Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:09:35 +0000 From: Karl M. Subject: Fire Dancer Chapter 11 - Fickle Fate I will note that this is a complete work of fantasy. This story is set in a completely fictional world. It is just a flight of my fancy. Please feel free to email me at moonlitrain@protonmail.com with feedback, comments and suggestions! Chapter 11: Fickle Fate Why is it that at the most important moments, life intervenes in ways that are completely unpredictable? At the height of our passion, right when we were preparing to give our desire full expression, everything changed. It started with a phone call. Kenton's phone rang and would not stop, so with a sigh he picked it up. I watched his expression go from serious to alarmed rapidly. He didn't speak much, but his face grew more pale by the moment. I watched his expression with growing concern. By the time he ended the call, he looked positively ill. I laid a hand on his smooth, bare back. "What is it, Kenton? What's happened?" He took a shaky breath and held my gaze, the worry in his eyes made my stomach tighten before he spoke. "It was my father. I have to get over to the house right away or he'll send someone to come get me. I better go, he is in the kind of mood that is liable to make him do something drastic." A frown touched my face, crinkling it into taut lines. "Did he say what it was about?" Kenton shook his head. "He told me that what he had to say was to be done face to face. I'll call you after I know what's going on. I'm so sorry about the timing Stephen." I gave him a deep, lingering kiss and held him close to me before he left. I sighed, feeling disappointment at our unfulfilled passion and deep worry about the sudden change in Kenton's mood. If his father was involved, it was bound to be problematic. The man had never been comfortable with his son's dancing or his sexuality and his concern with his image was overarching. The evening passed in nervously trying to distract myself while I waited for Kenton's phone call. I ran over a thousand scenarios in my head, none of them good. There was a nagging feeling that whatever was happening, our relationship was a big part of it. I had always felt that we were on borrowed time and this only seemed to confirm those fears. The phone eventually rang and I leapt at it. "What's going on Kenton?" His voice was shaky and I could tell he'd been crying. "We have to stop, Stephen. I don't know what the fuck has gotten into that asshole over you, but he's given you one chance to leave me alone. He says that he'll put a restraining order on you if you see me again." Sick feeling surged into my stomach, my knees felt weak and I sank down onto the couch. "What? What exactly did he say to you?" Kenton took another quavering breath in and let it out. "He said that it was bad enough that I danced but I wasn't going to drag the family name through the mud with this relationship. He said that you and I were in danger of embarrassing ourselves and he wouldn't allow you to wreck my life." I felt a hot surge of anger rise, even over the pain that I felt over what Kenton was saying to me. "He has no goddamn right to say any of that. We are both consenting adults at this point. He can't stop me from seeing you if I want to see you!" The ache in Kenton's voice made my heart seize in my chest. "Remember who he is. He isn't just some random person, he's got a lot of power and friends in high places. If he wants to stop us, believe me, he can stop us." As we were talking, something occurred to me and I cut into what Kenton was saying. "Wait, wait. How does he know when you've seen me?" There was a momentary pause. "He's probably having us watched. It wouldn't be the first time he's hired a private detective. I am pretty sure he had my mom watched when he thought she might be having an affair." Now I was just about spluttering. "That's a complete violation of the right to privacy. He has absolutely no reason to have any of this done." There was an awful finality in what Kenton said when he spoke again. "It doesn't matter. If we try to fight back, he'll just stop us. Even if we had the money to take him to court, he's still got the best law firm in town on call. I am so sorry that this happened, but we really can't do much to fix it." Now the anger dissolved into the heat of tears running down my face. Kenton's despair had pierced into me and broken down the hope that I was trying to keep alive in myself. I tried to hold back the sob that tore from me, but it tore free. I felt myself falling down into a pit that opened under me. Kenton's voice drifted to me, stabbing into me with its tenderness. "Shh...shh don't cry now Stephen. This won't be permanent. He can't stop us being together forever. We might have to wait a while but we will be together." The thought of separation for even a day was hard for me. The idea of years of it was difficult to even contemplate. I was terrified about what all that distance might mean to us. I didn't want to think about how we'd end up afterwards. However I forced myself to raise my chin, put a smile on my face and inject confidence into my voice. "I know you're right but it hurts so much. I feel like I'm being torn apart by all of this." I could hear Kenton trying to do the same as he spoke. "It is killing me too but we have to keep up hope. We can't let him beat us, even if it takes years. What we have is way more important than him. Our connection is going to go on. I won't accept anything else!" We made the call last as long as we could, but eventually it had to come to an end. We promised to keep texting and calling but I was beginning to feel the edge of despair trying to slice in deeper. You'll all need to wait for the next chapter to see where this all goes. Stay tuned!