Hell. He shouldn’t be surprised that Isaiah had fucked around with his roommate. He liked sex, something he’d made clear even as a brash virgin. He got around, flitting from one crush to the next. He’d undoubtedly tell Mark that the encounter had meant nothing, and probably be telling the truth. As good as it had felt to tell Isaiah that he was asexual and to have Isaiah treat it like a normal thing, he knew they were still oceans apart on how they viewed sex. Isaiah required sex, on some fundamental level, while Mark could go months and months without thinking about it unless he had one of his rare crushes.
He felt silly, foolish even, daydreaming about massages and baths and couch cuddle time with a guy like Isaiah. He could never be what Isaiah wanted, what he needed.
Chapter Twelve
Mark was in a bad mood. Isaiah could tell because he used the grumpy bear voice for every character in the story he read the girls while Isaiah got Liam down. He’d been off all afternoon, ever since Isaiah’s friends had split, making himself scarce until dinner.
“Come on. You’ve earned some ice cream,” Isaiah said when Mark emerged from their room.
“I should get back to bills—” Mark protested but Isaiah steered him toward the stairs.
“You can’t do paperwork all day. You need to relax. Don’t you SEALs ever have fun?”
“I went for a run earlier.” Mark followed Isaiah down the stairs and into the kitchen. “And you should have fun too. Go out with your friends this weekend.”
Pausing midway to the fridge, Isaiah frowned. “Did you hear Tony giving me a hard time earlier? I’ve got no desire to go party, promise. Maybe we can rent a PG-13 movie for after the kids are asleep Friday. Get wild.” He laughed but Mark didn’t. “What? Don’t like that idea?”
“You’re a young guy. You don’t deserve to be stuck here—”
“Neither of us do. But here we are.” Isaiah changed his mind and went for a beer instead of the rocky road. “And honestly, I’m not pining for my friends—ow.” His neck twinged when he reached for the beer, protesting the day’s hard work.
“Here.” Mark grabbed the beer and opened it for him, then grabbed one for himself. “You overdid it again.”
“Yeah.” What he wanted even more than the beer was another Mark massage, but Mark still seemed hella grumpy, and Isaiah had already resolved to not push.
“I cleaned earlier.” Mark fiddled with the bottle. “In the master. You should take that hot soak. I...never mind.”
“What?” Isaiah had been about to refuse because no way could he face Danielle and Cal’s room after this long day, but Mark was twitchier than Isaiah had seen and now he was curious.
“I got you something. But it’s stupid—”
“You got me something?” Isaiah blinked. His family wasn’t big on presents at all, and in his friendship circle, he was usually the one doing nice things, not the other way around.
“Okay. Bring your phone.” Mark’s shoulders stiffened like he was heading to battle as he went back upstairs.
Well and truly intrigued now, Isaiah grabbed both beer and phone and followed him to the master. Mark didn’t flip on a light for the bedroom and Isaiah didn’t either, following him into the bathroom, a room that Isaiah had never had reason to be in before. The porcelain surfaces all gleamed—when Mark cleaned, he cleaned, thank you, Navy—and it looked not unlike an upscale hotel bathroom or spa magazine shoot, no trace of Cal and Danielle’s things. On the long granite counter, there was a large container of Epsom salts.
“You got those for me?” Isaiah’s chest suddenly felt too small for his heart.
“And some candles.” Mark indicated three simple pillar candles set near the tub. “I thought it might help you relax. That and the speakers.”
“Speakers?” Isaiah’s heart was seriously not going to recover from this.
“For your phone. I figured with the candles and your music, you might forget about where you were and let the water work its magic.”
“Magic, huh?” Isaiah was finding it hard to breathe what with his eyes burning and throat clogged. There was magic all right, and it was all in this man next to him.
“Water’s good for you.” Mark was blushing which was the most adorable thing ever.
“They do call you Wizard,” he joked because he needed to not give into all the feels swamping him.
“I can grab the baby monitor, listen for you while you do this...” Cheeks still stained dark pink, Mark backed toward the door.
“Mark.” Isaiah stopped him. “Thanks. I’m sorry if Lonzo and Tony upset you. I appreciate this a lot. Really.”
“They didn’t upset me.” Mark didn’t meet Isaiah’s eyes.
“Liar.”
“I just... Tony doesn’t really seem your type.”
“He’s not.” Isaiah laughed because the alternative was to curse. Of course, Mark would have heard Lonzo teasing about that. Fuck. Isaiah really was the king of inconvenient hookups. “I’m not sure I have a type. I just get these crushes, most of which are a terrible idea. And I’m trying to work on my taste. Tony was kind of...a low point.”