Pestilence (8 page)

“I wanted to know if you or your ancestors had encountered such illness. If they did, how did they fight it?”

Pursing his lips, the man thought for several minutes. Pest fought the urge to demand or fidget until he got the answers.

“Yes. Ancestors told stories of such an evil infecting the villagers. I give you instructions on how to cure.”

Excitement raced through Pest until he heard what he had to do. Giving Bart a bath in water steeped with certain leaves twice a day might drive him over the edge. Even while sick and delirious, Bart somehow managed to turn Pest on more than any other person he’d ever come in contact with for centuries.
Fuck!
He didn’t need the temptation, but he would do what he had to and get Bart well.

“Thank you, wise one. I will do as you say, and hopefully my friend will get better.”

The shaman nodded and Pest left the hut. He made his way through the village in the direction of the trees where he’d find the leaves he needed. He already had some dried in his workroom, but gathering more would help. Plus he could take the time to wrap his mind around the idea of bathing Bart twice a day. The other man was skinny, yet his illness had burned all the non-essential bits of his body and just looking at him made Pest’s hands itch with the need to touch him.

There were so many reasons why it would be wrong to do so. Of course, the most important one being Bart was his patient and it broke all ethical codes to get involved with him. Another reason being Bart wasn’t lucid enough to know what was going on. None of it mattered right then. He needed to get Bart well before Bart discovered Pest’s almost overwhelming attraction to him.

* * * *

A muttered curse caught Bart’s attention and he glanced over to where Pest sat, hunched over a magazine. The tall man glared at the page he’d been reading like it had insulted his mother’s heritage. Pest muttered and slammed the magazine shut, gripping it hard enough for his knuckles to turn white.

“Don’t like what you read?”

Pest jerked, almost as if he’d forgotten Bart was in the room with him. Strange how often that happened. In the two months since Pest had arrived back home, the former doctor had managed to treat Bart like an inanimate object he shifted around when needed. The twice daily baths Bart endured made it very obvious Pest didn’t see Bart as anything other than a patient. No reaction to the erections Bart had sported since his fever had started easing up.

Those bottomless black eyes met his enquiring gaze and Pest shrugged rather awkwardly.

“Not really. Just wish I didn’t have to give up medicine at times.” Pest held up the periodical.

Bart read the title and saw it was a medical journal. “Missing out on some important discoveries?”

“That and all the modern advancements in medicine. So many things I wished I had access to back when I practiced. So many people I could have saved with them.” Pest touched the locket hanging around his neck.

Bart had seen the man do that many times over the weeks. He was sure it was a totally unconscious gesture by now. But like all the times before, he bit his tongue to keep from asking about it. It wasn’t any of his business, and if Pest wanted him to know his history, he’d have told him about it.

“Are you hungry?”

Pest stood and tossed the journal on the table before moving toward the stove. Bart’s stomach took the opportunity to growl and they both laughed.

“I’d say that was a yes.”

He watched as Pest gathered all the ingredients needed for whatever marvelous creation he would concoct. Bart never understood how the man could do that with the limited amount of things he had to work with.

“How long have you been living out here?”

Pest paused, and tilted his head as he thought. “God, it’s been a long time. Several years actually.”

How was that possible? Pest didn’t look much older than Bart’s own thirty-three years. There were no lines on his face to give a clue to how old he was. If Bart hadn’t looked into Pest’s eyes, he would have guessed the man was only in his twenties at the oldest. Yet those dark eyes spoke of having seen things Bart wouldn’t have dreamed of in his nightmares.

“Why the Amazon? There has to be better places to hide out. Places where there aren’t unknown diseases just waiting to kill you, along with poisonous snakes and spiders. Or frogs. Or cannibals and head hunters. Or drug runners.” Bart ticked off all the reasons why he hadn’t wanted to come to the jungle.

Pest chuckled. “True. There are all those things here, but I was looking for a place where people wouldn’t bother me. I wanted solitude and isolation. I’m not worried about any of those things, especially not disease. I’ve negotiated a truce with the local cannibals and headhunters. Snakes and spiders stay away from me. I’ve figured out which frogs are dangerous as well.”

