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"Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?" - Jimmy Buffett

His eyes opened wide in what I imagined to be surprise. Whatever it was, his face was always worth a second look.

"Evan, if you're bored, of course you can get a job, but I always meant to share with you my method of making a living." He smiled a bit-mischievously, I thought-an uncommon expression for him. I was intrigued even more than usual.

I had been finding plenty of ways to fill my time, and I certainly wasn't bored, but…. "Your way…?" I inquired. I suppose I had assumed that he was somehow funded by Lecurela, though to be honest I hadn't really given it much thought. If he was going to suggest I take money from my (cough, choke) "home" planet, I was going to refuse… quick! I hoped it wouldn't be that.

"Yes, and I think it would be easier to show you than to tell you about it. Shall we go now, or wait until tomorrow, perhaps…?"

Show me? This was really getting interesting. I had not a clue what he could be talking about. My bump of curiosity has gotten the best of me on a number of occasions, and this one was no different. "Now would be great!" I said quickly.

He smiled.

We rode back to his office in the car, all nice and normal. He explained that he wanted to drop Kareinon off there and not just leave him at the beach. Though I was impatient for an end to the mystery, I was also used to traveling the "normal" way and didn't think much about the possible alternatives. But as soon as we arrived and Star and I had changed back to street rather than beach wear, jeans in my case, he took my hand, and I knew we wouldn't be leaving by car.

We jumped.

The radical change from indoors to out and warm to cool was unexpected. Finding myself suddenly standing in a copse of trees and brush at the base of a rocky hillside took a little getting used to. Star let me look around for a moment, then asked, "Do you know where we are?"

I didn't, but I used my newly remembered spatial sense, like looking at an interior map, and found that we had arrived in an out-of-the-way area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Star confirmed my guess. Intrigued, I continued to sight-see. We were lots higher in elevation than LA, but there wasn't much to look at unless you counted blue jays and squirrels… and trees, of course.

He'd let go my hand while I looked around, now he took it again, directing my gaze at the mountainside. It was always easier to communicate something new if we were in physical contact. I didn't mind.

"I want you to follow my attention," he said.

It sounded odd, but I opened my mind to his and felt him look inside the rise of rocks, penetrating deeper and deeper. In my inner vision I saw layers of strata and pockets of harder and softer stone as we went on. Way inside, several hundred feet, maybe, Star found what he had been looking for. I wasn't sure at first, but, it had to be… gold! A few small threads, leading to a nugget or two, and then a little pocket filled with rocks that were permeated with the precious stuff.

It was fascinating, but before I had a chance to ask him what he planned to do about it, he reached out, mentally, and began to heat the metal, moving its atoms faster and faster, being very careful to leave the surrounding rocks alone. I knew then that he intended to remove the gold, but the quantity was so small that its absence wouldn't make much difference in the composition of the mountain.

Suddenly the tiny bits came together, and all at once, what had been buried for unknown centuries was resting, perfectly cool now, in the upturned palm of my hand.

I goggled at a chunk of gold bullion about the size and shape of a cupcake. It must have weighed ten pounds.

Bemused, I squeezed the substantial nugget. Smiling, I looked into Star's eyes.

"Human technology could never have reached such a small deposit, so deeply embedded, so we take nothing from them," he explained. Mr. Ethical.

I tossed the soft lump and caught it. "Neat trick. How did you think of it?"

He shrugged-gracefully, the way he did everything. "I saw a television program about gold mining, years ago. It set me to thinking. The rest was easy." He smiled, then frowned a little.

"Well, I should say that obtaining the metal is easy, but selling it is complicated." He looked troubled. "I have to lie about where I get it. It's illegal for a citizen to own gold in this country, so I must often sell it in Mexico or Europe."

I shook my head. Amazing. Off hand, I could think of a few pawn brokers in New York City who wouldn't mind laying hands on a little raw gold, no matter what the story behind it. But maybe that kind of deal would be too much for Star's scruples.

I caressed the stuff, feeling its depth and malleability. Pure gold… 24 karat. Wow. So this was how Star paid for those silk shirts.

"Just gold?" I inquired thoughtfully.

He pointed. "That boulder over there has a tiny bit of silver inside it. Can you feel it?"

