Mason's Run

by Mellanie Rourke

  “…Lee?” I called his name hesitantly. Slowly, awareness began seeping back in from wherever his thoughts had been. A moment more and he finally seemed to come back to himself.

  “Um… Thanks…” He whispered. A strange catch in his gravelly voice made me look up at him, only to realize that I was pressed against him from knee to shoulder, my hands gripping his arm firmly to keep it under the cold water. It was intimate as fuck

  I let go of his arms like I was the one burned and moved back.

  “Yeah…uh, sure,” I said nervously. I looked around the room for a distraction. “Do you have a first aid kit?” I asked.

  “Bathroom,” he said tersely, and I saw his jaw tighten. I hoped it was in pain, and not that he was pissed at me. Of course, that made me start berating myself for hoping he was in pain. Fuck, get it together, Mason! I ran to the bathroom and began looking around for a medicine cabinet.

  The mirror slid out on hinges, and behind it I saw all the normal things you’d find in a medicine cabinet - pain relievers, allergy medicine, some antacids. As I looked for bandages, I saw several bottles of prescription medication in the cabinet. I knew it was none of my business, but I couldn’t avoid reading the labels. Fluoxetine (Prozac), Paroxetine (Paxil), Sertraline (Zoloft), Venlafaxine (Effexor).

  There were more, most of them only half full at best, all but one of them with prescription dates six to twelve months old. I knew the names. I’d tried some and had friends who had been prescribed others.

  Definitely seemed like my handsome host had some kind of anxiety disorder. I wondered what a guy like Lee could possibly have to feel anxious about. I mean, he was big and strong – I couldn’t imagine anyone ever pushing him around. Then thoughts of the picture shoved into the bedside drawer made me pause. I guessed everyone had their issues.

  “Did you find it?” I heard him call. “It’s under the sink.”

  I found what I assumed he was referring to. It was more like a giant backpack filled with medical supplies than what I thought of as a first aid kit, but to each their own. I nabbed it from under the sink, grabbed some of the pain relievers from the medicine cabinet, and then took everything to the kitchen.

  Lee was seated at the table with a wet paper towel on his hand. As I set the first aid kit on the table, he lifted the paper towel, and I could see there were several medium sized blisters across his hand, and his skin was really, really red where the bacon grease had splashed.

  “Shit,” I said, rifling through the kit, pulling out antibiotic ointment, burn cream and bandages. “That looks like it hurts.”

  “A bit,” he said.

  I looked at him cautiously, trying to figure out what kind of a guy he was. In my experience, people in pain showed their true selves. Some people lashed out when they were in pain, others bottled it up. He seemed to be the kind that bottled it up, but you never knew.

  I opened the packet and smoothed the burn cream on his hand. It was almost clear and smelled like aloe. I figured it had to hurt like a sonofabitch, but he hardly reacted as my fingers smoothed the gel over his hand. The only sign he was in pain was his lips pressing firmly together as I loosely wrapped a bandage around the worst area of the burn.

  “Not bad,” he said, lifting his hand to examine my work. He turned his green eyes on me, some of the glitter coming back to them.

  “You hurt yourself a lot?” I asked, gesturing at the medical bag.

  He grinned. “No. I’m a… I was a medic,” he answered, hesitating mid answer.

  “Military?” I asked.

  He nodded. He didn’t seem to want to discuss it, so I didn’t ask any more questions. I started cleaning up the used packaging, then went to take a look at the food on the stove. It still smelled amazing, so I was hoping it was salvageable.

  “This looks like it’s pretty much ready to eat,” I said, grabbing some tongs and dishing the eggs and bacon onto some plates. Lee just nodded, still carrying a slightly dazed expression on his face.

  “You want something to drink?” I asked as I put the plates of food on the table in front of him. Lee looked up at me, the dazed look turning to a bemused smile on his face.

  “Water’s good for me, but there’s OJ in the fridge,” he said. I nodded and got out two glasses. I filled one with water and the other with orange juice and set them both on the table. I sat down across from him and nodded at the naproxen.

