Page 26 of Guiding Desire
“I fucking heard that,” Taros said from down the hall.
“And you were fucking supposed to,” Coldis said back.
Senlas put a hand on Orrey’s shoulder, bringing the Conduit’s attention back to him. “What you want goes, but I suggest we leave for that lunch appointment right now.”
Orrey glanced back at the boxes. Karmine huffed along in an exaggerated way, four boxes piled in his arms.My regular clothes are somewhere in there,Orrey thought, but maybe digging them out and changing with four Guardians around wasn’t the best call.
“Okay. Let’s go,” he said, prompting a nod from Senlas, along with a small quirking of the Guardian’s lips.
Senlashadcalledtheirauto-drive from the elevator, and while the Guardian’s steps remained even on his way to the building entrance, Orrey’s steps slowed.
“Whoa,” he said. The building’s entire first floor atrium had been turned into an indoor park, no, an orchard. Fruit shimmered under foliage, malis and dree, low standing bushes of glimpid berries as long as Orrey’s pinky finger.
“Perk of the building. You get fresh produce delivered once a week unless you opt out.” Senlas had walked up behind Orrey.
“Places with this level of agriculture are so rare to get,” Orrey said.
Senlas cocked his head, his eyebrows rising. He opened his mouth, closed it. “Were you looking to move out of the protector housing?”
Orrey leaned forward to look at very nearly ripe sour hallas, but a hovering garden AI got in his face, effectively getting him to stumble back. Right into Senlas’s arms.
“Sorry.”
“Hmm. I think you’re doing it on purpose,” the Guardian said. “So? You had any plans of moving to a building with aggressive garden bots?”
Orrey straightened and headed toward the front door, though his steps were unhurried. “I talked about it with a few colleagues I got along well with. We were considering sharing a place.”
The doors opened automatically as Senlas said, “Right. Single units are kind of rare these days.”
“You have a single unit,” Orrey said, blinking at the sunlight hitting him in the face. Yesterday had been hot, but now that they were outside of the climate-controlled interior, this day felt just about as hot if not hotter.
“Had. You live there with me now.” Senlas held his screen up to the auto-drive, and once it had confirmed its passengers, the doors slid open.
The two of them filed inside. There was a bit of a shuffle when Senlas insistently took the forward-facing seat. Orrey deferred to sit opposite him quickly enough.
Their conversation broke off soon after, but Orrey was all too aware the Guardian was watching. He didn’t even try hiding it, which left Orrey more than a little uncomfortable.
He’s attractive,Orrey thought.He’s not demanding and boisterous as I thought all Guardians would be.
Orrey’s thoughts drifted to what he knew Conduits had to do. Different textbooks or not, everyone understood that a Conduit was meant to allow the draining away of the physical stress using their powers put on Guardians. That was the long and short of the Covenant, the Guardians to protect everyone, the Conduits to protect the Guardians. And each Conduit did so through touch, through skin-on-skin contact, through kissing. And all the other things the tamer dramas on stream never showed while explicit shows made a killing with their clothing-optional version of Guardian and Conduit dramas.
In an attempt to distract himself from what would be expected of him sooner rather than later, Orrey reached for the central controls and turned on the radio. He found his favorite station, or rather, the one they had running in his protector housing unit a lot. When he pulled his hand away from the controls, Orrey caught Senlas frowning.
“Sorry. Should I change the station? Vibe tunes usually go over well with most people, but if you prefer classic—“
“Nah. ‘S fine,” Senlas said, cheeks darkening. “Your mother. Does she live alone?”
“Oh, most of the time. Well, I stay with her sometimes, but that’s because she lives on the other end of town, and when I visit there, it’s easier to spend the night. Our family unit is a little strange because Mom tolerates Livis—that’s my second mother—only for a few weeks out of every year. Livis lives with my dad most of the time, and he only spends the odd day at Mom’s home. He and Mom argue a lot. Mom says the amount they argue is actually proportional to how much they love each other.”
While Orrey had drifted into a dazed smile, the memory of his Covenant firework dream coming back to him, Senlas’s eyes had widened. “What’s your mother do?”
“Ah. She’s an artist. Visual, and she also makes VR environments for people with dementia.”
“That’s a résumé,” Senlas said.
“She’ll tell you all about it. For hours and hours. You have been warned.”
The Guardian frowned. “Understood.”
