Page 17

“Well, regardless of your true intentions, I am still grateful.”

“You are very welcome.”

When Toran was done with his meal, he stood with a groan. “Just leave the containers on the table, I’ll turn them in tomorrow.”

Jesse watched as the big man perused the bookshelf for a long moment, selected a book and then settled himself into the large armchair in front of the stove. Jesse could imagine him sitting there on a cold winter’s night, warming himself in front of the fire. In Toran’s fantasy, there was probably a pretty little wifey sitting on the floor and rubbing his feet.

It really wasn’t an unreasonable sort of thing to expect, especially after working as hard as Toran probably had all day, and that Jesse had spent most of his day in bed. A footrub was the least he could do...but then he didn’t really like the idea of getting on his knees just yet. They were still sore and tender and it might give Toran ideas about other...things. So he settled on the next best thing.

As soon as he was done with his dinner, he stood and padded over to stand behind Toran. If the big man knew he was behind him, he gave no sign of it. Jesse reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. The muscle jumped under his touch and Toran’s other arm shot out to grab his wrist. Jesse let out a startled gasp. His grip was like a vise. It crushed the bones of his wrist and still, Jesse was aware that Toran was only using a fraction of his considerable strength. He gentled his hold almost immediately and brought Jesse’s wrist to his lips to brush an apologetic kiss over the bruised skin.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I wasn't expecting your touch," Toran said gruffly, then released his hand.

Jesse swallowed hard and nodded. "I didn't mean to startle you either."

He paused and looked down at the enormous muscles in front of him. He steeled himself and continued on with his original plan, pressing both of his palms firmly down onto Toran’s shoulders. The big man turned to look back at him incredulously, "What are you doing?"

The boy ventured tentatively, "Rubbing your shoulders?"

"Why?”

“Because it feels good?” Jesse couldn’t help but end the sentence with an upflection that made his answer sound like another question. Toran was looking at him very suspiciously and he felt as though he'd done something wrong, but that was ridiculous. Hadn’t anyone ever rubbed Toran’s shoulders before? Well, actually, probably not.

Jesse rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to try and strangle you from behind or something. As if I could. Just relax.”

Toran smirked with amusement at the idea. "Very well,” he grunted and turned back around, slumping down and stretching his long legs out in front of him. Jesse proceeded with his work, rubbing his neck and back, arms and shoulders, massaging the giant muscles. He smiled when he finally earned an approving grunt.

"That feels good.”

"Thank you."

It better feel good, he thought. His forearms and hands were already killing him. Toran’s muscles were rock solid, built by a lifetime of manual labor. There was almost no give to the flesh no matter how hard Jesse squeezed. It was like kneading rocks. He knew he was making progress though by the way the book sagged in Toran’s hands until he nearly dropped it, then set it to the side. He reached back to gently clasp Jesse’s right hand and then used it to draw Jesse around in front of him.

“You don’t have to do this you know.”

“I know,” said Jesse shyly, “but I wanted to.”

Toran looked at him for a long moment. Jesse looked at his feet. Toran didn’t push him for an explanation and Jesse was grateful for that, because he didn’t really have one. Toran had been kind to him, so Jesse wanted to return the kindness in what limited capacity he could.

“Ready for bed?”

Jesse nodded. He shouldn’t have been tired, but he was. His poor body was still healing from the abuse heaped on it.

Toran stood and stretched. The popping noises his back made actually startled Jesse, but it seemed to feel good because he sighed and smiled. He turned to the dresser and opened the second drawer down.

“You can sleep in this if you like, or in the buff again. I’m sure you can guess my preference,” Toran said with an eyebrow waggle. He handed him a nightgown. It was soft and had long sleeves and a high neckline. It was also pink with a ruffled hem. Jesse flushed at it, but obediently headed back behind the screen to change. He tossed his blue dress over the side of the porcelain tub and shimmied into the nightie before coming back out.

Taking a deep breath, Jesse forced himself to act like everything was fine, despite the fact that he felt shy, and ridiculous, and horribly self-conscious wearing a woman’s nightgown. Toran’s eyes burned as they roamed over him but he didn’t say anything to worsen Jesse’s embarrassment. Jesse changed the subject as he folded his dress and put it away.

“I noticed the pipes coming down from the roof and running into the back of the latrine and the tub. Where does the water come from? Where does it go?”

“There’s a rain barrel on the roof with a screen over it. You wouldn’t want to drink it, but it's perfectly fine for bathing and flushing the toilet. When you want to take a bath, just fill it halfway and then boil a kettle of water to heat it up. The waste goes into a tank buried behind the shed.”

“Oh, wow. That’s really nice...and smart. Did you design it yourself?”

“I did.” Toran scowled darkly, “No wife of mine will ever have to use the public showers.”

The relief Jesse felt at that was palpable. He would never have to go back into that bathhouse ever again. The very thought of it made his heart race, his temples pound and his hands shake. He drew a deep breath and when he turned around, the radiant smile he bestowed on Toran was nothing but sincere.