Page 23 of Geoffrey the Very Strange
"Geoffrey? Tell me what's wrong. Please."
"Cormac lives there," Geoffrey choked out.
"I see. Well, I don't quite see, but you can explain it when you're ready. Would you like to go somewhere else? Not the cave, though, please. It's a nice cave, but Cecil's there. Even when he pretends he's not."
Concentrating on Aspic's hands helped. They were such beautiful hands, with elegant, well-kept claws. Geoffrey let out a slow breath. "I know a place."
"All right. Let me put Sundrop to bed, and I'll be right with you."
Certain that Aspic was making an excuse to escape, Geoffrey retrieved his hat from the bench so he could be prepared to slink away. In a matter of seconds, though, Aspic returned and took his hand again. Perhaps his heart would survive the evening, after all.
Theplace,Aspic was pleasantly surprised to learn, was a stunning clearing deep in the forest. It had taken getting stuck in a wild rose bush for a few moments to reach it, but the irritation and minor scratches were worth it.
Moonlight bathed everything in soft silvers and grays. Ferns grew around the edges of the clearing and beside the clear, spring-fed pool in the clearing's center. Irish moss carpeted the rest of the clearing, the tiny white flowers mimicking the stars overhead.
"It looks enchanted," Aspic whispered.
Geoffrey nodded and stepped out into the moonlight. "It is."
"Are we, ah, allowed to be here?"
"It's the centaur glade." Geoffrey shrugged out of his coat, removed his hat, and placed both on a lichen-spotted rock. "They only use it for the solariums." He stopped, eyes squeezed shut, one of the signals Aspic had learned meant he was struggling with a word. "Solstices. They don't mind if I'm here any other night."
"It's beautiful." Aspic took off his shoes and stepped carefully into the glade, in case the centaurs had placed demon wards around it. Nothing happened beyond a feeling of peace and wonder, and Geoffrey felt safe enough here to shed his personal wards. "Perfect."
"I've never…" Geoffrey sat next to his hat to pull off his boots and socks. "Brought anyone here."
The slight hesitation made Aspic wonder if he'd changed direction in the middle of his thought. Some awkward questions were just going to have to be asked. Honesty. Candor. No hints or oblique references here.
Aspic slipped his tunic off over his head and stalked toward Geoffrey, tunic still in hand. Poor necromancer looked like he'd swallowed his tongue. While this wasn't his usual approach, Aspic was all too aware that even a skinny half-demon exuded a certain amount of hereditary sex appeal.
"Geoffrey," he began softly when he stood directly in front of Geoffrey's rock. "Have you ever had sex before?"
"Yes." Geoffrey ducked his head, the bright red of his blush evident even in the moonlight. "Once."
"No shame, none at all. I just need to know how to approach things." Aspic slid onto the rock next to Geoffrey and undid the top two eyehooks of his robe. "Was it someone with anatomy the same as yours or different from yours?"
"The same." Geoffrey still looked down, but since he was fascinated by Aspic's hands, it wasn't a terrible thing. "Mostly."
"Mostly? All right, so another male, but not human?"
Geoffrey glanced up, looked down quickly, and nodded. "Cormac."
Oh dear. Aspic stopped undressing him to put a claw under Geoffrey's chin and tilt his head up. He dropped a soft kiss on one cheek, then the other. "I've found out he's not a nice person, living in the same house. Not at all. Did you enjoy it?"
"I… suppose so." Geoffrey pulled his head away to focus on the ground. "There was a… a result."
"Geoffrey…" Aspic gathered him close, holding just tight enough that Geoffrey didn't feel trapped. "I'm guessing he wasn't gentle with you. Just because you came didn't mean you enjoyed it."
"It wasn'ttoobad."
Aspic let out a bitter laugh. "It's supposed to be wonderful, not just sort of bearable. I'm going to ask. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But did he force you?"
"No." Geoffrey laid his head on Aspic's shoulder and finally returned the hug, a letting go, a show of trust that squeezed Aspic's heart. "He made me think he wanted me. I was flattened…Flattered. Excited. It hurt, but not all the time. The next day he told his friends…"
Aspic held him tighter when he started shaking. "You don't need to tell me anything more."
"Pity fuck," Geoffrey spat out. "That's what he told them. While he laughed and laughed."