  “Take that with your food, or your stomach will regret it,” I said.

  He nodded and started shoveling food into his mouth. Luckily, he seemed to be right-handed, so the burn didn’t slow him down much.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said after a few minutes of just the sound of us eating echoed in the kitchen.

  “Startle me?” he asked, confusion apparent on his face.

  “Yeah, when I came in. When you jumped and spilled the grease…?” I asked, my voice ending on a high note, wondering if he didn’t remember how he had burned his hand.

  “Oh! No, that wasn’t you,” he said. His eyes roamed the room, able to look anywhere but at me.

  “Really? Because it sure looked like it. I walked in and you jumped and spilled hot grease on yourself…” I said, putting the last bite of bacon in my mouth.

  “I said it wasn’t you,” he barked, his voice gaining a bite of anger to it as he shoved back from the table and stood, gathering the now-empty plates and moving them to the sink.

  He paused, his back to me, his shoulders rigid and tight as he leaned against the sink. I walked up to him and put my silverware in the sink.

  “I know it’s not really my business,” I said, as I reached out and touched his arm tentatively. He jumped when I touched him, his skin surprisingly soft under my touch. “But it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay.” I said, trying to share some of the understanding and acceptance he had given me the night before.

  “It wasn’t you,” he finally whispered. “I… We were in Afghanistan. Mack, my fiancé, he was shot. I was working on him when there was mortar fire,” Lee paused, and I could see his facial muscles clench as if he was forcing the words out. “He didn’t make it.” The morning sun shone brightly through the window over the sink, and I saw a tell-tale wetness sliding down his cheeks. Lee was crying.

  My heart broke for this man. This brave, strong, incredibly kind man, to have lost someone he loved that much…I didn’t know what else to do, so I did what I knew Zem would have done for me in the same place: I wrapped my arms around him and just held him.

  At first his body remained rigid against mine, but slowly he started to relax. His body gave off heat like a furnace. I wasn’t quite as tall as he was, so as I hugged him from behind my cheek lay against the back of his neck, the soft, prickly hair of his short cut brushing against my face. He must have showered that morning, because I could smell his clean, soapy scent as I held him tight. We stood there for what seemed like forever, then he brought one arm up and his hand gripped my arms where they wrapped around him.

  “Thank you,” he whispered. “I’m okay. It’s… been a while.”

  I nodded and released him, stepping back and giving him time to collect himself.

  I deliberately looked away as I saw him brush the tears from his eyes, and he cleared his throat.

  “No luck on the hotel,” he said as he turned to face me. “Everything within an hour’s drive is full, what with the Hall of Fame Festival this week. I can talk to the twins, or to some of our friends, Jon and Anna, if you want to stay with one of them, but you’re welcome to stay here, I mean, if you wanted.” He began, suddenly stuttering and stammering like a teenager as he continued. “I h-have the s-spare room, and you can’t get much more private than your own personal park.”

  The view outside the window was stunningly beautiful. An area around the house was cleared of trees, but they seemed to have snuck up the back portion of the lot until a few shaded the deck that circled the house and looked out over a gully. I could see the glint of water at the b
ottom, and the morning sun was just bringing that sharp edge of light only available at certain times of day.

  I was looking out across the lawn, trying to figure out whether I should accept or not, when I saw something move in the grassy area next to the driveway.

  “Shit, there’s something out there!” I yelled as I jumped up and away from the sliding glass doors.

  “What?” He jumped forward. My heart, already racing, did a little double thump as he stepped protectively between me and the door. He peered outside the vertical blinds that seemed ubiquitous throughout the house.

  “That!” I screeched, in a completely un-masculine way.

  He watched where I was pointing, a slow smile easing across his face, the fierce glare that had sprung to life at my exclamation quickly being replaced.

  “That?” he asked, pointing at a large furry lump that galumphed across the lawn. I just nodded.

  The thing was the size of a damn horse. It obviously was a chupacabra. Wait. Weren’t chupacabra’s only in the desert?

