Play With Me

by Patricia Logan

  “This is new to me,” Kane said. “Until Luca explained it, I didn’t know what tasseography was.”

  “I am glad you’re here then. I feel the weight of your energy.”

  The whistle of the teapot stopped Kane from asking what that meant. He watched Pimporn turn around and pull the tea kettle off the stove and cover the teaspoonful of loose tea leaves that he had already put into the cup. A fragrant scent rose from the hot water as Pimporn picked up the cup and saucer and handed it to Kane.

  “Please take that to the table and have a seat.”

  Kane did as he was asked, walking over to the table where he squatted and set the cup and saucer down as Luca and Pimporn followed. Once Pimporn was seated across from Kane and Luca was seated beside him, Kane realized Luca didn’t have a teacup.

  “You’re not having your leaves read?” he asked Luca in surprise.

  “Next time,” Luca replied with a smile.

  “Luca, this is your appointment,” Kane protested.

  Luca looked him square in the eye and set one hand on his arm. The electricity that went through Kane’s body felt like a shockwave. He had no idea why but ever since they’d gotten back together, things between them felt incredibly right.

  “Tonight, I want this to be my gift to you, Kane,” Luca said. His young lover said it with the sweetest smile. It nearly took Kane’s breath away. All he could do was nod his acceptance.

  “Okay,” he replied.

  Luca beamed at him.

  “Now what?” Kane asked.

  “Now we wait for the leaves to sink to the bottom of the cup while you clean your mind. Then you drink your tea,” Pimporn said.

  “Clean my mind?”

  “Meditate on a question you have or a situation that you are concerned with. If there’s a specific request, you should think about that,” Luca said. “Maybe close your eyes so your mind can clear itself a little better. Have you meditated before?”

  “In the military,” Kane replied.

  “Seriously?” Luca asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah.” Kane nodded. “We were taught meditation techniques as part of our weapons and combat training. Not everyone who learns close quarters combat practices this, but I took advanced Krav Maga and that was a part of my training. It allows me to focus on the whole picture… see the whole board—to borrow a chess term.”

  “Really?” Luca asked.

  Kane chuckled. “Yeah.”

  “You would be surprised how much meditation is involved with advanced military training, Luca,” Pimporn said, nodding at the teacup. “Now, please. You must focus and clean your mind.”

  For the first time, Kane noticed that Pimporn sat ramrod straight, all the while appearing relaxed. He was certain the man must have had military training in the past. He put those thoughts out of his mind and nodded, doing as he was told, letting his eyelids slide closed as he began to concentrate on his breathing. He smelled the scented candles in the room and focused on the silence, soon hearing only his own breath as it moved in and out of his lungs. He thought of Luca and what his relationship to the younger man was beginning to mean to him. After a few minutes, it was clear what had been on his mind even more than the case he and Kelly were working on. When he finally opened his eyes, Luca was smiling at him. It was all he could do to tear his eyes away from Luca and glance downward. The cup had stopped steaming and the leaves had fallen to the bottom.

  It was time to learn some things about himself.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Now, pick up the cup with your nondominant hand and drink until all but about a half teaspoon of your tea is finished,” Pimporn said. “As you do this, think of your situation or your question or concern.”

  Kane did as was asked, picking the teacup up by the handle in his left hand. He drank it as he thought of Luca. He wondered whether they were meant to be together and what had set this man in his path. The tea was fragrant and delicious. He drank it down slowly, only setting it back on the saucer when there was a half teaspoon of liquid covering the leaves at the bottom. He looked back up at Pimporn.

  “Good, now pick up the cup, again in your non-dominant hand, and swirl the cup in three quick motions. Then turn the cup over onto the napkin.” Pimporn placed a folded napkin on the saucer and Kane did as he was asked, swirling the tiny amount of liquid three times and then flipping the cup over.

  “Like that?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Pimporn said. “Now, we’ll wait a minute for the tea to drain.” They sat in silence as the time ticked away. Kane didn’t glance at Luca. He concentrated on his concerns and questions.

