Boots (12 page)

She touched his arm, or his approximation of an arm in the spirit world. "You have suffered long, my kasha. Perhaps too long. I cannot bear to see you languish as a shade. I give you a choice."

He tore his gaze from Willem, hope leaping in him. "What choice, my lady?"

"You may return to him. I will heal your body so you may live in it again."

"And the price? There is always a price, yes?"

"There is a balance to all things, Yorukaze. I need not tell you so. You may return to him, but you will be human, with the needs and frailties of a human and a human's lifespan."

Yorukaze turned his gaze back to the living world where Willem still wept over him. A little smile twitched at his lips. "I give you Arwen's answer, my lady."

"Pardon?"

"I choose a mortal life."

"So be it."

The dizzy plummet toward earth stole any thanks he wished to give her, the rush and plunge ending in a heavy thump as he rejoined his body. He gasped, his eyes flying open as his body arched in its struggle with the sudden renewed spark of life.

Willem sat back in shock, hands running over his face and neck. "You're not dead? You're not dead! Oh, thank God, thank God!"

"Goddess, actually," Yorukaze whispered. He still hurt and he was too weak to move more than his head. "She said I could stay. As a human, but I can stay."

Willem kissed his face repeatedly. "However she let you, oh, fuck, don't leave me again. I'll take care of you. We'll make sure you get better."

Strong arms slid under him and he felt himself lifted as Willem stood. "My dear, you did just hit your head. Maybe you shouldn't be carrying me?"

"Don't care. You're not heavy."

"And you do know you're naked?"

"Again, don't care. You're what's important right now, hon. Ms. Englestad? Can we take him someplace where there's a warm bed?"

Natt came into view. "Come home with us, Willem. You both need some looking after right now. I have plenty of room."

Over the next few days, Yorukaze confessed everything, how he had misled Willem, how he had lied to the Englestads. By the thunderclouds in Willem's eyes, he could tell his love was angry, but Willem strove to be gentle with him in all things while he recovered and didn't shout at him even once.

Being helpless annoyed him. Having Willem's hands on him to move him, to feed him, to bathe him, did not. He felt only gratitude to have those large, strong hands touch him again, in whatever capacity.

However, Willem did extract one last promise. "You have to be straight with me from now on, Kaz. No half-truths, no evasions, no lies, not even when you think it's to protect me. You want this to work, want a real relationship, you have to be honest with me."

Yorukaze made a face, though it was more for the T-shirt Willem had just forced over his head than the request.

Willem laughed. "Don't scowl like that. You have to start wearing clothes, hon. Especially with winter coming. You're human now and you'll freeze."

"It will hang on me and I don't like white," Yorukaze huffed as he let Willem help him into the armholes of the borrowed shirt. He moved like an old man still, but he could sit up and had begun to feed himself.

"We'll get you clothes your size soon. Whatever color you want."

"Black." He lay back, tired from the little bit of exertion. "And maybe red. I like red."

"Okay, fine. But you're stalling. I'm waiting for that promise."

He took Willem's hand, stroking his thumb over the callused palm. "You know if I give you a promise now, there's no compulsion to keep it. I could break it at any time, just like any other human lover."

"I know." Willem leaned in to kiss his forehead. "We just have to trust each other. That's part of the whole human deal."

"I promise. No more lies. No more deceptions." Yorukaze pursed his lips on a thought. "But if I should slip, would you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Rather than shout at me, would you spank me instead?"

Willem gave him a wink. "I'll spank you anytime you want, sweetheart. Any excuse to lay hands on that gorgeous little ass."

Someone cleared his throat from the doorway. Teddy stood there, red-faced but grinning. "Hey! Hate to interrupt the tender moment and all, but you've got a visitor, Will." He tossed an express envelope on the bed. "And you got a package, Kaz."

Package?
Yurokaze turned it over in his hands and then set it on the nightstand when Will's visitor appeared in the doorway. He had to tamp down a smile when he saw the familiar figure. Gunther's brows were drawn together as they did when he was uncomfortable or confused. He clutched a brown paper grocery bag tight to his left side as if it held the key to the universe.

