A Perfect Passion (2 page)

Chapter Two

I
t’s dark when I wake. I get to my feet, kicking the pebbles across the ceramic paver tiles that surround the entire pool decked area. The electric motor grinds from the shaft of the pump area, vibrating through the little hole in the exterior lid, bubbles pop out the escape hatch.

I
go back into the house, remembering bits and pieces like a firefly that buzzes into the dome light ten times over. It’s kind of blurry and unreal. I can’t really find the lesson in this all, except that you never know everything about anyone. I’ve got a tornado of emotions and raw feelings twisting in my head.

My first s
tep is to back track into the bedroom and remove the memories that have been engrained there over the last two months. The lingering scent of musty sex and remnants of disgust almost floor me.
I want to gag
! There are too many leftovers on the emotional railroad tracks.
Stop this mind fuck on yourself already Damien!

I’m not
usually one to dwell in sob stories or misery. I’m the type who brushes themselves off quickly and carries on with shit. It's how I’ve always been and how I’ll be now. This is why I avoid emotional attachments. Denial is a great manipulator to someone who doesn’t close it out on purpose. I do! I halt bullshit dramatics on the spot. When it scrapes all of your insides, you instinctively hit the kill switch on all emotions and kick the fail-safe to feelings on the spot. It ends here!

I change
all the sheets on the king sized bed. Yesterday this was our bed--our room—but today it’s nothing but the shitty feeling of betrayal and no respect for anything that was ever important.

My phone
rings, it’s him of course. Aaron's cell number shows up but I ignore it. He doesn’t leave a message. Ten minutes later, it’s his brother’s number. Did he think I would fall for that?
What a fucking cock-douche.
The third call comes from an unknown number. I let the machine pick it up. It’s Aaron, of course, on a rampage. I’m actually amazed that he’s finding a way to twist his fuck-up on me? Come on now, I wasn’t the one in our bed banging the hell out of someone else.

The
fourth, fifth, and still a sixth call come in. They’re all from a mixture of unknown and private numbers. I blast Drowning Pools Thirty-Seven Stitches on the surround sound downstairs and grab another glass of whiskey. I don’t want to hear the fucking phone or even glance to see the light on it revealing how many voicemails I have.

I don’t know who I’
m madder at, him or myself? I cared about Aaron, a lot. I’m not sure you’d call it head over heels in love, but it was enough for us to shack up together and give it a shot. Aaron could be a little on the bratty side, but it was kind of cute. He was almost needy at times, but to be honest, I liked the attention he gave me more than anything else. I liked being able to take care of him, but this--it’s unforgivable.

Three more calls
come in, holy fuck, does he ever give up? I downed the last sip of bourbon and slam the glass down, almost shattering the damn thing.

Snatching the receiver off the stand, I
practically break the damn thing in my clenched fist.

“
What the fuck Aaron? Goddamn you inconsiderate ass, do you not take a freaking hint? I have nothing to say to you. Nothing!”

“Damien?”
the voice says.
Oops.

“
What? Who is this?”

“
Oh-uh Damien, it’s Dax from All Star Pool Cleaners.”

“Oh Dax crap,
I’m sorry man. I have your cell number programmed into my house contacts, but it didn’t show up.” Shit, the poor man will never want to work for me again.

“Well, I have an explanation for that.
I’m calling from the hotel because I left my cell sitting outside on the deck at your house. It’s on you’re a/c unit.”

“
Oh all right, I’m sorry. What can I do for you, did you need me to get it and bring it in for you?”

“Would it
be all right if I dropped by to get it?”

“Sure, w
hatever you need, that’s fine Dax. I’ll be up. Let me get Granger inside so he doesn’t get all protective.”

“
Oh that dog is an old softie. I’ll swing by in about twenty.”

I han
g up the phone.  Not what I need tonight, but I don’t want to be a total asshole about it either. It’s just bad timing is all. I pull Granger my Rottweiler inside and he barrels up the stairs. He heads straight for my bed, where he sleeps every night. He’s such a big baby. I follow him and change into shorts and a blue wife beater. Giving him a few pats on the head before going back downstairs, I turn off the light and walk down.

This time in Houston
is perfect for keeping the doors and windows to be open, so I do just that. The temps at night are in the low eighties. I walk outside and light the tiki torches that surround the patio area. I’m going to do a few laps in the pool later.

I hear
Dax’s Suzuki Hayabusa when he makes the corner onto my street. It’s one bad-ass bike, a black and red 2012 model. His keys jingle when he enters them into the lock on the side gate. My tunes crank back out after the quite track change.

