45 Burning

Marzena Skierska was very kind to Anita Janiszek. Her cordiality surprised Rafał's friend. She approached the actress with some distance, expecting that she would want to get some information from her about Brylski. But that did not happen. After a few minutes Anita eased her suspicions and decided that Marzena really only needed someone's company.

The hotel where they stayed was not top class, but it was the only one of such high class in this small town. That was why not all of the set's employees stayed here overnight, but only some of them. Marzena's assistant also had a room here, but perhaps she was currently somewhere in the city, or Skierska simply wanted to talk to a new person.

Anita, however, was unable to be a good conversational companion today. She continually glanced nervously at the window through which she could see the entrance to the hotel. Although the torrential downpour that had broken up limited her visibility, Janiszek couldn't focus on anything but the area outside the hotel door.

Finally, the downpour stopped. Anita could no longer look away from the window even for a second.

She knew she was being silly. Rafał wasn't made of sugar, so the rain wouldn't drench him. Nor was he a small child foolish enough to walk through a downpour and risk catching a cold. Rafal Brylski was a grown, intelligent man who knew how to get by in life and didn't need the constant protection of a younger sister who wasn't even his sister.

Yes, Anita knew all that. But it didn't change the fact that her heart constantly told her that it was her duty in life to protect Rafał, in whom she still saw that little naked boy, frozen, standing in the snow.

If Anita had never seen little Rafał back then, at once resembling a pretty angel and an icicle of ice, she probably wouldn't have developed such a strong protective instinct. But Anita saw him. Little Anita saved his life that day and felt responsible for him to this day. Rafał had grown into a beautiful, strong man, but in her eyes he would probably always remain that cold, small, clumsy boy.

Just now Janiszek saw this little boy, although now a fully grown man, run up the stairs leading to the hotel.

Anita immediately jumped up from her seat and ran out of the restaurant without explaining anything.

Rafał was just walking towards the stairs with a quick step.

Anita immediately gave him a penetrating look.

The young actor was not wet. Only a few wet spots from single drops of rain were visible on his shirt. He seemed to have waited out the downpour somewhere. Janiszek could not breathe a sigh of relief, however, for one look into his face told her how agitated her friend was.

Agitated? Why? What had happened that Rafał's cheeks were burning and he himself looked as if he were consumed by some restless fever? Was it a cold or something more serious?

“Rafał...” Anita approached him, but he didn't even slow down his step.

“Not now, Anita” he answered half with a request, half with irritation.

“Is something wrong?”

Brylski really did not feel like talking to her. He quickened his step and climbed the stairs three steps at a time.

Janiszek did not have such long legs. Two steps was her limit.

“Rafał!” she called out quietly after him, but she knew that was not the solution. She shouldn't make a scene. After all, here in the hotel is a public space. People are watching...

Anita, however, was growing anxious. Rafał was a very calm, gentle man who almost never showed any nervousness. The last time he had acted this way was when his friend had so maliciously ridiculed Brylski's asexuality.

Had something similar happened this time?

Anita lit up with rage.

Had that idiot Rafał trusted someone unintentionally again and was now suffering because of that person?

Was it... Radosz?

If so, Anita would not forgive him!

***

Rafał wanted to be alone in that moment. He wanted to snuggle into his pillow and take a cold shower. He wanted to run a marathon and sleep until he died. He wanted to laugh and cry. Actually, at that moment Rafał had no idea what he wanted. There was too much confusion in his head and heart.

Rafał was on fire and he felt chills. What burned the most, however, was his mouth.

His mouth... his tongue...

Brylski didn't want to talk to Anita right now. He wanted to be alone with his raging thoughts and emotions. Anita, however, forced herself into his room. Rafał, however, did not want to look at her. He could not look at her.

”Rafal, tell me, what happened?” Anita insisted.

“Nothing. The toilet” he explained and quickly disappeared into the bathroom. Maybe here his friend would respect his privacy.

The bathroom was small and had a lock on the door. Rafał closed the door behind him. Anita pressed the handle.

“Rafał!” She cried out unable to get inside.

“Give me some space, okay?” he shouted. “For God's sake, I'm in the bathroom!”

It was hard to tell if Anita had actually given up. It looked like she hadn't made a move. Brylski at least did not hear her footsteps. The silence that fell on the other side of the door was disturbing to him. Even more disturbing was the fact that this silence was prolonged.

Had Anita taken offense and left?

Rafał was about to check it out when he heard his friend's voice outside the door. Surprised, he jumped up.

“You told him, didn't you?” asked Janiszek in a gloomy voice. “You told him about yourself and he hurt you.”

Rafał didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to tell her the truth. At least not the whole truth. For God's sake, he wasn't five years old and she wasn't his mommy so he'd have to confide in her about everything he'd done. But Brylski couldn't treat Anita harshly, not after what a wonderful support she had been to him for so many years. After all, he could see that her concern was sincere.

“Damian didn't hurt me," Rafał explained quietly. “He really didn't do anything bad to me. He didn't say anything bad to me. Stop making up stories.

“Rafał...”

“Anita, you are my friend, but please give me some privacy. Let me start taking care of my own private affairs. Am I really asking too much?”

The frustration he had just felt rang through in Rafał's voice. He had been uncomfortable with his friend's overprotectiveness for some time, and now that he needed to deal with his emotions on his own, it was unwelcome.

“It's okay," he heard Anita reply. For some reason Brylski was not relieved. “It's okay," she repeated, "I'll leave you alone if that's what you want.”

This time Rafał heard her footsteps. He heard her coming to the door, opening and closing it. He could no longer hear the footsteps in the corridor.

Brylski breathed a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground. Suddenly he began to breathe heavily. His cheeks were burning so much that when he put his hands to them, he almost burned. His heart was pounding. His eyes welled up with tears. And between his legs...

Rafał's whole body, his whole mind and even his heart was one big chaos and home to the unknown. Rafał was already twenty-five years old and had encountered many opportunities in his life to be intimate with someone, but he had never felt the desire. On the contrary, at the thought of having to physically unite with another person he began to feel uncomfortable. Meanwhile, now...

Now his body remembered the touch of Damian's lips. It remembered the touch of his hands on Brylski's back and then lower, on his buttocks. It remembered and felt no revulsion. It did not want to escape. It wanted more of this touch.

Rafał was aroused, for the first time in his life he was aroused by an actual person, not by a purely physical sexual act or fantasy. Unfortunately the person who had turned him on was... a man.