Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Akai tried not to think about how strange the situation was, or the way he didn’t want Cole to leave, even though he had to, as they sat on the edge of the deck, feet swinging above the shrubs.
Cole never stayed for more than three or four days.
Most of the time, he arrived on Friday and left on a Sunday, and Akai knew enough about humans to know that it was work-related.
This time, there was an additional problem: the lack of food.
Cole had not accounted for feeding a harpy.
And while Akai wouldn’t have said he ate a lot, he ate more than a human.
He doubted Cole wanted a meal made of wild mushrooms, insects, and foraged greens.
Mostly because humans didn’t appreciate eating insects despite the fact that they were incredibly nutritious and easily stored both alive and dead if dried.
Between them were some colored pebbles and a circle made of braided grass as they played a game Akai had learned as a child. The idea was to get your opponent’s pebbles out of the ring, but it was harder than it first appeared.
Cole had picked up the rules easily, but the strategy was much harder.
Cole took a sip of beer, his gaze on the valley and the distant lights gleaming in the dusk. “I need to head back tomorrow.”
“I figured.” But it sounded like Cole didn’t want to leave.
“Are you going to be okay up here on your own?”
“Are you letting me stay in the cabin while you’re not here?”
“I assume you’re not going to have a wild party and destroy the place,” he said with a grin.
He put his hand over his heart and gasped as though wounded at the suggestion. “I’m not feeling like partying, and I would never trash someone else’s place.”
“And food?” Cole seemed genuinely concerned that he’d die of starvation, as if he hadn’t been fending for himself for years. It was cute.
“As long as you leave me the oats and honey so I can make more of the porridge, I will be fine.”
“I usually leave the oats and honey, and a few tins.”
Akai had seen the tins of beans and vegetables.
“Just make sure you keep the oats in the sealed container. I don’t want to come back here and discover the mice have taken over the place.”
“I will not let mice take over.” He’d eat them before that happened.
Crispy field mouse was delicious with mushroom and wildflower salad.
He moved one of his pebbles and scooped one of Cole’s out of the ring, setting it to one side, and trying to ignore the tumbling in his stomach at the implication that Cole would not be returning soon.
“Will you not be back next weekend?” He tried to keep his voice level as if he didn’t care, even though he did.
He wanted Cole to return so they could spend next weekend together.
It was probably a bad idea, and he definitely shouldn’t get attached to a human, and yet he didn’t want him to leave.
And he couldn’t lie to himself and say it was because he wanted to resolve the tangled fate between them.
It was more than that. He’d realized that while Cole was climbing the tree, then sitting in his nest. He’d been terrified that the human would fall and that they would never have the chance to resolve this… this mess they had made.
He had no doubt his sister would be laughing her antennae off at the situation.
There was also a second problem, which he had realized when Cole had climbed down the tree and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He had wanted to lick the sweat off him because he smelled so damn good, intoxicating.
There was really no polite way to ask a human if he could lick him, and he didn’t think Cole would take it as a compliment.
Not only that, but he wasn’t sure what it meant, only that the idea of licking Cole had made him harder than he’d thought possible.
Even thinking about it was making his dick pay attention.
He was aware of every movement Cole made and the scent of his skin, despite the shower he had taken before dinner.
“It depends on work. Sometimes, I don’t get a choice.”
While Cole didn’t particularly like his job and felt as though he’d been forced into it after his cousins’ death, Akai needed to take a chance and say something. “I would like it if you came.”
Cole smiled and studied the circle of pebbles. He hadn’t lost the game yet, but he was not in a good situation. Too many of his pebbles were close to the edge. “I would also like to come next weekend.”