  “Now, using your non-dominant hand again, tap three times on the bottom of the cup and twist it one full circle forward and one full circle backward and then another one full circle backward,” Pimporn directed.

  Kane did as he was asked, concentrating on his relationship with Luca.

  “Good,” Pimporn said. He reached out and lifted the cup, turning it over to look inside before glancing up at Kane. “This is a past-present-future reading.”

  “Oh, good,” Luca said, speaking up.

  Kane glanced over at him and smiled.

  “I thought so. This reading will tell you how the past ties in to the present and your future.” Luca rocked back on his heels and Kane could sense his excitement. It really was very sweet. He smiled at Luca and turned back to see Pimporn examining the leaves that had spread out all over the inside of the cup. When Pimporn glanced up, he was frowning.

  “You had a difficult childhood but that is finished, Kane. Your past has truly passed. You must let it go. It has no more power over your life.”

  Kane nodded, beginning to wonder if the man was only guessing but something in the man’s confident body language told him he wasn’t.

  Pimporn looked back down and turned the cup, looking hard at it. When he finally glanced back up, his face seemed puzzled. “Look at this.” He pointed into the cup. On one side, there was quite a large blob of leaves in one place.

  “The large clump of leaves? What does that mean?” Kane asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

  “You are not Gemini.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

  Kane shook his head. “No. I’m a Leo.”

  “Yes.” Pimporn nodded. “That explains this clump of leaves.” He pointed to it inside the center of the cup. “This middle portion of the cup represents the present but the leaves are clumped at Gemini.” Since there were no markings on the inside of the cup, Kane had to believe that Pimporn had some other method of determining that the leaves were “clumped at Gemini”.

  “What does that mean?” Luca asked eagerly.

  Pimporn glanced at him and then back at Kane. “You are two men at the moment. At first, I read this as Gemini but I didn’t get the twins from this cup. Instead, I see two distinct individuals, clumped here at Gemini.” He looked up. “I have never seen such confusion. The two men are truly one but the confusion…” He stopped and closed his eyes. “Oh, I see. Yes.” When his eyes popped open again, he smiled at Kane.

  “Kane, you are fighting so hard to understand the two men you are. Your Leo nature needs clarity… you need everyone to know you are in charge of your own destiny but this other man in you is fighting back. You have divided your soul over this.” Pimporn shook his head. “This is unnecessary. You are who you are meant to be, Kane.” He glanced at Luca and gave him a peaceful expression before nodding and turning back to Kane. “You are who you are meant to be. Stop fighting it or your soul will remain divided. If it continues, you will die of grief.” He lowered his gaze back to the cup and then looked back up, pointing into the leaves.

  “Look here. This is your future. You have already found your happiness. You must only accept it.” He grinned and shook his head before darting a glance at Luca. When he looked back at Kane, the expression on his face was somber. “You will be very happy, Kane, very happy with your soul mate.”

  Kane swallowed
as he stared at Pimporn. The energy in the room was thrumming through him like nothing he’d ever experienced. The air felt electrified and it was the strangest thing he’d ever felt. When Pimporn set the cup back down in the stained wet circle of the tea he’d poured into the napkin, Kane snapped out of it. He darted a glance at Luca who was watching him with tears glistening in his eyes. The urge to reach for him was profound but he couldn’t move. It felt as though he was living some sort of out of body experience. He finally tore his gaze away from Luca to look back at Pimporn but when he did, he realized the man was gone. He’d literally gotten up from the floor and moved to the kitchen where he was standing at the sink. As the water turned on, Kane glanced back at Luca.

  “Do you want to have a reading done?”

  Luca quickly shook his head. “No.” His voice came out in a whisper. “No,” he said more forcefully. He suddenly smiled. “Y-you said you were hungry. We should go.”

