RULE NUMBER THREE

   “I saw the money you forgot.” I say quickly, giving him no room to argue with me.

The room had been void of his things the next morning, but bundles of money stacked on top of the table, which I brought with me, remained. I wondered why the money was left behind, nothing else, just the money, everything else methodically wiped.

 He exhaled sharply, giving up the idea of pretending not to know me,

“I didn’t forget it, it was for your time.”

I had hoped that wasn’t it. I felt insulted, I enjoyed myself, I wasn’t someone who was selling his body for money, I wanted it. Still, I took a deep breath, it was part of my promise to myself, to do anything and everything in my power to be by his side. It was the first time I wanted something for myself, someone for myself.

 “I assumed, I took all of it, you can’t dream about taking a cent from it.”

He stared at me in a way that said he didn’t want it back.

“Good, because it was too much. I didn’t do anything for that much money. I wasn’t even ready to go all the way, remember?”

 He looked away from me, I watch as a muscle in his jaw jumped. He was thinking about it too, he was better at suppressing his thoughts, me on the other hand, all I could think of was his hands stroking the side of my face, muttering sweetly, softly,

 “Take your time little good boy, whenever you’re ready.”

He had been so gentle sometimes, then very rough other times, I never could tell which side of him I was getting, but my body adapted all the same, reacting to every whim, every touch, every whisper.

 Even now my toes curled just thinking about it.

“It’s fine, I don’t want…”

I shake my head violently,

 “No, no it’s not. I can’t take money for something I didn’t do yet. I am willing to stay, I did the maths, if every day was a thousand dollars, then I still have thirty seven more days.” I planned to stay longer than that, but thirty seven days was a start.

 He turned to me sharply, his eyes held no emotion, it startled me,

“No, you will not. Go back home to your resort, and do as I asked, forget it ever happened.”

I am surprised by the strong surge of determination that suddenly overtakes me, my hands ball into tight fists, his eyes stray to them, and he must have been reminded of his words,

 “Your hands were made to wrap around me.”

He quickly averts his gaze, I liked that I still had an effect on him, that those three days we spent together did not just imprint on my consciousness, it imprinted on his, he wanted more of it, like I needed him.

 “I heard you, and I plan on disobeying you. Not just this once, I plan to disobey every single rule you set for me. Let’s see how you like that.”

 He cursed under his breath. A series of Spanish words, the exact ones I taught him, my lips twitch in a small smile, he hadn’t forgotten me, and our time together. It often played on a loop inside of my head, I knew I would never find anything like we shared outside of him, I wanted him, I wanted what we had, the sizzling tension that turned the most innocent of moments into a game, into something delicious, hot and tantalizing.

 “Alec, you don’t even have a place to stay here.”

The way he called my name, the possessive undertone he could not hide, I don’t think he notices, that the way he called my name was the same thing as branding me his.

 “I have all that money, I am sure I will find some place.” I waved him away. He had been to my place, when I had to get a few of my things from there. It was small, and tidy, but it had made me shy that he was in my place. I hurried to leave, but he seemed to be taking it in, he walked into the kitchen that spilled directly into the living room, then the bathroom, and finally the bed.

 “I want to leave my mark here, come, open your mouth.”

I did, and he came violently, his seed spilling on my bed, and then he washed off in the bathroom. He did random things like that, leaving a mark on my soul.

 He rubbed his hands against his face. As if wishing everything would go back to the way he wanted it.

“You can’t stay here.”

“I don’t see why not.” I retort, trying and failing to look away from his bulging arms, I had lain against those arms. And I wanted to be back there again.

 “You have your job for starters.”

I snort unattractively before I could stop myself.

“I quit, just like you suggested.”

His eyes widened,

“Why would you take that seriously?”

He had told me to follow my dreams, live my life, then I didn’t understand it, I didn’t know how to live my life any differently. I had plenty of part time jobs to keep me busy and to keep the bills paid, the resort paid a lot so it was easy to survive. Anything more than that… anyway, he made me realize that I was young, and had so much potential, his words not mine.

 “We can find out what those potentials are together.” I say, watching him.

He exhaled. He was back to being the man with a lot of baggage I saw on the first day at the resort, he looked like the world was balanced on his shoulders.

 “Alec…”

“I don’t understand, I thought we had fun together, I thought you enjoyed it. I thought we connected… was I wrong?” I felt my lower lip quake, but I bite it defiantly, I was not going to cry in front of him.

 “It doesn’t matter…”

“Why doesn’t it? It matters the most to me.” I was almost pleading again. Dammit, I wish we could go back to the resort, it made everything easier.

 His mouth parted to answer when the door to the back seat opened, a woman slid inside without looking at us.

“Christopher! I am so glad I caught you…” she finally looked up to find me staring at her, probably with mouth open wide. She was beautiful, with a round face and fierce eyes.

“You were in a meeting, I apologize.” She says the last part to me, a small frown on her face. And then to Christopher, she goes,

“I might be late for dinner, I made sticky tofu, rice and veggies, you could just reheat it.”

And then she was out, the car door slamming behind her left a resounding echo in the silence that followed suit.

 “So, Christopher Shepherd huh…” I say quietly, looking down at my feet, wondering if he ever told me anything about himself that was remotely true.

  A rude shock passes through me when I realize, he never told me anything personal, he only encouraged me to speak, making me feel heard, seen, so I told him about my favorite food, where I went to for high school, and how I been really good at all ball sports. He even made a joke,

 “Maybe that’s why you’re so good with my balls.”

“Christopher Shepherd. Nice to meet you, Alec.”

I looked up at him, his face betrayed nothing,

 “That wasn’t your line, it was something like, you look so fucking submissive and breedable.”

I hear him suppress a snicker. But I had him, I know I did. Christopher suited him better than Kennedy, I always thought he didn’t look like a Kennedy.

 “Well, Christopher Shepherd, I hope you aren’t in charge of interviews, since I already applied to Shepherd’s Construction.”

 His eyes bulged,

“No, you didn’t.”

I grin, “I have a thing with part time work apparently. I only searched the website to see where you worked, and ended up finding work. I have always thought having this thick sexual tension with someone I worked with would be fascinating. I want your arms wrapped around my throat again while you pressed me against the walls whilst everyone else worked in the next room. Don’t you want this, Daddy?”