Making Home by Dev Bentham

Author:Dev Bentham [Bentham, Dev]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, LGBTTQ, Multicultural
Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Published: 2017-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

It was the middle of the night, and Chris wanted to talk. Manu supposed it didn’t matter. He’d given up on sleeping when he took the janitorial job. Still, he couldn’t help that his eyes kept drifting closed.

At this moment his body was too tired to respond to Chris. The man got him going. There was a pure animal attraction between them so strong, it made Manu feel out of control. Even now, as he lay spent in Chris’s bed with Chris’s head on his shoulder, he could feel the stirrings of desire. Lust-crazy, like a teenager. That’s all it was. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Chris wasn’t the kind of guy Manu could fall for. Too privileged, too clueless, too white. If Manu didn’t keep reminding himself of that, there was a danger that he would fall if they kept this up. And then he’d be in trouble.

Because no one was more rooted by a job than an academic. And there was no way Manu would stay in Bay Valley any longer than necessary. Maybe it wasn’t as racist and homophobic a town as when he’d last lived here. Or maybe it was. But even without that—and that was a lot—what would he do for work? He couldn’t live in a place where he was more employable as a janitor than as a videographer. Not after how hard he’d worked to become what he was.

“You’re a better man than I am.” Chris’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“That’s a crazy thing to say.”

“But you are.” Manu enjoyed the feel of Chris’s face against his chest as he talked. “If my mom got sick, I’d go visit. But I can’t take more than a few days there and really can’t imagine quitting my job to move there to help take care of her. Especially if it meant going back to the shoe store where I worked summers all through school.”

Manu caressed Chris’s shoulder. “You have siblings?”

“Two sisters and a brother. My brother and I talk on the phone, but he’s in the military and often out of the country. My sisters and I aren’t close. We’re not that kind of family.”

“But at least they’d be there to share the work.” Manu kept his voice low to take the rebuke out of his words. “I’m it. And there’s no real money, so I can’t hire someone else to take care of her. Besides, I owe her. She sacrificed a lot for me.”

“What do you mean?” Chris twisted his head so he was looking into Manu’s eyes. “You mean by leaving Chile?”

“Yes, that.” Manu looked away from Chris and stared at the ceiling. “The politicians would say it was immoral that she crossed the border two weeks before I was born. But she just wanted me to be safe. At the time in Chile, Pinochet was in power, presiding over a brutal military junta. Two of my uncles had disappeared. The economy was in free fall, and social services had been cut so deeply that diseases like typhoid were epidemic.

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