Changing emotions by acting opposite to the current emotion: Sadness or Depression…Do things that make you feel competent and self-confident. – Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder, Marsha Linehan, pg. 161
Casey opened the door to his hotel room. It was four-thirty a.m. He escorted Cedric out of the room and left the door open. Both men had just come out of the shower, with Cedric fully dressed and Casey in only boxers. The birds tweeted in the trees, and the air was cool, preparing itself for the warm day ahead.
Cedric turned to face Casey. He ran a hand down Casey’s broad chest and leaned in to kiss him. They embraced, and Casey was the one who pulled away. “Don’t get me started again,” he said with a chuckle.
Cedric’s other hand was already cupping Casey’s ass through his shorts and squeezed him. “Too late for me,” he said.
Casey laughed, and leaned his head forward. “Better go before I drag you back in there.”
“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”
“I have to go to work, Cedric, and you…”
Cedric sighed, and gave Casey one last squeeze before pulling away. Both men stared into each others eyes, wanted to say more, but Cedric turned away first. Casey gave him a pat on the rear and Cedric turned to grin at him. “Thanks, Cedric.”
“Anytime, Casey,” Cedric said, and jumped over the railing of the hotel, heading to his bike. Casey watched him go, and as soon as he left, he realized that his bike was still in front of Kenna’s store at St. Martial.
After getting dressed, he walked down the street, turning the corner to see that the club’s lights were still on. Jesus Christ, still going at it? He went inside and saw no one was around, except Esau, his back to the door, staring at the fire. He still felt a little odd considering the awkward moment last night, when Esau checked in on him to find Grinn rough and ready in the room with him. But Esau was cool with it.
Casey swallowed and set that in his mind as he said, “Hey, Esau.”
The big man turned around. “Casey. How was your night?”
Casey could not help but grin. “Great. If I didn’t regenerate, I’d be walking funny right about now.”
Esau smiled. “Good.” So far, as he knew, Esau had smiled only for him. Casey had the kachina Esau had given him on his patching day, and looked at it every morning. Sometimes his heart swelled with some sort of emotion that he couldn’t label but he would not tell Esau that. He didn’t know what the emotion was, and he knew Esau, out of sheer curiosity, would pepper him with questions, wanting to know what and why.
“Hungry?” Casey asked, heading to the back. He thought he saw waffles in the freezer earlier.
“No, but I will eat with you.”
Casey smiled and pulled out the package of waffles – four were left. Well, you snooze, you loose, and he put the four into the four-slice toaster, then turned to the coffee pot and got that started. “I need your help again. I need to go get my bike from St. Martial.”
“You feel better now?”
Casey nodded. “Yeah. I’m just going to bum around Dono’s garage for a while until I find my ultimate purpose in life…and figure out if Soniac is actually being held captive by the Judeo-Christian God of the angels.”
“How will you do that?”
“No idea.” He looked up at Esau. “One step at a time, please.”
Esau said quietly. “That was no angel.”
Again, Casey shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know what it was. All I know is when I slept, he didn’t come.” Soon enough the coffee was done and the waffles soon followed. Esau ate his plain, while Casey put syrup on his and ate it civilized with a knife and fork. After two cups of strong black coffee, he was ready to face the world.
He climbed on the back of Esau’s bike. Strangely enough, he didn’t feel uncomfortable or like a “bitch” – it was a good friend giving him a ride. If other people read the symbolism that Casey was Esau’s bitch, let them. However, Casey’s heart swelled again with that strange emotion as he put his hands on Esau’s hips as they road in the burgeoning sunrise. Esau’s body itself grew heavier on the bike as the sun crested the horizon, his eyes were probably aglow as they rode.
They pulled in front of Kenna’s store, and his bike was there, untouched. Casey got off the rumbling beast and looked to Esau. “I’m just going to the garage if you want to come along for the ride.”
Esau shrugged. He had nothing better to do. And it was cool and dark in the garage so he could stay out of the sun if he wanted. Casey started toward the ferry.
(To be Continued)
Words, 835
Comment: The stupid muse decided to wake me up at 4 AM to write this. Awaiting approval from Esau’s player of this part and the next part before posting on Iron Horsemen. The quote above is hanging above my computer and inspires me to do this writing every day.