apart.

‘Do you like that?’

She shuddered with pleasure as he kissed her neck.

‘It’ll hurt if it’s your first time,’ Brad said. ‘Tell me you really want it.’

‘I want you,’ Charlie gasped, scared of what she was getting into, but surprised by a lack of doubts. Even a painful escape seemed better than reality.

28 COLGATE CHEST

Charlie sat on Brad’s toilet and felt spaced out as she peed. So, that was sex then …

Brad reached from under the covers when she came out and picked her shorts off the floor.

‘Come back to bed,’ he said softly.

Charlie liked being spooned, with his hand on her belly and his breath spreading around her neck and down her back. Brad fell asleep quickly, but Charlie couldn’t get comfortable without waking him up and found herself staring into the gloom, somehow comforted by the photo of Brad’s twin sisters at the end of the bed.

She hadn’t expected to sleep, so it was a surprise when Brad woke her, stroking her cheek with his little finger and kissing softly as she opened her eyes.

‘Another day,’ Brad said ruefully.

Hazy light breached a crack in the curtains as he climbed over Charlie, scratching his butt as he padded to the bathroom.

Charlie rolled to the middle of the single bed, finding Brad’s heat and realising that his sheets were disgusting. She liked Brad’s smell, but there were dried-out noodles stuck to the duvet and the thought that other girls had been here made her feel itchy.

Brad spat toothpaste in the basin, then leaned out of the bathroom door, his perfect chest blobbed with Colgate.

‘Sleep good?’ he asked.

‘I guess,’ Charlie said, yawning as she instinctively pulled the covers up to her neck. ‘It’s only twenty past seven.’

‘I have to leave earlier when Mel’s staying at her dad’s,’ Brad explained.

The girlfriend’s name made the bed even less comfortable.