  “No chupacabras here,” Lee laughed.

  Shit, did I just say all that out loud?

  “That’s Jabba,” he said, still laughing at me.

  “Jabba?” I asked, my voice shaking in disbelief. “He’s certainly big enough! Shit, that thing’s huge!” I exclaimed, peering over Lee’s shoulder at the chunky animal moving across the lawn. “Does he bite?”

  “Jabba’s a groundhog, he’s harmless,” Lee said, grinning at me over his shoulder.

  “Groundhog? Like, in, Groundhog Day? I thought they lived in Pennsylvania, or something,” I said.

  “Um, no, groundhogs don’t just live in Pennsylvania. Haven’t you ever been away from the city before?” he asked.

  “Why would I go in the woods? There’re no Starbucks there,” I said, returning to my seat. I could see the disbelief on his face. This was going to be fun…

  “Starbucks? Seriously, dude?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yep, no Starbucks, no internet… Why would I go to the woods?” I asked, breaking out my most diva voice.

  Lee caught on that I was teasing him, and he threw the dishtowel from the counter at me.

  “Asshole,” he muttered.

  I snickered and dodged, before grabbing my juice again.

  “So… What’s the plan today?” I asked, taking a drink.

  “The signing is scheduled to start at 11 a.m., if you’re up for it,” he said, his voice rising slightly. I nodded. I needed to be able to do this.

  “It should last about four hours, then, well, you are free if you want, but…” his voice trailed off a bit.

  “But…?” I inquired, returning the raised eyebrow he had given me earlier.

  He sighed and thrust his phone at me. I eyed it suspiciously, but saw a group text message scrawled across the screen.

  MAMA K: You found him? GREAT! Bring him to dinner tonight! We’ll play D&D!

  ME: Mom, he’s not going to want to play D&D with you nerds. I don’t even know if he *likes* role playing.

  MAMA K: Why wouldn’t he like role playing?!? …He’s not prejudiced, is he??

  ME: No, Mom, he’s literally famous for his LGBTQ Graphic novels. He’s not prejudiced.

  MAMA D: She didn’t mean sexual orientation, Lee. She meant that we don’t play 5th edition.

  Mason smiled over at Lee. “Mama K? Mama D?”

  Lee’s face broke into a broad grin. “My parents. Kara and Diana Devereaux.”

  “Life partners?” I asked, and Lee nodded.

  “For almost thirty years now,” he said.

  “Wow… That’s a long time,” I said, trying to count backward in time. “Gay and together thirty years ago? That had to be rough,” I said, taking a sip of my juice.

  “Yeah, they met in the eighties, and it was love at first sight,” Lee said, his hands making air quotes. “They run D&K Martial Arts. It’s mixed martial arts training. They’ve been doing it my whole life.”

  “That almost sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Two lesbians open a dojo…”

  Lee snorted.

  “Yeah, I think we’ve heard just about every variation of that joke there is, over the years.”

  “How many siblings do you have?” I asked, curious. I knew his brothers owned one of the bookstores we’d be visiting today, but didn’t know much beyond that.

  “I’m the oldest of six,” he said.

  “Six?” I exclaimed, covering my mouth and coughing. “Damn! That’s a lot of kids!”

  “Yep. Never a dull moment around the house, I can tell you,” Lee said. “After me, there’s Weaver, she’s the only girl, then Kaine, Bishop, Sonny and Hicks. Kaine and Bishop are adopted, everyone else is biological.”

  “Wow. I have a hard time imagining that big of a family,” I said, almost wistfully. I’d lived with Tira and Zem for about five years after escaping Milwaukee. While I loved and appreciated all they had done for me, there’d always been this feeling in me that it was temporary, that I’d lose them. Hadn’t been too far wrong as Tira had had a heart attack two years ago and passed away. By that time, I’d been in Seattle for three years and Zem was in college, and well on the way to beginning her own life.

  “It was a lot,” Lee said, his face softening as he took a sip of his coffee. “We didn’t have a ton of money or anything – things ebbed and flowed with the business, you know. Clothes were hand-me-downs, everything got re-used. But we never doubted we were loved.”

