Chapter 7

“You only wish to fondle me.” Nikoloz stepped back into the river to rinse off. “Here is the soap.”

“You’re not going to help me clean up? When you’re the one who got me dirty?”

Nikoloz merely ducked underwater to rinse his hair. With a sigh, Vincent lathered up and rinsed himself off.

“You just don’t understand how this works,” he muttered when Nikoloz came up for air. “You don’t just roll off your partner and pull your trousers on.”

“We have not put any clothes on at all.”

“It’s a figure of speech, damn your hide. You can’t just fuck like that and then walk away. I know you enjoyed yourself.”

Nikoloz pushed off the bank and swam to the middle of the river. He turned onto his back and floated there, watching the colorful birds flapping about in the trees. The fact that the act had been enjoyable had nothing to do with anything. “What do you expect me to do? You satisfied your urges. We are finished.”