Chapter Nineteen
After clearing the two weeks that Lee wanted, Eli waited for an explanation that didn’t come.
There was something wrong, he could tell, but he didn’t want to push the man. They weren’t anything but fuck buddies, after all. At least he thought that was how Lee saw him.
That was the thing. Lee had been so busy that week that Eli hadn’t seen him more than an hour here and there, and by the time Lee came back to the house near DC, Eli was asleep, even when he tried to wait for him.
He’d ask, but all Lee would say was that he had some big things in the works that he couldn’t explain. None of it was on his calendar. Eli started to worry that Lee had found another man, someone that would be easier to hide.
Or worse, that his parents had finally talked him into marrying a woman.
Then, on the Friday before he’d blocked off the two weeks for Lee’s vacation, Lee got home at a decent hour, and even Mars was thrilled to see him walk through the door. “Sir! I’ll have dinner warmed for you immediately!”
“Thanks, Mars. I’m starving.”
Eli went to him once Mars left. “Starving? I bet. You wouldn’t even let me schedule lunch for you and you’re out of here before breakfast. All week, Lee! Are you trying to kill yourself, because there are easier and quicker ways!”
He was furious and scared and most of all, he wanted Lee to explain himself.
Lee went to him and held him, burying his face in Eli’s neck. “Soon, you’ll understand, or I hope you can.”
Eli watched him eat when Mars came to get them, watching every mouthful. Lee was losing weight, losing color in his cheeks. The stress lines between and around his eyes were prominent and he was a ghost of himself.
Once he ate, Lee could barely hold his eyes open, so Eli helped him to bed and stayed with him, holding him while he slept so heavily, he didn’t move all night. “Lee don’t work yourself to death,” he whispered to a sleeping man. “Please, don’t hurt yourself.”
In the morning, he woke alone, but heard the shower from Lee’s bathroom, so he went in there to see him, and through the steam, he was there, looking beautiful, face in the jet of the water, the soap clinging to him as it slid down his shoulders and back.
He tapped on the glass and waved when Lee saw him. Lee opened the slower door and purred, “Want to start our vacation right?”
“Our vacation?”
“If I’m off, then you’re off too.”
Eli got out of his briefs and t-shirt and got in with Lee, and he was gathered into wet arms. “You need it too. Dealing with me, I don’t know how you’ve done it.”
“Oh, it was a chore, but I managed to get through it.”
Lee kissed him tenderly, then held him. “Eli, you’ve changed me. I hope you’ll always remember that.”
“Why does this sound like goodbye?” He asked, choking on the words. The water ran down his face, his back and it was hot and good, but he felt cold.
“Goodbye to this house. We have a vacation to get to.”
Pulling back, he asked, “That’s it? It’s really just a vacation?”
“Yeah. It is. I want you to pack well. Mars is packing me, so I can help you, if you like.”
“Have you ever packed a suitcase in your life?”
Lee barked a laugh and responded, “Not once.”
“Then I think I’ll take care of it.”
The nagging that Lee was getting rid of him lasted until they were again on his private plane. He couldn’t help himself, as he needed to know. “We’re not going back to the dungeon so I can watch you with other men, right?”
“No. We’re not going there, Eli. In fact, we’re going home. At least to one of my homes.”
Eli knew where Lee was from, and couldn’t imagine that as the place Lee wanted to vacation, not with all the other places he could have gone like Europe, Africa, South America…