"I'm really fucking pissed at you."
Way to ruin the moment, Jay.
I glanced up at him, grinning like the idiot that I was. Sure, I was one of the best scientists here, or at least that's what my paycheck said, but I knew what I had done was beyond stupid.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
My brows furrowed, and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and not just because I had been pulled underwater twice today already.
"What?"
The door opened behind me right as Jay was about to respond, drawing my attention to the young intern who just stepped in.
"Dr. Ryans, what would you like us to do about feeding him?"
Seriously?
"Put fish in the water. He'll likely eat any kind."
The guy blinked, as if confused, then quickly nodded and ran back out. Well, that had officially broken up any kind of argument Jay and I had been having, so back to work. Except when I tried to scoot off his lap, his arms wouldn't let me go. Looking back with an annoyed glare, I grumbled at him.
"Let go."
"No."
"Dammit, Jayson. I have work to do."
"You're not going near him again."
I blanched, then jerked my body hard enough to stumble out of his lap. Of course that meant I dropped onto the floor, but at least the blanket absorbed most of the impact.
"I am not going to just leave him here with them. He's my responsibility."
Jay scoffed as I got to my feet and limped over to my second locker. We always had two, one for basic necessities near the front of the building, and another in this room in case we ended up diving. So, when I opened the small door, I gave a relieved sigh. My spare dry clothing were still there, neatly folded on the upper shelf. Without taking off the blanket, I quickly tugged on the dry boxers, then followed them up with pants and a shirt. The chill from the sixty degree water was still bugging me, but I knew I had to get back out there and make sure they weren't doing anything to stress Callem out any further. Once I put the blanket in the dirty laundry hamper by the door, I stepped back out into the pool area, Jay nearly glued to my heels. Smithson hurried up to me right as I walked out, worried but smiling.
"Are you alright, Dr. Ryans?"
I nodded and walked with him toward Callem's pool.
"Parker!"
That made me chuckle a little.
"He's called for you a few times."
We stepped up to the tank, and I noticed Callem swimming over. There were a few pieces of fish floating in the water, but he didn't seem interested in them at all.
Odd, he has to be hungry, especially after throwing up from the drug he was shot with earlier.
When his head surfaced a few feet away, I nodded toward the small piece of fish in front of him.
"Aren't you hungry, Callem?"
He glanced at the fish, then back at me before nodding. I returned the gesture, but he didn't bother to look at the fish again.
Okay, maybe he thinks it means something else?
I walked over to one of the elevated platforms attached to the outside of the tank and stepped up. He swam over, ignoring the fish again.
"Hmm, can I have a piece of fish?" I asked, turning to look at Smithson. He quickly nodded and ran over to a bucket they had on the floor. A moment later, I had a piece of chum salmon in my hand. Turning back to Callem, I noticed he was right beneath me, the only thing separating us now was the barrier that only went up to my knees. If he wanted to, he could easily pump his tail to get high enough to grab me. Thankfully, he didn't seem interested in doing that at the moment. In fact, he actually reached up toward me, opening his hand in a 'give me' gesture.
"You... want me to give you the fish?"
His head tilted, brows furrowing in confusion.
"Um... fish?" I repeated.
An immediate nod was his answer, making me grin before very carefully handing him the morsel. Our fingers brushed as he took it, but again, there was no aggression. Callem actually took the fish and tore at it, easily chewing through the scales and small bones. I heard a few clicks and glanced sideways at several interns and scientists who were taking photos. Tch, I didn't want any pictures of him to give people motivation to try to hunt for others, but I didn't have the authority to tell them to stop.
"Parker."
Hearing my name, I quickly looked back down at Callem's outstretched hand and smiled. He nodded, and I returned the gesture, looking over my shoulder toward Smithson. He got the idea and quickly picked up the bucket, setting it by my feet on the platform. I grabbed another piece of fish from the bucket and handed it down to Callem, repeating that process for the better part of half an hour as he ate.
He had gone through about four pounds of fish when he finally darted off toward the floating platform. I watched silently until he pushed himself up onto it, weighing down the light foam block keeping it afloat. I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but when he turned back to me and called my name again, I grabbed the bucket and hopped down. Jayson walked next to me until we came to the small door leading out to the bright blue floating platform.
"You're not going on that with him there."
Ignoring him, I grabbed a strong rope we had coiled up near the small glass entry door and tied it to one of the support beams coming out of the floor nearby, then fastened the other end around my waist.
"There. Happy?"
Jayson leaned over and grabbed the shock pole he'd dropped while being pulled out of the water earlier and handed it to me.
"Now I'm almost happy."
