Chapter Eleven – What Was Seen Cannot Be Unseen
Carter was chewing the nail on his index finger like a Duracell rabbit at a carrot tasting. The initial shock was gone, but he still held Simon's phone in his hand, not wanting to let go. But it was not like those offending pictures were going to disappear by magic. There, on the shiny screen, Alex Ruskin was locked in a heated embrace with the guy currently sitting across from him, in the poshest cafe Carter had ever set foot in.
And that was not all. If anything, it was just the peak of the iceberg. What lay under water was much, much worse. Apparently, the two clandestine lovers had had no qualms with taking pictures in all sorts of compromising positions. Carter was certain that he had seen enough dick and man on man sex to last him for a century. And Simon, the dickhead, was right; in all the x-rated pictures, Alex was the one with the other's cock in him. Now that was plenty of ground for divorce, right there.
Eventually, he unglued his eyes from the man's phone and handed it back to him. There was no point in trying to erase them and then blame it all on a slip of the hand. Simon surely had copies lying around, on his computer and whatnot. He could not be that stupid.
"So?" Simon looked at him with a small, knowing smile.
Some people. They just liked asking for a punch in the face. Alex Ruskin was a damn cheater and a two-timer, and Carter had to deal with it. Should Aron learn about it? It was painful, but necessary. But he was not going to find it from Carter. Not like this. And there was maybe still time to save Aron's marriage. Regardless of what he thought of guys marrying other guys and whatnot. This was not about him and what he wanted to believe of Aron. There was a marriage at stake and he needed to do everything in his power to save it. After he and Alex were going to swap back, it was completely up to Alex to decide. And Aron was going to find out. Eventually. There was no way in hell to tell what kind of thing was going to set that off, but it was going to happen.
Right now, though, Carter was in a terrible conundrum. What was he going to do? Tell Simon off? He wasn't putting it behind that guy to blackmail him, to keep quiet. There was no way he was going to sleep with Simon, to maintain the wordly order in Alex's life, either. So he just needed to grab the bull by the horns.
"What do you want?" he asked, frowning and playing with his thumbs, for lack of anything better to do, until he decided to just let his hands flat on the table.
Simon looked at him with a mix of confusion and angst. Carter shook his head. The idiot was a real charmer, with those dark caramel eyes. He preferred darker, black eyes. Like Aron's.
"Do you really need to ask?" the man asked, and the pain in his voice was real. "I want us to be together. As you promised. You said that you were going to leave Aron, walk away from him, and be with me."
Simon made a move to capture one of his hands, but Carter was quick enough to pull both of them away and hide them under the table. His eyed remained on Simon's hand, still half open, until the man flexed his fingers, curling them in, and withdrew.
"Look, if you want to blackmail me, just tell what will take for you to keep quiet," Carter spoke, looking at Simon.
"Blackmail you? I have no intention to do that!" Simon protested.
Ugh, now that was a relief.
"But I don't intend to leave you alone, even if that's what you're asking. I don't care that you say that you don't remember! I don't know what game you think you're playing, and, if this is your idea of testing me, don't worry, I won't quit!"
Carter frowned and took a look around. Simon's heated speech was starting to draw attention.
"Calm down," he hissed at the other, and then smiled affably to a woman wearing cateye sunglasses who was already stealing glances their way.
Simon seemed to have a bit of difficulty to rein in his emotions, but, eventually, he chose to shut his mouth. His dark complexion made him look even more upset, with the frown and the pursed lips and everything. He was making Carter think of a character from some Gothic tale. Simon did look like he was ready to turn to the dark side.
"What are you going to do, Alex?" Simon asked, straightening up in his chair and looking straight at Carter.
Yeah. What the fuck was he going to do? He had never two-timed in his life, and he was not going to start now. It wasn't only for Aron's sake. He had his own dignity to think about.
"I'll think about it," he said, a bit too brightly, while trying to force out a smile.
Ugh, to think that he already knew how this guy looked naked. He had nothing against naked bodies, per se, but, right now, he felt like he was sitting across from a porn star or something. Simon did have a nice body.
"Is this all you have to say? Do you mean that none of this sparks any memory of us?" Simon pointed at the phone lying on the table.
"Nope, nada, zilch," Carter shrugged.
The problem was that he might not be able to forget what he had just seen. Now that was the kind of thing people used to say about that what was seen could not be unseen.
"I cannot believe it," Simon murmured and leaned back in his chair, shoulders slumped in defeat. "I ..."
The way the guy pressed his fist against his mouth was a bit too theatrical, and he was playing the hurt lover card too much, but Carter had to say that he kind of felt Simon's pain. Kind of. Alex was still a cheater, and Simon was no better.
"What the fuck are you doing with a married man?" he blurted out, as usual, without thinking much.
Simon's eyes narrowed.
"Really, Alex? You seduced me," the man accused. "Did you really expect me to resist you? Who could resist you? Tell me, please. Tell me that this is not a game."
"It's not a game," Carter shot back quickly.
The situation was getting more and more uncomfortable. Alex was a damn fucking douchebag. Carter had been right all along. He could, after all, get Alex divorced from Aron, while the body swap continued. But no, that was not an alternative to consider. Aron loved Alex, and maybe their damn marriage could be salvaged, somehow. He had no idea how, but whatever. He was not going to break Aron's home, even if his husband was a fucking cheater.
Hmm, maybe after they swapped back bodies, he and Alex, he could just send Aron an anonymous message to let him know of his husband's straying habits. Nah, too cheap, too sleazy.
No, he was just going to maintain the status quo until Alex was back into his body, and ready to sort out the mess his life was. Until then, Carter was just going to be neutral. Switzerland level of neutral.
"Why are you nodding?" Simon asked him.
Great, he had been caught up in his mental verbalization so much that he had no idea he was making faces.
"I'm going to be neutral," he claimed right away.
"Neutral?" Simon questioned, making a confused face.
"Like Switzerland," Carter said with determination.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Simon sighed.
"Look, man, I'm amnesic, all right? Until I remember everything, let's just be ... err, co-workers?"
"You couldn't even bring yourself to say that we should be friends," Simon huffed. "Don't worry. I know what this is all about."
"You do?" Carter could feel his eyebrows arching at a perfect angle. All that manscaping could not go to waste, obviously.
"It is about how you think that I don't deserve you. You seduced me, and I was too easy for you."
