No way.
Everyone is connected in this world. You can’t get away from it.
“Kas is different to us, guys. He comes from a simpler time. A time where eating dinner means you have to plan months in advance. You have to plant seeds, cultivate, harvest, and ration. If you want meat or fish, you have to learn how to hunt, gut, and skin. If you want shelter, you have to know how to provide a power source for heat, fix repairs, and bunker down when a blizzard sets in for weeks.”
Holy. Shit. So he’s never been in society?
Where is he from? A religious cult?
Tell us moreeeeeee!
I glanced at Kas. He sat stiff and unreadable beside me. I couldn’t tell if all of this was too much for him or he found it strangely intriguing. I tried to see it from his point of view. To be snatched from the silence and savagery of the wilderness only to be slapped around the face with an online world that could be as dangerous and as hurtful as all the other monsters of his past.
I should stop. This is pushing him too far, too fast.
“Unfortunately, guys, this was just a really quick video to say I promise to have some climbing content for you in a week or two, but...in the meantime, let me know what you’d like videos on. Kas is here to stay. He has a lifetime of hardship that’s made him uniquely qualified to share tips on how to survive if you ever find yourself stuck out in the elements. For all you hard-core climbers who go off into the forests, would you be interested in what he has to share? I could potentially set up his own channel. Show you guys a different kind of life—the life he’s lived before I found him and brought him home with me.”
Hell to the yes!
OMG, that would be amazing! I would love to know how to make my own food.
My brother is in the Army, and he loves all things survival.
Yep, my dad would go nuts for that sort of thing!
Yes! Tell him to share everything so we’ll be ready for the zombie apocalypse!
I laughed at the last one, nodding as the idea snowballed and excitement for Kas’s potential stardom built. I’d have to open him a bank account, get him a social security number, find his real name if possible or insert him into society with proper paperwork if we couldn’t.
There’s so much to do.
But...if he wanted to earn his own keep, this was a way of doing that with things he knew firsthand. He could be as open or as closed off as he wanted.
He could be huge.
Kas cleared his throat as he averted his eyes from the screen as new comments appeared.
Tell him to get naked. I want to see if he’s as hairy underneath his clothes!
What I want to know is, what is he like in bed? I bet he’s wild.
I want to lick him!
I closed the comment box.
Sex and Kas would always come with triggers and torments.
Smiling into the camera, I did my best to hide my worry over how Kas was feeling. “Okay, guys, that’s it for now. At least you know that I’m back! I’m not dead! And I’ll have stacks of exciting content for you soon!” I waved at the screen. “Bye. Happy climbing!”
I turned off the video, posted the link to my static channel and website, and closed my laptop.
Kas didn’t turn to look at me. His forehead remained scrunched up, and eyes narrowed as if he found all of that distasteful.
I couldn’t blame him.
Online could be an onslaught to the senses.
After a strained few heartbeats, I murmured, “We don’t have to do a thing if you’re not comfortable, Kas.”
He sniffed and stood. Prowling around my living room, he raked a hand through his hair, noticing the blades of grass as they danced out of his strands and landed on the carpet. He winced. “I am what they call me.”
I stood too, going to stand in front of him. “You mean sexy? Lickable? Swoon-worthy?”
“No, a caveman.” He bent to pick up the grass, but I stopped him.
Cupping his cheeks, I whispered, “I’ll say this countless times over the next little while, especially as you have a massive adjustment to make as life carries us forward into more and more things that you’ve been denied or never been given, but I need you to listen to me, okay?”
His head tipped down as his large hands landed on my hips. My skin tingled beneath his hold. Electricity hummed between us, and the urge to kiss him sparkled on my lips. Standing on my tiptoes, I pressed my mouth to his.
No tongue.
No demand for more.
Just delicious contact and connection.
Pulling away, I said, “No one else’s opinion matters but yours, Kas. No one can touch you. The sexualized comments mean nothing—it’s just the way of today’s society which is very open and graphic in their likes and dislikes. Ignore those who are cruel and not willing to learn. Don’t let their misguidedness hurt who you are. They’re not worth it.”