Page 16 of Collin: Episodes 4-6
“Green,” Collin whispered against the other man’s lips. “Green and scared. Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t. You’re mine.” His lips pressed against Collin’s forehead.
He drew Collin out of the shower and dried him off, never letting Collin handle a towel. Collin leaned against the counter as Mr. Reevesworth dried himself. He took Collin by the hand and led him out into the bedroom where he put on a pair of loose linen pants and nothing else.
“Let’s go into the living room.”
Collin nodded and gave Mr. Reevesworth his hand again. They went to the kitchen first.
Collin shifted his weight from one foot to another, glancing around. “Should I get clothes, sir?”
Mr. Reevesworth shook his head. He opened the refrigerator and selected a variety of bottles, placing them on a tray. There was water, juice, and kefir, a drink that Collin was only slowly coming to appreciate.
In the living room, Mr. Reevesworth drew him toward the largest couch. He laid one of the folded blankets folded over the back of the cushions and opened one of the bottles of juice, placing it in Collin’s hands.
“Drink all of it.”
“Yes, sir.” Collin put the rim to his lips.
Mr. Reevesworth opened his own bottle. He wandered around the room and into his office for only a moment, returning with one of the books he had been reading the past week in his hands. “Is there anything you would like to have?”
Collin shook his head. Mr. Reevesworth stretched out on the couch on his back, head propped up with cushions against one of the armrests. Collin crawled on top of him and between his legs, his stomach pressed against Mr. Reevesworth’s hips, and drank his juice, gazing at a spot of nothing out the window.
Bottle consumed, he pushed it toward the table, not quite able to reach.
Mr. Reevesworth reached down and took it from his fingers, setting it on the coffee table. He ran his hands through Collin’s hair. “How do you feel?”
“Sleepy, sir. But I don’t know if I should rest.”
“Close your eyes. Émeric will be back with dinner in a few hours. You can rest now and still sleep again tonight. You’ve been through a lot.”
“You won’t leave?”
“No. If I move, I’ll tell you.”
“Okay.”
Collin closed his eyes and dropped his head to Mr. Reevesworth’s belly. His breathing evened out almost at once.
His full bladder and soft voices drew Collin up from the oblivion of dreams.
“You’re falling hard, Richard.”
“I know. I’m so much older than him, Émeric.”
“Age matters but only if you hold him back from the experiences he needs. Remember that. You will hold him back no more than Franklin held us back.”
“If he stays, someday he will bury me, bury us, like we buried Franklin.”
“We’re all mortal, Richard. Lovers bury each other all the time. Enzo was younger than both of us.”
Mr. Reevesworth’s body tightened, gripping Collin tighter.
“Mortality makes us love even more fiercely,” Mr. Moreau went on. “Let him be mortal. Let yourself be mortal.”
“This one can hurt me.”
“Then this one matters.”
