More Than This

by Alexa Land

  Ari held my hand as we went upstairs and into the bathroom, and as the water heated up, we both took our clothes off. I would have felt self-conscious as I turned to face him, but instead I just got lost in his beauty. He ran his hands down my arms, and I kissed him before saying, “You’re absolutely gorgeous.”

  “So are you.” I’d never thought of myself that way before.

  He took the lead when we got in the shower, positioning me under the stream of warm water as he ran his soapy hands all over my body. It was both erotic and sensual, and it made me feel cherished. I tried to ignore the fact that it also made me rock-hard as we switched places and I washed him gently.

  Just as I was debating whether to cross the line and turn it sexual, he ran his hand over the bar of soap, then met my gaze as he began to stroke my cock. I moaned softly and leaned into him, and for a few moments I just let myself enjoy it.

  But then I soaped up my hand and began jerking him off, trying to give him as much pleasure as he was giving me. He came first a few minutes later and finished me off soon after, before pulling me into a passionate kiss.

  My legs were shaking as we toweled off, but I took a minute to remove my contacts, and we both brushed our teeth. Then Ari took my hand and led me across the hall to my library bedroom, and we climbed under the covers. He put his head on my chest and kissed the spot over my heart as I held him securely.

  After a while, he whispered, “I’m a virgin. I just thought you should know that.”

  “I am, too.”

  “I didn’t expect this to turn sexual, but I’m glad it did. It feels so good to be with you, Griffin. It’s better than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

  I kissed him before saying, “Even if this were to end tomorrow, you’d still be the very best thing that ever happened to me.”

  He looked up at me in the semi-darkness and grinned as he said, “It’s not going to end tomorrow.”

  Chapter Six

  The following Friday afternoon, August and I sat facing each other in a corner of my backyard. He looked sophisticated in his gray suit and a stylish pair of wire-framed sunglasses. To complete the look, he held one of Aunt Roz’s purple umbrellas by its curved handle, and he cradled a fire extinguisher in the crook of his arm, just in case. The umbrella was because vampires really didn’t like sunlight, even if they were warded against burning up in it.

  I was about twelve feet away, on the other side of an in-ground firepit. Unlike August, I was a hot mess in shorts and a T-shirt. For the last two hours, we’d been working on producing a ball of energy, controlling its size, and then making it disappear. Producing it was no problem. I’d even learned to throw it reliably and could get it to land more or less where I wanted it to. But changing it and making it disappear? Yeah, that really wasn’t happening.

  I’d set up a folding fireplace screen in front of Fig, just in case, though I had enough control now to pretty reliably avoid incinerating my dog. He sat near our guest and stared him down. It didn’t seem to matter that August had been over every day for the last week while Ari was at work. Fig really didn’t trust the vampire, so he refused to take his eyes off him.

  “One more time,” August said. This had to be boring for him, but he was making an effort to seem positive. “Try to concentrate.”

  “That’s what I’ve been doing,” I said, as I conjured yet another ball of glowing, blue energy. “In fact, maybe that’s the problem.” I’d been concentrating hard enough to induce a headache, and it had gotten me nowhere. What if I just relaxed a bit?

  The sphere pulsed and hummed above my palm. It was actually beautiful, though dim in comparison to the bright sunlight. I held my other hand over the top of it and could feel its connection to me, even though I wasn’t touching it. When I used that connection to rotate it slowly, August exclaimed, “You’re doing it, mate!”

  As I brought my hands together, it decreased in size, getting smaller and smaller until my palms touched. I exhaled slowly and willed it away. When I parted my hands, the orb was gone.

  August leapt to his feet as he shouted, “You did it, Griffin! You actually did it!”

  “Took me long enough.”

  He raced around the firepit and slapped my back. It was meant to be affectionate, but he almost knocked me over. Then he said, “Do it again.”

  I summoned a little ball of energy, then made it disappear with a wave of my fingers. “It’s not concentration, it’s relaxation and acceptance. No wonder I was having problems. I’ve never been a go-with-the-flow type of guy.”

