***
His neck was killing him, and his back wasn’t in a better condition, either. With a groan, he got to his feet, and to the bathroom. The house was silent, which meant that Aron was not up yet. Good thing he had the bathroom to himself.
He didn’t care about dressing up after taking a quick shower, so he just headed to the kitchen. He felt hungry like hell, and he needed something to eat, now. He was about to open the fridge when his eyes fell on the fruit bowl on the kitchen table.
“Swallow a banana …” he talked to himself, now remembering about the unsolved quest from the prior night.
He grabbed one long yellow fruit from the bowl, and watched it warily. Maybe Aron was thicker. Yeah, definitely thicker. He had held that thing in his hand. Well, he shrugged. It was a start. Getting the tip in was not that hard, but as he began pushing towards the back of his throat, he felt like gagging. Maybe he needed to get adjusted to it, so he took it out a little. Hmm, it was a little better, he guessed. Now, he only needed to try harder. In and out, in and out. What do you know, it wasn’t THAT hard.
“What are you doing?”
He turned to stare at Aron, with the banana sticking half out of his mouth. Aron’s eyes clouded for a couple of seconds.
“Explain to me why I shouldn’t bend you over that table and fuck your brains out right now,” Aron spoke again, as he placed his hands on his hips.
The guy was wearing nothing but silk pajama pants, loose on his hips. Carter’s eyes traveled up and down the man’s beautiful torso, partially covered in black curly hair. Eventually, his brain registered that he needed to defend himself. Pulling the banana out, he managed to speak.
“Health and safety regulations?” he attempted an answer to Aron’s statement from earlier.
His husband just threw him a weird look.
“It’s a new diet I’m trying,” he explained, gesticulating with the fruit. “Eating a whole banana. Without peeling it.”
Aron sighed and looked up, like he was asking for celestial help to deal with his husband.
“Look,” Carter spoke and took a bite from the unpeeled banana.
Aron made a disgusted face.
“Well, next time, try your new ‘diet’ with some clothes on. It’s unfair of you to dangle that sexy ass in front of me first thing in the morning, without any intention to put out.”
Carter looked down. Oh, shit, he was naked.
“And weren’t you supposed to be somewhere early?”
Oh, yeah. Damn, what was he going to do right now? Swallow the disgusting mush in his mouth? No way, he was squeamish. He just went for the trash can, opened it, and spat.
“Well, it’s not working,” he glared at Aron who was still looking at him like he was a lunatic.
“How can you tell?” Aron said, and the irony wasn’t lost on Carter. “How long have you been trying it?”
The man moved to the fridge to grab something to eat. Carter could feel his stomach rumble. But, well, he needed to get out and fast.
“Enough to know it’s not working,” he said snappily, and began marching out of the room, in what he hoped looked like a dignified stride.
Which was rather hard to do, as Aron’s heavy hand landed on his ass in passing, almost making him stumble. That had not been a playful smack. Carter could feel it.
Reigning in the temptation to just turn and punch the guy in the face, he ground his teeth and continued to walk away.
“Oh, baby, I so love watching you go,” Aron added insult to injury and began laughing behind him.
To think that he was going to go down on the asshole tonight. The things he had to do for love and friendship. Not his love, but his friendship. With Aron. Damn, that slap still stung, he thought, as he rubbed his behind.
***
“Mr. Ruskin, I’m sorry, but I cannot let you in. Visitation hours start later.”
He had a hunch that the witch in white just didn’t want him to see his body. Putting on his sexiest smile – he hoped that was how he looked like, and he wasn’t just grinning like a psychopath – he leaned over the receptionist’s desk.
“He’s in a coma, darling,” he cooed. “He must feel so alone.”
“At the moment, the patient is unconscious. We will let you know if any changes appear. Your husband,” the woman looked at the screen, at something that was outside his field of view, “left clear instructions in this respect. If you want to see the patient, please come back later.”
“Later I have work,” Carter tried to reason with her.
“We all have, darling,” the woman smiled sweetly, but by the way her mean eyes glinted, she just loved to get on his nerves.
Was his charm-o-meter broken? Alex’s looks didn’t seem to work on this woman, and she wasn’t the only one around who appeared immune to this guy’s charms. Maybe the health care industry as a whole was not big on Alex Ruskin.
“Then I’ll just stick around until visitation hours begin,” he said, pursing his lips.
