It was still seven more hours to Marseille.
*** *** ***
By the time they arrived in the evening, Theo was starving. Not for food. For her.
He shied away from using her name, because even that held too much power for him. If she hadn’t been so oblivious to her effect on him, it wouldn’t have grated on his nerves so much. He wanted to drag her into the first room they could find in the new-old city house they would call home, but instead there was the maddening delay of unloading their things and stacking them in the hall. She clucked over his shoulder, a blow to his ego. He’d only told her it ached in hopes of getting her to touch him earlier in the van.
Kelsey...
Now they had to take valuable time to meet with the matriarch of the Russian strong-act family, the self-elected landlady of the house. Theo and the brusque, muscular woman were obliged to speak in a mish-mash of French and Russian to understand one another. Theo had hoped for some misunderstanding to land him and Kelsey in a room together. Sorry, but there is only one very small bed you two will have to share...
Alas, there were two private suites and they were across the length of the house from one another. Theo was given the larger one over the Russian family’s suite of rooms, while Kelsey got a smaller room down the hall beside the rooms of two male acrobats. With any luck, they were both gay.
Finally, with keys in their possession, Theo took Kelsey’s hand. “I need to see you privately. Right now.”
But Kelsey was ever practical and dutiful. “We should take our things up first. We can’t leave them here cluttering the front hallway.”
Theo looked down at their small pile of belongings. The cloying floral wallpaper and scraped linoleum of the foyer mocked him. Want her, do you? Not until she says so... “No one will bother them.” He tried not to sound as desperate as he felt, but she already had one of her suitcases in hand. With an inward groan, he leaned to pick up a box and pile it on another one. Her admonition of “Watch your shoulder!” was met with an irate growl.
They climbed the carpeted stairs, Kelsey chattering on about the antique charm of the home or some such nonsense while Theo strained to ogle her ass from behind the boxes he carried. They were halfway down the hall when one of the acrobats’ doors opened, and a short, solid blue-eyed cherub of a man-boy looked out at them. That kind of muscle definition? The highlights in his gel-stiffened hair? Definitely gay.
But then the cherub’s eyes roamed over Kelsey and lit up with a sexual appraisal Theo recognized all too well. “Kelsey Martin,” the acrobat exclaimed, open-mouthed. “Hot damn, it can’t be.”
“Wayne?” Kelsey shrieked. Jesus Christ, she was throwing her arms around the man’s neck. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it! I haven’t seen you in so long!”
The hug lasted way too long, and this Wayne character held her way too tight against his rock hard frame. How could he actually tumble with that kind of bulk? Theo regarded him with disdain, thinking about how low Lemaitre’s standards had dropped in recent years. The acrobat’s smile was sickeningly smarmy when he pulled away.
“Are you here with the Cirque? I had no idea you’d moved into performing.”
“Yeah,” Kelsey said. “I’m pretty new, but I love it so far.”
“I’ve been with the company a couple years now. Started out in Brillante in Vegas and recently transferred here for the new show.”
“I started out in Tsilaosa,” Kelsey said. “I just got the nod to come here this week.”
Wayne ogled Kelsey again in open flirtation. “You always did follow me around.”
Theo was going to gag. He gave Kelsey a dire look. Unruffled, she introduced the two of them with a huge smile. “Wayne, this is Theo Zamora, my new partner. We’re going to do an aerial act. Theo, this is Wayne Dalton. We trained together for years in Laguna Hills. That’s in California,” she added.
Theo scowled. “I’m not an idiot. I know Laguna Hills is in California.”
“Theo is French,” she said to Wayne. “He’s from...somewhere in France. He’s kind of secretive sometimes. And grouchy,” she added pointedly as his scowl deepened.
The man-boy slid him a look and said something to Kelsey under his breath that made her chuckle.
Oh, hell no. It was on.
“Kelsey, you want me to put these in your room or mine?” Theo asked, indicating her boxes and bags.
She looked at him like he’d taken leave of his senses. “My room, Theo. Thanks.” She turned back to Wayne. “Sorry, we just got here. Our stuff is all still down in the front hall.”
“I’ll help you,” Wayne offered, his tone so ingratiating that Theo’s hackles rose.
He waved Wayne off. “I think I can manage a few boxes.”
