Waking up, I was definitely on the couch, but I wasn’t alone. Inhaling the scent underneath me before popping open an eye made me wonder how we even fit on the couch. Luca was underneath me, and he had his arm wrapped around me, holding me to his chest. It was pitch black outside. Demitri was nowhere to be seen. There was no easy way to sneak away from Luca without waking him up. So I did it. I woke him up.
He groaned at me, but opened his eyes and looked around.
“Get up. We should head to bed, Luca.”
“Alright.”
He pulled me along behind him as he headed to my bedroom. I could hear Demitri sleeping in the room across the hall. I made sure that Luca and I were quiet as we crawled into the bed. He was quick to fall back to sleep once he pulled me to his side and made sure I was comfortable.
The problem was, I couldn’t fall back asleep and now I felt trapped. I watched him sleep for what felt like hours, even though it was only minutes. Relaxing, I tried to close my eyes and fall asleep again, but it just wasn’t working. I had to figure out how to safely get out of this bed without waking him again.
I also had to find the dogs, because I did not know where they were, but they probably needed to go out and use the bathroom now. Slowly rolling away, he accepted me moving with so much as getting up. I felt pretty victorious when I stood up, creeping away from the bed.
Stepping to the hall, I peeked into the open doorway of the bedroom. The dogs and Demitri were missing. Heading down the hall to the kitchen, the stove light was on and the leashes were gone. I quickly chalked it up to Demitri having the dogs, and he probably took them to the washroom. Walking to the balcony, I slid the door open and stood in front of the screen, enjoying the cool nighttime air that was coming inside.
I heard the door open. I turned around and Demitri was telling them to hush because it was late. He didn’t see me, but the dogs did. He undid their muzzles and then their leashes and they were racing at me. They didn’t jump or bark, they just sat at my feet and looked up at me. I figured they wanted a treat. Looking at the clock, it was three am. They were expecting a treat at this time because this was the usual time Marco settled down for bed.
That habit of his had never changed, even now. Not that I thought he would. It was Marco, and I didn’t think there was a bone in that man that was capable of change. Let alone the thought of it.
“You should be sleeping.”
“I got up to take the dogs out, but you beat me to it.”
“Head on back to bed. I have the dogs.”
“I’m not tired anymore. I’m just going to give the dogs their treats and you can have them back.” I whispered, not wanting to wake up Luca.
“Luca sleeping in your bedroom?” He asked, quietly.
“Yes, I woke him after I woke up and took him to the bedroom. I tried to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening.”
Giving the dogs their treat, they ate it and followed Demitri back down to the spare room. Working seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t want to accidentally wake up Luca or Demitri now. Going back to the couch, I flicked the TV back on, muted it, and just watched the screen. I was hoping this would be enough to put me to sleep.
Rolling onto my back, I stared at the ceiling until I finally managed to close my eyes and actually sleep.
It felt like nothing more than a blink when I woke up. Demitri and Luca were at the table, drinking coffee and speaking softly. Looking at them from the couch, I groaned, sitting up.
“What time is it?”
“Six thirty-five am.” Luca said.
“Fuck.” I hissed, debating rolling back over.
Standing up, I wobbled my way down to the bathroom and when I came back to the kitchen, Luca offered his cup of coffee out to me.
“No, thank you. Not enough sugar for me.” I muttered.
Demitri was already dressed and looked ready for the day, and I wanted to strangle him for it. How the hell was he ready to start his day at this ungodly hour?
“That isn’t a pleasant look on your face, Theo.” Demitri commented.
“Seeing you dressed at six am, ready to start your day, isn’t a pleasant look either.” I said, not holding back a single thing.
“So cranky this morning.” Demitri said, sipping his coffee.
Pulling down a cup, I slid it under the coffee machine and pressed the button. While waiting, I looked at Demitri again, scowling at him. Luca was still just in what he was wearing last night.
“I’m dressed because I took the dogs out again, and as much as I’m sure the old lady across the hall would love to see me walking in just sweat pants, I’d rather her not see me like that.”
“Might give her heart failure.” Luca chuckled.
“Least she would go out seeing something worthwhile.” I said, grabbing the cup and setting it on the counter. Getting cream out of the fridge and filling the empty space of the cup with it. Three teaspoons of sugar later, I stirred the cup and took a sip, burning my tongue. But it was worth it.
“What time are you leaving?” I asked.
“Around noon.” Demitri said.
“I see.” I hummed.
“You will have your place back to yourself shortly.” Luca said politely.
I wanted to bring up the threesome we had, but no one else had brought it up. It was becoming more and more clear that this might have just been a bit of fun for them on the job. A fling, a one-night stand.
Setting the coffee down on the counter. I spoke.
“I’m going back to lie down. I’ll set an alarm for nine or ten so that we can have breakfast. That way, I know I was a decent host and didn’t let you go hungry.”
I didn’t give them a chance to argue about it. I walked down the hall and into my room, closing the door behind me. Luca had packed up all his things back into the bag. I imagined if I went across the hall, Demitri’s bag would be in a similar situation.
Crawling into the bed, I tucked myself right up to my chin under the blankets. I wouldn’t say I was attached to the men in my kitchen, but it was nice to have company, someone to watch Tv with, Eat with, talk with. It was the human interaction that I was craving.
It was weird too, because all I wanted when I left Marco was to be alone, and now that I was a single man again, alone, I was lonely. But I blamed that solely on the fact that I had been living with Marco for the last five years as a married couple. But it was even longer than that since I had actually been alone. It had been years since I had to face myself alone in a space at night.
Demitri and Luca were a pleasant break in all the loneliness.
Tucking the pillow that smelled like Luca under my head, I sighed. At least I had the dogs to keep me a bit more company when they left. But it wasn’t like I wasn’t going to see them. They still had to help me with the housing project at some point.
Under the warm blankets, I rolled over, taking the pillow with me. Closing my eyes, I breathed the scent of the pillow deeply and relaxed.
Closing my eyes, I counted back from one hundred and somewhere around fifty. I was too tired to think about continuing.
Opening my eyes, it was bright, way brighter than it should have been for nine or ten o’clock and I hadn’t woken up to an alarm but on my own. The dogs were in the bed sleeping now too. Looking at the floor, Luca’s bag was gone. I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It was two in the afternoon.
Emotions flooded me and among them all I was angry that they hadn’t woken me up to have breakfast with them before they left. I should have expected this, though. Since there was no point now to get out of bed, I took the pillow and rolled back over against Hunt’s side. I petted him softly.
My anger melted away with every stroke of his fluffy coat. Hero got up and laid closer to me, his tail wiggling back and forth. I started petting him with my free hand and sighed.
“We really should get up, shouldn’t we?”
Hunt started licking my face. I wasn’t big on being slobbered on by the dogs, but it was a boost for my low mood.
“Alright. Let’s get up.”
Shimmying out the blanket, I moved around Hero and stood up. Petting them both when they sat on the edge of the bed before jumping down. The sound of their nails on the wood floors was such a weird sound I missed. Right now it was the only sound in the condo, too.
In the kitchen, all the dishes were done, and the house looked cleaner than when they had shown up. I was mad again that they hadn’t woken me up. Glancing at the fridge, the note on the door caught my attention, and I walked over, reading it.
It was short and to the point.
They didn’t want to wake me while I was sleeping so soundly and they had to go. It wasn’t like it was an unpleasant note; it was polite. But it made me feel fucking bitter just rereading it repeatedly.
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