Work and Play Pt. 09

"If it ends up bad, it won't really put a dent in anything," I try. Gabe just 'hmmphs'. "I know it's about image, but I don't want you to go above and beyond and stress yourself out, just for Roderick Tracy to walk all over you."

"Zeke Hartigan, are you telling me how to deal with stress? You?" Gabe teases.

And he teases me until I'm simply laughing and saying 'no' and 'I don't do that' over and over again. And I want to hear him talk about the beach again, so I ask if he talked to that redhead. He asks why on earth he would do that, and there's a hint of offense in his tone, but he laughs and tells me he would've, but he's not attractive enough.

"The saltwater doesn't dry my skin out."

"I wish I could sunburn so I wouldn't waste so much time there."

"Next time I'm here, you should be, too."

"Maybe."

He never mentions the "love you."

------------------

In the back of my mind, after I met Gabriel, I thought I wouldn't be lonely enough to dig under my sink and find the dildo again. And I didn't think I'd actually be fucking myself at 3 a.m., picturing Gabriel behind me instead of the latex dildo suctioned to my bed. I wipe sweat off my forehead and roll myself onto the thing, actually feeling every little detail of it makes me feel a little better.

My hands look blue in the dark room, and I grip the bedsheets while I move my body back and forth, back and forth. It's not the real thing, but I keep putting my mind in that isolated headspace. This is the best thing that's happened since the whole Clay situation came to a peak. I need this.

I pull myself off of it entirely, leaving myself empty, before slowly backing into the head of it, which is exaggerated in size compared to the rest of the piece, but I'll be damned if I don't moan lowly in my throat when I feel it toggle past the ring of muscle and plunge into me. The more I back up, the thicker the thing gets, and I know I can take it, but I want to feel every detail slide in and out of me. I sigh, relishing the slickness and thickness of the toy, stretching me out enough that I'm feeling it, but not feeling the dramatized sensation I get with Gabriel. I'll miss feeling vulnerable for a month while he's gone. Just a month.

I speed up the pace, fucking myself on the what my friends thought was overly-sized dildo until I don't even have to put effort into plunging the thing in and out of my exposed hole, and I can breathe through my nose while I listen to my trained ass take on the latex. No, I won't orgasm, probably.

When I feel myself jerk in reaction to the toy brushing my prostate, I work harder, faster, and completely put off of it again. This is when Gabe would spank me, and I smile at the thought. The noises my ass makes when I back onto the piece again is like music in the room. I feel myself shiver, and I stretch out, spreading my ass apart and taking the fake cock like a real slut. I want him to fuck me like this, too. My arms straight in front of me, my chest on the bed, facedown, ass up, legs spread. Where he can watch himself fuck me and I can accept everything he has.

My phone buzzes, and my ass makes a delicious suction noise when I pull myself from the bedframe. I usually type up emails to respond to late-night ones, but not tonight. I glance at it anyway, but I gasp.

GABE: Package coming for you at your office this morning. Pretend you ordered it and don't act surprised.

I know it's two o'clock where Gabe is at, but I still don't know what he means.

ZEKE: What?

GABE: Haha, you're awake?

ZEKE: Yeah... thinking about things

In no time, Gabriel is calling me, and I pick up quickly. "Go to bed," he says with a laugh.

"Can't. Too horny," I respond, more out of breath than I intended.

There's pause on his end until he says, "Me, too." I roll onto my back and grab the packet of lube, slicking up my fingers and the dildo again. "Tough, right?"

"Tougher than I thought," I say quietly. I gently nudge a finger against my relaxed hole, and slip it inside. "If you want to just... talk to me... I'll listen," I say slowly, already sliding three fingers in and out of myself.

"Babe," Gabriel says. "I have to go, but we'll pick this up tomorrow, alright?"

"What?"

"I need—I have to sleep. I'm sorry I promise we'll do this tomorrow."

I hear some rustling in the background, and Gabriel says 'bye' quickly.

I won't read into that. I won't think about what just happened. I just think of the way Gabe talks about the beach while I fuck myself onto the latex until I bite the pillow to keep from making too much noise. In my empty house.

By myself.

----------

At 10:00am, a UPS guy comes to the building and is directed to my office. He carries a box that's a bit too big for my office space, and I sign off on it with a thanks.

Only Shannon seems to notice, and she asks if it's a gift.

"No... to be honest, I forgot my PO Box a while ago and forgot to switch it on my order," I say with a laugh. She wants to know what it is by the way she's looking at it, and quite frankly, so do I, so I switch the subject. "How about lunch today?"

"Sounds absolutely lovely, Zeke. The two of us, or..."

"I um, I think I should be around Grayson more, now that things are clearing up. I'll invite him over text, if that's alright with you." Shannon nods, and eyes the box again, which sits behind me on the extra chair. "Is it just me, or do you just get really happy seeing Grayson and Sean together?" I ask, and Shannon's face lights up.

After a small discussion, she leaves, and I close the door. What on earth did Gabe send me?

I cut it open and find a note, nicely tied with a ribbon.

"Mr. Ezekiel Hartigan,

It is with great remorse that I inform you of the poor state of your bedroom pillows. From first-hand experience as one of your overnight guests, I cannot allow you to keep sleeping on such sub-par cushions. I know you never would have replaced them yourself, no matter how much your neck hurt, so I graciously took it upon myself to replace them for you. Two memory-foam pillows: one for you, and one for your significant other, if you choose to share.

