14. Rishi
14
Rishi
A day of settling in had Luis slotting into the routine pretty well. I took care of Cas’s physical needs as I always had, while Luis did parameter checks and with two of us on duty, one could go out for food and other supplies.
The extra person in the apartment curtailed the make-up activities, but when I went into Cas’s bedroom the first night, he transferred into bed and held his arms out to me. “I’m sorry again,” he said quietly.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry, too. I don’t think either of us needs to feel bad about it anymore.”
Cas nuzzled into my side, and I fell asleep holding him. A part of me was already convinced that I wanted to fall asleep like this every night for the rest of my life. That was a scary enough thought that I buried it deep.
Luis had been there for three days, and we had a good routine worked out, when I saw a familiar and unwelcome number on my caller ID.
“Daniel,” I said icily.
“Rishi, pet.” Daniel sighed dramatically. I wondered once more why he had gone into personal security rather than acting.
“Do not call me that,” I said.
He chuckled. “Please. You loved it every other time.”
“When we were a couple, and I did not love it so much as I thought it was better than the other things you tried to call me.”
He sighed again, acting horribly put-upon. “Mr. Alden was unwilling to discuss your return date. I tire of the hurry-up-and-wait approach. You know I am not a patient person.”
“I will be clearing my belongings soon,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell him when. I was very hopeful he would be gone when Jason and I collected my things, and I knew if I gave him a time he would make it a point to be there.
That got a bored hum. “Hurry up. I’m not a storage unit.”
I jabbed at my phone, ending the call, and looked up to catch Cas looking at me. He had obviously been able to hear both sides of the conversation. “He’s a dick,” he said.
I laughed sarcastically. “Yes, well, dick was the only thing he had going for him,” and I heard Luis snort from the other room.
Not much was happening other than the three of us finding our groove. Cas fielded a couple of phone calls from his mother and only just managed to keep her from booking a wedding venue. He’d also updated his captain on the change to his protection.
Captain Donovan had no new news to share regarding any part of the situation. I hoped he was just keeping his cards close to his vest as opposed to there truly being no progress, but Captain Donovan seemed to be the straight-shooting kind, so it was impossible to tell for sure.
Several messages from Daniel arrived. I read them and deleted them, the contents careening between demands for my belongings to be cleared immediately to what were basically sexts. I debated blocking him, but I didn’t want to give him an unfair advantage by being unaware of anything he might be throwing at me. Knowledge is always power.
After clearing it with Luis and Cas, I booked tickets to fly back a week after Luis arrived. My friend Jason owned a truck, and he had the spare key to my old apartment. He was planning to get to the apartment and start packing my clothes before I arrived. I would Uber over when I landed and, together, we would have my things cleared without ever having to see Daniel again.
I hoped.
The night before I left, Cas and I stayed up until past midnight. I rode him for as long as we could make it last, which turned out to be a good long time. The emotional intensity of our connection was unlike anything I had ever experienced. The combination of an amazing orgasm and tender feelings had me feeling incredibly open and vulnerable. After we were cleaned up, Cas laid his head on my chest and traced my tattoos with his index finger while we just breathed together. Eventually he spoke. “Please be careful tomorrow. I know you can handle anything, but he sounds like a douche.”
I hummed in agreement. “He is. I should have walked away from him a lot sooner.”
“He’s not really dangerous?” Cas asked quietly after a few minutes of silence.
I shook my head. “No, he’s never been physical. Just petty and mean when he doesn’t get his way.”
Cas sighed and traced a tattoo line along the curve of my pec. “Good.”
“It should be fast, especially with Jason helping me out. Jason is an absolute redwood. It’ll be fine.”
Cas laughed. “You’re not exactly tiny yourself.”
I lifted my head and smiled at him. “I’m not, am I? I can take you anywhere I want you to go, can’t I.”
Cas shivered and then pointed to the goosebumps on his arm with a laugh. “You definitely can,” he agreed, and we kissed until we finally fell asleep.
How hard it was to leave Cas the next morning surprised me. I was used to leaving people behind. I didn’t enjoy it, but it was just a fact of life. Kissing Cas goodbye before I left to drive to the airport was different, though. It made me feel hollow and wrong in a way that was completely unfamiliar.
I returned the rental car — I would pick up a new one when I got back, which was even better for security — and boarded the plane, plugging my earbuds in and sitting back with my eyes closed. I hadn’t been this still with nothing to do since my plane had landed in LA months ago, and it felt odd.
I texted Cas first when I landed, then Luis, who reported everything was secure. I got the Uber ordered, messaged Jason that I was on my way, and then sat down to wait for my car.