  “One more time, just to make sure you’ve gotten a handle on it.”

  I brought up a third ball and spun it by tracing a circle in the air with my finger, then made it disappear with a flourish. The hand gestures weren’t necessary, but they were fun. Then I asked, “What time is it?”

  He glanced at his expensive, silver wristwatch and told me, “It’s a quarter past five.”

  “I need to get a shower, because Ari’s expecting me at six. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.” He didn’t really have a choice but to wait for me, since my car was blocking his in the driveway.

  After I got cleaned up and dressed, I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and adjusted the collar of my new, pearl gray dress shirt. I’d gone shopping and gotten a haircut earlier in the week, and I couldn’t stop fidgeting with my hair and clothes. August appeared in the doorway and told me, “All your ties are terrible, mate. I saw the one you’d set out, and I threw it in the garbage.” Fig was right behind him, vigilant as ever.

  “Well, go get it out of the trash, because I need it.” I was taking Ari to meet my aunts for the first time, and they were throwing a little dinner party for my birthday. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous.

  August took off his black silk tie and said, “Wear this one. It’ll be nice with that shirt.” I muttered a thank you and draped it around my neck, then began the awkward process of trying to tie it. It wasn’t like I got dressed up very often.

  He watched me for a few moments before blurting, “For fuck’s sake, just let me do it.”

  I turned to face him, and when he finished knotting the tie, August frowned at my hair and ruffled the front of it. I exclaimed, “I just finished combing that!”

  “I’m well aware, but you looked like a git. This is better.” Then he glanced at his hand and asked, “What did you do, use an entire tube of hair gel?”

  As he rinsed his hand in the sink, I said, “Is it too much? It is, isn’t it?” I didn’t have time to take another shower, so I grabbed a towel and rubbed it all over my head. Then I combed my hair straight back again.

  August sighed at that. As he tried to fluff the front of my hair and I fought him off, he muttered, “How on earth did you actually get a boyfriend?”

  I turned back to the mirror and fidgeted with my hair as I said, “I have no idea. Seriously, none. Also, how do I know if he’s actually my boyfriend now? Do couples have a conversation and mutually decide it’s time to start calling each other that, or does it just sort of happen? Shit, this is probably going to come up tonight, isn’t it? When I introduce Ari to my aunts, what am I supposed to do? If I say ‘this is my friend Ari’, that sounds like I’m downplaying our relationship. But if I say, ‘this is my boyfriend’ and he doesn’t think we’re there yet, then that’s a problem.”

  “You could just say, ‘this is Ari’.”

  “I suppose. What time is it now?”

  He glanced at his watch and said, “You don’t have to leave for another fifteen minutes. I think you should probably clean the pipes before your date.” When I shot him a look, he rolled his eyes and said, “Not like that. Come on, let’s burn off a little more of your magic before you have to spend the next several hours pretending to be a muggle.”

  As I followed him to my room, I said, “It’s weird whenever you make a Harry Potter reference. You know that, right?”

  “It’s cute and charming, just like everything I do.” />
  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  We both took a seat in front of the fireplace, and Fig sat right beside August with a slight sneer on his lips. I wondered if the dog would ever get over that knock-out spell.

  “Alright, enough dissing your mentor. Let’s see you repeat what you did outside.”

  I conjured a tiny ball of energy without any effort and showed off a little as I wound it between my fingers. While I did that, I asked, “Where did you learn the word ‘dissed’? It sounds like you’re trying to be young and hip.”

  “I probably learned it from my husband, and I resent the implication that I’m not young and hip.”

  “Dude, you’re well over five hundred years old.” I flicked the ball toward the ceiling, then waved my fingers to make it disappear.

  “Technically, yes. But I look like I’m twenty-eight.”

  “You look like you’re thirty-five,” I said, as I produced a larger ball of electricity and spun it like a basketball. I was proud of my newfound ability.

  “Bite your tongue.” He watched me for a few moments, then said, “Right now, you’re reminding me of your parents.”

