Lethe Vita

Chapter 23

He had sat in enough long-winded meetings to recognize the terrible outcome of acting on impulse.

He further understood how acting on impulse had repeatedly damaged his relationship with Brenda in the past.

It was that fact alone that deterred Dylan from contacting Kai to demand Luca's address.

The last time he had acted on impulse and had permitted his temper to take control, Dylan had come much too close to a permanent severance of his ties with Brenda.

Had Dylan acted on impulse this time, Brandon and Steve would have had to hold him back from wailing on Luca for sleeping with Brenda.

Bearing in mind the teachings of his sponsor, Dylan managed to take a step back and reexamine the situation before his temper could overpower him.

It may have also helped to hear Brenda's harmonious, steady breaths over the phone; at least until Dylan's rumination suggested that Luca may have slipped into Brenda's dreams.

Dylan tried to reason with himself. It wasn't at all logical for Brenda to have slept with Luca. Brenda had never been the kind of woman who would sleep with someone she had just met.

Except she had, Dylan corrected himself: Stuart Carson.

And the Brenda Walsh that Dylan had been staying with wasn't the Brenda Walsh Dylan had known.

Still, he didn't think her personality had changed enough that she would sleep with Luca whilst sharing a bed with Dylan.

Dylan approached the situation from a different angle. If Brenda had slept with Luca, why would she be telling him?

Furthermore, why would she be describing in detail Luca's - Dylan couldn't bring himself to think of it as anything other than Luca König's fucking dong.

She thinks König's nicely textured? thought Dylan. She'll think he's got the texture of wool once she feels mine.

"So let me get this straight." Brandon glanced away from Hannah Zuckerman's newly established favorite activity of chasing David Silver, which she was winning at for the second day in a row. Neither Brandon nor Dylan considered it imperative to rescue David from Hannah's affections. "You think my half-asleep sister probably fresh off of her regimen, not to mention all the relaxation she had that could've easily put her even more to sleep than her usual fatigue, for some reason decided to open up to you about Luca's -"

"Dong," said Dylan, low enough so that Hannah couldn't hear.

"Dong!" said Hannah.

"Shit," said Dylan.

"Shit!" said Hannah.

"Silver!" said Dylan.

"Silva shit dong!" said Hannah.

"Thanks a lot." David increased his speed as he jumped over a small table that Hannah veered under. "Why can't she chase Steve?"

"Unca Steve," said Hannah.

"Uncle David," said David.

"Not Unca," said Hannah. "Hunka lish."

Dylan wondered which of the women Hannah had overheard refer to someone as "hunkalicious." He assumed Valerie, primarily as he didn't want to consider that Brenda may have used that terminology to describe Luca.

"You gotta admit, Silver," said Brandon, "it's kinda flattering."

"Oh sure, real flattering," said David. "The woman I want barely trusts me and will only let me near to keep her nightmares at bay, while the girl who does want me is four."