Kellus looked over to see it was nine forty-five in the morning. He’d slept the morning away. Scrambling from bed, he grabbed the robe and slipped it on then quickly tied it at the waist. He ran his fingers through his hair as he headed to the restroom. Arik had left a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush on the counter in plain sight.
He quickly made himself presentable, then went back into the bedroom to pour himself a cup of coffee before going in search of the office. For the first time, he saw other people in the penthouse and wondered if they’d been there the whole time. The place was very quiet, and the housekeeping staff seemed designed to fade into the background. When he finally opened the right door, he found Arik behind his desk, dressed in his normal suit and tie with the suit coat hung on a hanger along the back wall. He was leaning back in his oversized leather chair, reading from a large, bound document.
“Am I interrupting?”
Arik’s face lit up as those amber eyes turned toward him. He pushed his body forward, righting the seat, then rose from the chair.
“Of course not. Come in.”
Arik came around the corner and met him before he reached the two chairs in front of the desk. “You found the hairbrush.”
He lifted a hand at the same time Kellus did, beating him at jostling the freshly brushed hair. Arik didn’t hesitate; he leaned in to kiss his lips as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I’ve been up for hours. I’ve done some things where you’re concerned that I should probably tell you about,” Arik said, extending a hand to one of the chairs.
“Okay,” Kellus replied, curious as to what Arik had to say. He took a drink of the hot coffee before setting the cup on Arik’s desk.
“The most important one. I’ve scheduled a meeting with a counselor at the department of health this evening. They’re staying late to talk to us,” Arik said, propping himself against the edge of the desk.
“That’s good. Surprising actually. They can be tricky to get in to see so quickly.” The days of him being a versatile bed partner were behind him. He knew Paula, the social worker, would easily back him up on that fact. She’d never want anyone to risk transmitting any disease. Maybe going through with this meeting would help Arik decide if he would ultimately be truly happy in this relationship with all the restrictions in the bedroom.
“Iris is good at working her magic,” Arik said and reached down to take Kellus’s hands before pulling him up and between his spread thighs. Then he casually wrapped his arms around his back, gripping his ass as he nestled him in closer.
“I need to get my van worked on. I’ll have to do that this morning. I should’ve called yesterday,” Kellus said, picking up his coffee cup, being careful not to splash any on Arik as he took another long drink.
“I can get us to the meeting. What happened to the van?” Arik asked.
“Vandalized the night of the party. I guess I didn’t tell you that part.” So much had happened that it was hard to keep straight.
“No. I could’ve gotten that taken care of this morning while you were sleeping—” Arik started, but Kellus cut him off.
“You can’t just take care of everything that comes up.” He tried to move from Arik’s hold. He should know better than to allow himself to get this close when Arik said things like “we need to talk.” Frustrations always ensued. Arik locked his arms around him and held him in place while Kellus was forced to concentrate on not allowing the coffee to spill over the cup rim in his struggle for release.
“Sure I can. I got a report this morning. All’s good at the home front. I’m waiting on a message about upgrading the security system.”
This time Kellus set the coffee mug on the desk with a little more force than he’d intended in order to break the vise-like hold Arik had on him, before stepping back several feet. Arik started to follow.
“You can’t upgrade my security system,” he said incredulously. God, the balance in this relationship was already way out of sync; Arik had to stop trying to save him. Ultimately, it would be too much—his life was so fucked up, and before long Arik would grow to resent him.
“Sure I can. I employ some of the best security personnel in the country. This is nothing at all compared to what they deal with on a daily basis,” Arik explained and leaned back on the desk so casually that Kellus grew even more agitated.
“Arik, when you do things like that, it makes us even more off-balance with one another.” Kellus raised his voice, talking over Arik’s calm casualness, trying to make him understand that every part of his life was pathetic as hell. They would never stand side by side if Arik wallowed along with him through all John’s muck.