I had half a mind to poke him with the darn thing, but when Callem said my name again, I carefully opened the three-foot glass door and stepped into his enclosure and onto the floating dock. Once I had the door shut and latched, my colleagues handed the half-filled bucket of fish over to me.
"Thanks."
I noticed that one of our interns was holding a dart gun, I think her name was Jess, or something close to that. As long as she didn't point it directly at him, I didn't think he'd get upset so I didn't bother telling her to put it away. When I was ready, I carefully turned toward Callem, who was drifting just beside the platform now, having slid off of it when I walked on.
"Hey there, Callem."
He pumped his tail, disappearing beneath the surface with a splash only to reappear a few yards away and give off his cute barking sound. I wasn't quite sure what the sound meant besides that he wanted my attention so I carefully sat down against the small glass door and waited. He tilted his head and gave another bark, but I just set the shock pole down and grabbed a small piece of fish.
"I'm not coming out there, Callem."
He barked again and dove under, but this time when he surfaced, he was moving fast enough to slide right up and across to me on the platform. My body started in surprise, but I didn't have enough time to get up and over the wall. I jerked the piece of fish up in reflex, hoping he was more interested in it than me, but of course, this time he wasn't. Although, when nothing happened, I hesitantly blinked my eyes in surprise and looked at him.
Oh wow...
Water was draining from his gills, running down his strong chest to disappear into the thin layer of water moving over the platform. When quiet gasps filtered to me from behind, I refocused and realized that legs were slowly beginning to form from his vanishing tail. Once he was done transforming, he carefully crawled over my outstretched legs. I slowed my breathing to try to keep him calm, tamping down panic that was rising in my mind at having such a dangerous predator right on top of me.
He watched me as I looked over his shoulder, knowing not to look a predator in the eyes. Whispers from the other scientists and the scratch of pens on paper were just barely audible over the sound of the pool pumps and filters working, as well as my heartbeat thundering in my ears.
"Parker."
Caught off-guard, I looked at him directly, immediately changing his demeanor into one of aggression.
Oh shit!
My left hand was already curled around the shock pole, but I really didn't want to have to use it. So, instead, I quickly turned my gaze away and shifted so that I was on my back beneath him, then tilted my head back. I wasn't sure what kind of submissive gesture he understood, but this was the only obvious one I could really show as a person. Looking away was backing down from a challenge and putting yourself lower than the aggressor, as well as baring the most vulnerable part of your body. It was the best way to diffuse a situation between animals. Granted, I was definitely not an animal, but I had a feeling he would understand at least part of the action... hopefully.
When I felt his rough tongue begin to lap at my neck, I gave a quiet sigh of relief. I thought he would just do it a few times to show that he understood I was no threat, but his actions actually began to get rougher. His left hand grabbed my right upper arm, pinning it easily. My neck began to throb beneath his attention, making me think that I might really have to shock him to get him off me. I was just adjusting my grip on the steel shock pole when I felt his teeth sink into the side of my neck.
Okay, instinct once again took over, making me shove the pole into his side with as much force as I could manage. I had desperately wanted to avoid having to hurt him, but I wasn't going to let him do something that wasn't okay. I knew he didn't understand, but he figured things out quickly, so...
Callem hissed and darted off of the platform, pulling me by my ankle right along with him... until the rope snapped tight around my waist and my wet foot slipped from his grasp.
Thank god I tied the rope instead of asking someone to hold it, 'cause that hurt like hell but saved my ass.
A rope burn would undoubtedly be circling my waist soon, but I wasn't focused on that right then. Callem was darting around just beneath the small waves, splashing the surface several times before returning to the dock. He began clawing his way on top, but when his legs began to shift, I held out the shock pole.
"C-Callem, no."
He stopped and sat down with his legs turned backward to either side, sitting like a scolded child might... but I knew better. His gills were flaring, and the scowl on his face told me that he would likely have tried to drown me again if the rope hadn't kept me on the platform.
"Parker, no," he grumbled, eyeing the pole with distaste. His gaze darted from the pole to my neck several times, seemingly confused.
"Parker!"
"No Parker." I shouted back, making him flinch from surprise. Raising my voice hadn't really been planned, but I needed to get it across to him that he didn't just get me whenever he said my name. His eyes narrowed in thought, and we both remained quiet for a long minute before he spoke again.
"Yes Parker."
My colleagues stuttered and the pens went full speed on their clipboards as I tried to realize what Callem had just said.
"N-No... Parker not Callem's."
He flopped down onto his belly a few inches from the shock pole, making a little splash in the thin layer of water on the foam platform. I knew I was supposed to be afraid of him, but I was beginning to figure out some of his facial expressions and slowly grinned when I noticed that he was thinking again.