  Kane nodded and then uncrossed his legs. As he stood up, he reached out a hand for Luca, pulling him up from the pillows as well. He looked down and realized his cup and saucer weren’t on the table anymore. When he saw Pimporn coming back from the kitchen, he realized he was holding the cardboard box with his teacup. He must have been washing out the cup in the kitchen. He hadn’t even noticed him pick it up from the table.

  So, this is what spellbound means.

  “Here you are, Kane.”

  “Thank you, Pimporn. I appreciate the reading,” he said, honestly.

  “Yes. No problem. I hope to see you again soon, Kane.” He put his palms together again and bowed his head. “Namaste.”

  Kane returned the bow of his head and he watched Luca do the same. When he’d finished, Luca launched himself at the smaller man, hugging him hard. They stopped to put on their shoes and so that Luca could collect his messenger bag before leaving the apartment. When the door closed behind them, Kane turned to him.

  “Wasn’t I supposed to pay him for that? I mean no one brought it up but I thought I should pay him for it. No?”

  “No. I got him a deal on a watch for his mother. He will tell me when it’s time to pay again,” Luca said.

  “Karma?”

  Luca grinned and hooked his elbow with Kane’s. “You’re so smart, Delancey.”

  At that moment, Kane knew Luca hung the moon just for him.

  ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

  They stopped at a place in Malibu that Luca recommended and picked up sushi to bring back to his place. Kane wasn’t about to discuss whether he was going to stay over at Luca’s apartment that night. It was already a done deal. Luca didn’t seem to mind the plan at all. In fact, he seemed anxious to talk about the visit to his tasseographer. Though Kane really didn’t give a whole lot of weight to what had happened at Pimporn’s apartment, it hadn’t been as uncomfortable as he’d imagined. Pimporn sure as hell seemed serious about his chosen profession and that had been a bit of a surprise to Kane.

  He hadn’t really known what to expect of the tea leaf reader, but it hadn’t been someone as disciplined as he was about his craft. Kane had imagined walking into a dark room lit by red lights and draped with gauze and scarves. Maybe he’d just watched way too many old horror movies as a kid. The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland with the talking crystal ball had always been his favorite Disney attraction.

  “Someone’s in his own head,” Luca said, jolting Kane out of his musings.

  He turned to glance at him and smiled before looking back at the road. “I was just thinking about the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland.”

  Luca chuckled. “That’s random.”

  “You know when you sit in those little cars that take you through the house and one of the things you see is that disembodied woman’s head talking inside a crystal ball?”

  Luca laughed again. “The hologram? Of course. It’s the coolest thing ever. Why were you thinking about that?”

  “That was my imagination of what a fortune teller’s house looks like,” Kane said with a grin.

  Luca burst into laughter and Kane turned to look at him. He was wiping tears away from his eyes and shaking his head.

  “Jesus, Delancey, you must have been seriously disappointed when Pimporn didn’t have a disembodied head on his table.” Luca laughed again. “Oh my God, you’re so funny.”

  “Hardy har har. Glad I could amuse you,” he replied with a smile. “I guess you think I was pretty stupid to think that.” He was surprised when Luca reached out and took his hand. He glanced over at him. The expression on his face was angelic as he looked at Kane like he was the only man in the world. His stomach fluttered.

  “I think that’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard, Kane. Really. When you say something like that, it shows me the man you really are inside. Between that and that fucking ashtray on your living room table, I would almost swear you’re a good guy.”

  Kane winked and then looked back at the road. He could feel his mouth tug into a tiny smile. “Just do me a favor and don’t spread that around. Asshole works better for me.”

  Luca’s chuckle and the way he squeezed his hand made his whole day. By the time they finally got close to Luca’s place, all Kane could think about was the shrimp tempura and spicy tuna hand rolls that were packed away in the paper bags sitting on the floor at Luca’s feet as they drove. Since it was nearly nine when they finished at Pimporn’s house, he really was starving by the time he parked the Charger on the street in front of Luca’s place.

