The knock on the door at four thirty in the afternoon was insistent, the sort of knock a husband would make on the door of his wife's lover. As far as Brent knew, none of the women he'd slept with lately had been married. Certainly, none had a ring, and most of them had been "dragon-only" - girls he'd picked up at the club where dragons mingled with the human women who craved them.
Brent put aside the Linear Algebra textbook he'd been reading and walked to a side window. Sure, he could turn into a very large, scale-armored dragon, but that was only useful some of the time, and certainly wasn't something he wanted to do indoors. He wasn't sure what a bullet would do to his human form. It seemed likely that it would have the same effect as a bullet did on a regular human. So it seemed wise to be cautious.
The man on the stoop was dressed in a long beige trench coat, over jeans and a button-down shirt. He wore a large gray fedora. Just like an angry husband from a Mickey Spillane novel, but Brent recognized him. He wasn't anyone's husband.
He opened the door. "Hi, Gardner. What do you want?"
"What, no 'Dad?'" the man said, his amused tone indicating that he didn't expect a warmer welcome. "I'm crushed. Mind if I come in?"
Brent stood back. "You paid for this place, make yourself at home," he said. And feeling a little chagrined at himself for not being more courteous, he added, "and by the way, thank you for all of this."
Gardner smiled as he stepped in and looked around. "No worries. Being angry at me is habit, isn't it? Place is a bit bare, but you're starting to live in it, looks like. That desk was your mum's, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so." He tossed the hat on a hook and clomped over to the desk. Brent, shoeless, was conscious of Gardner's heavy shoes on the hardwood floors, but he said nothing. Gardner peered at the textbook for a bit. "Saw Leibniz give a talk once," he said. "On philosophy, not math. Ridiculous wig the man wore."
"You saw Leibniz, and your takeaway was his wig?" Brent said.
"Well, you should have seen the wig," Gardner said. "Anyway, I'm impressed you have time and patience for all this. I've been hearing you've been busy."
"I'm not going to just laze around all day," Brent said.
"Ha. There's a difference between lazing around and spending the day in bed, though, isn't there? Especially when one has company."
"We're not discussing my love life."
"Um, actually, we are. Alice says she thinks you're getting attached."
Alice. Yes, he was getting attached. He had sex with other women, of course. They seemed to practically throw themselves at him at the club, and Alice didn't mind. In fact, she actually encouraged him. He flashed back to the night before, with Alice pushing on a busty blonde's head - Tiffany? - and looking into his eyes as she told him, "Fuck her mouth, Brent. Come down the little slut's throat."
Tiffany swallowed, as Alice gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Who wouldn't get attached to a woman like that? On top of that, Alice was smart, and unlike most of the other women at the club, knew his secret. Sure, every woman there knew that the men were "Dragons" but they thought it was something akin to being a member of a motorcycle gang. Alice knew better, and as a result, could give him advice. Thanks to Alice, he was keeping up with his studies by day, even if he was pursuing the pleasures of the flesh by night.
It seemed strange that a few months ago he'd been a virgin, and now he wasn't even sure how to count the number of women he'd fucked. It depended, of course, on what counted as fucking, exactly.
Brent shrugged. "I'm not like you," he said, heading for the kitchen. He wanted something to drink, even though alcohol didn't have much effect on him.
Gardner, unwanted, followed him. "No, you're younger and stupider."
"Thanks. Love you too, Dad."
"Younger and stupider. I was being redundant. I only want what's best for you."
Brent nodded. "Thanks. But I got this. I understand that I will keep living, and Alice will grow old and die. I know that makes things difficult, if not impossible. But I don't want to be the kind of person who lives life with a heart of stone."
"Then have a heart. That process isn't just difficult for you. Think of her. Oh, you can make her fall in love with you, if she hasn't already. Making humans fall in love with you is trivially easy, anyway. Most of 'em start out in lust with you, and that's halfway there. When they fuck they produce hormones that make them think they're in love. It's the way humans are. But she'll get old, and you'll still be young - and you'll still have young women throwing themselves at you. You'll keep fucking her, but at some point you'll be thinking how much nicer it would be to be fucking some young thing. And she'll know, Brent."
"Alice doesn't mind sharing. She likes it. Why, just last night -"
"Yes, I know. I watched."
"You watched?"
"Yeah. You used the girl while you stared at Alice with little puppy dog eyes. I bet you don't even know the girl's name."
"Tiffany."
"It's Trudy. And you suggest that
I
have a heart of stone?"
"You had no right to watch."
"I remember when a 'right' was something a noble had, and anyone else didn't. I'm a member of the club, and I can come and go as I choose. You fucked the girl's mouth on the couch in full view of everyone. The fact that you were too busy staring into Alice's eyes to notice me is beside the point."
Brent glared at his father, and then grabbed a glass from the cabinet and a bottle of coke from the fridge. It was good to have something to do with his hands. "Want something to drink?" he asked.