Collin, Episodes 1-3 (The Residency Boys #1)

Episode 1

Damian met them at the door of the building, wearing jogging shorts and an athletic shirt. Collin stared. Damian in a suit was mouthwatering. Damian in next to nothing was dangerous.

“You’re tilting a bit there, Collin my man.” Damian tucked himself under Collin’s other shoulder. “Come on. Into the elevator with you, and we’ll have you on a flat surface in no time.

The elevator was torture, but they took the journey in stages, going up just a few floors at a time.

Even so, Collin was blind with pain and dizziness when Mr. Moreau and Damian guided him out and into some sort of open space.

His feet shuffled over various floors, and the sound dimmed and changed as if he had entered different sized spaces, and then hands were helping him lay down, and the light seemed to dim.

When he could finally blink his eyes open again, Damian was sitting next to him, leaning forward, hands laced together between his knees.

“Hey.”

Collin tried a smile. “Hey.”

“Mr. Reevesworth said you had a bit of a tumble.”

Collin swallowed. “I’m really not sure why I’m here. Actually, I’m pretty sure none of this is real. Like, really, you can’t be here. I can’t be here. None of this makes sense.”

Damian smiled in that not really a smile, not a smirk, way, like someone was being patient and understanding. His eyes were soft.

“You’re here because you need to be, Collin.”

“I need to be at the bar tonight working.”

Damian frowned. “Collin, I don’t know if you remember, but the doctor said bedrest for at least three days. You’re not even going to class this week.”

“I-I can’t.” Collin started to shake his head and then grabbed it in both hands. Soup . He had soup sloshing in his skull. Had to remember that. “I have a geology exam, and an essay, and…”

Damian’s hands were suddenly on him, one hand at his back, the other over Collin’s mouth. He pressed Collin back into the covers. Their eyes met.

Damian shook his head. “Stop, Collin. The first rule you need to learn is when to stop.”

He took his hand away from Collin’s mouth slowly.

Collin swallowed. Damian’s hands were almost as warm as Mr. Moreau’s. “I can’t stop.”

Damian leaned down over Collin and pressed his fingers against Collin’s lips again.

“You can always stop, Collin. Perhaps this will be your first lesson in The Residency. You can stop. You can always stop. You may not like the consequences. You may have to learn flexibility, but you can always stop.”

Tears, unwanted, burned in Collin’s eyes. He pushed Damian’s hand away from his mouth but didn’t let go of it. “Damian, if I stop, I’ll break. And there’s no one to pick up the pieces. I don’t have it in me to stand back up and start over again.”

Damian’s eyes softened even further. He stroked Collin’s jaw and cupped his chin in his hand. “Collin, you already broke. And someone is already picking up the pieces. Why do you think you’re here?”

The tear on the edge of Collin’s eye splashed down and hit Damian’s hand.

Damian leaned forward and brushed his lips against Collin’s forehead.

Then he stood up and pressed his palms together in front of his abs.

“As punishment for disturbing the weekend of not one but several very important people, Collin, I am making several rules for you. Firstly, you will stay in the bed. You will not leave it on your own. If you do, I have access to a wide variety of handcuffs and leashes and can and will keep you in that bed until the doctor says you may leave. There is a bell. If you need to relieve yourself, ring it. Someone will come.”

Collin dragged his eyes to the bell and back to Damian. This version of Damian was a little frightening. He couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

“Second, you will address everyone in The Residency as madam or sir for the next three days. A piece of becoming a mature individual is recognizing and accepting when one does not have the best vantage point from which to make decisions. As you have injured your brain, you are not at the best vantage point to make decisions even if you are medically sane. As you made decisions that injured yourself, you are also obviously not in the best vantage point to make decisions. They will be made for you.”

Blood burned into Collin’s cheeks. He dropped his eyes.

“Eyes up, Collin.”

Collin obeyed slowly. His hand compulsively spasmed against the comforter.

Damian met his gaze. “Thirdly, you will ask for help when you start to worry. If you do not and you stress yourself, there will be discipline.”

Collin’s eyelids flared. “You’re saying I’m not allowed to worry?”

“The comment about leashes and handcuffs was the one you were supposed to have an issue with.”

Collin’s emotions jumbled through him like beams of light twisted in wet glass. Bright but blurred. “Getting kidnapped is practically a society-wide fantasy, so yeah, no, that’s practically an enforced vacation guilt-free. But you can’t tell me not to worry!”

“Hmm, but I can. Besides, this order comes from Mr. Reevesworth himself. And since you can’t watch or use a screen or do anything mentally stressful, I expect you will need some amount of assistance to not lay there and put yourself in a bother.”

