And Then There Were More (Gay Poly)✔

Chapter 11 - The Spa

Warning! Spicy Scene. 

Guilt was weighing heavily on his conscience as he began blaming himself. If he had never been married to Chris in the first place, then he would never have cheated and this whole thing would never have happened. If only they had never met...

Ricky took a few more desperate gulps of air as Damon approached. Embarrassed to be caught crying, he turned his head to hide his face.

"Are you really okay with that?" Ricky argued, blinking away tears.

Damon shook his head. "I didn't know it was a possibility until I looked into it. It's only a slim chance. We could always just keep the bond intact, but then he'd maintain a slight form of control over us through it, and I don't feel comfortable letting him keep that. I've heard the odds of him dying can be reduced so long as Chris has the resolve to go through with it though."

"You know he wont. Even without knowing about this, he won't cooperate. Like hell if he'll develop any sort of 'resolve' to do shit!" Ricky grabbed his head and sat promptly on the ground with a dull thud.

"Ricky..." Damon came in close. "He'll come around. We just need to keep trying to talk to him. It'll just take some time."

Ricky just curled further into himself, quivering in frustration. This shouldn't be Ricky's problem, but it was as though somewhere deep down, he still felt responsible for Chris's life. 

"Please stop." Damon knelt down, putting his hands on Ricky's shoulders. "Ricky, you're going to hurt yourself."

Ricky's nails were still digging into his scalp dangerously. He took a quick breath and flexed his fingers, then slid his hands to his face in a small attempt to block out the world. As he did this, he felt a pair of enormous arms embrace him from behind.

Ricky continued to face forward as a fresh wave of tears threatened to spill. Rapid, uneven breaths alerted Damon to his borderline breakdown and he began to rock steadily. "Shhhh....It'll be alright..." Damon cooed.

A few moments passed before he was calm enough to speak again. "What now?" Ricky croaked.

Damon hugged him closer to his chest as he thought out loud. "Well...I think maybe it'd be best if you took a break from all this. As much as we all enjoy talking with you, I can see that all this is really wearing you down. You've put on such a tough front that I didn't realize it. So...How about we work on Chris for a week while you take some personal time? This is something we should have been handling ourselves instead of relying on you anyways."

Ricky took a shaky breath and finally glanced at him. "Then what?"

Damon squeezed him slightly. "Maybe go a Spa? I'm sure by then everyone will need to relax. How about it?"

The Spa sounded like a perfect getaway. It was yet another thing Ricky never indulged in due to his obsession with work. As miserable as he was feeling now, by next week he'd probably be even more worn down. 

It was perfect. 

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ricky agreed and Damon hugged him just a little tighter before they went back to the car. They didn't say much on the way back. Ricky was exhausted, emotionally and physically. 

By Monday, he felt like total shit, having stayed up all night wondering if he would be accountable if Chris died. The Mendovas would want someone to blame, so they wouldn't hesitate to take it out on Ricky. But if he did agree to date Damon and the others, they might hesitate to do so. 

Feeling crummy about using those guys for a shield, he did what he always did when he had a lot on his mind. He buried himself in work. The first week of his promotion wasn't as productive as he'd have liked since he spent so much time stressing over the Reyes family, so he made up for it by taking on extra projects and working overnight from his laptop. He'd get texts from Hector, Thomas and Damon throughout the days, checking on him and seeing if he was alright. They never mentioned Chris, or the divorce. It was always just, 'How are you doing?', 'Hope your day is great!' and 'Take care of yourself!'.