Episode 4 #2
Lisa opened his eyes and smiled. “Rei-Rei.” He looked like he always did.
Sharp chin, sharp nose as if he were fey.
Long dark lashes beneath slender brows that never touched.
His eyes were dark and lush but too deep in his face, like bruised flowers.
Everything about him was sharper than it should have been, as if the softness had been pared away.
“You!” Rei growled at him in English.
Lisa grinned, letting Rei pull him to his feet.
“Are you hurt?”
Lisa’s hand went over his heart. He smiled like a lunatic but his eyes weren’t completely open.
There really weren’t enough clothes on him: black, weathered jeans; a blue jean jacket over a cotton long-sleeved black shirt that had the words “Asshole” on the front in Times New Roman.
“Ah, were you worried?” He spoke in Russian.
Rei sputtered. “Worried? You collapsed!” The shirt was accurate.
Lisa’s thin lips twisting to the side. “Had to ring the doorbell somehow.”
“I thought . . .” Rei slapped a hand over his mask and grabbed Lisa’s hand. “We’re going to be seen.”
Lisa let Rei pull him into the building.
Rei’s stomach threatened to come up through his mouth.
He marched straight for the elevators, refusing to look left or right.
Sevastyan could do whatever he wanted to him for this stunt.
He’d welcome it. Going out on his own was hell.
Too many sounds. Too many smells. Too much movement and no grounding point to keep him from spinning off into the tingling, dizzy space that seemed to hover just above his head.
All the possibilities and not enough air.
At least not air he could get into his lungs. He kept a tight grip on Lisa’s hand and punched the button for the elevator. One of them opened at once. He stumbled inside, still squeezing Lisa’s hand. There was no one else but them. The door closed.
“Floor?” Lisa said.
Rei managed to pry his hand from his stomach and jabbed the numeral eight.
The elevator rose. Neither spoke. Rei kept his grip on Lisa’s hand all the way to the door of the condo.
He could barely press the buttons to get inside, but somehow he managed.
As soon as they were through the door and it had locked behind them, Rei’s knees gave out. He fumbled with his shoes.
But he couldn’t pass out, not yet. Lisa might still be faking.
He needed to make sure nothing was wrong.
Then he could crash. Rei yanked off his boots and pulled Lisa’s off as well.
Lisa let him. Rei found his feet again and led Lisa into the living room.
He pushed the other man into one of the chairs, glad that non-Merchari-sanctioned work was out of sight.
“Jacket off.”
“Ah . . . ReiRei, rules. You know. Masters.” Lisa waved to the general air above their heads. “Us. Slaves.” He gestured between them. For a moment he looked vastly younger than his roughly twenty-seven years.
“You’re a liar who lies.” Rei jerked on Lisa’s sleeves. “Show me.” He started patting Lisa down. No visible blood. No winces from broken bones. Just cold emanating from every inch of fabric and visible skin. “How long were you out there like this?”
“Not long.”
Rei gripped Lisa’s slender fingers. “You’re cold.”
Lisa shrugged but didn’t pull away. If anything, his eyes were smiling. “I’m always cold without you.”
“You should have just told Sevastyan you needed to come over.”
Lisa’s eyes darkened and his bottom lip pressed up into his upper one in a pout. “Don’t need Sevastyan. Can find you on my own.”
Rei growled. “I’m getting tea. You’re going to drink it.” He let go of Lisa’s hand to walk to the kitchen.
Lisa sprang out of the chair, following close behind. “Don’t be mad.”
“Don’t be mad?” Rei spat. He kept his back to Lisa as he put water in the electric kettle and started it heating.
Lisa was thin. He had always been slender, but this time he actually felt underweight.
His skin had a more burnished glow than normal, more so than his natural look of completely indeterminable heritage usually granted him.
Rei washed out his mug and ascertained that the only tea stocked in the condo was ginger or Earl Gray. But there was cream in the fridge. He poured some into a glass and put it in the microwave to warm.
“ReiRei,” Lisa whispered, reaching out but not quite touching.
“I worried.” Rei slammed his hand down on the counter, swinging around to fix Lisa with his eyes. “Worried! You looked like you were dead. I’m still worried.”
“Wanted to see you.”
“I know.” He gave Lisa his back, trying to breathe. He’d gone outside. All the way outside, without Sevastyan. Just thinking of it was enough to make his heart start pounding all over again. Sevastyan needed to come home so he could confess.
Lisa wrapped his arms around himself. “I’ll tell Sev to punish me instead.”
Rei rubbed at his eyes. “I’m not worried about the punishment.”
Lisa scooted closer, leaning against the counter but carefully not touching. “What did I do wrong?”
“I thought you were dying.”
“Oh.” Lisa’s shoulders slumped.