“Damian, please.” Collin started to sit up.

“I’ll stay in bed. I don’t know what will happen to my job or my grades, but I’ll do it.

I swear. I was in the wrong, and I made a problem for everyone, and I’ll do everything I can to stop it and make it up.

I swear it. But you can’t, you literally can’t, ask me to stop worrying.

Every thought in my head is a worry. I don’t think I know how not to worry. ”

Mr. Reevesworth stepped into the room. “I know how to help you stop worrying.”

“You do?” The words flew out of Collin’s mouth unbidden. He gasped, mortified.

Damian sighed. “Sir. You forgot the ‘sir’, Collin.”

“Sir.”

Mr. Reevesworth nodded. “Would you like me to help you stop worrying?”

“If it’s going to be a requirement, then yes. That is not something I can do for myself.”

Damian shook his head. “You forgot the ‘sir’.”

Collin rolled his eyes. “Sir.”

Mr. Reevesworth raised an eyebrow. “Very well. You’re consenting then, to me showing you. I will have to touch you.”

Collin gulped. Was the man going to do some sort of pressure point acupuncture technique?

“I consent. Sir.”

“Well then.”

Mr. Reevesworth nodded at Damian. Damian pulled back the covers, and Mr. Reevesworth leaned down, rolling Collin smoothly onto his stomach.

He ran his bare hand down Collin’s spine. “What do you know about the spine and the human nervous system, Collin?”

“Only what I had to learn to pass high school science class.”

“Hmm. Well, this I did not learn from a science class. This I learned in massage school. It should help the nerves release and let you relax.” He ran his hands down Collin’s back again, applying more pressure.

Collin’s mouth opened. No sound came out. He didn’t even breathe. He couldn’t move. The weight of Mr. Reevesworth’s body was omnipresent, sinking him into the mattress.

“Are you worrying now, Collin?”

Collin dragged in air. “ Sir?”

“I asked you if you were worrying, Collin.”

“Yes? No? I don’t know, sir.”

A second hand settled on his back. Powerful fingers pressed into muscles at the base of his neck and worked their way down to his hips. Collin’s muscles tightened against the touch. How long had it been since anyone had touched him? But the weight, the pressure. The warmth.

Something loosened inside Collin’s belly, and he melted. Mr. Reevesworth’s hand came up to his neck and soothed over his shoulders.

“Still all right, Collin?”

Shakes rattled through Collin’s spine. But then there was a warm hand there.

“Are you cold, Collin?”

Collin let go and buried his face in the mattress. He couldn’t. He couldn’t ask. Just this taste of something that wasn’t was too much. He pulled his knees up to his chest and tried to pull the covers over his head. But Mr. Reevesworth’s arm, still resting on his back, stopped him

Their eyes met. Collin shivered. Caught. The world swirled, and mortification crept like cold up Collin’s hands and face.

“What is it, Collin? Did I go too far?”

Collin shook his head.

Mr. Reevesworth sank down on his knees beside the bed. “Collin, do you know what you need right now?”

Collin shot a look at Damian, then one back at Mr. Reevesworth.

Damian crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. “Be honest, Collin.”

“I-I can’t.”

“Why?”

“It’s not right.”

Damian shook his head. “Right by whose standards? You’re human, Collin. One would surmise you’re having a human need. What is it?”

Collin’s throat worked. On one hand, he wanted to yell and throw them out and then curl up in a miserable ball and cry. And with anyone else, he might have.

“What I want doesn’t exist right now.” He drew in on himself. “Can I be alone, please?”

Mr. Reevesworth and Damian exchanged a look. Damian nodded and left the room, closing the door after him.

Collin swallowed. He’d gotten half of what he’d asked for.

Mr. Reevesworth stood up and sat down on a chair a few feet away. He leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, and folded his hands in front of him.

“In The Residency, Collin, many things are possible that are not possible in other places. And many things can be shifted even when a particular want or desire cannot be had directly. I sense that you do not want to be alone, and yet you are asking for it. Before I leave, I want you to try something for me.”

“What, sir?”

“Close your eyes.”

Collin closed his eyes.

“Breathe in.

“Breathe out.

“Breathe in.

“Breathe out.”

The buzzing in Collin’s head slowed a little. Mr. Reevesworth’s voice was hypnotizing.

“Collin, if you had no restrictions, perhaps like a puppy—go ahead and try to remember a puppy or even a litter of puppies you’ve seen before—and you felt like you felt now, what would you do?”