Thinking that Star would make a dandy college professor… or maybe a kindergarten teacher, in my case… I found that I could feel the argent sliver. With care, I reached inside the rock and touched the metal with my attention, feeling, as I had "seen" Star do, for its exact size and shape, then popping it out into daylight. As I did, the boulder broke in half and a good-sized chunk split off the rock's core with a crack like thunder, flew about twenty feet, and buried its sharp point deep in the bark of a nearby pine. I jumped, and the bit of silver fell to the ground at Star's feet.

"I was about to say," he said quietly, "that it might take a little practice." His smile made me feel less clumsy. I walked over and pulled the sharp rock loose from the tree, patting its trunk in apology.

Star's smile also reminded me of the way my mind had been running lately. I was trying just to think of him as my friend, and sometimes I succeeded, I think. But I still wanted more.

Maybe my motive for wanting to seduce Star had something to do with disliking his wife so much, but revenge probably had little to do with it. He was just so damn beautiful. I knew Star was straight, but what straight man hadn't done something with another guy, at least once? Thinking that way, I could justify coming on to him. If he gave me a tumble, I would make certain he enjoyed it, and I knew I would! Then he could go back to the little woman with no one the wiser… except I would have the experience I wanted, needed, craved… the way addicts crave heroin.

Would once be enough? I didn't even let myself think about that. Here we were, alone, no people around for miles….

"Star," I began, darting a glance at him and then looking up into the trees. "Have you noticed that we're all alone?"

He cocked his head at me, then nodded. "So we are."

"I like being alone with you, without…" I almost said "your wife," but caught myself, "…anyone," I finished.

"Evan," he said, his sweet smile back on those rosebud lips. "You and I are together even when we are apart, or surrounded by others."

It was an odd thing to say, and it took my breath away. I often wondered if he was as conscious of me as I was of him. I wouldn't have blamed him for ignoring me, even though he was too nice to ignore anyone, and I sometimes worried that he was just hanging out with me because he was nice… that he didn't like me at all. I could have understood that. Sometimes I didn't like myself, either. I smiled at him, shyly now. He made me feel like a kid again, like everything was new and fresh and any magical thing was possible. If only….

I tossed the rock, still in my hand, emotion fueling my throw until the stone ricocheted off a cliff face, a half mile away. I couldn't keep thinking like that; it was driving me crazy. He was straight, and married on top of it. But, on the other hand, I wanted him, and I couldn't let that or anything else stop me… not with Star.

I let the smile become a sultry grin. "You're right, but it is nice to be by ourselves, just the two of us." I fluttered my lashes. Hey, it had worked before.

But he turned away, attention on the hillside again. What was he looking for now… diamonds? I walked up and touched his shoulder, lingered to knead the thick warm muscle under my hand, reveling in touching him anywhere at all.

"Star…." He turned to face me and my arm slid around him. I closed my eyes and moved my face closer, feeling the sizzle of his energy like electricity on my skin….

Then I was six feet away from him, leaning against a tree.

"I'm sorry, Evan. But I can't do what you want. It wouldn't be right… for either of us."

I swallowed hard, trying my best not to feel like a fool. It wasn't working.

"You don't know what's right for me!" I protested.

He looked at me, just looked, but after a second I dropped my eyes. "Perhaps not," he said finally, "but I know what's best for me."

Yeah, and it isn't me, I thought bitterly.

* * *

I was still regretting my stupid move later that night, brooding alone in my room. Buddy had requested my company, but I wasn't in the mood.

Thanks to Buddy, I wasn't completely sex-starved, but the relationship certainly wasn't all I wanted. Dan and I had had something… well, something more than I had with Buddy, and I missed that friendly intimacy.

Friendship, sure, that was all I needed. Sex with Star would just be sex, and I'd had plenty of that, over the years. Sex was all good, and would be good with Star too, but nothing special… and who was I trying to kid? Sex with Star would be amazing, I knew it. I craved sex with him worse than I'd ever craved anything, but I also wanted him to feel the same about me. The last thing I wanted from Star was a mercy fuck… well, maybe not the last thing. Hell, I'd take anything he'd give me.

I decided I'd have to spend more time fucking someone else, to take my mind off it. Buddy, if that's all that was available. That way, maybe I wouldn't feel so needy around Star….

Yeah, like that was going to work. Shit.