Page 4 of Touch In Excess

He loved it immediately. It was old and wild and as far from modern as Skye had seen in a long while.

“That’s nice,” Rami said. He took a seat in one of the three chairs on the lawn. Two were sunning chairs that had seen better days, but since Skye didn’t have any other options, he dropped his ass to the edge, hoping the wood frame wouldn’t give him splinters. “Do you have a phone? You can borrow mine if you need to call for your car.”

Skye reached into his pocket and waved the device before pulling up his app and ordering the ride. His location pinged, and he glanced at the address before looking back over at Rami.

The man had immediately gotten back to work. He wasn’t actually working with plaster, Skye realized. It was clay. He was dipping both arms to the elbow in a bucket of cloudy water, then using the tips of his fingers to make dips and grooves in what he was working on.

“What is it?”

Rami looked at him with a frown.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt. I just?—”

“No,” Rami said quickly. “I like talking about it. I just don’t know yet. Usually I mess around with the clay until something pops out at me, but I haven’t been able to get this one to talk to me.”

Skye smiled. He liked the way Rami talked about the clay like it was sentient and he was just waiting for a story. “Is this what you do?”

“Do? I mean, I’m sculpting, so?—”

“I meant for work,” Skye clarified with a small grin.

Rami snorted. “Oh. Yeah, this is what I do for work. The great family disappointment.”

“Ah. One of those?”

Rami bit his lip and looked almost upset. Before Skye could retract the question, he answered, but Skye couldn’t catch any of the words. He had his face tipped down so he couldn’t see his lips, so he had no hope of understanding.

Part of him wasn’t sure if he should ask Rami to repeat himself. But he also wanted to know. “Sorry. I can’t hear you. Do you mind looking up at me when you speak?”

Rami looked up, his cheeks flushing. “Oh!” He lifted his hands, switching to ASL. ‘Sorry.’

“Hey, if it’s too much for you, you don’t have to tell me.”

Rami shook his head. “No, it was my fault. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed, but it’s not because you asked.”

Skye’s brow furrowed. “Listen, we’re basically strangers. I’m sitting here bleeding on your lawn after?—”

“You’re bleeding!” Rami jumped up like he just realized Skye was injured and turned on his heel, darting up the drive and disappearing through the front door.

Skye sat stunned, wondering what the fuck just happened. Was the guy scared of blood? Skye had a few clients with different phobias, but none of them had ever run out on himlike that. His stomach sank in disappointment. He was enjoying Rami’s company, and he hated that he’d sent him running.

His phone buzzed with a ride update. Twenty-five minutes. Fuck. Maybe he should go wait out on the curb. He wouldn’t be comfortable there, but it wasn’t like he was comfortable perched at the edge of a very old, sun-damaged lounge chair in the yard of a man who didn’t want him there.

God, this day had gone from worse to weird as fuck.

Just as he was climbing to his feet, Rami was suddenly there again, hurrying back toward him. He motioned with his hands quickly for Skye to sit, and out of shock, he did. His ass hit the lounger just as Rami stepped within touching distance and dropped to his knees.

He couldn’t hear a thud or anything, but from the way Rami winced, it had to have hurt.

“What,” he started, but then Rami brandished a red bag with a white cross on it.

“First aid.”

“Oh. No, it’s—” He couldn’t get the sentence out. Rami took him by the calf and stretched his leg out, frowning at the huge scrape across his knee.

“Did you know that you can get tetanus without rust? The rust thing is a myth. It’s actually a bacteria you can get in any open wound.” With surprisingly tender fingers, Rami began to clean the scrape with a wet gauze. It stung, but not as bad as Skye was expecting. “Also, you should never blow on open cuts. I don’t know why moms always do that. It’s a good way to get the cut dirty again.”

“So…was med school your thing?” Skye asked with a slight laugh.

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