Page 19 of Sweet Thing

“I tried to call, but you didn’t pick up. We’re only twenty minutes walk away,” Pieter explained hurriedly, hoping he wasn’t rushing Sim. Could this be too much too soon?

“Emily, Lukas, and I would like to invite you to lunch sometime—if you’re comfortable with that. If you don’t mind being around Lukas.”

Simeon lifted his head from the cushion and stared at Pieter. He smiled in amazement, made to sit up, and then winced.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick or something?” Pieter asked.

“Oh shit Peety, this is so embarrassing. Promise me you won’t laugh,” Sim pleaded. Pieter’s brows rose in confusion then he shrugged and nonchalantly said,

“Sure, I won’t laugh.”

“Herkommen,” Simeon relayed softly. Pieter moved to sit on the end of the couch and watched as Sim rolled back onto his abdomen. His hands moved down to the waistband of his blue silk PJ bottoms.

“Whoa! What the fuck are you doing? You know I expect dinner and dancing first.” Pieter exclaimed with a confused grin. He noted the dark marks at Sim’s wrists and then Sim drew down his PJ’s, and Pieter saw the rainbow of bruises and bites on his bottom. He gasped in horror. Sim’s ass was a mess. It was not funny.

“What the fuck happened? That’s not Gretchen testing new makeup on you is it?”

“Oh, Gaah’d… I wish! It would be less painful.” Simeon grimaced. “What happened was Bastian Roth.”

Pieter’s eyes were wide with dismay, “Gott Sim, what the fuck? He beat you? Did you call the police?” Pieter stood and began moving around the room in shock and agitation, his fingers worrying his brow. Friends again for one day and already there’s drama.

Simeon pulled his PJ’s back up and shuffled to his hands and knees. He couldn’t sit back, so he curled up on his side in the corner of the sofa.“We were flirting at the gallery; remember? He stormed off when he saw that painting of you had been sold. Well, he followed me from the gallery, and we got talking. The man was so fucking hot, Peety. Everything about him was just so completely fuckable. He was interested in a little fun, so I brought him here.”

Pieter sat back down and rubbed his eyes as he listened. Simeon’s love life had always been illuminating.

“We started with the kissing, and then things started getting naked… by things I mean me.” Sim paused for a salacious grin. “But it was weird; it was only me. I tried to undress him, and he kept saying no. I just didn’t get it; he had an amazing body under that suit.”

Simeon sighed at the thought of those hard thighs and tautly muscled abdomen. “I thought he was playing the tease, so I tried again… He just went all cold and threw me off his lap like I was trash. I don’t know what I did wrong Peety. He’d been kissing me for ages and made all the right noises. There was just no life down there.” Sim mimed a limp dick.

Pieter put his hand across his mouth to shield an embarrassed grin. So Simeon’s hotness had been rejected. Yikes! Pieter knew from experience that Sim did not take rejection well at all.

“You gave him a ‘Sim Special’, didn’t you?” Pieter groaned. “I thought you went that crazy because of whatever pills… or the booze.’’

“Oh, non, non, non! My temper is one hundred percent Duchamp. How do you think my family survived the French Revolution?” Sim announced with theatrical bravado.

It was the same old line Pieter had heard a hundred times. He smiled at the familiarity.

“This is so embarrassing. Please don’t tell anyone…” Simeon sighed meekly.

“Sim, you have nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re not comfortable telling me, then we’ll wait for Marcus, ja? It’s okay.”

Simeon paused, took a breath and then glanced up at Pieter. “Fuck it! I have to tell someone, or I’ll burst,” he said with almost frivolous disregard, and then rushed on to tell his tale.

Pieter sighed when Simeon had completed his account of the events. “Scheisse, Sim, that is pretty fucked up! Is that all he did? He didn’t...“

“Noh. He didn’t rape me if that’s what you were thinking. I don’t think the bastard could have stayed hard for long enough,“ Sim replied venomously.

Pieter didn’t know what to say to Sim. He was out of his comfort zone. Pieter sat, with his hands threading through his hair for a moment, mulling over what he‘d been told. There was only one way he thought he could help. Pieter drew his phone from his pocket and called a number.

“Sternchen, what’s good for bruises? Ja, I’m okay, it's not for me. I can’t tell you what it’s about, but it’s kind of an emergency.” Pieter gave a hopeful glance towards Simeon, “Great, thanks. Don’t give him the carrot without me. I gotta be there to see his little face. I’ll be home in an hour. Love you! Tschüss.”

Sim watched Pieter with a bemused grin on his face.

“Lukas is trying his first solid food…” Pieter explained.

“The sooner, the better. I don’t think I could cope with more boobs in my face,” Sim declared.

“Hey, don’t knock the boobs. I love those boobs!” Pieter countered, snickering as he recalled the look on Simeon’s face when Emily breastfed in front of him at the gallery.

“Emily said Arnica cream to heal bruises.”

Sim glanced up. “She’s like a walking encyclopedia—knows all kinds of crazy stuff,” Pieter explained. “Do you have any Arnica?” Sim shook his head. “I’ll go to the Apotheke around the corner. Drink your tea; I’ll be ten minutes, okay?”

“Thanks, Peety,” When Pieter left the room Simeon curled into a ball. It was such a relief to tell someone about what had happened, and he was glad it was Peety, and he hadn’t judged him.

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