Chapter 6 #2
“So if you’d stayed in Claddagh, which is also a small town, you’d probably be doing the same type of work?”
“Probably,” he confirmed.
“I won’t keep pointing out the overlaps.” DJ reached down and picked up the die. “I’m sure you get it.”
The overlaps were that if he had stayed in Claddagh, he’d be living in a small town, running a bar, and probably in a marriage set up by his parents with a woman from the community. “I’d be married to a woman if I’d stayed,” he said, latching onto the one difference.
“That’s a good point. Marrying a man instead of a woman wasn’t expected. It was completely your choice. That’s free will.”
Even though DJ was agreeing with him, his comment made Seamus question himself further. Before he could spiral, DJ tossed the die onto the table.
“Red,” he said. “That’s hobbies.”
It took him a few moments to gather himself, but then he picked up the card. “What's your favorite hobby to do when you’re alone?”
DJ’s face lit up with a wicked grin. “I'm on red not yellow, right?”
Seamus flicked his gaze down. “Yellow is sex. This is a hobby question.”
“Well, I guess we’re bound to have some questions that fit multiple categories, but I’ll try to keep my answer completely in the red category’s lane.”
Seamus tried to understand what he meant but he wasn’t following.
“Hmm.” DJ pulled his lower lip into his mouth. “I don’t have a lot of downtime, and when I do, I try to catch up with my friends, but I guess I’ll say reading. I love it and I wish I could do it more.”
“I do too. I almost never watch TV.” Seamus raised his hand and moved it across the room. “Actually, I don’t even have a TV in here. If I really want to watch something, I do it on my laptop, but I’d almost always rather read.”
“Me too.” DJ picked up the die and held it out to him. “Your turn.”
Ignoring the die, he asked, “What was the other thing you were going to say?”
“What other thing?”
“Your first answer. You said the question fell into two categories.”
The mischievous grin was back. “Are you sure you want that other answer?”
He should probably say no, but he couldn’t restrain his curiosity. “Uh huh.”
“Alright, I’ll give you a bonus answer.” DJ looked straight into his eyes. “My favorite thing to do when I’m home alone is to play with my dildo.”
Seamus froze.
“I mostly use it in bed but it has a suction cup attachment so I can mount it to the wall in my shower too.”
That was the most intimate thing he had ever learned about another person. He would have felt bad about invading DJ’s privacy, but he didn’t look upset by the question, and besides, getting to know his husband on a personal level was the entire point of the game.
“You...” His voice cracked so he cleared his throat. “You like, uh, you like having it inside?”
“Oh yeah,” DJ rasped. “Honestly, I have a hard time getting off without something in my hole. I need it.”
“That’s, uh…” Seamus gulped. “That’s, uh, good to know.”
“Is it?” DJ arched his eyebrows.
They kept looking at each other, neither saying anything for many long seconds, until eventually DJ reached his hand out again. “Your turn.”
Seamus lifted his arm, and DJ pressed their hands together, dropping the die in his palm. It was a small, innocent touch, no different from a handshake, but for some reason, it caused Seamus’s breath to stutter and his heart to skip a beat.
Two hours later, the pizza was eaten and DJ looked exhausted.
“We should call it a night,” Seamus suggested.
“Yeah, you’re right.” DJ rubbed his eyes. “That game was actually fun. Thank your brother for me.”
“It was. We can play again later.” He wanted DJ to stay, but he didn’t know how to say that without offending him. “I have a spare room and bathroom with extra toiletries,” he blurted.
“I know.” DJ grinned. “You gave me a house tour months ago, remember?”
“Right. That’s not what I meant.” Having DJ stay over was a perfect first step toward convincing him that he should move in, but he was messing it up.
“Are you offering me a place to crash for the night?” DJ asked.
“It’s late. You’re tired. I have space. And…” Was DJ already agreeing? That was unexpected. “You should stay here.”
“Okay,” he said as he stood.
“Really?” He was taken aback.
“Did you want me to say no?” DJ looked amused.
“No, not at all.” Seamus rose from the couch. “But I didn’t think you’d agree.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. Normally, I wouldn’t, but my apartment has been having plumbing issues forever and my landlord turned the water off this morning so someone could work on it and then he texted me earlier and said he wouldn’t be able to get it back on until tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Seamus considered that information. “Then why didn’t you ask me to stay here?”
“I can handle a night without water.” DJ shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time, that building’s a mess. But staying here is much better.”
“You can stay as long as you need.”
“Thanks. He’ll probably get it figured out tomorrow.”
Was it wrong of Seamus to hope that wouldn’t happen?
“I’m going to grab a quick shower.” DJ turned and started walking toward the hallway at the end of his living space, which led to the bedrooms.
“I’ll go find you something to sleep in.”
It took him a while because he was much larger than DJ, but he eventually found a pair of shorts with a tie-waist and a shirt that probably wouldn’t fall off him. “I brought you some clothes,” he said as he knocked on and then opened the door.
DJ was standing at the bathroom sink, brushing his teeth with a towel wrapped around his waist. Although he was short and his frame was narrow, every inch of his body was covered in sinewy muscles.
His pectorals were firm, his abdominals had a defined eight pack, even his obliques and hips were segmented with lines of muscle.
There was nothing feminine about DJ’s build, and strangely, Seamus didn’t find that unappealing.
In fact, he was drawn to the firm, hard lines, his fingers itching to trace them.
“Seamus? Are you okay?” DJ was walking toward him, no longer holding a toothbrush, making him realize he had been staring a long time.
He needed to say something light and leave the room, but instead the words that came out of his mouth were: “You usually wear baggy clothes, so I never noticed, but you’re built. Do you work out a lot?”
“I work a lot period,” he responded. “I run around, lift things. I use my body at work, all day every day. Been doing that since I was a kid. It builds strength.”
“I can see that.” He dragged his gaze up and down DJ’s now close body, carefully examining him. He wondered if DJ would be offended if he asked to touch him, and he would have done exactly that if hadn’t noticed something that snapped his brain back to reality.
“Are those bruises?” He dropped the clothes, squatted, and reached his hand out, lightly touching DJ’s skin for a very different reason than he had initially intended.
“They are.” He followed a bruise on DJ’s side around his back and saw more.
His chest, stomach, and back were littered with bruises, some were barely visible, others a darker yellow, there were even some purple ones.
“Why do you have so many bruises?” he asked, sounding as horrified as he felt.
“DJ, what the hell is going on? Is someone hurting you?”