Rowan
After a week and a half in the program, I was not impressed.
So far, I had been introduced to people, both in the program and those who worked here, and had been left to explore.
There were classes, or at least that’s what they were called, but so far as I could see, they were places to talk.
In fact, talking seemed to be the emphasis here, and I wasn’t the least bit interested in that.
A view my Guide did not share. If Luka was around, he filled the silence with chatter, or at least it felt that way.
“You know,” he began, proving me correct, “we encourage people to move at their own pace, but you don’t seem to have a pace.”
“Are you not supposed to be guiding me?” I asked irritably, putting the book I had just started to enjoy down.
I had already learned that once he got started on whatever was running through that pretty little head, it was going to come out no matter what I said, which was annoying, but not nearly as annoying as thinking of his head as pretty.
“So far, you’ve done little more than follow me around and try to pull me into conversation unsuccessfully. ”
“I keep hoping you’ll remember how to converse,” he said, the sharp tone I’d heard on occasion making its way into his voice before disappearing under a flash of brightness again.
“So, how about you get up, and I’ll take you to one of the things we offer, and you do it.
If you hate it, that’s on me, and I shouldn’t be trusted to come up with another activity for a few days. ”
I stared at him unblinkingly before grimacing.
If I was going to find out if this infernal place was worth throwing more money at, I should at least attempt to engage with it.
This wasn’t a vacation. So far, it had felt like an irritating vacation where I hadn’t actually managed to relax, but a vacation all the same.
What I wouldn’t give for a day to do whatever I wanted without an escort.
..or at least something to relax me as I had been repeatedly promised and had yet to see delivered.
“Fine,” I ground out, reminding myself he was new to this.
I don’t know why they had to assign me someone who clearly didn’t know what they were doing, but I suppose every expert had to start as a novice.
Not that that inclined me toward a favorable review, but.
..ugh, fine. “Let’s see what you’ve got, since your ideas haven’t exactly been stellar. ”
“There’s always tomorrow, er...well, today I guess,” he said. “Let us away!”
“Injecting unnecessary enthusiasm into the idea does not make it better,” I reminded him as I got up, hating the twist of pain that shot up my back.
I had brought enough pills with me to last the entire stay, but not enough to make an impact every day.
So I was reduced to rationing, trying to keep in mind that some days would be better than others.
I wanted to keep the lion’s share for when my pain was especially bad, or when my nerves were so shot that something to dull the scraping sensation inside my head was necessary.
His eyes narrowed for a moment before his annoyance disappeared. “Yeah, well, consider it compensation for the lack of enthusiasm I’m used to from you. In life, there is a balance.”
Not the sentiment I would put out there, but at least he was consistent. Luka might be more tolerable if he weren’t so damn...clean. It wasn’t that he was a ‘company man,’ at least not in the sense that he was robotic and stiff, but he was definitely enthusiastic about the Arete Resort.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked as we walked along one of the hallways with a wall of glass that looked out on the mountain range.
The one thing I would give this place was that they knew their location was beautiful and were not afraid to show it off.
Spring was melting the snow and ice that dotted the slopes, but there was still enough to look breathtaking, especially when the sun was at the right angle to make everything glitter like jewels.
“Well, it’s not like you’ve seen the whole place,” he said with a new skip to his step.
“I suppose that’s true. My tours haven’t been extensive.”
“To be fair, you haven’t expressed interest in a whole lot, so I didn’t see much point in forcing you.”
“And yet here we are, me being dragged behind you anyway.”
“This isn’t dragging. This is me walking, and you walking behind me of your own volition. If you want some bondage, we have a room for that.”
My steps stuttered. “Pardon me?”
His face flushed as he looked back at me. “Sorry, that was a bad, bad joke. Just a joke. We don’t have a bondage room. Although I’m sure a few people around here wouldn’t argue if one was added.”
I blinked. “I thought there were no women here.”
“There aren’t,” he said, looking bemused. “But the facility isn’t meant for just straight men either. We get all sorts, and sometimes they realize there’s more to them than they thought, or that they can be more comfortable with certain parts of themselves than they would be outside the resort.”
