Beasts and Burdens (15 page)

“You haven’t seen nothing yet.” Levi smirked. “You want to take a soak before you head to bed.”

Ethan wanted to say no, but he figured he should let his food settle before he went completely supine for several hours.  

38

Like most public bath houses, Ethan was required to shower prior to entering the hot tub style water baths. Clad in a one-size-fits-all drawstring swimwear he slipped into the bath and immediately yawned.

When he opened his eyes again, Adrianna was standing across the bath from him, looking uneasy. She was in what looked like night clothes: a long flaring top and tight shorts that could have doubled as underwear. The scant clothing showed off her thin arms and legs, that by some men’s standards might have been attractive, but Ethan was in agreement with Levi that she was much too skinny.

Ethan was about to ask if she wanted to come in when Levi yelled behind him. “Cannonball!” Levi splashed into the short pool making water go everywhere. When he bobbed back up he whipped his wet hair around like a dog splashing Adrianna intentionally, and consequently Ethan. “Woo! I hate living in a cave, but this makes it almost worth the vitamin D shots.”

Ethan was surprised to see that Levi was far more muscular than he would have presumed. His compact body was lean enough to show a six pack without much effort, but his arm definition was as much from strength as lack of fat. He wondered if that was natural or if Annette had snuck him a few dragon shakes to build him up to be a better bell hop.

“Are you coming in tag-a-long?” Levi propped his hands on his hips while Adrianna dipped her toe in at edge of the water. “Come on just jump in.” Adrianna pressed down her shirt, as if she was afraid that it would bubble up and float off the minute she jumped in. Which, given the loose design, was entirely possible. “Here,” Levi stuck out his pinky and moved to the edge of the pool. “I won’t give you a hand, but I’ll give you a pinky. You can step down onto the seat and wade in.”

Adrianna looked at him sadly.

“I’ll be fine, just think your happy thoughts.” He wiggled his pinky.

Adrianna tentatively reached out her hand, deciding as she went how to grab his finger. When there seemed no way to do it without bending his finger back uncomfortably, he opened his hand and offered the whole support. She paused looking at him fearfully.

“Come on. Don’t be shy.”

She rested her hand in his and stepped down into the pool. When she let go, she looked to Levi for an answer she hadn’t put a question to.

“Not bad, I don’t feel like bashing my head into a wall. Maybe you’re getting better at this.”

She smiled and he smiled back. He turned away from her to join Ethan against the wall and his face winced into something akin to pain. It was unclear what kind of pain, so Ethan decided not to get into that conversation with Adrianna present.

When Levi was situated an arm’s length away, he reached over and nudged Ethan. “Check this out. Hey, Addy, do the thing for Ethan?” She blushed and shook her head. Levi laughed. “What’s wrong? Ethan’s a good guy, he won’t tell.”

Ethan glanced between them trying to discern if this was going to be an inappropriate display.

Levi leaned down into the water and blew bubbles in the water. When he came back up shrugging in mock surprise, Addy, as he called her, smiled at him. “Come on, just a few.”

Adrianna caved to his badgering and leaned forward to blow bubbles in the water. However, instead of a few blubbering quakes in front of her mouth, the entire tub erupted into tumultuous, foaming, bubbling water.

“Holy hell,” Ethan looked to Levi for an explanation.

“I told you she was amazing.” Levi smiled and settled back into his spot for a nap.

Ethan did the same, but he noted that Adrianna moved to a spot nearer to Levi. He assumed that she didn’t want to be close to a complete stranger, but given the expanse of the pool bath she didn’t have to be near either of them. Despite her reluctance to touch Levi, she still preferred to be nearer to him, than not.

39

Daniel couldn’t help but watch her fall apart beneath him. Sometimes it felt like it was the only time he saw the real Nevia. She wasn’t trying to be stoic or brave. She was just embracing life and the wonderful privileges of the human reproductive system.

He told himself he wouldn’t do this again. He’d been telling himself that for six months. At first the arguments between him, her, and Heaton were enough to cool his attraction to her, but eventually she made a move on him that he couldn’t deny. Since then at least once a month, she made her intentions clear and brought his desires reluctantly to a simmer again.

Every time he thought he understood what she wanted, she threw him off again. He had depended on her to be open and honest about their social relationship and shy about their physical relationship, but now it seemed to be the opposite. He was the one who had to bring up the uncomfortable discussions about the future and what potential they had together if sex was the only thing drawing them to each other. She was the one evading the question and insisting he not think too hard about it.

As a result, he was starting to feel more and more like a booty call. At one time, that type of relationship would have been ideal, but now he resented it. He didn’t mind the part where he was being used for sex. The part that turned him off was that one day she would find a more appropriate man to walk down the aisle with and have children with and…

“What’s wrong?” Nevia asked breathlessly beneath him. He hadn’t realized he had stopped.

“You good?” he asked distantly aware of how blatant it sounded.

“Sure, but you didn’t…” He was off her before she could finish the sentence. It was true, but he didn’t care. His mind was stuck on the image of standing in the back of a big beautiful church while she gave herself body, heart, and contractual obligation, to another man. The idea was enough to shut down his libido completely.

He slipped on his pants, and went into the kitchen for a beer. He decided on a soda. He didn’t need to dull this moment. He needed to embrace it. Maybe this was the pain he needed to help him say, “No” to her.

Nevia stepped into the kitchen wrapping herself in a silk robe that she had
accidentally
left in his bathroom. She also
accidentally
left her toothbrush, hairbrush, and she probably didn’t even know that he knew about her
special
compact, stuffed in the back of his bathroom drawer. Preparations for impromptu sleepovers, wasn’t quite the long term outlook for their relationship that he wanted. 