“Sure thing. We have fashion magazines in the waiting room. Maybe not enough to fill two hours, but you will find something to entertain yourself with, right?” the receptionist spoke.
This witch was downright rude.
“Of course,” he shrugged.
Well, if he was going to wait, that was it. His phone went off that very moment. Carter looked at the unknown number, wondering what kind of surprises were waiting for him on the other end.
“Yes,” he answered, making sure he sounded as irritated as he felt.
“Hi, boss,” Mark’s energetic voice came through. “I just wanted to make sure you’ll be here in time. You have a meeting with Yolanda at 8.30, just to give you a heads-up. Then, you have your appointment with Gladys at 10. Yolanda says she doesn’t need you until 1, so you can take your time grooming. Then, you have …”
“Ah, damn, what’s the point of being a star, if you’re a slave,” Carter mumbled, interrupting his assistant. “All right, I’ll be there.”
“Boss, don’t you want to hear the rest? I made sure you can start your ballet classes at 5, so you can still be home by 7 tonight,” Mark spoke. “Also, the reporter from New Entertainment keeps pestering me about your interview. I think he tries to play me, since I’m new. Did you agree to speak with this guy?”
“No, I didn’t,” Carter said abruptly.
From her desk, the receptionist was watching him with mirth. He had no choice. For now, his body had to stay put in that hospital room and he needed to take care of Alex’s career. Whoever up there fucked this up so badly had some real explanations to offer. That if there was really a hierarchy in Heaven, and that was where things like crazy body swaps were coming from. Or maybe there was some logical explanation that science could not really cover at the moment, for lack of information, and credible subjects.
“Boss?” Mark called from the other end, after a few moments of silence.
“Yes, Mark. I’ll be there in a jiffy.”
The receptionist was still looking at him with that irritating smirk on her face.
“Gotta go,” he told her, and her smile widened. “You’re wearing way too much makeup, darling. And crimson red is a complete no-no when you’re over 40.”
He had no idea if what he had said was true. Well, maybe his eyes had slid over some other titles, while reading Cosmopolitan the night before. Those glossy magazines, even in online form, had everything, from advice on dick sucking, to what colors to wear when walking your dog.
At least, the receptionist’s smile faded. And that was plenty satisfying. This time, he was the one to smirk as he walked out of the hospital.
***
“What happened to you?” Yolanda almost screamed, while pushing herself towards him, like a homing missile.
She was right under his nose and was inspecting him from down there, like he had suddenly grown horns.
“What do you mean?” he stopped from taking one step back.
The little woman could be intimidating when she wanted.
“This,” one of her index fingers landed right under one of his eyes. “Dark circles. Did you not get your beauty sleep?”
Not exactly, Carter kept it to himself.
“I’m going to call Aron and tell him he should not keep you awake. I thought he knew your regimen.”
Maybe when his husband wasn’t pissed due to lack of sex, he thought.
“And stop grimacing. It gives you wrinkles. I know you’re answering to me in your own head. What? Are you afraid I can’t take what you want to say to me? I have plenty of training,” she pushed her finger as if she wanted to put his eye out.
“Stop it,” he batted her hand away. “I just slept on the sofa, that’s all.”
Yolanda almost staggered as she took a step back. She covered her mouth with one hand and looked at him in shock.
“What happened?” her voice was now normal, Yolanda back to her maternal self. “Don’t tell me you two had a fight.”
Carter shrugged.
“It happens.”
“Aron adores you, what could have gone wrong?” she asked, looking more and more worried.
Carter was starting to feel a bit awkward. And now Yolanda was watching him like she wanted to ask: What did you do?
“I didn’t do anything,” he answered to the unspoken question. Damn, he sounded so defensive. “Couples fight. Sometimes.”
“Not you and Aron,” Yolanda shook her head. “Come on, Alex, don’t make me lose hope. Perfect relationships exist, because of guys like you and your husband,” she continued in a reproachful tone.
Obviously, she had no idea Alex was spreading the love, aka blowjobs, all over the place. That was so not the perfect relationship. Yolanda was way too gullible, the poor thing. And he had a hunch Aron had been upset with Alex before. Yeap, there was trouble in paradise.
“It wasn’t anything serious,” he tried to calm her down. “Just a small quarrel between lovers. I almost forgot why we fought. Don’t worry, we’ll be all lovey-dovey by nightfall.”