“You’ve seen that sort of thing then?” I wondered, curious for the first time.
Sex hadn’t entered my mind. I might be private about my bisexuality, but that didn’t mean I suppressed or ignored it.
I was at a facility filled with men who I realized erred toward being attractive, and while I was sure that was a coincidence, it was a rather distracting one.
It would never have occurred to me to seek sex here; it seemed that would be frowned upon if not outright banned, as it was with other clean-living places.
“Seen? No,” he said with a shrug and then grinned. “Now, come on. We’ll get you set up in here before we go.”
‘In here’ turned out to be a small locker room. ‘Set up’ involved him disappearing for a moment before returning with a stack of clothes and towels, which he dropped onto the bench next to me. Examination showed a regular body towel, a washcloth, and a few pairs of shorts wrapped in plastic.
“So, find your size and preference,” he said, grinning at me. “And then rinse off in the showers before going out, please and thank you.”
“For what?” I wondered, picking up the shorts and staring at them dubiously.
“I mean, you can go nude if you want,” he said with a shrug.
“That’s actually pretty common, but from what I’ve seen, a lot of the newer guests aren’t comfortable doing that.
Well, not the younger ones. Older guys don’t seem to care as much; not sure if that’s a generational thing or if old guys just straight-up don’t care.
Either way, I’ll be back. You go on ahead. ”
I blinked as he went out the way he came, and I wondered what the hell had suddenly become so important that he had to take off without explanation.
Not that it was any of my business, and I frowned at the shorts, realizing they were bathing shorts.
I remembered there was a pool on the premises, but I hadn’t been interested enough to find it.
I wasn’t a pool person, especially when they were communal.
Of course, I could walk out and tell him I wasn’t going to go swimming like a kid dropped off at the city pool, but I had agreed to it.
Sighing, I considered going naked before pushing the thought away.
While I wasn’t shy about my body, I had worked hard at it despite how much my back loathed its existence as well as mine, I was a private person.
If anything, I was grateful Luka had made himself scarce because, despite knowing I could change in front of him, I didn’t want to, not just because I liked my privacy.
There was also the fact that I... Well, he was definitely one of the good-looking men and was far more distracting.
I trusted my body wouldn’t betray me just because I was changing in front of him, but I would rather not deal with the discomfort.
The locker room stayed empty while I changed, stored my clothes in a locker, and rinsed off in one of the showers.
There was only one other exit from the locker room.
I grabbed the towels and made for the wooden door at the back.
Opening it, I flinched when cold air washed over me, and I slowly stepped out to find an enclosed area filled with steam.
Padding forward, I squinted through the steam and could see that the source was a small body of water in the center, sunlight filtering in, taking some of the steam with it.
Large rocks jutted up everywhere, even out of the water. That was until one of the rocks moved and I flinched in surprise. “Hello?”
“Oh, hello there,” a voice came from the steam, and as I walked closer, I could see the moving ‘rock’ was, in fact, a man sitting chest deep in the water. “Most of ‘em don’t come over this far. Wasn’t expecting anyone.”
“This far?” I wondered as I searched for a dry rock to drop the towels onto and edged closer to the water, sticking my foot in. Oh yeah, it was definitely hot. God, I bet once I’d adjusted to the water, the tension in my back would disappear.
“There’s a few springs around here that they’ve connected. This one’s the quieter one,” he said and gestured over his shoulder as I eased my way slowly into the water.
“These are natural springs?”
“Mhmm. I guess so long as you don’t drag a bunch of chemicals and shit in with you, the springs mostly take care of themselves and don’t need cleaning,” he said.
Ah, that would explain why you were supposed to rinse off.
“That makes sense,” I said, wondering what other surprises there were in this place as I sank up to my neck.
“Yeah, they like it when things run themselves around here,” he laughed. “I’m Cade.”
“Rowan,” I said, shaking his hand. “Sorry if I’m interrupting.”