Page 74 of Under Water

He doesn’t stir, and after a beat, I let out a little breath of relief. These two have been through enough, and right now, it’s probably only because Rune is waiting for me naked in the shower that I don’t get in my car and drive around town until I find that dickhead and show him exactly who he’s fucking with.

But I’m not going to abandon Rune, so I slip back into the bedroom and shut the door before stripping off all my clothes and making my way back into the bathroom.

The mirror and glass are already fogged up, and I can see Rune’s silhouette behind the opaque glass. He jumps a bit when I carefully slide the shower door to the side, and I do my best to hide my grin. He’s already put his hair under the spray, and he looks at me with wide eyes, water dripping off his very long, very dark lashes.

“Hello,” I murmur.

He sighs as I step into his space and ease him down onto the bamboo shower bench that came with the house. I never use it, and I’ve thought about tossing it more than once, but now I’m glad I didn’t.

“You still good with this? Because you just say the word, and I’ll fuck off.”

He huffs a laugh and shakes his head. “I really don’t want you to fuck off. Tonight sucked. A lot. I had plans for us, and I thought maybe I would be able to enjoy having the house to myself for a little while, without having to worry about annoying my parents or if Neal is going to show up and make a mess of my peace.”

Dragging a touch up his cheek, I stroke his hair back, then angle the showerhead so it’s spraying on him. “We can agree he’s the scum of the earth. Well, worse than scum. I think scum has some kind of micro-whatever life-forms, and they’re better than he is.”

Rune blinks, then laughs as I pour a dollop of shampoo into my hands and rub them together to get a lather going. When I dig my fingers into his scalp, he lets out the softest sigh. It makes me want to lean in and kiss his mouth.

I don’t though. He hasn’t given me any signs he wants that right now, and the fact that I get to put my hands all over him is good enough.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” he says, tipping his head back when I guide him back to rinse.

“Don’t. Tonight, there will be no apologies.” I spread conditioner on my fingers, then gently drag them through the end of his hair before working my way up toward the middle. He sighs, leaning into my touch, and neither one of us says anything for a long, long moment.

The steam curls up between us, around us, a tender touch as I wet a loofah and gently lather up his skin. He’s compliant and easy, lifting his arms, his chin, standing so I can get his stomach and back.

Setting it aside, I drag soapy fingers over the curve of his ass, then over the front of his dick, which, as he had said it would, remains soft. But he moans into my touch anyway and dips his forehead low, resting it on my shoulder as I wash between his legs.

His balls sit fat and heavy in the center of my palm.

“No one has ever done this for me before,” he whispers.

No one’s done it for me either. But it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m not sure I would have liked it, being on Rune’s end, but this?

This is everything.

“Time to rinse,” I tell him.

He moves sluggishly but without any kind of fight as I rinse off the bubbles, then sit him back down so I can finish off his hair. It’s indulgent, dragging my fingers through his long, thick locks, and I take longer than I should, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

When I’m done, he looks up at me with half-lidded eyes.

“Should I do yours?”

I shake my head. “I have a whole process with my curls. They’re fine like this for now.” Reaching past him, I turn off the water, then slide the door open and pull the first towel off the rack.

He takes it from me instead of letting me dry him off, but he doesn’t argue when I hand him my robe. It settles over his shoulder, and then I dig around in my cabinet for the Costco-size pack of toothbrushes Leo brought over for me one day after a shopping spree.

Rune lifts a brow at it, but he takes one of them and uses my toothpaste.

It’s all sort of domestic, which is strange because I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t really know what comes next, especially since Rune and I aren’t really anything to each other.

Well, we’re something, but we haven’t really spoken about what this is since the night in the bunk, which feels like a hundred years ago, even if I can count the number back in days.

When I finish brushing my own teeth, Rune turns toward me and sets a hand to my jaw. “That was kind.”

I shrug. “I’m a nice guy. You just didn’t want to see it before.”

“No, I knew.” I don’t know why that stings so badly, but it does. He must see it on my face because he bows his head a little. “My life has been…hard. And it always seemed like every time you fucked something up at work was also the day that Neal was choosing to show up at my office door or miraculously run into me at the supermarket. I feel like I never got to experience you on a good day.”