"Parker Callem's." He replied after a moment as he pushed himself back up onto his hands and knees, then hesitantly moved forward. I didn't really think when I moved the tip of the pole so that it didn't hit him in the shoulder. His attention focused on it now that the tip was no longer in a position to touch him. In fact, he actually leaned over and nudged the silver metal with his nose lightly. When it didn't shock him, his eyes narrowed before doing it again, and again.
"No."
I repeated without really thinking, then added an extra word.
"No... shock."
Callem looked over at me, then back to nuzzle the pole... and, err, lick it? His eyes closed as his tongue moved along the smooth surface, sending a shiver through my body as I tightened my hold on the handle.
"Parker shock Callem," he whispered as his gorgeous eyes blinked open slowly and moved back to meet mine. I felt my heart stumble over itself as I tried to stutter out a reply.
"C-Callem hurt Parker..."
While he thought about what I said, I glanced down at his injured foot. It looked much better, though the bandage had obviously fallen off with all the shifting he had done.
"Parker Callem's, no hurt."
I returned my attention to him when he spoke and shook my head.
"Parker no Callem's. Parker hurt Callem, Callem hurt Parker."
Callem hissed and flared his gills, making me withdraw the pole so I could get it in front of me for defense. He was definitely getting frustrated from our lack of ability to communicate, but I couldn't exactly hand him a dictionary to read. When neither of us spoke, he sighed out a distressed breath and moved back to lie on his belly, then rolled over, baring his neck for a second before rolling back.
"Parker yes Callem's."
My brows furrowed as I watched, trying to figure out what he was trying to tell me. When I didn't respond again, he slipped back into the water and bit the side of the platform with a grumble, then released it before he spoke again.
"Parker yes Callem's."
He bit the platform again, then released it as he lifted a hand to his neck.
"Parker Callem's."
Oh...god.
My hand slapped over my injured neck, the gesture immediately making Callem shout out an excited bark. He looked so happy to have finally managed to tell me what he was thinking, but...
"Callem."
His previously dark blue eyes were now mixed with a bright violet as they fell on me.
"I-I..."
I stood up abruptly, making him start in surprise.
"Parker mistake...sorry, Callem."
I couldn't bring myself to look at him again as I quickly jumped over the glass barrier and got the rope undone from around my sore waist.
"P-Parker?"
"Parker?"
"Parker mistake? Parker sorry?"
I heard him splashing and stumbling around on the platform before diving back into the water and trying to follow me.
"Parker!"
I walked out of the facility, shaky and panting. Jayson was on my heels, but he didn't say anything. All he did was fish my keys from my pocket and drive us back home. When we got inside, I pulled off my damp clothes and dropped them somewhere, then went straight to the bathroom where I heard Jayson drawing a bath. He was kneeling near the tub as steaming water poured from the faucet.
Hm? He never lets me use a ton of hot water.
"Jay?"
When he turned to look at me, I suddenly felt embarrassed.
"U-Uh, th-thanks for helping me... today."
Instead of replying, he just raked his gaze over my bruised body, then reached down to grab the bottle of peroxide and bandages by his left knee.
Aw, maaan. Not again.
"Sit down."
I put the toilet lid down and quickly did as told but was silently dreading the gauze pad he was now soaking with peroxide. He didn't even give me a warning as he slapped the darn thing right over Callem's bite, either.
"Ouch!"
Okay, someone was mad. Thankfully, the burning from the darn medical stuff only lasted a few seconds. He removed the gauze after a minute and fastened the bandage over the area firmly.
"There."
I sighed with relief before my body was suddenly lifted and dropped into the hot bath water.
"H-Hey."
The excessively hot water felt amazing, but I didn't get any time to enjoy it alone because Jay was kneeling down right next to the tub now, his gaze dead serious as it locked with mine.
"Don't go back for a few days."
"But..."
"No. I am sick and tired of piecing my roommate back together, dammit."
I leaned back from surprise, bare back pressing against the chilled tile.
"Jay..."
"I swear, Parker, I will tie you to my damn bed if I have to in order to keep you here."
Blood rushed up to my cheeks and down to another area I won't mention, which my hands quickly moved to cover.
"I-I won't go i-in tomorrow."
"Four days."
"What?"
He leaned closer, making me press my back harder against the cold tile to try to get away, but of course, that wasn't going to work.
"T-Two."
"Four."
"Three."
His nose brushed against mine, and my resolve crumbled.
"Fine. Four."
Jay immediately leaned back on his heels and smirked.
"Good boy."
"I-I am not a damn boy. I'm older than you."
His left brow rose as he glanced over the edge of the tub, then back up at me.
"You get turned on like a teenager."
I instantly felt mortified and turned around, trying to hide myself and prevent further embarrassment.
