Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (10 page)

in human form, though he spent every night imagining it.

Asai never mentioned the gym that connected their bedrooms.

Sometimes at night Takumi would notice the locked door in his own

room and decide to ask if he could use it. But when morning came, he

said nothing. Kenny was fine about Takumi using his bench press and

Asai was giving him so much else, it seemed ungrateful to ask for that

too.

It wasn’t until Asai’s fourth visit that anything changed between

them. The previous week, Asai had been there but he had been

distracted by work. Now the deal, whatever it had been, was

profitably closed and he was in a light, playful mood. At dinner on

Friday night, Takumi felt relaxed enough to joke and laugh as if with

a close friend. It was only after he went to bed, alone again, that he

understood that Asai had deliberately set out to relax him, and still

they hadn’t gotten to first base. He was sure that Asai knew what he

wanted. Was he waiting for Takumi to make the first move? But then

why did he pull away any time that Takumi tried to flirt?

They swam with Riku before lunch on Saturday morning. Takumi

told himself he wasn’t going to worry about showing his body this

time, but Asai had stripped off and jumped into the water before

Takumi had hardly started undressing Riku. They swam out beyond

the rocks to a place where the currents between the island and the

opposite coastline created breaking waves even on calm days. Here

they played.

Asai’s dolphin body, sleek and glorious, curled around Takumi in

the water, teasing and testing. He butted: with a flip of the tail Takumi

dove over and under him, flipped over to expose his belly and let

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 53

Asai’s underside touch him for a moment of dolphin foreplay. Then

he raced away with Asai in pursuit.

They both forgot about Riku until they heard a plaintive bleat

from somewhere below them. The calf came up with seaweed around

his tail. Takumi disentangled it with his teeth. He nudged Riku up to

the surface to breathe, then dropped back down and blew bubble

rings, to Riku’s delight.

After a while Asai began tossing the calf on his nose just under

the surface, as if he were playing with a ball. Riku squealed with joy.

He would have played this game forever, but Asai tired of it much

faster. He passed the calf to Takumi and left them, flashing through

the water by himself, displaying his strength.

Determined to continue the game, Riku began ducking up and

down, splashing wildly in the waves. Takumi tried to calm him down

but Riku looked so cute, Takumi didn’t try very hard. At least half of

his mind was on Asai. Even in dolphin form, he felt he’d found his

mate and wanted to be with him. So when trouble came, he wasn’t

paying attention.

It started when Takumi’s echolocation registered something

swimming toward them. He assumed it was Asai. It was about the

right size, moving a little slower than Asai would move, perhaps, but

not out of the ballpark. So instead of checking it out more thoroughly,

Takumi went on playing with Riku. When the other was closer, he

gave his signature whistle in greeting.

Even then, when Asai didn’t respond, Takumi thought he was just

teasing, sneaking up on them. But Riku whistled, still there was no

response, and still the form came closer. That was when Takumi

started to realize that there was something wrong. He turned in the

direction of the approaching creature. Echolocation and his eyes at the

same time showed him the distinct outline of a tiger shark.

Takumi’s instinct told him to race away, but he didn’t do it. He

could have escaped the shark easily if he’d been alone. The creature

wasn’t full-grown: it probably wouldn’t even bother to chase an adult

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 54

dolphin. But Takumi wasn’t alone. Little Riku couldn’t swim fast

enough, and his young body would make delicious tender meat. He

had no chance of getting away without Takumi’s help.

Takumi sent frantic signals to Asai or any other dolphin in the

area: Shark! Help! He swam around Riku and pushed him on, trying

to fool the vicious fish into thinking that Takumi was the only dolphin

in the sea. But like all sharks, it had a hyper-sensitive sense of smell:

it knew that something good to eat was right there in front of its nose,

even if it couldn’t see it. The shark kept right on coming.

Riku was signaling too now with panicky little cries that showed

he knew he was in terrible danger. The poor calf was swimming as

fast as he could but it wasn’t enough. The shark closed on them, spun

around and opened his terrifying jaws. Takumi ducked down, batted

Riku out of the way and tried to stab the shark in the belly with his

snout. The fish shook with fury and turned on him.

Takumi’s awareness was on red alert. He saw a hundred teeth

coming for him. He dodged them twice, but the shark kept attacking.

Riku’s clicks and cries were fainter; Takumi hoped it was because he

was getting away. The shark turned around and came for Takumi

again. He leaped, but not fast enough; its teeth made contact with his

right flank. Takumi escaped before the jaw closed on him but as he

whirled around to duck under the massive fish, he saw blood in the

water. His blood.

Takumi figured this was it, he would soon be dead. Sharks go

crazy for blood, and nothing would deter this one now. Shocked, tired

and almost accepting his fate, Takumi couldn’t move fast enough to

escape it for long. He tried to protect his injured flank but the shark

came right back at him with open jaws, wanting to bite again where

the flesh was open and the taste was good.

Then suddenly, something came up from below and crashed

against Takumi’s body, knocking him up toward the surface and out

of the shark’s path. There was a crazy kind of turbulence in the water.

