Between sips of java, Eremis sighed as he listened to Rowan’s rebuttal of what he’d said to him earlier. Obviously, the elf was missing the point he’d tried to make about the possibility of his promiscuous ways hurting others who developed real feelings for him. The healer liked Rowan a lot, but he wasn’t someone he’d ever get involved with romantically. Some people wanted their lovers to be completely faithful, and he happened to be one of those people. He vaguely remembered Rowan messing around with both Tia and Jeremy at the same time back in Neromba, and he even saw him flirting with Marz a few times even though he knew damned well he was involved with Tristan. Apparently, the elf didn’t find anything wrong with such actions or else he was in denial.
Sure, Eremis had slept around during his addiction to Tazreen, but only because he needed money to support his habit. Now that he was free of drugs, he’d never share his bed with anyone other than Cas. He’d even made the mistake of nearly cheating on the demon boy with Tristan, but he attributed that to his drug use as well. Whenever he got a little too close to the dragon he was high off his ass so he really couldn’t be blamed for his actions at the time. There were plenty of things he regretted doing while under the influence of drugs but he tried not to think about that too much since such thoughts would plunge him into deep depression.
After realizing how much he’d upset Rowan, he decided to keep his opinions to himself from now on, or share them only with Cas if asked to hear them. He wasn’t very close to Soran anyway so why should he care if he got his heart broken by the elf? It was time he stopped worrying about everyone else and concentrated fully on his own relationship with Cas. He hadn’t spent much time alone with his lover since returning from Makoto’s cabin and missed the closeness they shared back at their old apartment.
Eremis smiled at Cas when he returned to the campfire. His lover looked worried or nervous about something. As soon as he said they had to talk, Eremis got to his feet and led them into a tent. Before Cas could say anything, the healer pulled him into his arms, their lips meeting for a slow, sweet kiss.
“I kind of miss sitting out on the roof with you each night and staring at the stars before we crawled in bed to make love.” He grinned then sat down on the bedroll, pulling Cas down next to him.
“What’s wrong, Cas? You were happy before you went off and had that private talk with Soran. Now you seem upset. Did he say something that angered you? I made the mistake of voicing my opinions to Rowan about his seemingly wanton ways, and now he’s mad at me.” Eremis shrugged then lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag. He patiently waited to hear what Cas wanted to talk to him about.
*******
“I don’t know a bloody thing about archery. And you don’t need to ask ME whether or not you can take lessons from Kato. I’m not your keeper, sari.”
Soran felt the tenseness in Rowan’s body and heard the hostility in his voice. It stunned him because he thought the elf was pissed at him for something yet he had no idea what he might have done to warrant such anger. Maybe Rowan felt upset about his asking if he could study magic with Kato. He really wasn’t asking for permission to do so; he merely wanted to know what the elf thought about the idea, but Rowan didn’t seem to give a damn what he did. Soran shrugged. If this was the reaction he’d get whenever he mentioned anything he thought about undertaking he wouldn’t discuss such things with the elf anymore.
After Rowan turned to stare into his eyes, he got the impression he wasn’t the reason for his anger. Since Alex and Jeremy reached the campfire at the same time he did, they couldn’t be responsible for the elf’s sudden mood shift either. He glanced from Eremis to Kato. If either of them had said something to rile Rowan it must have been something downright nasty because it seemed to take an awful lot to make the elf lose his good humor. Hell, he never got this upset at Jeremy yet, and Jeremy mouthed off plenty of shit all the time!
“Let’s go to bed. Your company is about all I can stand at the moment.”
Soran muttered a good night to everyone sitting around the campfire before he followed Rowan into a tent. “What the fuck is going on, Ro? You were all smiles when I took off to talk to Cas. Now you look like you’re about ready to kill somebody. Did I do something wrong? Did someone say something wrong? Or are you just suffering from terrible indigestion that has put you in a foul mood?”
He loosened his sword belt, tossing the weapon to the side of the bedroll before tugging his shirt off over his head. After removing his boots and the rest of his clothes, he plopped down and pulled the thin blanket up to his waist. “So, do you want to talk about it, or would you rather I take your mind off it by ravaging your body?” He gave the elf a cocky grin, hoping he’d lightened his mood a little.
*******
Jeremy finished his Snicker’s bar in three bites then gave Alex a puzzled look when he noticed he didn’t seem to enjoy his candy very much. He glanced at Rowan and sighed. The elf seemed to be the only one on this raking world who loved chocolate as much as he did. Of course Rowan like having sex as often as possible too and that was another thing they had in common, but he decided not to think about that right now. He vaguely wondered why the elf looked so aggravated then turned his attention back to Alex once they were left alone at the campfire.
“You can sleep in my tent if you like, Jeremy, but I need to make one thing clear. I prefer women.”
The otherworldly youth roared with laughter. “Hey, I like women too, but in case you haven’t noticed there’s a real shortage of them around. Not many girls like the adventuring life so most times you only have guys for company. It’d be cool to have a bunch of hot ladies traveling with us, but all we got is Xue, and I think she prefers wolves to guys.” He laughed again then took a sip of Pepsi and lit a cigarette, making sure to blow the smoke away from his companion.
Jeremy wasn’t prepared for Alex’s reaction to his CD player because he kept forgetting that the people of this world weren’t used to hearing music coming from a little metal box. And, loud was the only way to play heavy metal songs so he had no clue he did anything wrong by turning the volume up as far as it could go.
“I’m sorry, Jeremy, but whatever you just did with that thing was way too loud for me to listen too,” Alex said. “It startled me badly and hurt my ears as well. I’m part elf, Jeremy, and my hearing is quite sensitive. Is whatever you just let me listen to always that loud? And if it is do elves on your world listen to such things? If so how do they avoid going deaf?”
After turning off the CD player, Jeremy cocked his head at Alex. “There ain’t no elves on my world. I guess the closest thing we got to them is old people cause they can’t stand listening to loud music either. Most kids MY age think that the louder it is, the better it is! I went to a Kiss concert once and the music was so loud I couldn’t hear for 2 hours after I got out of the place.”
When a yawn cut off what he was about to say next, he stood and flicked his cigarette into the fire. “Come on, let’s hit the sack. I promise I won’t get fresh with you so don’t worry.” He grabbed one of the bedrolls that the druidess was nice enough to provide for them then followed Alex into his tent.
Once he stripped down to his underwear, he crawled into the bedroll then winked at Alex. “Damn shame you only like women,” he teased, before rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.
