AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I got to work with a smile on my face and the start of a boner in my pants. Weird how just texting the guy could get me worked up. Anyway, the schoolwork I had to do took care of that.
Lev’s room was quiet and organized, but it was their space, not mine. I needed to get off my ass and try to find a proper living arrangement. Esther and I had a good thing going, but if I stayed here longer than a week or so, things would go downhill. I didn’t want to risk it.
Chapter Twelve
Safe Haven
Alastair and I spent the next few weeks dancing around the idea of a relationship and getting to know each other, and I tried to find a room to rent in a not-so-sketchy part of the city that was affordable and not far from my job at Maverick Molly’s.
Alastair had three brothers and two sisters, and he was the second youngest. His oldest sister was married and an accountant in London, England. His other sister ran a bakery in Toronto with her two girlfriends/partners. His older brother was an artist, supposedly straight, and teaching high school in Ottawa, while his younger brother was currently touring Europe with his band. I didn’t recognize the name of the group, and Alastair said they weren’t well known yet but were hoping the tour would help.
They were having a blast, last he’d heard, staying in hostels and cheap Airbnb’s and enjoying being young. He had a feeling his brother was bi or pan, but they’d never talked about it. There was quite a difference in their ages. His baby brother had just turned nineteen.
I pointed out that that was only a year younger than me, which made Alastair curse and stutter and caused me to grin at his awkwardness.
Alastair had come out to his family at the age of sixteen. His mother and siblings had been supportive, but his dad had needed a little time. They were good now, though.
We hadn’t gone to the Bordello yet, and I was itching to try it.
Alastair was a solicitous lover, but I was getting tired of being treated with kid gloves, and I craved something more. I appreciated that Alastair thought of me as delicate and feminine—the part of me that felt that way appreciated the tenderness and care. But I was tough under this pliable exterior, and I wanted Alastair to wreck me.
I was managing to get my schoolwork done, despite work and sexing Alastair, so that was a triumph. The last thing I wanted to do was compromise my studies because of really good sex and a new boyfriend.
As far as I knew, we were being exclusive. We hadn’t said anything definitive, but I figured after the debacle with the boy toy at Molly’s he hadn’t tried to hook up with anyone else. I’d slept over at his place often, because by the time I finished work it was already midnight or one, and even later if we got up to anything, which we often did.
It also meant I didn’t have to crash at Esther’s. Neither she nor her roommates had given me a deadline to be out, but I felt like a moocher, and I hated that.
So, when I had time, I scoured the internet for a room to rent. I had just seen the most depressing fucking pad in a basement apartment in the Byward Market that cost more than I wanted to pay but was cheaper than anything I’d found so far. And the guy renting it out had seemed okay—not a serial killer or a homophobic A-hole. I didn’t think so, anyway. I’d have to take my chances.
I was supposed to meet Alastair at the Starbucks in Old Ottawa South and I was late. By the time I got there, he was sitting at a table all by himself, nursing what was probably a Tall Macchiato, when I arrived.
“Hiya,” I said, grabbing the seat opposite. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been people watching.”
“You mean eavesdropping?”
“It passes the time.” He narrowed his eyes. “You look exhausted.”
“Yeah. What with work and school and homework…and you, it’s a lot.”
“Me?”
I shrugged. “You’re distracting.”
“I am?
“Yeah.”
I didn’t know if it was because I was so tired or so demoralized from looking at rooms for rent that didn’t measure up, but I gave him a frank look. “I’m having lots of fun, but I need to know if this thing with you is worth my time.”
He laughed, but then saw the sober look on my face.
“Oh, you’re serious,” he said, sitting up straighter.
I held his gaze and tried to see into his soul. It didn’t work, so I thought words would be better. “Are we being exclusive? I mean, I am.”
Alastair didn’t say anything.