"Gun!" Will strode around the bed to give his bother a back-pounding bear hug. "Good to see you!" He turned and waved toward the bed. "Kaz, this is my brother Gunther. Gun, this is Yorukaze, the one I told you about."

He took Gunther's offered hand and managed a pleasant, "Nice to meet you. Willem's told me so much about you." The whole thing felt beyond odd, though, since he had known Gunther for over twenty years.

"What's in the bag?" Willem asked as he settled on the edge of the bed. "Gun, don't stare."

"Oh." Gunther tore his astonished gaze away from Yorukaze to the bag as if he had forgotten it. "Sorry. You just seem... familiar. The bag. Right." He opened the top and pulled out a bottle of ginger ale and a box of tea biscuits. "Will said you were sick. These were the only things Will could stomach whenever he was sick."

"That was very kind of you. Thank you."

Gunther stayed for a few minutes, obviously uncomfortable. Knowing Gunther, it probably had more to do with being in a stranger's house than with meeting Willem's new boyfriend.

When he got up to take his leave, he clapped Will on the shoulder. "Sorry about Puss. I know you loved that old tom."

"I did, Gun, thanks. But he was more than twenty years old. How many cats do you know live that long?"

The little misdirection was, after all, not a lie. Puss had died that afternoon in the blue house. What had been carried out alive in Willem's arms was neither cat nor kasha any longer.

Will followed his brother out into the hall, where Yorukaze heard them whispering. At least his hearing was still sharper than most humans.

"So, is he Chinese or something?"

"Gun, for God's sake... "

"I mean, he looks Oriental, but those green eyes."

"Asian, dammit, Gun. Things are Oriental, not people. I think his family was from Japan."

"Oh. Well. He's a helluva lot more polite than Joey. Probably a hard worker, too."

"Keep up the stereotyping and I'm gonna kick your ass so hard you'll be looking for it for a month."

"I'm just saying, I think he'll be good for you. You look a lot better. Happier. And he's good-looking enough to be a model or something. Not that I notice that stuff."

Willem snickered. "Thanks, Gun. I'll call you in a couple days."

With Gunther gone, Yorukaze returned his attention to the envelope. He tore off the perforated strip and shook the package upside down. A rubber-banded packet of documents fell into his lap. "Willem? What is all this?"

Willem put an arm around him. "It's you, hon. It's hard to live as a human without a paper trail." He worked the rubber band off with his free hand. "This is your birth certificate, your state ID, social security card, high school diploma... "

"I didn't go to college?"

"Sadly, no. You could, though, if you wanted."

"I don't think it's necessary." He leaned back against Willem's chest. "Where did all this come from?"

He had no need to look back at Willem to see his grin. "Natt has friends in low places, apparently. Go figure."

"Ah." He leafed through the documents for a moment before the realization hit him. "I can get a job."

"You could, I guess." Willem sounded doubtful. "But I don't want you to feel like you have to. I'll support us. Natt says we can live in the blue house. It needs some fixing up after the last, um, resident, and I said I'd get everything right again for her. We'd pay her rent, of course, though she's not asking much. I could--"

"No, Willem." Yorukaze put a finger over his lips to stop him. "I will get a job. You will do what you love. Haven't the Englestads already set up commissions for you?"

"Well, yeah, but--"

"And how will you fulfill these obligations if you stumble home every night exhausted from some menial labor job?"

"Okay, but what would you do? You don't even know how to make change."

"I can count. You can teach me. I'll find something I enjoy, Willem. Don't worry. I'll simply be my charming self. Who could say no?"

Willem nuzzled at his throat. "Not me, that's for sure. All right, we'll try it your way for awhile."

"That's all I ask. We can make adjustments as we go. As you know, I'm quite flexible."

The world held no sound more beautiful than Willem's laugh.

"Marsha? My ride's here! The safe's locked. Did you need anything else?"

"Go, Kaz, we're done," the manager's voice drifted out from the stock room. "I'm right behind you. Careful going home, they're calling for snow tonight."

"Yes, ma'am. See you Wednesday."

He gathered up the bag with his new boots and shrugged into his coat. Willem had been horrified the first week he had worked at Shoe Heaven. Nearly his entire first paycheck had gone into footwear. After a stern lecture, Yorukaze had agreed to curb his "shoe habit" to once a month. He found he looked forward to the fifteenth of every month now.