  Kane went to wash his hands when they got to Luca’s apartment in West Hollywood, and when he returned to the small kitchen nook where Luca was laying out numerous cartons of sushi and a seafood salad Luca liked, Kane’s stomach was growling. Luca looked up as he approached and flashed a broad grin. He smiled back, circling Luca’s waist from behind, leaning down to place several kisses along his neck. He smelled of something fresh yet spicy and if Kane weren’t so hungry, he’d be inclined to sweep him off his feet and take him to his bedroom where he could check to see if the rest of him smelled the same. He only pulled back when Luca began to giggle.

  “What? You don’t like my kisses?” Kane asked.

  Luca turned in his arms and slid both of his around Kane’s middle, craning his head to look up at him.

  “You’re kidding right? I love your kisses but my neck is super ticklish,” he said with a smirk.

  Kane grinned, pulling him harder against him. “How did I not know that?”

  “It never came up, Delancey.” Luca reached down and wrapped his hand around Kane’s straining erection. “This, however, did come up.”

  Kane leaned down and chuckled against his lips. “Goddamn you, I’m starving. Don’t start until I have sustenance or I will pass out right on top of you.”

  Luca laughed and let go of his dick after a brief peck on the lips. “Sit down and eat. We can’t have you passing out when we get to the fun stuff.” He waved at the table weighed down with food and Kane sat down in front of one of the two large white plates Luca had already set out for them. Kane began opening cartons and retrieving the delicious smelling food as he watched Luca unpack more food. They’d bought enough to feed an army.

  “So, what did you do today?” he asked.

  “Me? Oh, I don’t know,” Luca said. “Not a whole lot. I had lunch with Stephen though.”

  “Auerbach?” Kane asked, frowning just a little. “Why?”

  “He’s my boss,” Luca said, carefully biting off the end of a dumpling before dipping it into soy sauce. When he groaned in pleasure and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, Kane grinned. “Shouldn’t I have lunch with my boss?”

  Kane smiled at the way his words sounded as they came out around his stuffed cheeks. He poured some soy sauce into a tiny red and black lacquered dish Luca had set out on the table and added a chunk of wasabi paste to it, breaking it up with chopsticks Luca had put beside his plate.

  “It’s fine. How is he? Is he really upset about the bar?”<
br />
  “We didn’t really talk about it a lot. I think he just wanted an excuse to talk to a friend. He’d just come back from meeting with his insurance agent, you know?” Luca picked up a tempura shrimp and dipped it in sauce before taking a bite.

  Kane watched him chew. Seeing the way the man’s mouth moved, even while he was chewing, was hot. His groin ached for him. He still couldn’t believe he’d ever pushed Luca away. It had been so stupid. He picked up his salmon skin hand roll and poured some of the wasabi/soy combination into it before taking a massive bite. He chewed it, loving the taste of the spicy mixture and the fresh fish and seaweed.

  “Wow, you can eat it just like that?” Luca asked, watching him. “I mean… have some more wasabi, Kane. You really like it spicy, huh?”

  Kane grinned around the bite of food, chewing until he swallowed. “Like my men.”

  Luca started laughing. “You said you hadn’t had a man before me, right?” His eyes were twinkling with mischief and Kane loved it.

  “Nope and you’re the only man I want,” he said. When Luca smiled at him, his stomach fluttered the way it had in the car. Being with Luca was effortless and Kane was beginning to grow accustomed to that feeling more and more. He wondered again why he’d tried so hard to push him away. Thirty-two years of living in denial, idiot.

  “You say the nicest things, Agent Delancey,” Luca said with a grin.

  “That’s Special Agent Delancey, thank you very much,” Kane replied, winking before biting into a massive slice of yam tempura.

  “Very Special Agent Delancey,” Luca replied with a smirk. His dimples were adorable and Kane couldn’t stop looking at him.

  Once they’d nearly finished their meal, Kane sighed and sat back, patting his belly. “God, that was good. We need to go back and eat at the sushi bar next time,” he said.