“Really?” Bart shuddered. “If Jasper hadn’t lied to me, I wouldn’t have come here in a million years. Roughing it isn’t my idea of a good time. Hell, a hotel without room service is as rough as I want to get.”

“Jasper?” Pest brought over a plate of steaming food.

Bart picked up the fork and poked at the food. “What’s in this?”

“A little frog and snake casserole.” Pest burst out laughing, bending over and holding his stomach at Bart’s disgusted grimace. “I was kidding, man. It’s fish and edible plants I gathered from the jungle around here.”

“Bloody bastard.” Bart flipped Pest off before taking the first bite.

“Of course, spiders, frogs, and snakes are completely edible if you know how to cook them,” Pest joked.

At least Bart hoped he was joking. He managed to swallow the food without gagging or spitting it out. He admitted silently it didn’t taste too bad. Pest seemed to know how to cook simple food with very primitive items.

They finished their meal without any more conversation, but Bart had a feeling Pest wasn’t done asking about Jasper. Did he really want to tell Pest about being used by the bastard?

Pest gathered their plates and went outside. Bart followed him more slowly. He rarely ran a fever anymore, but if he overexerted himself it would flare up and he’d be in bed for days, trying to fight it off. It annoyed him, having to take it easy, yet he knew Pest’s orders were the best for him. He still drank a tea Pest brewed twice a day as well. It seemed to help with the fevers and while it didn’t really taste great, he’d become used to it. Bart would do anything he had to do to return to his life soon. Bart might not have had many friends who would miss him, but the university would eventually, unless Jasper told them some kind of lie about him dying in the jungle. He wouldn’t put it past the man.

He carefully sat next to Pest and watched the man wash their plates and silverware.

“Who is Jasper?”

“He was my lover and fellow scientist. Now he’s the fucking asshole who dumped me in this jungle and left me here.” Bart picked up a few small stones and tossed them into the water, staring at the ripples on the surface.

“Totally rotten thing to do to you. Did he know you were sick?” Pest stacked the items up and stuck his feet in the water.

Bart noticed Pest went around barefoot as much as possible. He’d commented on the chance of getting some kind of parasite infestation or something, but Pest just laughed. The strange man didn’t seem worried about any of the deadly things lurking in the Amazon.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but my instinct says yes, and that’s why he abandoned me. He didn’t want to be slowed down after my discovery. He’s probably taken all the accolades for himself and forgotten about me.” Bart tossed another handful of pebbles into the pool.

“Why were you out here in the first place? I have to admit, I was surprised to see you. Usually my connections in Rio give me a heads-up on any expeditions coming out and they hadn’t said a word about you.” Pest rested back on his elbows. “Where are you from?”

“Knowing Jasper, we probably didn’t even have permission to be doing research in the Basin. I’m a professor at Harvard University, or I was, because I’m sure Jasper probably told them I died out here and he had to leave the body behind or some such bullshit.”

Pest frowned. “You know, he doesn’t sound like the greatest person.”

“I can’t believe I fell for his spiel. I should have known he didn’t love me, that he was just using me for my research.”

“What’s your research?”

Bart studied Pest, trying to decide if he would understand Bart’s work. He winced at the arrogance in those thoughts. Just because Pest chose to live out in the middle of nowhere and abandon his practice didn’t mean the man was stupid. He might be crazy, but it wouldn’t stop him from grasping what Bart did.

“I won’t go into the long elaborate description of what I do. I’m researching the effects of certain pesticides on certain plants. Whether the pesticides change the plant’s genetic make-up and cause them to evolve differently or whether they slowly kill the plants. Farmers use pesticides to take care of the insects and parasites eating their crops, but they don’t necessarily take into consideration the overall and long term effects of those chemicals on their crops.”

Pest seemed puzzled. “Seems like an odd research project to do out here in the Amazon. We don’t have many crops.” Pest chuckled. “Unless you count the coca plants and the marijuana being grown around here. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are poppy plants as well, though they aren’t a native species to South America.”

