Page 67 of Seth
“What happened?” Ignaz darted across the plain black carpet. His fingers, surprisingly strong, seized Seth’s hand and wrenched it palm up.
“It’s nothing.” Teeth releasing the cap, Seth looked up. “Do you need something?”
Ignaz frowned. “What is it, a burn? Give this to me.” The mattress dipped under his knee as he nestled next to Seth and snatched the ointment out of Seth’s grasp. “How did this happen?”
The scowl on the porcelain forehead deepened. Effortlessly, he unscrewed the lid then squirted the creamy paste over Seth’s palm. Quick fingers lifted a metal applicator, smeared the paste all over the red and yellow bubbly skin.
“An accident.” Tiny fractions of light dancing on the edges of Ignaz’s lashes sparkled. Once again, Seth wondered how he hadn’t noticed him before. His head lightened; the edges of his vision blurred.
“When? How? Why did you come to me with such an injury?” Ignaz lifted his face so quickly that their gazes clashed. In the depth of Ignaz’s eyes, Seth saw a question morphing into realization and then into something else, similar to fright.
To break the stretching silence, Seth said, “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? It looks painful.” The light brows drew up in a mix of sympathy and guilt. Seth shook his head. “Liar. You say that to make me feel better.”
Seth shook his head again. Ignaz squinted up then snatched a gauze wrap from the first aid box. “Hold up your hand.”
Quickly, carefully, he bandaged Seth’s hand as if he had done it a million times before. A tip of his tongue stuck from the corner of his mouth in concentration. His head inched lower, and his soft, slightly damp hair brushed against Seth’s chin.
Seth stopped breathing; his head swam. Sitting in such intimate proximity, he feared that any word, any movement, would break the moment. When he couldn’t hold his breath anymore, he inhaled the fresh scent of his own shampoo. Sweet and heady, it intoxicated him with the ancient scent of myrrh. His neck bent as his lips brushed against the top of Ignaz’s head.
“Done!” The boy lifted his face, nearly headbutting him in his chin, smiled, but his expression obscured as their eyes met. The following words left his mouth in whispers. “Please, don’t look at me like this.”
Seth’s heart halted. His lips managed a silent question. “Like what?”
“Like I’m precious. Because I’m not…”
Staying close became unbearable; Seth got up. Pulling his bandaged hand out of Ignaz’s grasp, he retreated to the window. “Thank you. I appreciate your help. Was there anything you need?”
“No… I just came to thank you for coming again. It was freezing tonight.”
Seth nodded, looking at the clearing sky. The wind herded clouds, chasing them west, clearing the way for the red eye of the waking sun.
“Seth, do you…” He didn’t finish, his voice melted in the silence.
The fleeting feeling of happiness evaporated. Gaze flickering over the landscape, Seth sensed Ignaz’s concern, but he couldn’t find anything to say. “It’s been a long day. You should sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Silence stretched. Seth wondered what the boy was waiting for when Ignaz got up. His gaze stayed on his back for a long, uncomfortable moment before the light footsteps shuffled away and the door closed.
* * *
Irritated beyond reason,Gustavo turned the screen off and brushed his hand against the adhesive bandage stuck to the side of his throat. A dark and ugly substance substituted his soul and pulsed in the pit of his stomach. After their kiss, he hoped to see Seth flustered, confused, agitated, but he seemed completely unfazed by their meeting if a little annoyed. Gustavo could work with annoyance. It was still better than nothing, but a single call seemingly wiped him out of Seth’s mind. Like a puppy, Seth rushed after the boy and brought him home. Gustavo wasn’t sure what enraged him more, the way Seth looked at Ignaz or the fact that he looked like this at someone else.
The train of his furious thoughts sped toward the precipice of sanity. He couldn’t understand the urgency, the need that boiled in his blood, but after tasting Seth’s lips, he couldn’t find rest. He carried no illusions toward Seth, and he certainly didn’t intend to get intimate with him, then why the fuck did this boy’s presence rub him the wrong way?
A ringtone shuttered the night’s seclusion. Gustavo filled his lungs with air, then released a calming breath before picking up. A phone cooled his ear as he stared at the screen of his laptop, showing a master bedroom and the boy attending to Seth’s needs.
“Yes?”
“Did you see that email you forwarded me, or you are still balls deep in Hans?”
“No to both.”
“Go ahead; it’s amusing. I’ll hold.”
The phone clanged against the desk. In a heartbeat, Gustavo was glued to the screen, staring at the car speeding through the night. The tires screeched on the wet asphalt, raising cascades of water in the air. A smug smile crawled up his face as he glanced at the time of the footage.I did get to you, after all. Good.
On the second file, the car skidded sideways, the driver’s window slid down, and a piece of burning paper landed on the ground. Steam rose as the rain extinguished flames.