“Daniel?” She stayed away from him, which meant that he probably looked mad as hell. He wasn’t trying to, and he didn’t want her to be afraid of him, but never the less she did know his boundaries pretty well. She usually just trampled on them, but this was different. This wasn’t frustrated relationship anger, this was hurt anger, and she couldn’t distract him from it with sex. This might actually have to be…discussed.

“Do you want me to go?” she asked crossing her arms self-consciously.

“Do you want to go?” He said without a thought about how insolent he sounded. He wished he could smell her emotions as easily as she could him.

She held his gaze for a moment, but then looked down at the floor. “I…want…” She stammered.

Before she could articulate what she wanted, there was a sharp rap at the door. Daniel brushed past her and opened the door. Heaton was on the other side. He took a quick note of Daniel’s bare chest, bare feet, and Nevia stepping around the corner in a robe. The scolding, disappointed “dude” was implied, but not said. Instead he nodded at her cordially and stepped inside.      

Heaton was the one person that had gotten the full report on everything that was happening between him and Nevia. Daniel had expected that Heaton’s coming out—to him—would somehow benefit him with yogi-level relationship advice, but the only contribution he had after the beans were spilled was: “Stop sleeping with her.” It seemed to be the general consensus that the only way to figure out if a relationship could stand on more than sex, was to stop having sex. It made sense, but that was easier said than done. Other than that sage advice, Heaton had been trying to stay out of it. Which was also easier said than done, since they all worked together. 

“What’s up?” Daniel said slumping down on his newly delivered couch. He still had his bed in the living room, but only because he had been too lazy to move it. For reasons opposing his previous agendas, he was starting to see the advantages of having a separate room for his bed.

“Just got a call from Sophie, something’s gone amuck with Danato’s house. It tried to take over Cori’s mind.”

“Feck.” Daniel scooted to the edge of the couch, suddenly uncomfortable with being comfortable.

“How did that happen?” Nevia closed the gap between them sitting on the arm of the couch beside him. It felt strangely intimate, like he should place his hand on her back to gently rub it, but he didn’t know if that was what she wanted, or if she just wanted to sit…right beside him.

Heaton noted the move. He seemed just as surprised by it, but didn’t let it distract his purpose, which judging by his tone was important. “I didn’t get the specifics, but Cori is on her way here. Danato wants you to watch over her while the house settles down.”

“Me?” Daniel asked. “He specifically asked for me?”

“According to Sophie, you are the designated baby-mama-sitter. All other priorities are being back logged.”

“Feck. What does Ethan think about this?”

“Ethan is in Asia, and apparently isn’t going to be back soon.”

“Oh. What’s he—”

“I don’t know.” Heaton looked at Nevia. “We are affectively on vacation until further notice. I was thinking this might be a good opportunity for you to visit your family in America, if you want.”

Nevia stared blankly at him. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Heaton glanced at Daniel. He was about to stick his foot in his mouth and was looking for opposition, but Daniel didn’t really care one way or another. “No, of course not, but we’ve all been working pretty hard. It might be nice to get a break from each other. Clear our heads.”

“My head isn’t foggy,” she said dismissively. “I think I’ll head out.” She looked back at Daniel. “Call me when she gets in.” He nodded. It was all he could do. The night had just taken a turn for the worst. Not only was he having relationship drama, he was about to add a hormonal pregnant woman to his life.

Nevia slipped on her pants, sans panties—which Daniel noticed went in her pocket. She didn’t bother leaving the room to slip off her robe and put on her t-shirt. The half turn, that prevented Heaton from seeing everything—not that he cared—afforded Daniel a glimpse of her pert, ever alert nipples. He bit the inside of his cheek, in hopes that the pain would keep him from remembering that he had yet to satisfy himself.

After Nevia had collected her things, she slipped out the door. Part of him wanted her to kiss him good-bye, but that was only the part that wanted more than a kiss.

“You know she does it on purpose,” Heaton said stalking back in from the kitchen with a beer for both of them.
Now
was the time for beer.

“I love you, man,” he said before he took a wistfully long draw from the bottle. Heaton smirked and shook his head. Daniel wasn’t entirely comfortable with his best friend being gay, but he also didn’t want to be the guy that thought their sexuality had anything to do with why they were friends. He was still working on a happy medium between friendly ridicule for his hair and clothes, and the drunken familial love declarations.

“I know you do,” Heaton said before chugging half his beer.

“What does she do on purpose?” Daniel asked after he had quenched his thirst.

“That.” He nodded to the bed. “She lures you back in with sex. A little goes a long way with you right now. The minute you stop giving her puppy dog eyes she’s on you. Hell, dude, I know you’re getting laid before you do.”

“I can see it coming, man.” Daniel cleared his throat. “She’s going to just shag me until her future husband comes along, and then I’ll be the shit on her boot, that she just needs to scrape off.” He shifted unable to find a good position. “Feck, why can’t she just get it over with? We are so doomed. She knows it; I know it.”

“Have you talked about it?”

“I’ve tried. It either results in an argument or sex, usually both. I can’t get enough traction on this relationship to even start it, let alone end it.”

“Maybe she feels the same way. Maybe she’s just trying to remind herself why you began this in the first place.”

“It began because I met the one woman in the world that actually wanted a one night stand. She started this, and now I don’t want to end it, but…” Daniel stopped and drank his beer. He’d already told Heaton this. He needed to just tell Nevia that he loved her, and if she wasn’t interested in more than just shagging, then leave him alone. It just hurt too bad to be
with
her, and not really be with her.

“Daniel, don’t get caught up in the end of the story before you’ve finished the first chapters. Maybe you just need to give her a reason to hang around, instead of demanding that she not leave.”