Unforgotten (Forgiven)

mate.” I gave him a grin. Luke had once said that Mia would’ve been better off if she’d fallen for Billy all those years ago. That they had more in common. I’d argued against it, but he’d been right about their shared propensity for starting a fight over nothing. Luckily for me, I’d spent my whole life with Mia, which meant Billy’s animosity went over my head. He could bicker all day if he liked; he’d be doing it alone.
I got out of the van, half expecting him to stay where he was, but he followed and met me at the back door. “Did you finish stripping the old surface off yesterday?”
“Mostly.” I opened the van and started unloading tools. “There’s just some felt and timber fillets to come off. If you put the ladders up, I’ll help you take the tarps down.”
Another grunt. Billy slid the ladders from the top of the van and set them against the side of the house as if he did it every day. He danced up them and heaved himself onto the roof, and even after years of working with Luke, I’d never been so struck by how beautiful a man could be silhouetted by the early morning sun. Billy took my breath away, though without the proper gear on, he did look a little like he was casing the joint.
A snort escaped me. I was too far away for Billy to hear me, but he glared down from the rooftop all the same. “Are you helping me, or what?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I joined him on the roof and we rolled back the protective covering Luke and I had left in place the previous night. The night before that, I’d worked alone knowing I’d be coming home to Billy. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Billy fetched a spade and set to work stripping the remnants of the old roof like a pro. I watched him as long as I could bear, then retreated to the van to find a tape measure to double-check the membrane specs.
The whole day played out on a cycle of rinse and repeat. Billy did everything I asked before I asked him to do it, while I hovered around him under the pretence of inspecting his expert work. Luke worked like a dog, but his obsession with perfection often held us up. Billy was less ridiculous. He worked fast and hard, and we were half a day ahead by the time we lost the light. The only thing dampening my mood was the fact that he hadn’t been interested in stopping for lunch.
With Luke, I’d have chipped off on my own, but I didn’t fancy leaving Billy to work alone, so I ate his breakfast sandwich in two bites and carried on until the sun dipped too low to see what we were doing.
The house we were working on was quiet by day, but as we packed up the van, folks began to come home. Billy was on top of the van when the occupants of the house opposite pulled onto their drive. Rushmere was a small town. I knew most names, and almost every face, which meant everyone knew mine.
And, despite his absence, Billy’s too.
“Jesus-fucking-Christ. When did that little shit get out of prison?”
I stuck my head around the van door. The father of the house—Barry Keane—was on the pavement, glaring up at Billy.
Billy scowled right back. “Day release, mate. I’ll be back in the nick in time for Corrie.”
“You bloody toerag. I don’t want you anywhere near my house. I’m calling the police.”
Keane turned on his heel. I intercepted him at his front door. “What’s the actual problem here? We’re not even working on your house.”
“Don’t care. That scumbag is trouble. My missus will go mad if she sees him outside.”
“She won’t see him. We’re packing up, and he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
It took a while, but eventually I managed to convince Keane not to call the police. How we’d manage tomorrow when we returned to work on the same house, I had no idea, but I was a live-in-the-moment kind of guy.
Billy was waiting by the van, his face a study of bored nonchalance, though his hands were restless. Jittery. Despite his sardonic smirk, he was rattled. “Did he at least make you a brew while he spouted all the bullshit at you?”
“Nope. But he’s not calling the police, so there’s that.”
“Don’t care if he does.”
“I do. We have to come back here tomorrow.”
Billy snorted. “Like that’s happening. Luke will do his nut when he finds out about this, and that’ll be the end of our beautiful partnership.”
I opened the driver door and threw my gloves inside. “Why would Luke find out?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’ve got him on speed dial?”
“Says who?”
“Says anyone who knows him. How else would he cope letting me work for him?”
I sighed. “Him wanting to know how you’re getting on isn’t the same as him checking up on you. Why do you give him such a hard time? He didn’t have to give you a job.”
“Yeah.” Billy pulled a packet of cigarettes from somewhere and lit up, blowing smoke in my general direction in a clear attempt to irritate me.
I waved the smoke away and grinned. Try harder.
His glower returned. He jammed the cigarette in his mouth and turned away. “Whatever. I don’t want his fucking charity anyway.”
“Why not? The business belongs to your family. He’d probably give it to you if you asked. He doesn’t want it.”
Billy didn’t answer. He walked away and ducked down an alleyway, disappearing in the fading light. I thought about following him, but instinct warned me off. Billy wasn’t a bloke who could be chased down and forced to be reasonable. I’d just have to wait and see if he’d show up tomorrow.
I drove the van to the gym on the outskirts of town, half expecting to find Luke there. He wasn’t, so I worked out alone, ignoring the Grindr notifications as I got my