A black and white bulk was between Takumi and the shark. It was

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 55

Asai, roaring furiously. He went for the shark, jaws open as if

planning to lock teeth into teeth. At the last moment he dodged down

underneath and rammed it in its weakest spot, the gills.

Before it could recover, Takumi was there, attacking its other side.

On the defensive now, lashing out blindly, the shark had no place to

go. Each time it attacked one of them, the other would deflect it. They

battered its gills over and over until Asai sank his teeth into its

underbelly. Its eyes dulled, its body went limp. All the commotion in

the water rocked to a stop. The shark was dead.

Takumi would have stayed there and watched it sink to the ocean

floor, to be sure that it was really gone, but Asai was nudging him

toward home. Of course they shouldn’t stay where there was blood:

other sharks might come. They located Riku and left the water at their

landing place.

Takumi lay on his left side on the smooth rocks holding Riku,

who was crying. The wound in Takumi’s right thigh didn’t seem

serious. Without speaking, Asai lay down beside him, curling around

his back, and put an arm round Takumi to hold both him and the baby.

Takumi began to shiver. He felt cold despite the sun, as if he had a

fever. He felt that he wanted to stay here where it was safe forever,

and never venture into either the human or the dolphin worlds again.

“It’s OK,” Asai said. “It’s over. Everything’s fine.”

“Riku was splashing,” said Takumi through chattering teeth. His

mind loved having Asai’s arm around him but it wasn’t doing

anything for him physically. “I let him splash, and the shark found us.

You shouldn’t trust me with him. I don’t know anything about raising

kids.”

“You’re doing fine. He loves you, and you just saved his life.”

“And you saved mine.”

Asai stroked his shoulder. “I didn’t bring you here to watch you

die in the jaws of some brainless fish.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 56

Takumi gave a gulping laugh. “So why
did
you bring me here?”

Asai didn’t answer for a moment. Riku had stopped crying and

Takumi saw that the baby had fallen asleep quite suddenly, the way he

always did. He lay on his back with his mouth open and his arms up

around his head, as peaceful as if there was no such thing as a shark in

the world. He’d been frightened, but not hurt: may he had learned a

useful lesson. Maybe Takumi had, too.

Then Asai gently kissed his neck. “I brought you here because I

wanted you.”

It probably wasn’t the smart thing to say but Takumi said it

anyway: “You could have had me weeks ago.”

“Not the way I wanted. I want you to belong to me.”

Takumi remembered Asai’s question at the hotel:
Do you belong

to someone?

“I want that too,” he said.

“I wonder if you know what it means.”

“Show me?”

Asai moved his hand around from Takumi’s shoulder to his chest.

Takumi began to be aroused, and remembered that he was still naked.

Asai only had to look down to see the effect that he was having. But

this time, Takumi didn’t try to hide.

Fingers brushed against his nipple, then gripped it hard, nails

digging in. Takumi gasped.

“Do you like that?”

“Yes,” Takumi whispered.

“If I put clamps on you there…”

“Oh, yes.” He felt his cock hardening at the thought.

Asai reached for Takumi’s shorts and helped him into them,

easing them carefully over the thigh where the shark had ripped his

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 57

flesh. Then he picked up Riku, took Takumi’s hand and led him to the

house.

“Go to your room,” he said. He made it sound like a punishment.

“I’ll come up when I’m ready and take possession of you there.”

Breathless, Takumi climbed the stairs and sat on the edge of his

bed, waiting. He had never wanted anything as much as he wanted

Asai at that moment. He understood that Asai had seen this in him

from the beginning, and had been waiting until Takumi was willing to

stop hiding. It was exciting, but it was also frightening, entering the

unknown.

He had left the bedroom door open. Asai was talking to Victoria.

He could hear the voices but not the words. It was lunchtime: would

she be upset that they weren’t going to eat whatever she had prepared?

Now she was leaving. Asai would have asked her to take Riku. They

were alone in the house.

Takumi heard footsteps on the stairs. Asai came in wearing a

black undershirt and loose pants. He dropped his keys on Takumi’s

desk and came over to the bed.

He had Takumi write a safe word on paper, which he read and

then left on the desk with his keys. He told Takumi that if he couldn’t

say the word for any reason – like if he was wearing a gag – he should

make a noise like a dolphin call.

Then Asai said, “Stand up.”

Takumi stood. Asai folded the handmade shades-of-blue quilt and

took it off the bed. The sheet beneath was cream cotton. Asai replaced

it with a black sheet from Takumi’s closet.

He had Takumi lie on his left side and applied disinfectant to the

gash on his thigh. The disinfectant stung, but it felt kind of good too.

Knowing that Asai was caring for him, and that he wasn’t leaving it to

the salt water to prevent any infection, reassured him.

“You like that, don’t you?” Asai said. “Don’t fight the pain. It will

feel so much better for us both if you submit.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 58

When the wound was cleaned, he closed it with glue and covered

the area with a large Band-Aid. Then he sat beside Takumi on the

edge of the bed – Takumi was still wearing his shorts – looked into his

eyes, and kissed him.

Asai’s lips were soft, his tongue hard and insistent. He buried one

hand in Takumi’s hair and let the other explore his chest and