Page 18 of Wanted

“I think in American terms I weigh 165,” I told him.

“Doesn’t make no difference.”

“Good. Let’s do nothing then,” I announced, shutting my eyes. I could hear his heart, and if I allowed myself to drift, I’d recognize his heartbeat was accelerated. His chest moved with every careful breath that he took.

This was simple.

Why hadn’t I ever done this before?

Right.Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.

“Why did you start playing basketball?” I asked after a long silence.

“Sports distracted me when my parents divorced, and my father disappeared from our lives,” he explained, devoid of amusement. “It wasn’t a conscious choice. I looked at my options, and I realized I wasn’t musical. At all. I could’ve played chess; I was good at it, but I couldn’t stand sitting around all the time. I tried my luck at any contact sport I could get my hands on. I went through a lot of phases as a kid. I did some wrestling, but I liked boxing more. When I started growing, I couldn’t do martial arts anymore. I started focusing on basketball, and I found friends there.”

“Was this how you met Fylox?” I tried to envision Fylox in a school, at least the school’s image that I had in my head. I’d never gone to a real school. Everything I knew about schools, my brothers had taught me. They’d told me stories. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine Fylox in such a setting. He was out of place.

“No.”

“How did you meet Fylox?”

“Our parents were friends,” he stated. His voice was gruff now, and I didn’t know what I’d done. Had I offended him again? I didn’t mean to.

“So you grew up together?”

“To some extent.”

I sensed my questions about Fylox annoyed him. I dug into my long line of memories, and I picked something out for him to know. “I never had any friends… Real friends, that is. There was a boy once. Colton was his name. I met him through our parents, too. He played basketball like you, but he left Katantia when I was younger. I never saw him again. Colton Richmond is his name. He wanted to move here to play what you play.”

“I know the name,” Alex revealed, and I felt goosebumps. “He never got into the NBA, I’m afraid. He played in Spain, and he retired a couple of years ago.”

“Do you know every player out there?” I was touching him, but I noticed Alex didn’t return the favor. His hands were far away from me, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

“I wish I did,” he confessed. “It would make my life easier. I only know him because when my team played a summer game in Europe a couple of years ago, Dad mentioned that he grew up on Katantia.”

“Can I ask you another question?”

“Go ahead,” he encouraged me.

“How did you lose your virginity?” I should tread carefully around sex talk with people outside of Katantia. They might sue me for sexual harassment over here for a simple question.

“In college. I felt pressured to do it because all of my peers did it,” he confessed. “I didn’t feel like a man afterward. It was quite the pathetic affair, if I may say so. I was too focused on my game to care about girls back then.”

“You only had sex in college? Alex! What the hell? That’s… Late, isn’t it?” I asked. Why would a guy wait that long? There wasn’t any boy over the age of sixteen without a sexual experience on Katantia.

“I actually wouldn’t have minded waiting for the one.”

“The one?”

“Yeah, the love of my life.”

I leaned over his body to grab the bowl full of Cheetos, grabbing one to stuff my mouth with. While choking on my food, I registered the creak of the outside door. Fylox was back.

“The love of your life?” Fylox appeared at the doorframe, sweaty and sulky. “Are you buttering her up? I’m sure if you asked, she’d spread her legs for you.”

“Actually,” I intervened, clearing my throat. Bloody Cheetos! I rose from my position on Alex’s chest, feeling dizzy. “I would definitely do it. I like sex. Is that so bad? Would you feel better if I was an inexperienced cute girl that’s never seen a dick before?”

“I’d feel better if you choked on the Cheetos and died,” Fylox commented nonchalantly, and I gasped.