Page 77 of The Primary Pest
“This is another of my superpowers, you know,” he offered. “I can keep talking forever. Don’t think you’re going to get me to shut up by refusing to answer. Many have tried. No one has ever prevailed…”
He changed arms and kicked, treading water as best he could.
“I hate a conversational vacuum,” he admitted when he assumed Dmytro couldn’t hear. “I guess that’s what it is. My parents are the quiet type, plus they weren’t around. When they got home at the end of the day, they spent their time reading or going through mail. They put on soft music. That’s when I learned I had to engage them, to entertain them, if I wanted their attention.
“One of my exes called me a gaping black hole of emotional need. And before you ask, yeah, I threw him out. I like attention, but I have standards.
“I’ve also had a lot of boyfriends.” Ajax worried Dmytro would think it was too many. “Boyfriends and hookups. I’ve had lots and lots of those. But I’ve practiced safe sex. Okay, maybe I played the odds, but I’m negative.”
Dmytro seemed like the kind of guy who found someone and stayed with them. Maybe he went for both women and men, but Ajax doubted he’d strayed as long as Yulia had been alive.
“Just so you know, I’m perfectly capable of monogamy. In fact, I always wanted to fall in love, and God, I fell so hard foryou. No one else could take your place, Dmytro. I am so in love with you.
“I’ve never felt anything like this in my life. Not for anyone. Please, please come back to me so I can tell you.”
He kicked his way around an oil slick as best he could. It saturated their clothes, though, and made him feel filthy from the inside out.
His arm burned, so he switched again, hoisting the inert Dmytro back onto the ring to keep him from slipping into the greasy water. Despite the device, the weight of Dmytro’s body, his clothes, and his saturated boots were a constant drag on Ajax, pulling him down, threatening their safety with each swell of waves in the sea that cradled them.
“My parents sent me to a special hands-on course where I learned to be a lifeguard. But I worked in a lake, Dmytro. You would pull this out on the ocean. You are such a goddamnpest.”
“Me?” At the junction of his neck, he felt a burst of laughter. “I’m a pest? That’s rich, coming from you.”
Ajax pushed away to look at Dmytro’s face. “Are you… You’re… My God, Dmytro. I thought you were in a coma or something. Jesus, you scared me. Oh my God!”
“What happened?” Dmytro lifted pale fingers to his face and felt the paper Ajax had pasted there. “And what is all over my face?”
Ajax brushed his hand away. “Improvised sunblock. What do you remember?”
“It was Peter. All along it was Peter driving us into a trap. Peter and that sick bastard Chet. Zhenya is going to combust.” Dmytro slurred his words but held on to the ring. He started moving his legs, which gave Ajax some much-needed relief from treading water for both of them.
“They tied us to the railing of theCharioteerand sank it. Oh, also, they grazed your head with a bullet. How do you feel?”
“Like I was shot in the head. How do you think? I’ve got a blinding headache. Also, I need to puke.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’ll wait until it’s impossible to avoid, thank you.”
“Maybe we can find aspirin floating around somewhere. You won’t believe what’s drifted by.”
Dmytro paled. “I can imagine.”
Heat crept up Ajax’s neck. “Um. How much did you just hear?”
“Some.” Dmytro’s voice still sounded weak. “Well. All of it. I hope you told that ex of yours to fuck off and die.”
“I did. But, er. Do you have anything you want to tell me?”
Dmytro gave him a sloppy smile. “We’ve got a lifetime to talk about love, little mink. Even if now is all we have.”
Ajax wrapped both arms around him. Given their respective flotation devices, the kiss only drowned him in sensation. Desire. Tenderness. A kind of happiness he never thought he’d find.
Dmytro placed a dozen tiny kisses over Ajax’s forehead, temples, cheeks, and jaw. “I don’t know when it happened. One minute you were a thorn in my side, and the next you’d dug your way into my heart.”
“Oh, Dmytro.” The hopelessness of their situation receded behind the brilliant ice of his eyes. Evident at last was everything Dmytro had always tried to hide from him: his raw emotions, the things he yearned for, and all the things he didn’t want to say.
They probably didn’t stand a chance, but everything might still be all right.