After a completely uneventful ride, Jason greeted me outside of the apartment building. “I got most of it packed up. Doesn’t look like he’s damaged your things, so that’s good.”
“That is good. Thank you for doing this for me, I appreciate it.”
Jason waved his hand. “Don’t even worry about it. I’m glad to help. When does he usually get home?”
I checked my phone. “We should have about ninety minutes,” I said.
“That should be plenty of time. Come on, let’s finish up and get out of here and go eat. I’m starving.”
I laughed and headed up to get started. Jason had a big appetite to go with his big size. “The sooner, the better.”
Jason had organized almost everything in the foyer. “I think I have everything packed up,” he said. “I want you to walk through and make sure there isn’t anything I’m missing.”
I did as he asked and was impressed with how thorough he was. It was clear what was mine and what was Daniel’s in most cases. We were different sizes and had vastly different styles. Daniel worked security too, but he worked for a big corporation. He wore a black suit and tie and an earpiece all day, and the most danger he encountered on a typical day was burning himself on his Americano.
Jason and I had loaded everything and were doing a final walkthrough when I heard the key in the lock.
Daniel opened the door and closed it behind him one handed, the other holding his cell phone to his ear. “I don’t care,” he said. “I am tired of waiting for him to come to his senses. If he—”
Daniel stopped, eyes locked on me. “I’ll call you back,” he said, pushing the end call button on his phone without looking at it. “Rishi, pet,” he crooned.
Behind me, Jason gagged loudly, and I crossed my arms. “I told you not to call me that.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Please, and I told you that I know how much you like it.” Then he noticed Jason. “Who is this?” he asked, tone ten degrees colder.
“This is my friend and colleague. We’re here getting the last of my possessions.” I glanced over my shoulder at Jason, who gave a sharp nod. “We’re good to go.” I pulled my key and the spare that Jason had given me back when I arrived from my pocket and laid them on the side table. “It’s been a learning experience, Daniel. Goodbye.”
Daniel’s face ran through several emotions so quickly that it was almost impossible to follow them before settling into a dark frown. “You expected to get out of here before I got home. You were going to let me come home and find everything gone.”
I lifted one shoulder in a quick shrug, my hand on the doorknob. “Yes,” I said, and turned the knob.
“Hold it,” Daniel said, hand landing on my shoulder.
“Don’t,” I said quietly. “You lost any right to touch me the moment I saw those photos.”
Daniel scoffed and left his hand where it was. He pulled, trying to turn me to face him again, but I wasn’t planning on moving.
“Hey, man,” Jason said, and I felt him come up behind me.
“Is this the new boy toy?” Daniel asked, and let me go. “Going for all brawn, no brains this time? Did you need someone who would let you be the smart one?”
I turned to look at him then and roared with laughter. “You know, sweetheart ,” I said once I could speak. “I’d ask you to show me your master’s degree, but since your 80-proof confession about how you barely passed that online associate’s program…” I trailed off with a mournful headshake, then glanced at Jason. “And he’s not my boy toy, no, even though he looks better in black than you ever have.” I jerked my head toward the door, disgusted that I had let him engage me at all. “Come on, Cas is waiting.”
I was turning toward the door again when Daniel caught me, and forced me back against the wood. His mouth landed on mine, and he attempted to push his tongue into my mouth. He didn’t get the chance as Jason caught him and yanked him off of me.
I wiped my mouth, spat to the side, and wiped it again. “You are a disgusting human, and I regret wasting so much time with you,” I hissed at him, and the next moment Daniel was hitting me. I wasn’t worried about getting hurt. My only thought was that I couldn’t hit him back. This wasn’t a job, and I didn’t want any hint of domestic violence on my record. His fist made contact with my torso, and as I blocked another low punch, his other fist caught my nose. I felt it snap and blood streamed down my lips, the sickly wet sensation at least erasing the unpleasant phantom sensation of Daniel’s kiss.
Jason caught him by the collar and pulled him off me, slamming him into the wall with his arm behind his back. “Call the police and John,” he barked, even as I searched for my phone.
The police took Daniel away, and John and Jason both insisted that I get my nose looked at once we had given our statements. I sighed and gave in, and instead of the nice dinner with Jason and a few other coworkers that I was looking forward to, I spent my evening in the ER.
I didn’t tell Cas what happened, mostly because I wasn’t sure what to say. “I got in a brawl with my ex-boyfriend after he tried to stick his tongue down my throat” seemed like it might worry him.
I answered a few of his messages while I was in the ER and was happy to read a long update email he forwarded me from the couple who were fostering Elena Fernandez. She had made a friend of her foster mother’s niece, was doing well in school, and was staying off social media. Elena had included a note of her own saying that she hoped Cas was doing well and would be able to go back to work soon.
