Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Everett
Everett winced as he climbed the ladder for what seemed like the thousandth time. A quiet week had passed, and with Dax’s assistance, they were almost done with the top shelves.
Dax looked up at him. “You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. I usually run daily and lift weights a couple of times a week, so I’m in pretty good shape, but going up and down these ladders so much has certain muscles aching.”
“Why don’t we switch jobs today? I’ll handle the ladders, and you take over the boxes.”
Everett thought about it as he took another step up, and pain shot through his right ass cheek. “Okay, I think that’s a good idea. These ladders are pretty sturdy, so they should be able to handle your weight.”
Since nothing had happened during the week, Everett should probably have let Dax go, but he just liked being around him.
He had a friendly, intelligent nature that appealed to Everett on every level, and it didn’t hurt that his entire physical presence did the same.
Everett loved his wide shoulders and bulging arms, and he especially loved his ass.
It was nicely round and meaty looking, and Everett kept getting lost in fantasies of digging his fingers into it.
Thing was, there was something…different about Dax. He had a feel to him that made Everett aware the moment he entered the room. Like an aura that felt almost physical. He could literally sense Dax’s nearness on the surface of his skin. He couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.
Everett climbed down the ladder, his ass screaming the whole way. Dax walked past him to start removing the higher items. Everett stayed at the bottom of the ladder, so Dax could hand him everything, then took things to the desk. Once he had a few items, he’d start wrapping them.
Dax handed him a rather delicate wand that had a pearl handle and a glass end.
It had always been a particular favorite of Everett’s because of the swirling shade of purple in the glass.
He carefully set that aside because he wanted it near the top of the box.
Or maybe he’d just keep it separate to take home by itself.
As Dax kept handing him things, Everett watched him, wanting to know more about the man. Especially, whether he was attracted to women or men. Or both. “So, what’s the weirdest date you’ve ever been on?”
Dax looked down at Everett’s question, which had admittedly come out of the blue.
Everett shrugged. “Just thought we could share some fun stories to pass the time while we’re packing.”
“I’ve actually had a lot of strange dates, so let me think a minute.” He handed another delicate collectible to Everett. “There was this one man who just grunted at me throughout the date, then was surprised when I didn’t want to have sex.”
Everett snorted, while inside he felt a bit giddy over Dax’s admission to dating a man.
“I’ve got you beat. Back in college, this guy asked me out, and I met him at what I thought was going to be a rave.
Turned out to be some kind of sex ball. We walked into the building and people were having sex everywhere—lots of them tied up.
He led me right up to a table and picked up ropes. ”
Dax’s laugh was warm and low. “Interesting first date.”
“Right? I told him off and left. It’s not that I’m against getting tied up, but I didn’t know him and, well, I’m not one for public sex.” He took a unicorn figurine from Dax and set it on the desk. “What about you? Into public sex?”
Dax was silent a moment as he studied Everett. “That’s a rather personal question.”
Heat crept up his neck and he cleared his throat. “It was. Sorry.”
He kept staring, then a slow, sexy smile lifted his lips. “No, Everett, I don’t enjoy public sex. I like sex to be very, very private.”
Everett couldn’t stop a small shiver at those words.
He’d kill for some of that private time with this man.
He cleared his throat. “That guy I left at the sex party sought me out the next day, completely clueless as to why I’d taken off.
When I told him it wasn’t my idea of a first date, he was surprised.
Turned out a disgruntled ex had told him I was into that. He was properly embarrassed.”
“Did he ask you out again?”
Nodding, Everett chuckled. “We ended up going out for six months, but he was into public sex, so it didn’t work out.
He was always trying to get me to do it in the strangest places.
Even on a Ferris wheel. Can you imagine?
In one of those tiny seats with so many people going around with you?
Yeah, no. It was a shame, though, because he was a really nice guy.
He just couldn’t enjoy sex unless there was some kind of exhibition involved. ”
“I dated someone who was into the same thing, and I indulged a few times. Enough to learn it wasn’t for me.”
Dax switched to books and handed a rather heavy stack to Everett, who needed two hands to Dax’s one just to carry them.
“You know,” Everett said as he set the stack down.
“I’m not sure why I started on the higher shelves.
We could start with all the things on our level and work our way up.
” He waved a hand around the room. “My grandfather actually remodeled this entire room to look like his dream library. When he bought the estate, this room was only one story, and he knocked out a bedroom above so he could have these tall shelves and ladders. In his later years, he couldn’t even use the ladders.
” He looked down at one of the Valkyries on the desk.
“I think it made him really sad. To have his body shutting down like it was. He was sick a long time, but his arthritis really got bad in his sixties, so I spent a lot of time going up and down these ladders for him. I’d forgotten how much pain it can cause. ”
Dax came down the ladder. “Let’s go back to you handing me items because you’ll know how you’d like to organize everything. I promise to wrap everything carefully.”
“You’ve done a wonderful job so far. I can tell you’re being very careful.”
“No choice with these massive paws.”
“I happen to like your hands.” Heat crept up his neck because he actually hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
He peeked at Dax to find the man watching him with a contemplative expression.
He really did have such an interesting face, with sharp cheekbones that came down to a softly rounded chin.