“True, and that’s what I told Jasper when he asked me to come with him on this expedition. Unfortunately, he knew how to talk me into going and the next thing I knew, we were on a plane flying into Brazil. Everything was very secretive. Should have been my first clue this whole thing was screwed.” Bart grunted and leaned back like Pest, his eyes closed and face turned toward the sky. “We wandered around the jungle, looking for something. He never really did tell me what he was searching for.”

“Did you find anything except the virus you caught?”

“I found a white flowering plant I’d never seen before. It gave off the most intriguing scent. Not quite floral. Not quite sweet.” Bart shrugged. “It doesn’t mean it was an unknown species. I’m not a botanist, so I don’t know every plant species out there. Jasper is a botanist, and he was pretty excited when I pointed it out to him. Maybe that’s why he left me behind.”

Pest tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “I think I know what plant you’re talking about. To be honest, you’re right. It hadn’t been discovered, but there are hundreds of species that haven’t been cataloged yet. I could show you several if you want. Tell you what—when you’re ready to leave, we’ll go out, take some pictures, and some samples of one of those plants. You can have a plant named after you and everything. Get as much acclaim as your bastard ex-lover, Jasper.”

Bart settled back on the ground, letting his feet dangle in the water while he absorbed the dampness of the dirt. “See that’s the thing—I didn’t come out here for the notoriety of discovering some unknown species. I came out here to help Jasper. If he’d been honest with me from the start, I probably would have come anyway, but he wasn’t. Now I’m sick, and will probably suffer from this for the rest of my life, and he’s fine somewhere back home, living without a care in the world.”

He stared up into the blue sky, peeking through the leaves of the trees above him. Pest lay next to him, their shoulders touching, and Bart tried not to think of how extremely hot the man was. Far better looking than Jasper ever could hope to be.

Pest’s deeply tanned skin showed off his shoulder-length white hair. Bart had never seen anyone with hair that color. Not even old people. Yet it was natural, since Bart had glimpsed the same color curls at Pest’s groin one time when he’d been washing up, and hadn’t realized Bart was watching. A bright smile took attention from the sadness peering out through Pest’s dark eyes. He stood a few inches taller than Bart’s five-ten, and outweighed him as well. But where Bart was slender, Pest was built like a linebacker, all chest and shoulders.

Bart had never thought he’d be attracted to muscular men, yet something about Pest spoke to him on a visceral level. Now that he was getting more strength and energy back, he found himself thinking about Pest more and more, and becoming more curious every time they sat and talked.

“So you don’t have a girlfriend or wife back in the world?”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Pest glance at him. Bart kept his gaze on the scene above him. No point on staring Pest down. The man would answer him if he wanted.

“Not anymore,” came the soft comment.

Something in Pest’s tone told Bart whoever Pest loved was dead. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

“How long ago?”

Could her death be the reason why Pest had stopped practicing medicine and hid out down in the Basin?

“Many years ago. I’ve forgotten what she looked like.” Pest flung an arm over his face.

Bart rolled onto his side and rested his hand on Pest’s chest. He waited until Pest looked at him. Sadness welled in Pest’s eyes and Bart almost felt bad for asking.

“But you couldn’t have been that old when you got married.”

“I’m older than you think I am, Bart.”

Pest hesitated and Bart wondered what he was thinking while they stared at each other. He didn’t back away when Pest reached out, slid his gloved hand around the back of Bart’s head, and urged him to bend down.

It was almost like time slowed as Bart did as Pest encouraged. He thought about not kissing the man, yet nothing inside him yelled
Stop
. Maybe he should be concerned because he really didn’t know anything about Pest. His last lover had dumped him and all that shit, but he didn’t care about that.

If Pest wanted to hurt him, he could have done it at any point during the past two months while Bart had been ill. The man had been nothing but professional and caring as he had healed Bart. The caring had helped convince Bart that Pest didn’t mean him any harm. Jasper had been careless with Bart’s feelings from the beginning and that should have been a sign of the man’s true nature.