“Yeah.” Rei took another look at Lisa. He still did not look good. “Are you sure you’re not dying?”
Lisa shrugged. He looked up at Rei through his lashes, an impressive feat for someone at least ten inches taller.
“You haven’t been eating.”
Lisa looked away. “Didn’t want to.”
Well, fuck. All over again. “Does Alexi know you’re here?”
“I told him to bugger off.”
That was a new term coming from Lisa. Usually, he didn’t use British vernacular.
Perhaps he’d been in England, except the British weren’t known for sun.
“And he let you?” Rei poured water into the mug, added the tea bag, and poured the cream in.
He handed Lisa the mug without waiting for the tea to steep.
The point was warming Lisa up, not making beautiful tasting drinks. The mug would help his hands.
Lisa took the mug, eyes focused on the surface of the liquid. “I’ve been good. Very good. He told me you were here.”
Okay. Rei swallowed. This was a sanctioned rambling, then. Although being “good” could mean a great many things when it came to Alexi and Lisa. “What did he have you doing?”
“Looking pretty, in Morocco.” Lisa shrugged like it didn’t matter. But it did.
“He’s not in Morocco.”
Lisa shrugged.
Rei sighed and leaned back against the counter, gripping it with both hands. Lisa had been there on his own, then, doing something where he was looked at and perhaps more. “Did you get sick?”
Lisa shook his head. His hands trembled a little on the mug.
Rei sighed. He grabbed Lisa’s sleeve and towed him back to the living room.
It was warmer there. He pushed Lisa down onto the couch.
Lisa put the mug on the coffee table and lay back against the arm with the pillows behind his back.
Rei pulled off his overshirt and crawled up Lisa’s legs, pushing Lisa’s shirt and jacket up his chest. He lay down on top of Lisa, skin to skin.
Lisa shuddered. His hands gripped the fabric on Rei’s back.
“You’re a lunatic,” Rei grumbled. Even the soft skin of Lisa’s too-flat stomach was cold.
“You were on that island. And I was . . . there.” Lisa’s hands tangled in Rei’s hair and stroked over his face and neck and slid over his back.
Rei closed his eyes and made himself heavy, letting Lisa touch as he needed. Without Alexi, Lisa would be touch starved. He didn’t let anyone outside of Alexi touch him without a fight. Unless it was Rei. “You should have told Alexi you needed touch.”
“Still mad at him.”
“For sending you to Morocco?”
Lisa grunted.
“What made it so bad?” Rei let his own hands wander, just petting Lisa, calming him like he would a dog.
“People.”
Rei shook his head.
Lisa sank lower into the couch, pulling Rei up so their faces were close and Rei was almost stuffed between Lisa and the back of the couch. Lisa cupped the back of Rei’s head, holding him protectingly. Rei kept his breathing regular and stayed loose, letting Lisa move him about as needed.
“All the rich yuppies wanting this and that. The collars, ugh. Hate starch. Suits. Feet hurt.”
“You were on the yachts?” Rei guessed.
Lisa nodded.
Rei rubbed Lisa’s back. That would have been hell on him. Being seen but not seen. Serving. Taking orders. Wearing restrictive clothing.
“Sounds awful.”
Lisa cursed in agreement.
Rei hugged him. “You didn’t let Alexi help you.”
“Wanted you.” Lisa nuzzled into Rei’s hair. “Told him.”
Rei could conceive how Lisa had most likely told Alexi what he wanted.
It had probably been one or two words and a long, level stare, with Lisa leaving Alexi to fill in the gaps.
Years of being treated like a dog and kept in a kennel had limited the vocabulary Lisa was willing to use.
He had words, he just avoided fraternizing with them. “Tell him you’re here.”
“No.”
Rei snorted a half laugh. Lisa was really angry with Alexi. He’d ask Sevastyan to message Alexi, then. Lisa had a long leash, but it was a leash. Lisa was chipped. Like a dog but worse.
Lisa’s breath evened out. Rei peered over Lisa’s hair at the abandoned mug on the coffee table. So much for getting it into him.
It showed just how done Lisa was that he’d fallen asleep so fast.
Rei closed his eyes. When Sevastyan came back, he was going to be punished severely. He should sleep while he could. Resting against Lisa made it easier. The other slave knew all the ways to make him feel contained and held. At least his work was done.
Ellisandre
Ellisandre stayed in vigil, hand against Sevastyan’s ribs into the small hours of the morning.
When he woke, it was his heartbeat and his breath that told them first. He held still, using his senses for several long moments.
Ellisandre withdrew their hand, signaling that they knew he had returned.
He’d always been like this, waking and then listening, smelling, feeling his environment, trying not to give away that he was aware of where he was.