  “In what way?”

  “Your showmanship. Have you ever watched any videos of their performances? They did everything with a lot of flair.”

  I extinguished the electric orb with a wave, then glanced at him and admitted, “Actually, no. I own several recordings of their shows, but somehow I’ve never been able to bring myself to watch them.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I think they’d just remind me of how much I’d lost, and my heart would break.” I conjured a ball of energy about the size of a ping pong ball and rolled it between my palms. After a pause, I said, “If they really were murdered, do you think there might be a way to identify their killer? Maybe you and I could work a spell or something, once I learn to use my powers.”

  “I didn’t think you believed they were murdered.”

  “When you first told me, I didn’t really know what to believe. But I’ve been giving it a lot of thought since then, and what if you’re right? What if someone killed them and the crime went unpunished?”

  “We can definitely look into solving the case after your birthday, when we see where you are with your powers.” He’d seemed more optimistic about my chances of surviving my birthday in the last couple of days, which was good. August indicated a stack of books on the coffee table between us and said, “For now though, let’s see if you’re ready for the next step. Try to move those books with your mind.”

  “Oh, come on! There’s no way I can do that.”

  “Well, no. Not with that attitude.”

  “Books are way too heavy to start with. Let’s try a tissue or something.”

  “The weight of an object doesn’t make any difference,” he told me. “You could lift this whole house if you wanted to. It’s just a question of accessing and controlling your power.”

  “But my powers are supposed to come in when I turn twenty-five. Why would I be strong enough now?”

  “You’ve been extraordinarily powerful since the day you were born. It’s going to increase a hundred-fold or more on your birthday, but you’re already a force to be reckoned with.”

  I extinguished the ball of energy, then stared at the books for a long moment and willed them to move. The only change was the sheen of perspiration that appeared on my forehead. “We have to stop,” I said. “I don’t want to get all sweaty before my date. Plus, I should really get going.”

  We both stood up, and he said, “I assume you and your boy toy will be spending the night together as usual, so I’ll see you tomorrow. Is he working?”

  “Yeah, the closing shift.”

  “Then I’ll be here at four.”

  I put on a black cardigan and asked, “Is this too Mr. Rogers?”

  “For the love of God, don’t wear that. I know you’re having dinner with a bunch of little old ladies, but that doesn’t mean you have to dress like them.”

  I took off the cardigan, and Fig followed us downstairs and out the door. As I locked up behind us, August asked, “Why are your aunties throwing you a birthday party a week early?”

  “Because Ari asked me to keep next weekend open. He’s planning some kind of birthday surprise for me.”

  “Ah, young love,” he quipped, as we walked to our cars. “Is there anything more annoying?”

  Ari was waiting in front of the warehouse, and he looked adorable in a yellow button-down shirt, white pants, and a red bow tie. I kissed him when he got in the car and said, “Hi. How was work?”

  “Typical. Am I dressed alright? I wasn’t sure what to plan for.”

  “You look perfect, and there’s no way of knowing what my aunts cooked up. It could be a formal, sit-down dinner, pizza, or a luau in the backyard with an all-ukulele band. All of those things have happened in the past.”

  As Ari petted Fig’s head, he said, “I’m hoping for the ukuleles.”

  He ended up getting his wish. When we pulled up in front of Lilian’s house about forty-five minutes later and I saw the rows of lit bamboo torches, I said, “Over the top Polynesian paradise it is.”

  Lilian answered our knock dressed head-to-toe in Hawaiian print florals and exclaimed, “Happy birthday, Griffy! I can’t believe you’re turning twenty-five. Where did the time go?” Then she turned to my companion and said, “You must be Ari. Oh, look at you! You’re just as cute as can be.” She kissed both his cheeks, which left coral-colored lipstick marks, and then she did the same to me before draping both of us in layers of fragrant leis and saying, “Come in! Nancy’s just about to light the volcano!” As Fig stepped over the threshold, she tried to lasso him with a lei, but he skittered sideways and managed to dodge the floral onslaught.

