Chapter 9 - Purity #2
William realized how much worse it made the situation as soon as the words were out. Adathan was a virgin. William stole his virginity. Well, Adathan had asked for it—and he certainly appeared to have enjoyed himself—but William wasn’t stupid enough to use those arguments to justify his behavior.
“How much of it did you read?” Oliver asked.
William’s heart sank. “One paragraph.”
“It says he never had sex with a person,” Oliver said, emphasizing the last word.
“Oh.” William closed his eyes as the obvious became sickeningly obvious. How had he not considered the possibility of Serviteurs being forced to practice on each other?
“He was required to perform sexual acts hundreds of times before,” Oliver said, pausing just long enough to give William the time to thoroughly hate himself. “But to him, you’re the first person he had sex with.”
“I—I tried to say no, but then he freaked out. He thought I was going to punish him.”
“So you had sex with him instead.”
William’s fingers tightened in his hair. He’d made a rule never to get angry at Oliver after his accident, but he couldn’t hold it in this time. He snapped. “You know what I did the first time we met yesterday? I looked at him with disgust and rejected him straight to his face.”
He huffed a humorless laugh. “Then he was forced to follow me to my room, carrying his own fucking box of deluxe torture accessories because I was too furious to see straight.
I lost my cool nearly every time he did or said some slave shit.
He spent all night walking on eggshells because he was convinced I hated him.
What was I supposed to do? Reject him again? Make him feel unwanted? Inadequate?
“You have no idea, okay? No idea how hard this has been. A-and I tried. I tried everything. But no matter what I said, I only made things worse. I was given a human being, Oliver. A real, live, brainwashed person is now in my possession. For the rest of my life. I’m—I’m—”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
William cringed as someone took a seat on the couch next to him. Seriously? Now, of all times?
He curled in on himself and whispered, “No. You’re right. What happened yesterday is proof that he can’t stay with me. I’ll have to accept your offer to take him in—but I’ll pay for his expenses. And I’ll help in any way I can.”
“Hmm . . .”
“What?”
“I’m not so sure it’s the right thing to do anymore.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don’t get me wrong; I’ll gladly take him in if you don’t think you can. But he gave you his purity, William. I don’t think he’ll perceive being sent to live with me as anything other than rejection.”
“Fuck,” William breathed out. “What the hell am I supposed to do? It’s going to happen again, he—” He winced. “He’s very sexual. I know it’s not his fault, but man, you have no idea.”
“Maybe I could talk to him?” Oliver said. Offer him guidance? Not just about sex. I’m sure he has plenty of other things to deal with.”
“Yeah . . .” William trailed off, staring blankly at his feet. It might just work. Who better than Oliver to help Adathan embrace the person he was?
“What do you think?” Oliver said.
William inhaled deeply. “I think you’re right. Yeah. He’ll come live with me, and he’ll visit you while I’m at work. You’ll help him integrate into the real world. And he’ll lend you a hand with your chores.”
“I’m not going to make him work.”
“Trust me—you’ll have to. At least until we’ve thoroughly convinced him he’s a real person. He’s extremely eager to make himself useful.”
Oliver sighed. “I hate to say it, but . . . you’re probably right.”
“I’m always right,” William quipped half-heartedly. “But seriously. You think we can pull this off?”
“We can, and we will, because it’s the right thing to do.”
Relief washed over William. Talking to Oliver had been a good idea, as always. “I gotta go. I need to call the company and tell them to go fuck themselves.”
Oliver chuckled. “That’s the William I know. Tell Adathan I said hi.”
William hung up and took a moment to replay their conversation in his head, awkwardly aware of the stranger still sitting next to him. He’d never understood these kinds of people—they truly had no sense of personal boundaries. He couldn’t wait to be back home.
Home.
William had never had a roommate. It would be a massive adjustment, but he made an effort to stay positive. As Oliver said, giving Adathan a home was the right thing to do, which meant William had no other choice but to accept his fate and focus on the good that would come out of it.
For one, Oliver would get to socialize more. William could only imagine how lonely his life had been. He’d lost nearly everyone he’d once considered a friend, and barely got out anymore. When he did, it was usually after the sun had set.
Seeing himself in the eyes of passersby hurt too much.
Oliver used to have a wide circle of friends and to be quite popular with men and women alike—the same who, today, would recoil at the sight of his heavily scarred face.
That was the thing with Oliver; he’d always been generous with his time, and he made whoever he interacted with feel important.
It was no surprise he’d ended up surrounding himself with leeches and attention whores over the years.
The moment Oliver needed more than he could give, however, all his so-called friends vanished without a trace. William wished he’d been kidding when he told Oliver he was a magnet for self-centered assholes.
Except . . . maybe William wasn’t one of them after all.
Would a self-centered asshole take a stranger under his wing and decline a four-hundred-thousand-dollar check?
William smiled as he sat up. Nope. They would not.
He glanced at the stranger next to him, and his face dropped at the sight of tan skin and pearly white teeth.
Richard nonchalantly draped his arm over the backrest, his conceited smile making William’s stomach churn. “A fine morning to you, William.”