I finish pouring my drink and light a smoke.
Holding the cig in between my lips, I glance up. Long and muscular ‘fuck me now’ legs strut into view. Inhaling a puff, I keep watching. Black Afterburner boots, mid-calf, accentuate his tight, button-up jeans. His cuff hangs on top of his boots, he reminds me of a longhaired, blond James Dean. Following the length of the jeans, my gaze skims upwards to his yellow wife beater. The ripples in his chest, fuck me sideways!  Where did those come from? Normally he’s in some kind of oversized T-shirt. His shirt matches his dirty-blond hair that’s blowing freestyle in the wind, and waves across his right shoulder. The tats on his right arm intrigue me, the shape of tribal vintage, traipsing down, blending into his muscle structure almost stop my breath.
Fuckingshit!
I take the cigarette out of my mouth, and exhale a puff of smoke.

“Hi Dax.”
I lick my lips. I can’t help it.

“S
hit boss. You-ya kind of freak a guy out much? I’m sorry if I kept you up. You didn’t need to stay up just because of my absentmindedness and being forgetful.”

“I didn’
t. Just having a hard time getting to sleep, after everything that went on earlier, you know?” I give him a wicked grin.

“
You do-doing all right? Heard from him?” He takes a deep breath.

“Nah, don’t want to
o. My phone's been blowing up, but he crossed a line. I just can’t backtrack over that kind of thing like nothing ever happened.”

“Not
trying to pry, but exactly what did happen with you and Aaron?” He sparks up a smoke.

“
Well, the fucktwat decided to bring someone else into our home, into our bed.”

“Ouch! Damn, I’m sorry Damien
.”

“
Don’t be, shit happens. My biggest problem is that sometimes I allow myself to trust, when no trust has been earned. Does that make any sense?”

“
Perfectly! Know it all too well. That’s the same problem I had with Marcy. You got a beer I can snag?”

“Beer, an assortme
nt of whiskeys, toxins and mixed, etc…pick your poison.”

“Cool, thanks. Don’t mind if I do.”
He pours a glass of whiskey. “So are you okay or do you want to talk about it or anything?”

I can tell he doesn’
t want to talk about me and my ex-boyfriend, lover or whatever he’s called now. I sidestep the convo, trying to remove the awkwardness.

“Yeah, I’m okay
or I will be.”

“So
what happened with you and Marcy?”

“
The same thing practically. I came in early from work and caught her half naked wrapped around some dudes waist. ” He took a long swig from his glass.

“What is it with people? Damn
, sorry.”

“Wish I knew Damien. Needless to say, I kicked her to the curb,
not technically but I left. I don’t do sharing. The pissfuck can have her.”

“My thoughts about Aaron too
,” I smile. “Need a refill?”

“Sure, why not.
I don’t have any plans for the night, just hanging out with myself. I thought about taking a ride around town on the ole’ bike.”

“Sounds
like fun. I should break out my Harley Night-Rod special one night and cruise around myself.”

“
Yeah, I’d like to see you cruise on that bad-boy. Screw these mucky’s in our lives, let's ride.”

“
Yeah, you really want to?” He nods. “You’re right. I gotta change first Dax, give me a few.”

“
No problem, just going to enjoy the tunes while you get ready.”

I take the
steps two at a time on the way up to my room, and change into my leathers and stomp boots. I grab my jacket from the hall closet on the way downstairs.

“Nice stompers man.”

“Thanks, my favorite kind. You ready?’

“Let’s do it to it man.”
I head towards the kitchen and out though the door in the laundry room to the garage.

Chapter Three

We cruise around
the 610 Loop and head out towards the North side of town. Hauling ass at about a hundred miles an hour, we goof around swapping lanes. His Suzuki is hard to keep up with, or so he thinks. His blond hair gusts in the wind from the speeds we’re going. Mine swings around and whips me in the face. I lower my visor to stop the wind lashes that lick the side of my cheek. It’s almost midnight, and no traffic.

I throttle
down, as we approach the steep left hand turn to the entrance of I-45. Halfway through the curve Dax cranks it back up. I follow.

I crank
it back up, and let my Night Rod pass him before we ever hit Crosstimbers or Tidwell Drive. He revs it up and we blast through the Greenspoint Mall-Beltway 8 exit.

It’s time to show him what my bike is
made of. Let me rip this out. I jam his ass out and scoot him in my dust. I have no idea where we’re going, but who cares. This is a blast. I haven’t been midnight riding in a long time. I throttle down and look in the rearview mirror. He gives me a ‘fuck off dude’ grin. Aaron used to worry too much; he didn’t do bikes at all. He was a bit twinkish when it came to things like this.