Well, he hoped. There was no way for him to get close to his real body today with a packed schedule and everything. That meant he needed to perform that blowjob and do a great job while at it. Damn, he needed help. Professional help. But who to ask?
“If you say so,” Yolanda spoke, looking not terribly convinced by his insincere assurance. “Well, we’ll have to use more concealer to deal with those raccoon eyes.”
She was clearly exaggerating. But, of course, Alex aka the douchebag, had to be flawless. How horribly irritating.
“Yeah, put that on me, and let me be,” he waved. “What do I have to do today?”
“Well, today, you will be mostly pampered. We’ll look over a few ideas for the new ads, and in the afternoon we will go meet some clients.”
The anti-socialite in Carter cringed at the news. He could go through a few meetings, but why was everyone so bent on seeing him? He was supposed just to make himself pretty for the camera and nothing more. At least, that was what he thought.
“Come on, don’t make that face,” Yolanda pinched his cheeks. “You’re a charmer, everyone loves you! And you need to do that interview with that reporter from New Entertainment. You know how much you love seeing your face everywhere. Why not this week? Plus, when was the last time you gave an interview? Hmm, a couple of months ago? We let more time pass, and you’ll be declared officially dead. Fashion wise.”
Carter winced. How much was Aron willing to pay to keep his body in that vegetable state? Soon enough, he was going to grow tired with all those extra medical expenses, and then … Carter didn’t want to think about it. No, Aron, as he knew him was going to keep his body hanging on those machine for all eternity. He pushed away the thought that his parents didn’t seem to have bothered to come see their son. They hadn’t spoken in a while, and he knew that, and probably they were doing Alaska right now, or maybe Antarctica, but seriously, this was a life and death situation. The problem was, Aron was his lifeline. And, at the moment, his husband’s lifeline, too, although Aron had no idea.
Maybe he needed to take care of some things himself. Alex was not going to be bothered if Carter spent his money to keep him alive, right? If anything, he was probably going to be thankful.
“Hey,” Yolanda snapped her fingers in front of him. “Why are you spacing out so much? Come on, sweetie, I didn’t mean it. You’re not fashion dead. Just a little fashion disabled, at this point.”
“What a cheerful thought,” Carter replied dryly. “Tell me again, why should I do this interview?”
“To get back into the spotlights, of course. Come on, everyone wants to know how you got through a terrible accident and escaped almost unscathed. They want the whole story.”
“I don’t have the whole story,” Carter replied, alarmed.
“They don’t know that,” Yolanda waved her manicured hand. “Just steer the direction towards the new organic line we’re promoting. You know what brings home the dough. And mommy needs a new Gucci bag, you know?”
Carter groaned and shook his head. Yolanda wanted to act all superficial, but after just one day after meeting her, he knew that was not true. She was just very invested in her fashion business, that was all.
“All right, I’ll go there and sell the hell out of that organic line,” he agreed, and Yolanda kissed him loudly on one cheek. “Just tell me what to say, and I’ll do it.”
Yolanda began chirping happily. He had a tough time concentrating, but he was doing his best. Yet, his thoughts were still a mess, and everything Yolanda was saying was slowly turning into a mush. Organic is amazing, blah, blah, blah, do you want all those chemicals enter your blood stream, and how about parabens and phthalates, ee i ee i o, this stuff is fantastic, hey, Macarena …
Damn, being in the fashion business sucked. Why did he have to remember all this stuff? It made no sense. That was why he loved numbers. They were cold and straight. And he liked all things straight.
“Can you give me the tl;dr version?” he eventually stopped Yolanda’s wordy waterfall.
“Organic is the best shit for everyone,” Yolanda said promptly and started to laugh. “You’ll do fine, don’t worry. And Aron will forgive you. I’m sure that is all you’re thinking about right now.”
Not exactly. But it was somewhat close.
“Yeah,” he admitted and looked down.
“Hey,” Yolanda called gently. “Don’t worry, okay? I have yet to see a guy more in love than your husband. You’re not his little sunshine, dear. You’re his whole sun.”
Just the words he needed to hear. So not true. Damn. If this body swap didn’t get reversed soon, all of Aron’s love had to go somewhere. Did that mean that he was going to put his ass up? Only the thought was making him break into cold sweat. There was no way he could live through that. He almost wished Alex’s body had some weird STD, so you could push Aron away, once it would came to that.
And that was not just the not-gay guy in him talking. He had other reasons to be afraid of that. So, back to old MacDonald had a farm …
TBC
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