  “Mama K always says the only thing you can get more of by giving it away is love,” Lee said, his eyes soft as he glanced at me.

  Our eyes caught for a moment, and time seemed to stop. That zing of electricity was back in the air. It was like the power of his gaze went right to my heart, then took a sharp ninety degree turn right to my cock, which was thickening uncomfortably.

  I dropped my gaze and looked away, embarrassed at my body’s response. I felt like a fucking teenager. Was my face going to break out in zits next? Why was my body choosing this guy to suddenly come alive for?

  Lee cleared his throat again and started gathering up the remaining dishes. “Well, I guess we better get our shit together if we want to get to the signing. It’s about a thirty-minute drive from here, so we should get going.”

  I nodded and headed back to the bedroom to pack up my things. I noticed as I walked down the hallway that there was another room to my right. The door was ajar, something I hadn’t noticed earlier. This door led to a smaller room than the one I was in. There was an extra-long overstuffed couch on one end of the wall, with piles of pillows and blankets thrown across it. Now I knew where Lee had slept last night. But it was the contents that really made this room stand out.

  The walls were filled with shelves full of robots. I couldn’t help but move closer and found myself staring at row after row of Transformer toys. Their bright, sometimes garish, colors brightening the room.

  They were unboxed and posed dramatically. Some of them were incredibly detailed, and all seemed to have been lovingly taken care of.

  I reached out to touch one, then thought better of it and snatched my hand back, terrified of breaking something.

  “You can touch it,” I heard a voice behind me say. His voice made my cock jump, and I knew my face had gone bright red. I'd entered what was obviously a private area without permission, and was now praying my pants were loose enough to hide the way my body was responding to him.

  “I’m sorry,” I stammered, trying to slip past him. “I shouldn’t have come in… I should have asked first.” I said.

  He smiled at me again, this time a lighter expression. It seemed to brighten his whole face and made the green of his eyes sparkle.

  “It’s okay. I believe strongly that toys are meant to be played with,” he said, his voice like velvet stroking parts of me no man had ever touched, which was saying something. He reached up and snagged the robot I’d been fascinated with and held it out to me.

  “One of my
favorite characters from the show was a set of combiners called the Technobots – five guys who were these futuristic vehicles that combined into this big robot called Computron.”

  Lee grinned and pointed to some of the other robots on the shelves.

  “Most other combiners of the time made these giant muscle guys, but Computron was essentially a giant supercomputer. He was kind of slow, but he was calculating. They have a cool color scheme – white, red, orange,” he said, pointing toward them.

  “Scattershot, Strafe, Lightspeed, Afterburner and Nosecone,” he said, gesturing to the toy in my hand. “The animation is terrible, the story is terrible, but the toys are cool.”

  Lee grinned at me, his eyes starting to regain some of the animation I’d seen in them yesterday. Damn, that grin… It did strange things to my gut. I felt hot and cold at the same time and it made me wonder if I was coming down with something.

  Lee broke my train of thought as he set the Transformer back up on its shelf.

  “You can absorb their awesomeness later, though,” he said. “We have to get going.”

  7

  Lee

  The drive to the store was uneventful, but informative. Mason and I had a lot in common. We spent the time talking about Transformers, comic books, sci fi movies – a little bit of everything.

  “Okay, so seriously,” I said, when we were just a few minutes from the store. “You’ve never watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer?”

  Mason shook his head and grinned. “Nope, I didn’t watch much TV growing up.”

  “Oh my god…you are going to lose your shit over David Boreanaz.”

  “Boreanaz? Isn’t he the guy on Bones?” he asked.

  I sighed and may have muttered something about his misspent youth as we pulled onto the street for the store.

  “Okay, here’s an easy one,” Mason said. “Pop Quiz, hotshot. Hottest pickup line in an eighties movie. Go!”

  “Um… Got it! ‘Come with me if you vant to live!’” I said, in what was probably the worst impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger ever.