Christmas Tales - Brandon Witt Page 0,40
happy.
Three
Philip pointed to the office calendar. “Five more days. Can you make it, daddy bear?”
I glowered at him, but my heart wasn’t in it. Being a daddy bear didn’t seem as repugnant as it had only a few short days ago. Even if Philip meant it in a way I didn’t like. “A person can stand anything for five days.”
“Oh, that’s deep, Brian. Deep.” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“What?”
“That is. A person can stand anything for five days? Really? No diatribe about the evils of Christmas? No bitching about the music? You’re not even going to lecture about catching me riding Santa’s cock a little bit ago?”
I shuddered. “Philip, I don’t want to ever remember that visual again if I can keep from it, much less talk about it. If I didn’t hate Christmas before, I would now.”
He scoffed. “Hmm. I don’t believe it. Your heart isn’t in your hate. I almost think I smell Christmas cheer on you.”
“Shut up!” I tossed one of the towels I was moving into a hamper at his head.
He screamed and ducked. The towel smacked him on the face with a wet slap. “Gross. Brian, you don’t know whose cum is on here!”
I didn’t actually mean to hit him. Since when had I gotten decent aim? “Not like you care anyway. I’ve never seen you turn down cum.”
He halted, then shrugged. “Just because you’re not wrong, doesn’t make you not a bitch.”
I laughed and turned back to the towels. He was kinda right, as much as I hated to admit it. I wasn’t a Christmas convert by any means, but for the past three days, it all seemed to annoy me less. I’d received a Christmas miracle. The thing couldn’t be all bad.
True, I hadn’t heard anything from James since he left the following morning, but I hadn’t expected to. I hadn’t expected any part of it. Not the sex, his sweetness to me, him ending up falling asleep and staying the night. It was more than I ever thought I’d have. Sure, I wanted more of it. Just like cake; you didn’t want to stop at one piece. But a night with James? That wasn’t just a piece. That was the whole cake.
The door chime sounded. I glanced over at Philip.
He nodded. “Sure, I’ll get it.” There was a pause as he crossed to the window. “Oh, it’s you. Uhm, can I get your ID and membership card, please?”
“Actually”—at the sound of James’s voice, I dropped the towels in the hamper—“do you mind if he checks me in?”
I turned to find both James and Philip looking at me. James with that crooked smile, and Philip with his eyes bugged out and his mouth hanging open.
As I walked toward them, I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. My heart was about to beat out of my chest at the sight of him, but there was a sting too. How had I not foreseen this? Sure, Denver had two bathhouses, but did I really expect him to switch to the other one because I worked here? I couldn’t be feeling jealous. That was just stupid. I had no reason to feel jealous.
I focused on making my voice calm and normal, and to my surprise, it was. “Hey. It’s good to see you, James.”
“You too. Listen, I’m sorry about….” His gaze flicked over to Philip.
I glanced toward him as well and started to speak, but he didn’t give me the chance.
He raised his hands in surrender. “I know, I know. Get lost, Philip. Go clean some rooms.” As he turned and walked out the door, he shot me a wink.
I looked back at James once the door closed. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I swear he looked like he wanted to touch me. “I was trying to say that I was sorry for rushing out so quickly the other morning. I hadn’t planned on spending the night anywhere when I went to The Wizard’s Chest, and I was supposed to meet Claire and everyone at Snooze for breakfast. As it was, I arrived about fifteen minutes late.”
I nearly asked who Claire was. Probably daughter or ex-wife. It didn’t matter. Wasn’t my business. “It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to spend the night at all. It was a nice surprise. I’m thankful for what I got.”
I meant it in a genuine way, but that look of pity crossed his face again. “Well, I would’ve called, but we didn’t exchange numbers, and I’ve been too busy to stop by.”
“It really is