17. Ryan

17

RYAN

I fell straight into bed after I got home from dinner with Ciel. I was too tired and too upset to do much else, so I closed my eyes, rubbed my hands over my face, and sighed, letting my head sink into the pillow. And then I remembered that I still had that stupid butt plug inserted, so I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom.

I was grateful Ciel hadn’t tried to get me out of my bad mood by turning it on during my walk home, but if I knew him at all, he wouldn’t have even considered it. He was cruel in a fun way, not a mean one.

As I pulled the covers back over me, head and all, I made a mental note to call my parents in the morning. It was time to accept their offer of financial help, even if I didn’t want to. And when I was done talking to them, I needed to call Ciel. We had some unfinished business that needed tending to, and I would be damned if I let all that pent-up energy between us go to waste.

I slept in, only waking up because the sun was too bright as it shined through the bedroom window. I turned over in bed and groaned, covering my eyes with the back of my hand. If I’d remembered to close the blinds, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Could I do anything right? Ciel seemed to think so, but I was beginning to lose confidence that he even knew me well enough to make that kind of judgment.

“I should get up,” I grumbled, blinking to rid my eyes of their blurriness before glancing at the time on my phone. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, and when I opened them again, it was half an hour later.

There was no doubt that my parents were awake already, especially considering the time difference, so the first thing I did when I finally crawled out of bed was dial my dad’s number.

“Hello?” he said, picking up almost immediately.

“Hey, Dad, it’s Ryan.” I set my phone down on the counter so I could make some coffee while I talked.

“Hey, kiddo, how are you?”

Hearing the excitement in my dad’s voice made me instantly regret balking at calling him. “Fine, I guess.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, not exactly.” I sighed. “I’m just still looking for a job. So, how about you and mom? Are you guys doing okay?”

“We’re fine, but we miss seeing you every weekend. So, did I hear you right that you still haven’t found a job there?”

“That’s right. I was actually thinking I might take you up on that offer to loan me some money — just for a couple of months, of course. I don’t want to dig myself into a hole that I can’t climb out of, you know?”

“Oh, your mom will be thrilled to hear that. She wanted me to send some money to you anyway, even though you said no last time. You know, Ryan, you can always come back home, too. Your room is just the way you left it back when you left for college, and it wouldn’t cost you a thing in rent.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I know, Dad. I’d like to stay here, though. I, um, I met someone about a week ago.”

“Really? What’s her name?”

My heart sank. Of course he assumed it was a woman, and I couldn’t tell him the truth over the phone separated by hundreds of miles. “Ciel.”

“That’s a pretty name. Is she nice?”

I laughed nervously. “Yeah. You know I wouldn’t date anyone who wouldn’t live up to the meet-the-parents test.”

“Well, let’s put her to it, then.”

I could tell that my dad was thrilled. Why wouldn’t he be? I couldn’t tell him who Ciel really was, though. “I’ve only known Ciel for a week, so maybe we should wait on that,” I said quickly.

“Nonsense. We want to take a trip over to see you anyway. You can show us around town, we can meet…Ciel, was it? And we can give you the money in person then. It’ll work out great. Just wait until I tell your mom!”

I took a deep breath. It was too late to walk things back, so I simply agreed and told Dad I had to go. My coffee was done, but I couldn’t even stand the sight of it anymore; my stomach was tied in so many knots.

The next task was to call Ciel and explain to him what I’d gotten us both into. I still had no idea how I was going to introduce him to my parents or, better yet, not introduce him, but I would come up with something.

He looked feminine enough at first glance to pass as my girlfriend, but his voice gave it away. Then there was the whole angel aspect that was impossible to hide, though I doubted that would bother my parents much. They would be too hung up on the fact that, despite being straight as an arrow, I was dating a guy for some reason — more than dating him, actually, but that was a bridge I could cross later.

I dialed Ciel’s number and waited impatiently, pacing around the kitchen while it rang.

“Come on, pick up,” I said under my breath. “Ciel, you goddamned liar–"

“Hello, Ryan.” Ciel’s soothing, bell-clear voice rang through the other end.

“Oh, uh, hi, Ciel. I’m glad you answered.”

“Yes, I gathered as much.”

“Listen, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh, excellent. I was going to ask you to come over today anyway. If you’re feeling better, we have some unfulfilled tasks that need to be taken care of.”

His voice was so smooth, so beguiling, it was hard to resist his charms even over the phone. I needed to tell him about my parents’ misunderstanding about our relationship, but even though that was my entire purpose for calling him, it suddenly didn’t seem to matter as much.

“All right,” I said, surprising even myself by how quickly I agreed to Ciel’s plans. “I was going to tell you what’s up right now, but it can wait.”

“Mm, yes, I’m sure it can. Now, hurry up and get dressed. I expect you to be at my house before lunchtime. Do you understand?”

“What? How did you know I was–"

“Never mind that. Get to work; the clock is ticking.”

I hung up, standing in the kitchen staring out the tiny window above the sink for a few minutes before springing into action. I heeded Ciel’s words carefully, and I was out of the apartment well before noon, though the walk to his house would eat up most of that time.

Ciel was waiting outside on his porch, the sunrays catching in his hair and wings and giving him an almost ethereal glow. I had to shield my eyes when I looked at him, and when he noticed, he stepped back into the shade.

“Ah, Ryan, there you are. Come inside where we can talk in private.”

Talk. That was it: that was what I was here for, not all the other stuff.

“I think that’s a good idea.” I let him usher me inside the cottage, where there was a pot of coffee with some biscuits laid out on the coffee table. A proper meal would have been more satisfying, but I suspected that I would get that soon, just not in the usual form.

“Now, tell me, my dearest, what seems to be troubling you? Are you still hung up on not getting that job?”

He sat down on the sofa and I joined him, nestling into one of his wings with all the comfort and satisfaction of a fluffy blanket on a cold winter’s day. “A little, but that’s not what I came to talk about.”

“No?”

“No. You see, Ciel, I called my dad this morning, and he and my mom, well…they want to come visit.”

Ciel’s face lit up. “How lovely. And will I get to meet them?”

I hesitated, biting my lower lip hard. “Not this time.”

Ciel nodded quickly to hide his disappointment. “I understand. It’s probably for the best, honestly. We’ve only known each other for such a brief time, and there’s still so much I need to discover about you before complicating things further.”

There was more that I needed to tell him, but his right hand rubbed over my knee, squeezing it gently before moving along the length of my thigh. The important bit was out in the open now, and the dirty details could wait a few hours, or days, or however long Ciel wanted to keep me locked in his bedroom doing all sorts of unspeakable things to me.

“Are you ready to learn my reason for asking you over?” he asked, his eyes twinkling devilishly.

I smiled, the weight lifted off my shoulders for the time being. “Oh, I think so. I hope it’s what I’ve been imagining all morning.”

“I can assure you that it’s not,” he replied.

“It’s not?”

“No — it’s much, much better.”