Kiss me to Springtime - 2. Chapter 2

Soubi woke to a pounding head. His brain threatening to split open. He kept his eyes closed tight as he tried to remember where he was. He shifted slightly and his arm pressed into a body.

Great, someone else’s bed, he sighed.

Soubi had to get out before his latest lover woke up. It was always better if he left before they woke up, less embarrassment.

Soubi sat up slowly mindful of his splitting headache. His hand pressed to his forehead, he cursed all the drinks he’d had last night. However many they’d been, he was paying for it this morning. His long blonde hair stuck to his face. He pushed it back impatiently.

Soubi let out a steadying breath and risked a glance at his surroundings. If he could only find his clothes—

He looked into a mirror right across the room and his eyes widened when he saw the man lying next to him. Dark hair in a mess on the pillows, a black eagle tattooed on his back, Soubi gasped.

Ryo Asada.

What had he done!

Nausea rose with a vengeance and he tossed the sheets away. He was naked. His gaze flew back to Ryo’s naked back and he groaned. There would be no escaping this one.

Soubi stumbled into the bathroom and managed to reach the toilet bowl in time. He gave up whatever contents he had in his stomach to the porcelain god. Once it was over, he flushed and moved to the sink to rinse his mouth. He leaned on the sink counter, his head bowed down as he tried to recall having sex with Ryo.

His body felt untouched. No aches, his ass would be hurting after taking Ryo. The man had a monster for a dick. Unless he’d been too high…heart pounding, Soubi looked up to stare into the mirror over the sink.

How could he have done this with Ryo of all people? How had he even met Ryo? The man was supposed to be out of the city.

"Are you alright?" a sleepy Ryo inquired from the door.

Soubi gasped guiltily. If it was possible to die of embarrassment, he figured this moment would be it. He tried not to meet Ryo’s inquiring gaze.

"Don’t look so guilty, Soubi. I think I’ve seen everything. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about."

Soubi shook his head at that comment and reached into the shower stall to turn on water. Maybe if he stood under the water long enough, it would wash away the dirty feeling creeping over him.

"I’ll be out of your apartment the moment I shower," he mumbled, as he waited for the water to heat.

"You need to get sober."

Ryo leaned on the doorjamb looking like a god in dark slacks and bare feet. His dark hair was disheveled made him look like a bad boy.

Soubi frowned.

"You’re at home. Grandma is downstairs making coffee."

"You brought me back to Grandma’s!"

Dear hell take him now, Soubi clung to the glass door and tried to remain standing. The thought of screaming out his release with Grandma a few doors down—

He really was going to have a heart attack.

Ryo burst into a wild laugh. Obviously this situation was making him happy in some way.

Soubi felt like shit, all he wanted was to dig a hole and drop into it head first. There was no privacy in this house, any moan—

"Why here?" he demanded of the handsome laughing man at the door. "How could you bring me back to Grandma’s? We could have gone to my apartment or even—

"Nothing happened," Ryo assured him. His sleepy eyes twinkling with mirth, Ryo shook his head. "You’re so easy, Soubi. I told you. When I take you, you’ll have no doubts."

Soubi glared at him. Obviously, Ryo was taking pleasure from this. He swore under his breath and entered the shower with a dangerous slam on the glass door. The hot spray of water on his face sobered him enough to know he needed to get out of here before he lost his mind. He ducked his head under the water and soaked his hair. He grabbed a bottle of grape shampoo and dumped a generous amount on top of his head. He started scrubbing with vigor.

The last thing he remembered from last night was walking into the Tarot with the intention of a few drinks. He sighed. A few drinks had obviously turned into a crate or something. The blank gap in his memories also indicated that he’d probably been high.

Soubi winced as he pulled at a strand of hair. Ryo was going to be giving him a lecture the moment he got dressed. Just what he needed, and in his grandmother’s house!

He shuddered.

Soubi took longer in the shower hoping Ryo would leave him alone. When he got out, a towel wrapped around his waist, he entered the bedroom to find Ryo reclined on the bed sipping coffee. His hair was wet, obviously he’d used the guest bathroom and changed into a green t-shirt and dark slacks.

"You always did take forever in the shower." Ryo noted his gaze on the television screen over the dresser across the bed. "Grandma wants to talk to you. Hurry up and dress."

"Would you leave?" Soubi asked, glaring at him.

Ryo spared him a glance before he nodded to the wide window on the other side of the room.

"Don’t think I have forgotten the escape ladder you use to leave this house. Change, I don’t see the problem."

Soubi scowled at him as he tied a towel on his head. His hair needed a dryer but he wanted to leave. A quick rub with a towel would soak the water but his hair would be damp. He walked into the closet that was still filled with his clothes. He hadn’t felt like packing up three months ago, so he’d only taken the essentials. He reached for a navy blue polo, a thick black sweater and a pair of black jeans. Once he was dressed, he grabbed up dark socks from his underwear drawer and left the closet.

Ryo was still sipping coffee from his mug.

Soubi scowled at him then sat at the foot of the bed.

"Don’t you have somewhere to be?"

"It’s Sunday. I have all the time in the world."

"Go spend it elsewhere, I don’t need a babysitter." Soubi pulled on his socks.

When he was done with his socks, he reached up to rub his hair with the damp towel again before he threw it at the hamper in the corner. It missed the mark by a few inches. His hair tumbled down his back in a mess of damp strands.

"Ryo—

"We need to talk." Ryo cut in. "First, you need to get downstairs. Grandma made breakfast. Make nice with her, she misses you."