I let Dax
speed past me. He grinds it down near the exit ramp to 1960, and hits the right hand turn lane to exit. I jump behind and coast it down to speed limit rules. We exit and hang a sharp right U-turn under the freeway and hit the entrance ramp.  As we approach the 610 Loop again, I yank the handlebars towards the right, but sit upright for balance and so I don’t tip the bike completely on its side and send myself barreling across the lanes. I can do without a severe case of road rash! I head for home and Dax follows. We pull back in my driveway and I kill the motor.

“
I’m impressed.” He nods his head towards my bike. “You really do know how to ride Damien.”

“
Yep, come on in.” I’m proud, and impressed that he’s impressed.

Dax
follows me into the house, and I pull off my jacket and hang it on the hook in the entry hallway. I take Dax’s also and hang it up too.

“You want a drink?” I stroll
over to my bar.

“Might as well. Hey if it’s okay, I’ll come by Sunday and shock the pool for you.”

“Sounds great. Just whenever you have time. Not like I’ll have to drag Aaron out of it this time. In fact I won’t ever have to do that again.”

Dax reaches out and takes the drink I just poured for him and sits on the couch, taking a sip.
I sit down next to him and notice he’s staring at me.

“Anything wrong Dax?”

“I knew he was trouble.” He looks down at the floor.

“W
ho Aaron? What do you mean you knew?”

“I come every week to do the pool, you k
now that. There was a time a couple of weeks ago, that he was outside with someone else.”

“What do you mean ‘with’ someone
else?”

“I mean someone who wasn’t you Damien.”
Dax shifts sideways, not wanting to make eye contact with me after letting that one out.

“That mother fucker. Why didn’t you say something to me?”

“It’s not any of my business. It’s not like they were all over each other or anything, but they were flirting. I just figured he was a friend. I didn’t think Aaron had big enough gonads to bring someone else in on your home. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re a pretty scary looking guy sometimes.”

“
Me scary? How do you figure that?” Curious, I turn to face him.

“Dude, you’re tall, you’ve sleeved out in
tats, and you look like you hit the gym ten times a day. You have that air of intimidation all over you, kind of like a biker almost.”

“Wow, well not sure I’ve ever been told that before.”

I tip my glass up and down the last bit of drink. I find what he said almost flattering, in a roundabout twisted kind of way. Not that I like being told I look like a biker bully but that he noticed I keep in shape.

“You
know I’m a real nice guy right?” I wiggle my eyebrows at him.

“
Yes I know, Damien. Look I’m sorry about you and Aaron though.”

“Shit happens. So what happened with you and Marcy?
Did you find out who the dude was or did she try to explain it?”

“It was her
ex.” He kicks up one leg, resting it on his other knee. “He came back to town over a month ago, and she wanted to give it another try, so I was out and he was in.” His foot is shaking back and forth, he’s uncomfortable.

“Damn! You were living with her at her apartment, right?
”

“Yep. Mind if I pour another?
”

I hold my hand out as a welcome invitation.

He points toward the bottle. “You want one?”

I
hand him my glass. “So where are you staying now Dax?”

“H
ere and there. A spent a couple nights back at home, but that didn’t work out so well. I’ve been at a couple different hotels, I go wherever is close to the job.”

“That
sucks. If you need a place, I’ve got three rooms here that I don’t use.” I wave my hand out in front of me like I’m displaying the house. ”You’re more than welcome to one of them. I’ve been debating if I wanted to rent out one or two of them, but I didn’t want some stranger in here.”

“Really? That would be
badass. When I can get a day off, I’ll go look for a place of my own.” Dax runs his hands through his hair, his eyebrows dip into a furrow. “I won’t ever be put in this situation again, this time I’ll buy my own place. Business is good, I can afford it.” He sits up and turns to me.

“I understand. I feel the same way, and
that is why I own this house to be honest. I’ve been in your shoes and it sucks. You sure you don’t mind sharing a home, with me being gay and all that?

“That kind of shit doesn’t bother me at all Damien,
it never has.”

“Good to know, not everyone your age can hac
k it. How old are you anyway?” He seems so cool about this, not like most people.

“Twenty-four
, and you?”

“Coming up on
thirty in another month. Not looking forward to that one.”

“Me either,” h
e laughs, “I’ll go get my things tomorrow morning, my first client isn’t until noon.”

“
Cool. Let me show you the rooms, and you can pick any one you like.” I stand, and wait for him to do the same.

“I really appreciate this Damien.
” He reaches out to shake my hand.

We head upstairs, and Dax looks into the rooms. He ends up picking the one across from mine
, it’s the biggest and has a view of the backyard. He pulls out his wallet and tries to hand me money, but I make him put it away. Right now I could just use the company more than anything else. Plus I don’t mind having live man-candy roaming around the house.

I ru
n back downstairs and get Aaron’s old door key for Dax. I lock up the house for the night and set the silent alarm. This living arrangement is going to be very interesting.