Morgen waved from the front of her Cherokee. She and Teddy both had jobs at the new mall outside town and took turns ferrying him back and forth. Someday he might learn to drive, but the thought terrified him.

"Hey, handsome." She flashed her bright smile as he settled shivering into the passenger seat. "Ooo, what did you get? The loafers or the boots?"

"Boots. The ones with the silver thread."

"Nice." Her smile faded as she pulled onto the main road out of town. "I better warn you, Kaz. Doesn't sound like Will's had the best day."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Mom went by earlier to bring over some cookies and he was having a hissy fit about that swan sculpture. Can't seem to, you know, keep it up." She snickered.

"It might be the only thing he's ever had trouble keeping up," Yorukaze said in a dry tone. "Ah, well. I'm sure I can soothe his frustration."

"I'm sure you can," Morgen said with a wink. "Just didn't want you surprised if he's all growly."

He gave her a quick thank you peck on the cheek when she dropped him off, and then he hurried inside to get out of the bitter cold. A metallic crash and a thunderous male bellow rose up from the basement where Willem had his workspace.

Oh, yes. Frustrated would be an understatement.

Yorukaze shivered again, this time from anticipation. Willem's lovemaking picked up a hard bite when he had been in a temper, something Kaz craved desperately at times. The anger he would rather forego. The aftereffects could be delicious.

"Willem? Are you all right, love?" he called out as he edged down the steps.

A holocaust of graceful swans, made of bits of scrap metal joined together in amazing ways, lay about Willem's feet as if someone had shot them from the sky. He sat in a ladder-back chair, head in his hands, fingers fisted in his hair.

Yorukaze approached cautiously and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he wasn't shrugged off, he set both hands on that broad expanse and started kneading over-taut muscles. "Not the best day, I take it."

"It sucked," Willem grated out. "Nothing I try is working. I want them to look like they're soaring over the marsh, not like swans on sticks."

The hands unfisted and Willem let them fall into his lap. He seemed to be relaxing under the massage, so Yorukaze thought a little teasing might be safe.

"Maybe you need a distraction. You might think of a solution while you fuck me, esp--" He broke off with a yelp when Willem seized his wrist and hauled him around to face him.

Willem snarled through clenched teeth. "When I make love to you, I sure as
hell
don't think about anything else."

Yorukaze struggled against the tight grip. He wanted to say something angry and biting, but the still unfamiliar sting filled the backs of his eyes and his throat felt as if someone had shoved a pipe down it.

"No, oh, no." Willem's grip eased, though he snaked an arm around Yorukaze's waist. "Don't cry, Kaz. Oh, shit, please don't cry."

A gentle tug tumbled Yorukaze into his lover's lap, where, naturally, he burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Willem rocked him and petted him, his anger apparently melted. "You were just trying to cheer me up. I'm a monster. I'm sorry. Don't cry, don't cry."

He wrapped his arms around Willem's neck and allowed the sobs to rise from his belly for a few, precious minutes. After all the centuries of not being able to weep, it swept over him like a cleansing flood. Willem seemed to sense he was no longer the direct cause of this storm, and held him tighter as if he could protect Yorukaze from every agony of his past.

In many ways, he did just that.

When the sobs died to a few hitching breaths, he lifted his head from Willem's shoulder, wiping his eyes. "I'm not sure where that came from. Forgive me."

"You all right, hon?"

"Yes, much better."

Willem set Yorukaze on the chair and dropped to his knees. "You know what I want now?"

"Dinner?"

"Soon. There's a roast in the Crock-Pot. It'll keep."

"You want... " Yorukaze squirmed, his dress pants suddenly too tight as Willem continued to gaze up at him so intently. "Could you just tell me what you want?"

Willem's hands caressed up his thighs and stopped at his waist to undo his belt. "Something I couldn't have before when you were a kasha."

Nimble fingers made quick work of his fly, and then Willem slid a hand under his butt to lift him and pull his pants and bikini briefs down to his knees. He took Yorukaze's burgeoning erection in his fist and gave it one slow pump up and down.