By the time I was finished, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Did he expect me to leave? My eyes fell on the one item I hadn't put away.
The antibiotic cream.
I grabbed it and went to the living room. Lex was lying down on the couch, which was covered with blankets and pillows. Was he still sleeping down here?
Lex's eyes were closed, but I could tell from his breathing that he wasn't asleep.
"You want me to fix you something to eat?" I asked. I really wanted to know what his blood sugar was, but it was none of my business. He’d been living for a long time with his disease and knew how to take care of himself. I gathered from his comments about having four overprotective older brothers that he wasn't looking for someone else to monitor everything he put it in his mouth or the different numbers that gave him a picture of what his body needed at any given time.
"No, thank you. Thanks for the ride."
It was definitely a dismissal. I couldn't help but be a little bit frustrated by his behavior. This was why I didn't like having friends. They were just too much goddamn work. Or I simply wasn't someone that people found it easy to be friends with.
"Lex, would you mind if I took a look at your feet? I'm sure they’re fine, but I know how dangerous it can be if a cut—"
"Fine," Lex interrupted as he sat up. He began pulling his socks off and then he was ripping at the bandages around his feet. His moves were jerky and rushed.
So he was definitely pissed about something.
When his feet were bare, he stuck them out so they were resting on the coffee table in front of the couch. I moved closer to him and sat down on the table, then eased his feet onto my lap. I hoped and prayed that there wouldn't be those little zaps of electricity when I touched his skin, but even with his feet, the sensation was still there. I'd never been a feet man, but Lex's were gorgeous. How far gone was I that I thought feet could be good looking?
I carefully lifted one foot up so I could examine it more closely. I thought I heard Lex inhale sharply, but I couldn't be sure. I looked at him and saw that he was staring straight ahead. His face was pulled into a mask of unreadable emotion. I looked back down at the bottom of his foot and ran my thumb along the healing cut on the ball. I was relieved to not see any signs of infection. I knew I should reach for the wound cream and dress his foot, but it was like my mind and body had separated and my body was doing whatever the hell it felt like. My fingers traced a line up the inside of his foot until I was able to close them around his ankle. Lex was tense but quiet. When I looked up again, I saw him watching me.
Though I knew he technically wasn't really watching me.
His skin was warm and soft. My fingers were just centimeters from where the body hair on his leg started. I itched to touch it but knew I had no excuse to. As it was, I was being a bit too free with my examination of his foot. "This one looks good," I somehow grated out. I had to be careful with where I placed Lex's foot on my lap because my cock was hardening at an all-too-alarming rate.
I worked quickly to bandage his foot and then I was checking the other. There were only tiny cuts on his other foot but I still liberally covered them with cream and bandaged them. When there was no excuse to hang on to Lex's foot any longer, I eased it back onto the floor. "They both look good. Everything is healing really well."
"Thank you," Lex said, his voice sounding rough. I waited for him to say anything else, something that would give me an excuse to linger, but there was nothing.
"Lex, please, if I did something…"
"You didn't, Gideon. I just… I just have a lot on my mind."
I wanted to ask him if he wanted to talk about it, but I realized that if he had, he would've done so already. "Okay, I guess I'll go. Unless you need something else?"
Lex just shook his head. He actually looked disappointed. But that didn't make any sense because he seemed eager for me to leave. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him what the hell was going on when he said, "Thanks for the ride. Bye, Gideon."
Not “See you later, Gideon.” Not “I'll call you, Gideon.”
Bye, Gideon.
It was a dismissal, pure and simple.