Book of Love - David Horne Page 0,7

to do tomorrow. Good thing it's the holidays," Matt said as he stood from his seat.

Alfred smiled up at him. "Sounds good. I'll file these and as you said, hit the hay as well." They both laughed at the awful joke. Matt smiled at Alfred before he patted Sam's head. "I've been meaning to ask you what kind of dog is Sam?"

Looking at Sam, Alfred smiled as the dog leaned into the head pats. "He's a Welsh Corgi, the kind of dogs the queen of England has."

Matt snored and gave Alfred a highly amused look. "Keeping it British, I see."

Alfred gave a sheepish grin, it made Alfred close his eyes as he tilted his head.

"Actually, he's a rescue."

Matt looked at Alfred in wonder.

"Two rescues. You're a real hero." It was said with no sarcasm . It caused Alfred to blush a pretty pink. The man cleared his throat before shooing Matt out the door with an order to call his mom and tell her that she was more than welcome to visit.

It warmed Matt's heart that he would be able to see his mother. He missed her something fierce.

Once he got to his room, he removed everything in his duffle bag, he was lucky the thing was so damn large. No one had tried to mug him. He placed his laptop bag on the bed, leaving it there for now. He also removed all his dirty clothes and put them in the hamper.

At the bottom of the bag was his charger.

His phone took a while to charge up before he could turn it on. The moment the phone had signal, it blew up with messages and missed calls. All from his mother.

She answered at the first ring.

"Matthew! Where on earth have you been? Your father called, asking if I had seen you. Of course, the man would not tell me what's going on! Please tell me you are all right?" His mother spoke in quick succession. It brought a smile to his face.

"I'm fine now. Are you busy tomorrow?" he asked, thinking it would be better to explain everything in person than over the phone, and that way, she could also meet Alfred.

"I have the day off," his mother said sounding suspicious.

"I need you to meet me at this bookstore tomorrow afternoon. I'll explain everything, but I really am a good mom. I'm perfectly safe, and I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. So call down, please."

That seemed to do the trick as he heard a sigh of relief.

"Okay, honey, I'll see you tomorrow."

Chapter Three

The next morning was surreal for Matt. The bed was soft, and the area quiet. He had the best sleep of his life. His back had thanked him profusely, and his mind was at ease.

He smiled when he remembered that his mother would be dropping by. The smile faded a bit when he remembered that he would also tell her everything.

She knew that he was gay. She was the first person he told. He knew deep in his heart that she would not condemn him since his mom had many gay friends. Taking a deep breath, Matt rose from the comfy bed and stumbled his way into the bathroom to start his morning routine.

He made his bed before looking into the closet where more spare clothing rested for him. Alfred had told him that he had a habit of spilling coffee and food on himself. So, he thought it best to have extra clothing. Luckily, he could wash his jeans in the laundry room. Alfred himself commented, Matt also doubted that, but for a few shirts bought a size too large on purpose, nothing would actually fit him.

He got dressed in his own jeans and a pure white t-shirt and some sneakers. His phone vibrated where it was resting on the nightstand.

It was his mother just confirming the time she would come.

Matt left his room for the kitchen. The smell of bacon was the first thing to reach his nose as he entered the room. He saw Alfred standing in front of the stove with an apron on. Underneath he wore skinny black jeans, a black t-shirt and his clunky combat boots from the day before. The all-black look just showed the man's natural lanky figure.

"Good morning," Matt muttered as he ambled his way to the coffee machine. Alfred looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" Alfred had turned back to the stove to flip the