He's going to make fun of me. H-He'll know I'm gay, too. A-And for him.
Feeling his hand settle atop my head made me flinch, but when that's all he did, I hesitantly glanced over my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. That was a cruel joke. I know you're not gay, Park. You just get super-stressed sometimes, and it happens."
Why did what he just said hurt worse than him finding out my 'problem'? This was the perfect time to finally come out to him, but considering the way he had spoken about being gay, I automatically took the easy way out... and lied.
"Ha...ha. Yeah, it sucks."
"Park?"
"Hey, Park? Are you still in the bathroom?"
Everything felt hazy as I lifted my head, trying to remember where I was.
Oh... right. Still in the bathtub.
The water was cold by then, and as I realized that, my body began to shiver.
"What the hell are you still doing in here? You should have been out twenty minutes ago."
I was lifted out of the water and set on the toilet seat, a towel slung around my shoulders tightly before Jay began rubbing my arms quickly to warm me up.
"Go away."
"Yeah, 'cause that worked well. Not gonna happen."
My heart clenched as I shoved him backward. into the towel bar on the wall and jumped to my feet.
"I said go away."
"No."
I shoved him again, hard, and stomped off toward my room to get dressed. He was quick to follow but stood in my doorway so that I couldn't push him again.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Getting dressed, idiot," I growled in response as I shoved my legs into a pair of boxers, then black work pants.
"You are not going back there today."
I ignored him and instead pulled on a black sweater and socks, then moved to shove past him. Except he easily threw me over his shoulder and walked into his room.
"What are you doing?"
"I warned you."
Suddenly I was softly bouncing on my back on his bed, but when I started trying to get up, I realized he already had a knot tied around my left wrist and was securing it to his headboard.
"Hey. Y-You can't do this to me."
When he was finished with that hand, he grabbed my right one, before I could work on the left knot with it, and fished another piece of rope from the nightstand by the bed.
Why the hell does he have ropes in his bedroom anyway?
"J-Jay, stop. Seriously, this isn't funny."
He tightened the rope on my right wrist, making me unable to move either arm very far, then sat back on his heels near my chest. I was panting and stressed as hell, but he looked disturbingly stoic.
"I'm not laughing, Parker."
Swallowing hard, I licked my lips and fought myself to calm down. He wasn't attacking me, and he did say he was going to tie me up if I tried to go back. My breathing slowly calmed while we looked into each other's eyes.
"I'm going to get our dinner, and you're going to eat. Then we're going to sleep early so your body can start healing."
"We...?"
His eyes narrowed, and he nodded.
"I'll untie you, but you're sleeping with me for the next four days."
I glared, but he just scooted out of bed and disappeared to the kitchen.
Hmph!
Deciding to not waste my energy, I ate what he offered after he freed my hands, which was one of my favorite dishes, hamburgers and coleslaw. On the burger, of course. When we had finished our meals, he took the plates back to the kitchen and then returned right away. I didn't fight him when he pulled me up against his warm body, arms wrapped around my waist firmly. On any other day, with any other circumstance, I would have enjoyed doing this greatly, but...
As soon as I was sure he was asleep, I carefully slipped out of bed, silently thanking god that he slept like a rock. I quickly but quietly made my way to the front door and slid on my shoes, then grabbed my keys from where he'd put them on a hook. Thunder began to boom overhead as I ran to my truck and climbed in, quickly buckling my seat belt before speeding off toward the facility. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do there since it was now around nine o'clock and after hours. Security would likely be the only people there.
Well, I can just check on Callem and get my phone since I left it in my locker.
That's actually exactly what I told the security guard at the front door when he asked why I was back so late. He knew that we often came and went at random times depending on experiments so just mentioning my phone and the new project was enough to let me back in. My feet sped into the first hall to retrieve my spare badge from my locker, then I hurried through the first and second doors, getting annoyed with the sudden slowness of the scanning process on the older badge. When the third door finally opened, I took a deep breath and began walking through the dark main room. Lightning flashed every few seconds, lighting my path, since a lot of the emergency floor lights were out and being replaced tomorrow.
I came to an unsteady stop at the door leading to the holding area where I knew Callem was waiting for me. Another flash of lightning through the slanted glass ceiling high above told me where the handle was, and I hesitantly reached for it, right before a soft melody entered my head that sounded all-too-familiar.
~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~
~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~ ~
Close...
It was close, but...
Blinking as another flash of lightning lit up the room, I noticed something that made my blood run cold.
Feet.
One slightly injured, the other not.
Just on the other side of the door...
I didn't want to do it, but I found my gaze slowly rising until they met furious black ones as another bolt of lightning flashed through the room.
Callem...
dnews.net#[4