Strictly business,

Gabe

(p.s. I do hope you make use of one of them, and when I get back, the second may come in handy)"

I can hardly breathe from containing my laughter. It is so... It's so GABE to do something like this. I can't put my finger on it, but good god. How can I not feel the way I feel about him? For such a short time, he's made such a monstrous impact on my life. He casually dropped $700 on specially imported pillows for me (I know, because he oh-so-discreetly left the tags in the box), and I eat it up like nothing. How can I not?

We're dating, aren't we?

I'm giddy the whole afternoon, and I'm giddy while I sit down with Shannon and Grayson for lunch. I can't help it. I'm not ticking and I can think clearly and my body feels light. Fuckin' pillows. What a perfect man. I'll fake complain to him tonight over the phone about how he spent too much money on goddamn pillows, and then I'll tell him exactly what he has waiting for him when he gets back.

"They're doing interviews for the internships already, Zeke. I can't believe we're gonna have teenagers in the office," Grayson says. "I feel like I was a teenager yesterday."

Shannon agrees. "I know you'll never believe it, but I was a reckless girl. I drove my parents up the wall. I snuck out of the house, had secret boyfriends, brought booze into my room—gosh, when I have kids, it's gonna be payback."

"Oh, I was a quiet kid," Grayson says with a chuckle. "Acne-ridden, closeted, the whole shebang. Dated girls on the outskirts of popularity because I felt I had to. I swear my teenage years weren't hell, but I wouldn't relive them."

Talking about being teenagers does bring down my mood a little. I never was a real teenager, doing teenager-y things and getting into trouble with friends. Beth gets a little taste of the life, but it's still not the same. "I think it's going to be great having them here. Getting a hint of real-life experience," I add.

"Oh, we'll put them to work. Give me one of my own for training," Shannon says.

"You're already getting what's-his-face's secretary," Grayson chuckles.

"Well I want two," Shannon says.

I'd love to work with Beth, since I haven't been around her in so long, but I wouldn't want to be her boss before I'm her brother. I wouldn't know. Gabriel is the only person I've been intimately connected with in years, and now I'm jumping into talking to Beth out of nowhere. I never thought of myself building relationships like this so fast. "How weird is it to have a relationship with your boss?" I ask aloud. Grayson and Shannon's attention snaps toward me.

"A relationship with your boss?" Shannon repeats quietly, wiping her mouth and folding her hands in a concerned way. Grayson, who is one of my bosses, blinks fast before turning a shade of red that makes ME embarrassed. I don't know what prompted me to say that. Good god, I'm a mess. All I want to do is talk about Gabe to someone who may understand, but goddamn I can't afford to slip like this.

"I mean like, if Beth actually ends up interning for us, I don't know if it'd be beneficial to have her working under me, even if my department is what she wants to work in. I'm her brother so..." I say quickly, and it waves all suspicion. "What did you think I meant?"

Grayson buries his face in his hands and laughs harder than I've seen him in a long time. "I'm glad I'm friends with you, Zeke," he says.

------------

ZEKE: you said there was a package coming for me?

GABE: Yes... did it not arrive?

ZEKE: no, I only got some cheap pillows and a weird note.

GABE: ...

GABE: I read that in your voice and rolled my eyes so hard that Jiao asked if I'd found another bad article about OTech.

ZEKE: Damn, did you?

GABE: I'm embarrassed talking to you right now, sitting by my phone lke a child

GABE: do you like them? I thought it'd be nice.

ZEKE: Are you looking for my approval?

GABE: Zeke...

ZEKE: They're really nice, thank you. :) you're right, I never would've bought new ones. And the note was really nice as well. But you owe me more than that...

And like that, it's been fifteen minutes, and Gabriel doesn't respond. I'm starting to think he just doesn't want to talk to me when I'm horny.

I don't take it to heart, though, for once in my life, and I heat up a hot pocket and sit in front of the TV. Out of curiosity, I flip to the news channel OrtegaTech's story was on, and just in time, because they show a clip of an interview with Gabe that happened this morning. On the surface, he looks composed, dressed in all gray with a blue tie. There's one lock of hair slightly out of place. I can see that he's absolutely nervous. He has his hands weaved together and he sucks his bottom lip in slightly.

"—and the allegations against Roderick Tracy were absolutely justified?" the interviewer asks. I want to hear the first part of the question.

"Absolutely," Gabriel starts, and he blinks slowly. "This—to be clear, Felicity, is not a 'scandal'. OrtegaTech has nothing to hide because we simply do not mistreat or discriminate for any social or political purposes. The fact that this is treated as some kind of scandal or outrage for tabloid purposes is absurd. This is classic passing the blame. Tracy is USING OrtegaTech as some pawn for his own game of corruption."

Felicity continues, "Why do you say it's not a scandal?"

"I'll put it this way, there's nothing scandalous about Tracy's false claims of discrimination, simply because they are indeed false."

"Moving on, there are many who claim you have a blind eye toward the situation in the midst of you moving up the ranks very quickly while you're relatively young and making, well, quite a lot of money in a short time—"

Gabe interrupts. "I absolutely do not have a blind eye to the situation. I am not the only person looking into—"

My phone dings. I'm glad, because the interview isn't going too smoothly.

GABE: I'm watching myself on TV. Surreal.

ZEKE: I forgot to ask how the interview went

GABE: I'm frustrated that they're only focused on our public image rather than the real shit. I'm exhausted

ZEKE: understandably so... call me later?

GABE: if I'm not asleep.

If he's not asleep.

ZEKE: yeah. Hey, let me know if I need to back off when you're getting stressed :)

GABE: not a chance. You're my stress reliever.