Those cheekbones set off how very large and green his eyes were.
And Everett would kill to have his long, black eyelashes.
He cleared his throat again. “Okay, so I’ll gather, and you wrap and pack.
You can tell me more about all of those strange dates.
I’ve got a couple more I can tell you about. ”
They shared stories as they cleared shelves, moving around each other in a way that felt like they were more than mere acquaintances.
Everett was truly comfortable around Dax.
Comfortable, but there was also this constant hum of attraction.
Of excitement. The kind that made his breath catch and sent a stream of anticipation to simmer low in his gut.
And Dax looked at him a lot. It wasn’t his imagination that there was genuine interest in how he studied him. It made Everett want to get to know him. Everything about him.
“Tell me something,” Everett said as he handed a stack of books to Dax. “With all those degrees, why don’t you teach?”
Dax was silent a few moments before he softly chuckled. “With my job, this will be surprising, but I’m really pretty shy, and the thought of getting up in front of a classroom of students makes me break into a sweat.”
“You’re talking to a writer, so I more than understand. There’s nothing I like more than being alone at home, behind my computer. I do attend author conventions now and then, and that seems to be just the amount of socialization I need. Or can handle, really.”
Dax’s head had popped up with the word writer. “You write? I’m surprised that hasn’t come up. How wonderful. Anything I might have read?”
Everett pointed to a shelf behind the desk filled with E.V. Page books. “My grandfather was extremely proud of everything I put out, even the indie titles that never went anywhere. All the books on that shelf are mine.”
Dax walked to the shelf and took one of the books. “I don’t recognize the name, but I do love a good thriller.”
“The series at the end is cozy mysteries. I have a publisher for those and am starting to actually see some success with them. But of course, my interest seems to be splitting lately, and I’m working on something different.
Well, I’m working on two separate projects.
I do have a deadline on the next in the mystery series. ”
“Would you mind if I borrowed some of these to read?”
“Not at all.” Everett grinned. “Just don’t tell me if you hate them.
I’m one of those authors who doesn’t read his reviews.
I can have twenty fantastic five-stars, and the one bad review will stick in my brain.
I’ve actually spent days obsessing about rough reviews before, so I decided they just aren’t for me. They’re for readers, anyway.”
“So which one would you recommend I read first? Which is your favorite?”
Everett walked to the shelf, noting that his head didn’t even reach Dax’s shoulders as he stopped next to him.
He grabbed a book and handed it over. “This is my favorite. It’s a standalone thriller about a man who gets pulled into a life-or-death situation against his will.
There’s a twist I’m quite proud of. It did absolutely nothing, but I do hope that someday the right reader will give it a chance and start blasting on social media. ”
“Is that how you do a lot of your promotion?”
Everett nodded. “But I’m not very good at it. I just hired someone to do TikTok videos for me, but I handle my own Facebook and Instagram. I have a pretty decent amount of newsletter subscribers, too.”
“If you have a deadline, is packing up your grandfather’s home taking valuable time away?”
“Fuck yes.” He laughed. “But I actually took this month off to work on the house, planning to put in a few hours of writing in the evenings. I um, also write a lot in the middle of the night because I have insomnia.”
“I went through a period dealing with that myself, and it’s awful. I’m sorry.”
Everett shrugged. “It will hopefully pass. It started when my grandfather became bedridden. It was hard to see him like that. We’ve been close my whole life, and he was the only family I had left.
I’m a family-oriented kind of person, so I guess the stress of being so alone now is affecting my ability to sleep.
What about you? Are you close to your family? ”
“Very. I’m an only child, but my parents and I are close. We only live a few houses down from each other now. They own a shop here in Seattle.”
“That must be nice. My parents died in a car accident when I was little. I came here to live with Wilson. I was lucky because he never, not once, made me feel like a burden. He was happy to have me.”
“I’m sorry you lost him.”
“The man lived to eighty-six, so again, I was lucky to have him as long as I did. He loved my parents very much, so we grew really close when we were both grieving.” He looked around the room. “I spent a lot of time in this room with him.”
“Even though you said it makes you feel…off?”
“That didn’t start until my teens. It was like something changed in here, and I never could figure out just what was different. It probably sounds crazy, but it’s just a…feeling.”
Dax narrowed his eyes, studying him. “Do you often have those unusual feelings?”
Everett didn’t want Dax to think he was crazy, but he also didn’t want to lie to him.
Ever. So he slowly nodded. “Yeah, I do. It’s not something I can explain.
I just sometimes know when something is…
off. It happens at odd times but mostly when I’m out in public.
I’ll be somewhere like a post office when this brush of something just seems to go over my skin.
” He shrugged. “That probably makes me sound a bit crazy.”
“Not at all. You could be sensitive to…vibes. Or a person’s intentions or emotions.
Neuroscience and evolutionary biology have scientifically proven that empathy is a real trait.
It correlates with activity in the insula—” He broke off, his cheeks flushing as he cleared his throat. “There are many studies on it.”
“The insula, huh?” He grinned, then looked around the room. “I just wish I could figure out why I feel this way in this study. It used to be my favorite room in the house.”
It had to be something in here, though he kept that to himself. How could some inanimate object give him the creeps?
He’d have to believe in magic for that to be true.