Wilt and Ruin

Chapter Six - Overnight (King)

After the water, we snacked on the food I'd purchased then sat in silence on the rock. While I drew my legs up to my chest, Runn stretched out on his back, his eyes closed with a smile on his face. I stared down at him, watching the way his eyes twitched and his nose flared. When my eyes slipped to his lips, I had to look away. Their pinkness drew me, and I wanted to feel them against mine, to taste them.

We remained there, in the silence of nature, the sound of the fall, insects calling off in the bushes and a periodic plane drifted by overhead. The peace I felt then was something I never shared with anyone before. We barely took any pictures, but I figured since it was getting dark, we could take some in the morning before heading back to the city.

"We should get inside." I said, turning to gather our things.

"Inside?" Runn sat up.

"The house, remember?" I asked. "We can use it tonight then head back tomorrow. Just a warning, it has towels and the like. I haven't gotten around to adding furniture to it yet. I do have blankets and the like to be comfortable until tomorrow. We can run into town and get dinner."

He stared at me silently for a silent forever before smiled. "You're asking me to spend the night with you."

My breath caught in my throat.

I couldn't answer. Instead, I gathered all our things and scrambled from the rock. He called after me, but I kept walking, wondering if he saw the way I looked at him.

"At least let me help you with the things, P!" He called before catching up to me.

"I'm okay."

"Look, it was a joke, P." He told me. "I know you like girls. And even if you did like guys, I wouldn't be the one. I get it. There's no reason to get angry."

I said nothing.

"Anyways, we didn't get many pictures done today." He continued. "Darkness comes so fast these days."

I imagined that was something my grandmother would have said. Mine died when I was ten—I didn't know I had one until the day it was reported to my father his mother had died. Apparently, they had a falling out over what my name should be and hadn't spoken since then.

Another reason I had a hard time having a relationship with my father. It seemed all my life he'd been taking things away and nothing I did stopped that until I struck out on my own. When he tried buying my company I wouldn't have it. It was the first time I had complete control over something with him and I dug my heels in.

Even after I sold the company, I had a clause in the sale agreement that made it impossible for my father or any of his subsidiaries to buy the company or the software from the people I sold to.

We climbed into the car and I drove across the property to park in front of the house. I gave Runn the code to get in while I grabbed a few things from the trunk. Tao always told me to keep blankets, bottles of water and a few snack bars. I carried them inside, set them in the kitchen then found Runn fidgeting with one of my old cameras.

"Where did you find that?" I asked.

Runn looked up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He set the camera back on a dusty shelf and stepped away from it.

I walked forward and removed the camera to look at it. It was the first one I bought when I was younger. It was mine before I was bitter and couldn't see beauty beyond the obvious. With a soft laugh, I set it back on the shelf and took his hand. I led him toward the foot of the stairs, and he started up in front of me.

Halfway up the stairs, he missed a step and came hurtling backward. Gripping the banister with one hand to steady myself, I reached out and caught him around the hips with the other. The momentum almost took me down as well. I tightened my fingers around the metal of the rail to keep me on my feet.