"Why is it always like this with you?" Soubi sighed in frustration.

He loved his grandmother more than anyone in this world. Yet, he couldn’t stop from being the reason why she hurt so much. Always worrying her…

"You shouldn’t have brought me here."

"Where else would you have gone?" Ryo asked.

Soubi felt the bed shift as Ryo got off. Footsteps and then Ryo was standing before him. Fingers combed through his damp hair.

"Come on, let’s go downstairs," Ryo urged in a gentle tone.

Soubi followed Ryo because he didn’t know what else to do. There was a dull throb in his head; obviously his hangover wasn’t gone yet. The blank space in his memory was bothering him. He wanted to ask how he’d ended up in the bed with Ryo, but he was afraid of the answers.

Downstairs, they found his grandmother humming cheerfully as she rinsed dishes at the sink. When she saw Soubi, she abandoned the dishes and came to give him a warm hug. She clung to him tight, rubbing his back, she kissed his jaw and led him to a chair at the kitchen table.

"Ryo, sit down too, have something to eat." She urged.

Soubi drank in the sight of his grandmother bustling around the kitchen as she got him a cup of coffee and placed a plate full of freshly baked cookies on the table. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that his stomach was probably going to reject them.

He sipped his coffee and watched Ryo take a cookie. His gaze sliding over full lips when the tip of Ryo’s tongue swept out to capture crumbs in the corner of his mouth. He closed his eyes and forced his attention away from Ryo.

His grandmother finished at the sink and wiped her hands on a towel.

"I’m going to visit my next door neighbor. She invited me over yesterday for a game of mahjong. If you need anything call me, alright?"

Soubi plastered on a wide smile. He waved his grandmother off with a promise to call her if they needed anything. Not that he would, she liked playing mahjong with her friend.

He waited until she was gone to get up from the kitchen table. He carried his mug of coffee to the sink. He didn’t want coffee; he didn’t want anything in his stomach. He put the cup in the sink and turned to stare at Ryo.

"How did you find me last night?"

"Your neighbor told me where you’d gone." Ryo took another cookie. "You’re taking risks, Soubi. We need to get you to a clinic for a checkup."

Soubi sighed, an impatient sound.

"Don’t start with that right now."

"I can’t help it." Ryo sat back in his seat, his dark eyes glaring at him. "You’re the one drifting from one bed to the next. Don’t you care if you live or die?"

"What does it matter?"

Soubi’s gaze slid away from Ryo’s probing gaze as he tried to fight the fear that followed this conversation. He took a test at the clinic every week. The staff was starting to know his name. This homey kitchen was starting to make his skin crawl.

"I don’t belong here."

Ryo slammed a fist on the kitchen table startling him.

"Don’t talk like that. The next time you do, Soubi, I swear I’m walking you into a rehab clinic."

"If you don’t like how I talk, the door is open, Ryo. No one is forcing you to be here."

"Are you going to stay with Grandma?"

"No."

Soubi closed his eyes. He couldn’t stay here. He wasn’t fit to play the good grandson, that boy didn’t exist anymore.

"As soon as my head stops pounding, I’m going to my apartment. I moved out for a reason, Ryo."

"Did you do it to run away?"

"It’s none of your business."

"It certainly is when I’m the first person your grandmother calls when she can’t find you. Rin might—

"You know not to mention that name to me." Soubi cut him off with a cold voice.

Rin Kouga.

His heart stuttered, a soft fluctuation, nothing big. It had been an insignificant thing then, the way his heart couldn’t seem to let go of Rin. Now, it was like a knife stabbing through his chest a million times. Over and over in the same place, torture meant to remind him that his love for Rin was the biggest mistake he’d ever made.

"Fine," Ryo grinned at him. "Since Grandma is playing Mahjong, wanna go do it? You promised me a romp last night."

Soubi gaped. Had he really done that last night? He could have, after all they’d woken up in the same bed. Ryo studied his wide eyes with amusement.

"What are you talking about?" Soubi demanded.

Ryo shook his head.

"I offered to torture you until you can’t stand it. I’ve offered to be your punching bag if it will help you stop hurting yourself. So, I can also play your lover if it will stop you fucking around."

"Is that your idea of a pep talk?" a new voice said from the kitchen door.

Soubi almost dropped to his knees at the sight of Rin Kouga. His brain remembered a fuzzy similar reaction, he frowned.

"What are you doing here?" Soubi gasped.

"I see the reception still hasn’t changed." Rin sighed and stepped into the kitchen. "I’d hoped Ryo would have told you about me already. Last night you were too high to react right."

Soubi felt like he was suffocating. There wasn’t enough air in the room. He gripped the edge of the counter. Rin Kouga. His heart fluttered again, that familiar tag. So painful, so utterly overwhelming, he bit his lip in a moan. The strength to fight it flying out the open window behind him, he was powerless.

Rin smiled and came around to where he stood.

"Hi, Soubi, miss me?"

Soubi closed his eyes against the sight of the extremely handsome man smiling at him. His heart beating in rapid beats he was sure he was having a heart attack. There was nowhere to escape behind him, the sink counter held him prisoner as Rin came closer and kissed his forehead. Defenses he’d built for years broke down and he clung to the stone sink hoping to fight off the desire that flooded him. Even after all these years, one touch from Rin reduced him to this.

I’m a slave to Rin Kouga, Soubi thought desperately, as Rin’s lips found his in a heated kiss.

***