It didn’t work.
The more William tried not to think about sex, the more worked up he got. It would only be a matter of time before Adathan noticed the swelling bulge in his pants. Adathan hadfirmly offered his support when William was distressed earlier. What if he straight-up offered to jerk him off?
William glanced at the bathroom door. Should he pretend he needed to use the bathroom and hastily deal with the situation? The prospect was tempting, and now his erection was almost out of his control as he imagined releasing his tension. This was a disaster.
Whatever he did, he needed to get away from Adathan. Quick. “Be right back,” he said as he stood up. He walked to his suitcase and took out his sweatpants. They were loose and thick, so hopefully they’d help conceal whatever was going on down there if his body kept acting up. “I’m just gonna get changed.”
William stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. He took off his pants and glared at his unwelcome erection, which was now at full mast.
What are you, some kind of animal? A fucking predator? A deviant piece of garbage?
The string of insults made no difference.
He plopped down on the edge of the bathtub and buried his face in his hands, huffing a bitter laugh at his stupidity. How had he thought he could secretly rub one out with Adathan in the other room? Trying not to think about Adathan was the surest way to make his face pop into William’s head.
“I’m so fucked,” he whispered under his breath.
He pictured his high school math teacher as he grabbed his sweatpants and put them on. To his relief, it worked—his dick instantly started losing interest. The man was the most unalluring human being William had ever met. Looksandsmell.
He flushed the unused toilet and headed to the sink, glaring at the pathetic loser in the mirror as he washed his hands. A creep who got turned on by the prospect of a vulnerable slave jerking him off stared right back. He would have to acceptOliver’s offer to give Adathan a home, after all. Adathan wasn’t safe with him.
He buried his shame deep, deep within himself as he exited the bathroom. He threw his pants on top of his suitcase and walked to the sofa, sitting as far from Adathan as possible. “What’d I miss?”
“There was a giraffe fight.”
“A giraffe fight? How does that work?”
“They swing their necks at each other,” Adathan said, replicating the movements with his arms.
“Huh. Sounds weird.”
Adathan chuckled. “Yeah. It was.”
“What were they fighting about?”
Adathan leaned back, resting his cheek against the backrest as he gave him a lopsided smile. “For the right to copulate.”
William’s heart skipped a beat. “Bet they didn’t bother asking the potential mate’s opinion on the matter.”
“Giraffes can’t talk,” Adathan teased.
“Talking isn’t the only way to communicate.”
Adathan seemed to ponder William’s statement for a moment. “You’re right,” he said before looking back at the TV.
On the screen, monkeys jumped from branch to branch as if they were playing tag. William was almost envious; their existence looked so simple. No guilt. No shame. No regrets.
William tensed as Adathan scooted closer. There was no doubt about it this time—nothing William had done could have been misinterpreted as an order to snuggle up to him. “Is it something you’re familiar with?” he asked as naturally as possible. “Reading body language?”
Adathan beamed. “Of course! Learning to anticipate our masters’ desires from their body language is a crucial part of our training.”
William’s emotions had been all over the place since they met, but still. It was difficult to believe Adathan was truly adept at reading body language. If he were, wouldn’t he have stopped invading William’s personal space by now?
“And what happened when uh...” William began against his better judgment.
“Hmm?”
“You didn’t anticipate correctly?”
