Read Online Chance to Be King by Sue Brown - Free Book Online

dogs, dude. They haven't learned to spell." he explained patiently.
"You do realize they can't understand what you say, either."
     
"Ya think?"
     
Thomas turned to see both dogs slinking off quietly in the opposite direction, towards the stairs.
    "Toby, Millie! Come back here!" Eric ordered sharply. The dogs stopped in their tracks and slunk back to sit in front of him with their ears down and their tails between their legs. "Yeah, they don't understand at all," he said sarcastically.
    Thomas chuckled "You win," and left the kitchen to find the towels. "I saw that!" he yelled as he went out the door.
    Eric hastily tucked his tongue back into his mouth and tried to look innocent. "Don't know what he's talking about," he said to the dogs. "Ba— um… dinnertime, guys."
"Does your momma know you lie like a devilchild?"
    Eric ground his teeth as the mocking question echoed from the hallway. It wouldn't be a good thing to throttle the man giving him shelter, would it? "It's not lying. It's merely manipulating the truth. It will be dinnertime at some point."
"You keep telling yourself that, princess. The dogs and I know different."
    Half an hour later, and leaving two damp, fresher-smelling, and distinctly disgruntled dogs in front of the range to dry out, Eric and Thomas crashed in front of the TV with their brandies and a bag of chips.
    Stretching his legs out, Eric sighed tiredly as he sipped at his drink. He would have liked to go to bed but it seemed a little rude to desert his host so quickly.
Thomas gave him a knowing look. "Tired?"
    "Yeah," admitted Eric, fighting off another yawn. "God knows why, considering I've only been up since three. You should be more tired than I am since you had less sleep."
"I am pretty shattered," agreed Thomas. "I'm out early tomorrow but you don't have to rush up." "Good," Eric grunted. "So, what are we going to watch?"
     
"One of yours?"
     
"Hell, no," Eric snorted "Not unless you want me to be watching from behind a cushion the whole movie."
    "Like you're gonna be awake beyond the opening credits," Thomas scoffed as he rummaged through his DVD collection. He eventually emerged triumphant with a battered copy of a film. "Heh! What about Brucie?"
"A classic."
    Thomas popped it in the DVD player and they settled back to watch Bruce Willis save the world from Alan Rickman for about ten minutes. Before the hero laid eyes on the villain both men were fast asleep, snoring gently in their respective corners of the sofa.

Chapter 4
    A pounding headache disturbed Eric's sleep. He really didn't want to open his eyes. Eric wasn't sure if he was going to be sick or not but he knew he needed to use the bathroom. Reluctantly, he opened one eye to discover he'd spent the night on the sofa; he was lying flat out upon with a blanket covering him.
    Sitting up gingerly, he closed his eyes and swallowed hard as the change in position caused his head and stomach to go into free-fall.
"'Ric, you okay, dude?"
    From beyond the pain, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and opened his eyes a fraction to a worried look from his host. Eric's vision now had sparkling lights dancing around the edges. Bugger. Gonna be a bad one.
"Bad headache," he gasped out. Even moving his jaw seemed to hurt.
    The pressure on his shoulder increased slightly, then vanished as Thomas said softly, "Hold on." Eric wasn't going anywhere, full bladder or not.
A minute later, Thomas was saying, "Here, take these."
    Eric opened his eyes a little to see a glass of cold water and a couple of tablets in Thomas' hand. He took them and swallowed them down, working hard to suppress his stomach's desire to hurl them straight back up in protest.
"Okay?" Thomas asked after a minute.
    Eric nodded, then wished he hadn't as the crazy dancing lights started in his head. "Let's get you into bed."
Eric let Thomas help him up and they walked slowly to the stairs.
     
"Dogs." He knew they'd need a walk by now. Thomas' arm tightened around his waist. "I'll