Once I was out of the hospital with my nose bandaged and a painkiller on board, Jason drove me back to the Alden building and took me up to his apartment. I had missed my flight — I told Cas there were unexpected delays at the airport — and it gave me time to figure out where to put my things anyway.
Jason put me on the couch with an ice pack for a while. “You sit there and chill until I get dinner, at least. Then we’ll decide what we’re doing. You didn’t have that much, you should be able to use one of the storage lockers in the basement here.”
I nodded, then wished I hadn’t when it sent a flaring throb through my head.
Jason left, promising to come back with food and drinks, and I closed my eyes.
Cas’s ringtone brought me from my doze some time later. I answered it, a sharp spike of worry lancing through me that I wasn’t there and something could have happened.
“Hi,” Cas said. “I thought I’d call and check in since you said you were at your friend’s place now. Do you have everything cleared up so you can come home in the morning?”
That made me smile, which made my very tender face twinge. “Yes, mostly,” I said. “I have a flight booked for morning.”
“Good… Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, why?” I asked.
“You sound… odd. Like you’re stuffed up or something.”
Shit. “No, I’m just…” I sighed. “Look, there was a little… incident.”
“What kind of incident? You mean whatever delayed you at the apartment today?” Cas sounded sharper, more on than I’d heard him before. I realized I was hearing his cop voice.
I sighed again. “Daniel got there before we left. He was upset, and we had a little altercation. Nothing major, but… I was going to show you in the morning so you weren’t worrying overnight when it’s not serious.”
“What happened?”
Oh. Another new tone of voice.
“He hit me and broke my nose,” I answered immediately.
“Holy shit, Rishi!” Cas said, and the next moment my phone flashed the Switch to video call request. I accepted it and looked at Cas, who was half lounging against pillows in bed. He sat up fully and looked at the screen closely. “Well, shit,” he said, examining my face. “That’s not exactly minor either.”
“It’s really not serious, though,” I reassured him. “I went to the ER, they checked me over, set it, and bandaged it. They gave me pain pills I probably won’t even need, and I’ll be good as new in a week or two. Everything else still works, and I can breathe through my mouth, so that’s not even such a big deal.”
Cas blinked at me, his mouth opening and closing as he processed everything I said.
“Daniel got arrested, and Jason and I gave a report, and I’ll be pressing charges. I remembered not to hit him back, so there’s no way for him to spin the story. I’m the only one with an injury. John’s going to reach out to Daniel’s boss in the morning,” I continued, my mouth running away from me now that it had gotten going. “I’ll have to curtail the blow jobs for a couple of weeks until I can breathe through my nose again but I have other talents I can show you, so really there’s nothing to be upset about.”
Cas blinked some more, mouth now simply hanging open.
I finally stopped talking, tilted my head, and looked at him. “What?”
“I don’t— I don’t— I don’t know where to start, actually,” Cas said.
I frowned as much as I was able to. “Why?”
“You got hurt, you think I’m going to be worried about if you can blow me or not, and you were going to come home with a fucking splint on your nose and be like ‘oh this old thing? It was here when I left!’” The hand that wasn’t holding the phone gesticulated wildly.
“I didn’t plan to—” I began, but Cas wasn’t finished.
“We were texting while you were at the ER, weren’t we?” Cas asked.
“I was there when you sent me the email from Elena’s foster parents,” I said.
“And you don’t think being at the emergency room with a broken bone warrants a little mention?” Cas asked.
I took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to worry you. And it’s only a little broken.”
Cas pulled in a very, very long breath and held it, then let it out slowly. “Oh. Well. Okay.”
“I don’t see why I would want to worry you when it’s nothing you can fix, it’ll heal in two weeks, and I was going to tell you in person in the morning,” I said. “If it was something that would have required admittance or something, yes, I would have told you! But I’m not a fan of ‘this small misfortune has occurred, please send sympathy.’ There was nothing for you to do but worry and plot my ex’s demise.”
Cas laughed. “Yes, actually, I will be spending my evening doing that. But we’re together, and I care about what happened to you!”
I frowned again, then winced, swearing inwardly when Cas clearly caught it on the video call. “I was going to tell you, I just wanted to do it in person. Why is that bad?”
Cas sighed. “ I… It’s not, I suppose. I… I don’t know. ” He rubbed his eyes with his free hand.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I didn’t want to upset you when you were there with only Luis and no way to actually be sure I’m okay.”
Cas’s head came up, and he looked at me with such a heartbroken look that I was worried I just ruined everything. “I understand,” Cas finally said softly. “You’re still protecting me.”
“Yes,” I replied. “I suppose I am.”