Page 30 of Suffer No Fools
"I've known you for fifteen years. If you don't want me to touch you, just say so, and we can end this experiment right now."
Hugo had thought Tovey and Stan had been willing partners before he'd joined them. He was beginning to see he'd walked into a mess, and then he'd made it worse.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to assume. I thought you two were already lovers."
Stan shifted so they could all three sit side-by-side on the bench. Hugo sat to the right, leaving a spot for Tovey to sit between them.
"We were fuck buddies," Tovey said. "Still are. Sometimes."
Hugo didn't know the difference, but it seemed important to Tovey, so he asked.
"Fuck buddies aren't in a relationship," Stan clarified. "They use each other to burn off steam on the ship, and then they seek other company in port."
"Do you?" Hugo asked Stan. "Seek other company in port?"
Stan shook his head. "No."
"And you?" Hugo asked Tovey.
"I don't even leave the ship unless Captain wants me to gather news as a bard."
Hugo thought he was beginning to understand. Their conflict stemmed back to that night fifteen years ago. He couldn't imagine being angry at anyone for that long. Except he could. He'd been angry at Coryn since she'd murdered his father.
Either way, they'd wasted the rest of their two-hour reprieve with the conversation. Hugo crossed the room to his sail bed, where he'd draped the robe Efren had given him. It was short, catching him mid-thigh and just long enough to keep everything important hidden. He wrapped it around himself as tightly as he could and tied the belt at his waist.
Stan followed his lead and re-wrapped himself in his towel, but Tovey continued to sit on the divan, staring into space. Hugo picked up his towel where it had fallen and brought it to him.
"I don't want to irritate Olivia by making you late," Hugo said.
Tovey finally glanced up at Stan. "You don't seek company in port?"
"I drink a little, and I pass along whatever messages need passing. That's it."
"That's obviously a choice," Tovey said. "Anyone with eyesight and a sexual appetite would want you."
"He's got a point." Hugo grinned, trying to diffuse their conversation before it got heavy again.
"I made that mistake once," Stan said, lying even after he'd told Hugo the truth. "I won't make it again."
Tovey inhaled sharply, and then he leaped to his feet and strode to the door, passing Stan without a backward glance and disappearing into the hold.
Hugo caught Stan by the arm before he could follow. "I'll try to help him understand his feelings on our date, but you need to tell him why you lied to him."
Stan's eyes widened, and he shook his head. "I can't. It was too long ago. He'll think I'm lying now, and that I've lied to you."
Hugo rolled his eyes. If only relationships were easier than matters of state.
Stan left to dress for his shift, and Hugo read another chapter in his book, but it couldn't hold his attention after he'd had the real thing. He decided it was time to enjoy his freedom on the main deck. He leaned against the wall of the aft deck and stared up at the night sky. It was such a warm night, he completely forgot he was wearing his short robe until Hannah whistled from their perch and called, "Nice legs!"
He bowed to them the way he would a foreign monarch and shuffled toward the stairs into the hold, but not before both Tovey and Stan glanced his way. Tovey had to adjust himself in his pants. Hugo empathized, though Tovey had been the one to call their playtime to a halt. Once they settled, wherever Aquarion's council decided to put them, Hugo would dig deeper into Tovey's hesitation with Stan.
Stan met his gaze, and then he glanced at Tovey. Was that guilt? Hugo was failing miserably to bring them together. Every attempt drove them further apart.
Hugo was so tired the next morning, he slept through the scrapes and bangs overhead announcing breakfast. He almost fell out of his sail bed when Jermain knocked on the partition and dropped a plate on the bench still in the middle of the room.He stared down at it for a moment. "What did you get up to last night?"
Hugo pulled his blanket around his waist and dropped his feet to the floor. "Rearranging the furniture," he said. "Do you like it?"
"It's ... unusual," Jermain said. "Stan has exceptional craftsmanship for a pirate."
