“No, I’m fairly fucking certain they aren’t supposed to go in the rooms where people sleep and fuck.”
“You said a lot of words, leaving me confused.”
Anders stands up and walks to the table. I watch him leave, and I watch him walk back. First, I stare at his rear end. Then I stare at his penis. I’m not sure which one I prefer.
“Their faces look green because of the night vision,” he explains while stepping into the hot tub.
Then Anders shows me the phone. I see Mama and Dove sleeping in a big bed with Future curled up between them.
“My family is so beautiful,” I whisper. “That’s how we slept in the tabernacle. I would sleep on the other side of Dove and Perry on the other side of Mama. Back in the Collective, Papa slept next to Mama while Dove and I cuddled.”
“Are you going to miss them tonight?”
Even hearing the edge in Anders’s voice, I nod. “There’s no space for me on that bed, though.”
“Do you think they’ll want their own rooms eventually?”
“What for?”
“To have more privacy.”
Ignoring his question, I study the picture until he sets the phone away from the water.
“Is privacy why you have a big house by yourself?” I ask after he stretches out again.
“I copied Bronco. He had built a big house, so I built the same thing. I changed some stuff, mostly on the inside. Like the wood floors are a different color, and my cabinets are darker. But I just did what he did.”
“Because you respect him or because you wanted him to respect you?”
Anders’s blue eyes flash upward. “Because people said I should build a house, and his was my favorite.”
I glance at the phone, thinking of my family sleeping so peacefully. “I’m excited about breakfast in the morning. Mama plans to cook.”
“Are you hungry now?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Why not say something?”
“I want to stay in the water more.”
Frowning, Anders asks, “Do you like this house? I can change it if you don’t like it.”
“Change it how?”
“Knock it down and build a new one.”
I look at the back of his big house and then at him. “That’s terrible, Anders. You can’t destroy your home.”
“I would if you didn’t like it.”
His words hurt my heart. Yet, Anders only frowns at my tears. He can’t understand. I’m starting to wonder if he’s blind to himself and the world he lives in.
“This is your home, Anders,” I say, crying freely. “You copied Bronco, but you copied him and not other people. You picked the colors that are different, yes? This house is a part of you. How could you ever want to destroy it?”
“I want you to be happy and stay with me.”
“What if I don’t like your clothes or your name or your club or the food you eat? Will you destroy it all? What will be left?”
“It’s just a building.”
“No, it’s part of you. I don’t want you to destroy yourself for me.”
Clearly confused, Anders mutters, “And you don’t want to change for me.”
“I already have, but I don’t want to be Lana or Tinker Bell or whoever else you want me to be.”
The top of Anders’s face remains scowling, but his lower part fights a smile. “Don’t be Lana.”
“Don’t destroy your home.”
“I can change stuff without destroying it.”
“Then maybe do that one day. I don’t know. This is a big house, and I can’t keep track of why it has so many rooms. One day, I might understand and want things to be different. Or I might like it the way it is.”
“I want you to be happy,” he says, running his fingers along my leg.
“I am.”
“We should eat.”
“Can we put your cock-penis into my pussy-vagina?”
“Right now?”
“You’re very hard,” I say, reaching for his penis. “That means you want sexual intercourse. Mama told me.”
“What else did she tell you?” he asks, sliding me onto his lap.
“That the pussy-vagina stretches. Even though you have a very large cock-penis, it will fit.”
“How does she know about my cock?”
Giggling, I cup his jaw. “She meant the vagina stretches for a baby to come out. I assume it would stretch for your titan-cock-penis.”
“Now, you’re giving it too many names.”
“Well, it’s very large. And your person name is very long.”
Anders slides his hands down my back as I lean into our kiss. Between our bodies, his penis is so hard. I run my fingers over the flesh and smile when it twitches with excitement.