Suited

Five

I sorted everything in the bin, started the first two loads, and separated what needed to be dry cleaned. He was gone when I retuned. I called for him and he stuck his head out of a door. His bare shoulders were slightly visible and hair dripping wet.

"Sorry," he said, slicking it out of his face. "I still felt a bit weird so I had a shower."

That was fine. "Do you still need your Benadryl?"

"Not really but my head is killing me." I glanced at the nightstands. Both had been wiped down. Good. He was capable of following directions. We could just pretend what had happened before hadn't. I could pretend. I needed to, otherwise things would become complicated and I wanted my life to be as perfectly simple as possible. No more work flings.

I grasped the handle of one of the drawers to check for his medication—"Don't open that!"

I looked at him. "Why not?"

"Just don't." He disappeared and came back with a towel around his waist. Had he just been standing there naked? Though I didn't want to, I tried to get the mental image out of my head. He bounded over to my side and shut it.

"Don't tell me what to do, Lawrence," I said. "That's not respectful."

"I know but, really, you don't want to open it."

Yes I did. That's why I'd opened it in the first place. "What's in it?"

"Personal stuff."

I squinted but he didn't elaborate. "Sex toys or...?" It was a nightstand. That was the only thing I could think of. He looked very taken aback, that shocked look from dinner planted on his face before he couldn't meet my eyes. "Lawrence?"

"Not in that one."

"What?"

"Just don't open it!" he said louder and wrapped himself up in his arms.

I opened it anyway and pushed him out of my way when he tried to stop me. Inside was a bottle of saline spray, a keychain, and a few tiny ziplock bags with an obvious white substance.

"Why do you still have these?" I asked slowly.

"I haven't used since my trip," he said hastily.

"That's not what I asked, Lawrence. Why do you have these?"

"It's just for emergencies."

"Emergencies?" I laughed in disbelief. "This causes your fucking emergencies!"

"I'm careful! I just need it sometimes. It's not even a problem anymore!"

"If it wasn't a problem, you wouldn't think you needed it."

I snatched everything out of the drawer before he could stop me and dropped it all in the giant garbage bag, holding it closed as he tried to pull it away, begging for me not to throw it out. I ignored him and started leaving the room with the bag. He followed in nothing but a bath towel and hysterical. I would have been concerned but he was smaller than me and a bit frail. All he could manage was slapping my shoulder and pulling the bag and crying. I wasn't in any danger. Was this what people were scared of? He wasn't very threatening.

I ignored him as I got into the elevator in the back of the house and he got in after me. The whole way down to the main floor, he pleaded, snot-nosed, for me to let him keep at least one or at least the keychain thing which I gathered was a snorting device. Apparently that had been a gift. I hated to see him like this—at least in this context—but it had to be done. He fought me every step to the trash chute, screaming at me so loud I worried if he'd have a voice in the morning.