“But your shoulder--”
Theo silenced Kelsey with a look. “My shoulder is absolutely fine.”
“Are you in this room?” Wayne asked, indicating the room right next to his. Kelsey beamed.
“Yeah. So weird. I can’t believe after all these years we’re going to be living next door to each other. Literally.”
After all these years. How much history did these two share? Wayne Dalton was clearly older than Kelsey, and Kelsey was treating him like a revered big brother rather than an ex-lover. But Theo caught the predatory vibes that Kelsey was too guileless--or too trusting--to notice. Wayne might be playing the harmless friend, but he wasn’t harmless. Or even, Theo intuited, a friend.
Kelsey followed after Wayne, chattering away in a California-girl style of speech she didn’t use with him. Wayne lifted her other two boxes and a suitcase. Fucking show off. Theo took the last suitcase, squelching the urge to trip Wayne on the way back up.
This would never do. Theo would have to live in another house. He couldn’t bear watching from a front row seat as Wayne tried to bed Kelsey for the next few months. Or weeks. Or days. Maybe Kelsey would sleep with him later tonight, liberated by Theo’s debauching of her. No. No.
There was no fucking way he was giving Kelsey up to this cocksure buffoon, with his stupid blond highlights and over-bulked looks. Theo despised him already for his falseness, pretending to be a friend to Kelsey when he just wanted-- When he just wanted--
When he just wanted what Theo wanted.
Ugh. Theo dumped Kelsey’s suitcase in her room with the other things and left the two old friends to talk. He didn’t think Wayne would put the moves on her so soon. No, Wayne would continue to play the old pal, reminisce, help her unpack like he was her friend.
Theo would settle in and let Wayne have his time with her. He needed a cigarette anyway. Later, tonight, it would be Theo’s turn.
*** *** ***
Kelsey looked around her cozy little room. She loved it. The walls were papered in a weathered toile print that seemed so uniquely French. Two large windows were hung with light-blocking curtains so she could throw them open for sunlight, or draw them closed if she wanted to sleep. Her bed was small but comfortable, sized just right for the space. The adjoining bathroom was even smaller but it had its own charm, with the narrow shower stall and porcelain pedestal sink. A small mirror hung over it from a wide silk ribbon.
The whole house was so charmingly French. Wayne had showed her around, from the extremely clean kitchen to the walled garden to the common room where the housemates got together now and again to play cards or watch movies. Apparently the Russians kept to themselves most of the time, but W
ayne had struck up a friendship with the other acrobat in their hall, Manuel from Argentina, and the effusive Australian singer Clark who lived over on Theo’s side. Clark apparently could out-drink everyone in the house, even the four-hundred-pound Russian strongman. Kelsey was curious to meet them all.
But the most wonderful surprise of the day was seeing Wayne Dalton again. She’d had a pre-teen crush on him ages ago, when she was still struggling to make a name for herself and he was already prepping for the Olympics. He’d won two medals in his career while she’d never managed to make it past alternate. But that was old news. Now they were both Cirque performers, and she’d found a friend who reminded her of home even more than Jason. They’d reminisced about their old coaches and their Olympic experiences, and about their ambitions now that they were in the Cirque.
Kelsey had been so excited about Wayne, Theo had completely slipped her mind.
Theo, with the roving fingers. Theo with the lewd whispers in her ear as they barreled down the autoroute. She wanted to go see him. She could fool herself and say she just wanted to check out his room and see if he was settled in. But in reality, she wanted to go see him for a completely different reason…
It was late though. Kelsey decided a cold shower was a better course of action. She turned on the water and was relieved to find the pressure good even if the shower was accompanied by a persistent squeal. It took forever for the water to warm up, so she did take a bit of a cold shower before the warm and then hot water arrived to soothe and relax her. She stayed in a long time, until her fingers started to prune.
Afterward Kelsey primped in the mirror, and perfumed and stroked her skin, massaging oil into her hands and elbows. She was starting to develop longer, leaner muscles already, rather than her gymnast bulk. She knew she owed that to Jason, and to a lesser extent, to poor Minya, who had inspired Kelsey with her sylph-like physique. Kelsey knew she could do anything she wanted with her body. It was just the mental part of performing that was still a challenge to her.
She hung up her towel and went back out into her room, thinking about what she and Theo’s act would be like when it was finished, when they were performing it in the show--