Page 9 of A Little Discovery

Three in the morning on a Friday is basically abandoned at the Pittsburgh airport. Just for curiosity’s sake, I open up the rideshare app to see what the cost of a ride would be, and there are zero cars in the area. Like, the app is telling me that my wait time would be forty-five minutes, so I’m even more thankful to Jay for coming to pick me up at this hour.

Think of the devil and he shall appear…

“Well hello, my favorite vampire Dom,” I call out to him as he gets out to help load all of my crap into his PT Cruiser. I don’t know how he manages it, but his car is immaculate on the outside and under the hood. The interior is gaudy as all hell, but clean. If I didn’t know better, I might actually believe the man truly is a vampire. Purple velvet does not need to be lining the doors or under my ass in a car.

“Did you have this much shit when you left?” he asks as he hefts the second of three trunks into the back of the car. “I can tetris like a mother fucker, but seriously?”

“If we could fit all of Toby’s puppy gear plus his dorm room into the back of this thing, I am pretty sure there isn’t going to be a problem fitting my camera gear and a couple of suitcases,” I tell him as I load the last trunk and he shoves my last suitcase on top. “Plus, you know you like a tight fit.”

The security guy standing outside of the baggage claim doors starts choking in response to my quip, and the two of us break into laughter as we climb into the front of the Cruiser. Jay puts on his typical early aughts emo music while I settle in for the ride. We are going to have a house meeting in under seven hours, and I’m already short on sleep from the multiple flights. At least Jay works nights, so he’s used to being awake at this time.

“Before you crash,” he says making me sit up straighter and look at him. “What do you think about this Lucky guy?”

I look at Jay in utter confusion. I have been on another continent for the last fucking month, and on planes for the last day. How in the fuck would I know anything about him? I say as much to my completely idiotic friend and driver, and he chuckles in response.

“Figured I would ask since the pup said you guys met before,” he tells me as he merges onto the abandoned parkway. “Something about blood and a party and the guy passing out in your room… I only got bits and pieces while I was waiting for my coffee to brew.”

It takes me a few minutes to remember what Toby could possibly have been talking about, but the memory finally comes. It was spring semester sophomore year, the post-midterm bash thrown by the Thetas.

“Come on, Spenceroni!”Big Brother Adam keeps calling me down to join the craziness. The only reason I even pledged Phi Theta Gamma is because my dad was a Theta. Being a legacy meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with the pledge pranks and all that crap. It was a guaranteed in with a group of guys who would hopefully one day help me with networking when I manage to launch my photography business.

Instead of the business minded future titans of industry, I ended up with the dumbest group of coochie-obsessed fuck-nuggets that ever existed. The party just started an hour ago and I’ve already prevented three fires, and two public urinations. I am so not cut out for life in the house…

“Spenceroo! Don’t make me come up and get you… FUCK!”

The sound of breaking glass has me bolting for the stairs. Looking down, I see Adam with his shirt off and wrapped around his hand which is now bleeding. The mirror at the base of the steps has a decidedly Adam-shaped crackling in the center with a few shards missing. I can only assume they are either on the ground or in the dumbass’s bleeding hand.

“Go get the first aid kit under the sink,” I yell down in frustration, and he staggers off into the other room. The man is three years older than I am and in graduate school. Why the hell am I taking care of his ass?

When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I notice a smaller guy leaning heavily against the banister, looking on the verge of a panic attack. “You alright?” I ask him, Adam forgotten for the time being. I’d rather take care of this adorable guy instead of the asshole who is singlehandedly responsible for every repair bill needing to be paid out on the house before the year ends.

The guy shakes his head and reaches up to grab the handrail in a white-knuckle grip.

“The blood,” he whispers. I can barely hear him over the music pumping out of the speakers. “Going down…”

His knees give out and I catch him. I’m tempted to pick him up and carry him. He’s small enough... the perfect size for me. But I don’t want to put that kind of attention on him since no one has shown any interest in our exchange so far. I wouldn’t care, but until I can have a discussion with him, I don’t want to risk him feeling like I’m belittling him or anything. Most guys don’t appreciate being “babied.” Unfortunately, for me, that is exactly the kind of guy that I want…

I put my arm around his tiny waist to keep him upright, throwing his arm over my shoulders. He manages to stay semi-conscious long enough to get him to my bedroom. When he hits the bed, the chocolate curls on his head fall into his face and he pulls my pillow into his arms, like a stuffie.

Oh, this guy is a fucking wet dream.

I reach to brush the curls out of his eyes, but Adam’s belligerent shouting makes me pause before my fingers can make contact. As much as I want to know how soft those curls are, the asshole will likely burn the place down if someone isn’t watching him.

“Rest well, little bit,” I whisper to the boy in my bed as I pull a blanket over him. “I’ll be back soon.”

When I finally make it back up to the room, he is gone. The only sign to let me know I didn’t imagine him is the neatly folded blanket at the foot of the bed. I never make my bed…

“Good boy,” I whisper to the night, hoping somehow someday I will meet him again.

If the stray that Eli brought home is my boy from the party, I will thank every deity in existence. After that night, I searched campus high and low for the guy. I thought I saw him a couple of times near the freshman dorms, but by the time I would get over there, he was gone. At the end of the semester, I swore I would find him in the fall, but he wasn’t there.

If this guy coming into the manor is indeed the guy from the party, I want to know what happened. I want to know why he left… I want to know if I made any impact on him at all that night.

Who am I kidding? The guy was barely conscious when I helped him into my bed and didn’t see me again. He hadn’t seen me before or after. There is no way he knows who I am.

When we pull up to the house, Jay surprises me by leaving everything packed in the car. He hates leaving tasks unfinished even worse than I do.

In response to my look he says, “Let Jace feel helpful in the morning. He’s having a bad time of it after Lucky’s first encounter with him.”

---