  I wondered if they’d tried to construct some sort of actual volcano, the kind usually produced in fifth grade science fairs, but it turned out to be a huge cocktail festooned with fruit garnishes, which had some sort of metal funnel in the center. Nancy held a butane lighter to it just as we entered the kitchen, and the alcohol caught fire at the top of the funnel’s spigot. Then she exclaimed, “The birthday boy is here, just in time! And look how adorable his boyfriend is with his bow tie! I could just eat him up!” Clearly, the volcano wasn’t Nancy’s first cocktail that evening.

  Fig wandered off, and Nancy enveloped Ari and me in a crushing hug before saying, “Help me carry this sucker into the backyard. Lil went batshit crazy with the decorations out there. Wait until you see!”

  She really had, but it was magical. White twinkle lights were draped over everything that didn’t move, and floral garlands and huge arrangements of tropical flowers perfumed the air. Also, the ten-member ukulele band was back for an encore performance. They stood out on the lawn in their matching Hawaiian shirts, strumming a pop song that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Ari’s face lit up with a huge smile when he saw them, which made me happy.

  Glynnis was already on the patio, dressed in an elegant, white pants suit with her silver heels up on a coffee table. She wished me a happy birthday as I put down the flaming cocktail, and she greeted Ari warmly when I introduced them. Then she handed us some tissues and said, “Lil and her clown makeup tagged both of you. Also, just so you know, I tried to talk her out of this tropical train wreck, but she wouldn’t be deterred.”

  “It’s fun,” I said, as we sat down across from her and wiped our lipstick-smeared cheeks.

  “It’s kitschy as hell and has nothing to do with you, but I was outvoted on your birthday theme, two to one. For the record, my theme was martinis.” She raised her glass when she said that.

  Lil rolled her eyes as she pulled up a chair and said, “Martinis is not a theme.”

  “Sure it is.” Glyn drained her glass, then put it down and asked, “Where’s Nancy? I have an announcement.”

  “Here I am,” Nancy said, as she stepped outside carrying a packet of two-foot-long straws. “I couldn’t remem
ber where I put these, and they’re essential for drinking that volcano, especially with the amount of hairspray Lilian uses. She’ll go up like a sparkler if she gets too close to that open flame.”

  Nancy stuck a handful of straws into the punch bowl-sized cocktail, which was still burning brightly, as Glynnis said, “I have a feeling we’re all going to get pretty shit-faced tonight.” She turned to Ari and said, “Pardon my French.” Then she pulled an envelope from her pocket and handed it to me as she said, “I want to do this first thing, while we’re all sober enough to remember it. Happy birthday, Griffy. I debated about what to get you, and ultimately I decided to be practical and give you a gift that could have a long-term impact on your future.”

  Nancy muttered, “Well, now doesn’t that sound like a good time.”

  I pulled a glossy brochure from the envelope as Glyn explained, “I enrolled you in an intensive creative writing workshop that takes place one week in October. It’s my way of saying I believe in you, kiddo, and I want to support your dreams. I also thought it’d be good for you to get out there a bit and make some friends.”

  I murmured, “Thank you. This means a lot to me.”

  Glyn seemed relieved. “Oh good, you like it. I wasn’t sure if this would seem like I was trying to tell you what to do with your life, because that’s really not my style.”

  “It’s perfect. I need to get serious about my writing, and I’d thought about signing up for something like this. I just hadn’t gotten around to it.”

  Ari squeezed my shoulder and said, “I think you’re going to love that.”

  I told my aunts, “Ari’s been wonderfully supportive of my writing since the day we met. I’d been really close to giving up on it, but he convinced me to keep going. He’s a sensational artist, and I don’t think he knows this, but he’s a huge inspiration to me.”

  Ari grinned shyly, and I smiled at him and took his hand. A moment later, we were blinded by three flashes going off. I raised my brows and glanced at my aunts. They all had their phones out, and Nancy said, “Oh, don’t give us that look. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for you to bring a boy home? You’d better believe we’re getting it on film!”