Chapter 2
I spotted Bear in the lounge area, sitting alone at a two-top table, reading a tattered old copy ofOutmagazine. Phones weren't allowed to be out anywhere past the check-in counter, so the owners offered a stack of reading material. I'd never seen anyone actually reading them. He wasn't just browsing; he seemed deeply invested in a story. Who comes to a bathhouse to read?
"Hey," I said, hovering over him.
He was reading a story about the 2016 Summer Olympics. That was the same summer I'd started coming to the bathhouse. Thinking about it brought back a flood of happy memories. I recalled watching the coverage with Rick and Noah in that same lounge where I was standing. Men's swimming was our favorite.
Bear's forehead arched into wrinkles. "Yes?" I could see him better under the soft track lighting. When he looked up at me, ribbons of hazel glimmered in his dark eyes.
"Why were you so rude to me back there?" I asked.
He returned to reading his magazine. Here I was, a real person, standing right in front of him. Did he even know who I was?
"I asked you a question."
He sighed and tossed the magazine back into the pile by a small reading lamp. "You're a persistent little puppy, aren't you?"
A puppy?Ordinarily, I would be offended, but the way he said it made me shudder. "I just—"
"Follow me." Bear stood and headed toward the private rooms in the hallway, stopping at the first door on his left and unlocking it with the key attached to his black wristband.
Apparently, we were playing a game, and yes, like a puppy, I was supposed to obediently follow around my master. I contemplated standing by the table in protest. This would be the second time I'd chased after him, and I preferred to be the one leading.
I watched from the lounge for a few seconds. The door to Bear's room remained open. I wondered what kind of person was waiting for me inside that room.Transcending.Nobody could be that good, could they?
Fuck it. I decided I could be stubborn and play games too, so I sat down in the same seat Bear had occupied. It was still warm from his body, and now his warmth was spreading between my legs. The man must have been a human furnace.
Sixty seconds must have passed. Bear's door remained open, taunting me. I refused to go to him. Anyone else would have considered himself lucky just to have my attention. Strangers worshipped my body online. Men, and a fair number of women, told me every day how sexy I was, how they loved watching my tight and toned body.
Another sixty seconds passed. It felt like an hour. I wondered what I was waiting for. I knew I should head over to the pool deck. It was a nice night, and it would have been a hell of a lot more fun than this stupid game I'd gotten caught up in.
Then, the door to Bear's room swung shut. Gently, without fanfare or noise. Just a gentle tap and the red door was blocking me out. Nobody else had gone in or out, so I assumed he was just sitting there on the other side, doing who knows what. Maybe he'd found a newspaper with the day's stock market report.
Now I was mad.
I charged over and knocked on the door.
"It's open," Bear's voice called from inside. Cool and casual. He couldn't even be bothered to get up and let me in.
I grabbed the doorknob and flew the door open. He was casually lying on the bed, his back propped against the wall with a pillow. He still had his towel wrapped around his waist, but his knees were bent so I could see the thicket of dark hair between his asscheeks.
He just looked at me. So nonchalant, like he didn't even know why I was there or care what I wanted.
My cheeks flushed red. "Again, why are you being so rude to me?"
Bear interlocked his fingers and cradled the back of his head in his hands. "What did I do that was rude?"
"You keep walking away from me."
"Have a seat." He eyed the white plastic chair next to the small bedside table. Ikea's finest furniture.
I sat down, suddenly unsure of how to carry myself. I felt small and childlike as if I'd been sent to the principal's office. Judging by the small lines around Bear's eyes and the dotting of sunspots along the rim of his scalp, I estimated he had about twenty years on me, maybe more.
He swiveled off the bed let his legs dangle off the side. Now his knees were only inches from mine. "You don't take rejection very well, do you?"
"You don't know anything about me."
"That's a given," Bear replied. "So what would you like me to know about you?"