Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Well.” Vic let his eyes close, just…settling to rest, and let the medication do its work, but this time when he tried to smile it wasn’t so hard. “Glad to know it’s not one-sided.”
“Vic,” Amani sighed. “My sweet boy.”
“Ah—that’s just mean.” Vic winced. “If I get hard right now, I might pass out.”
“I just want to make sure you’re listening to me.” A warm palm cradled his cheek, coaxing him to open his eyes, to look into amber depths that even when he was exhausted, commanded his attention, held him. “I’m about to give you an order as your Master, and I want you to pay attention.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Five PM,” Amani said sternly. “No later. Every day, I want you out of the office by five PM. No going in even earlier to make up the hours, either. And you leave work at work on the weekends.”
“But what if—”
“‘What if’ nothing,’” Amani hissed with enough vehemence to crack that mask of resigned acceptance, letting the truth of his upset bubble to the fore, his eyes slitting. “The work will still be there in the morning. The company won’t grind to a halt if you don’t stay until you drop.”
A lifetime of conditioning smashed up against the tangled knot of need at his core, that twisting thing that pulled all his strings until he wanted to do nothing but obey Amani; anything to keep that hurt from his voice, from his eyes. Unstoppable force, immovable object, and when they met Vic found himself crushed in between and unable to move either way.
“…mmph.”
“I’ll come see you earlier if you do,” Amani promised.
“What about your homework?”
“I can do it on the train. Or after.”
He stared. “After…”
Amani’s smile was sad, wretched, beautiful, heartbreaking, but he leaned close and pressed his lips softly to the corner of Vic’s mouth. “After.”
Everything inside him still raged and rebelled at abandoning his obligations, yet one sweet kiss and the scales had tipped, spilling him toward the lovely man in his arms. “All right,” he said. “You have a deal.”
“Good pet.”
He quirked his lips. “Not your sweet boy?”
“I’m not trying to kill you just yet.”
“…yet?”
“Yet.” Another kiss, fuller, softer against his mouth, before Amani drew back, slipping out of the bed in a flow of gossamer and moonlight. “Rest. I’ll get you something to drink.”
l
AMANI MISSED CLASS AGAIN THAT morning, if only because he stayed with Vic that day. It was the only way to be sure he would rest, actually calling in sick, rather than getting up and trying to go into the office when he was still clammy and pale, and his hands shook even when the IV had drained dry and he was resting easier and Amani could no longer count time by the veins in his temples.
He stole one of Vic’s button-downs to wear as a belted tunic dress, and spent the day playing nurse—coaxing Vic into a shower, putting together something for him to eat, bullying him back to bed when Vic swore he was fine and could at least sit up and do some light work. Vic only slept when Amani took his laptop away—falling into a deep, silent sleep, his breaths so shallow that Amani could only comfort himself by pressing his cheek to his chest and listening to his heart.
It was there. Vic’s heart was there, steady and strong, while Amani’s was unsteady and weak and trembling apart.
Last night…last night he’d thought he’d almost…
He curled by Vic’s sleeping side, and pressed his brow to his shoulder. This man. This obnoxious, annoying, stubborn fucking man.
How had he managed to make Amani care this much, this hard, that he felt as if he’d been slit open from head to toe, his entire self emptied and hollowed out, at just the thought of losing him?
l
WHEN HE WOKE THE NEXT morning, Vic was already up and dressing. And Amani knew no arguments, no orders, nothing would stop him from dragging himself into that office that was draining his life like an incubus perched on his chest, greedier and greedier and greedier for more.
He didn’t say anything. He just hugged his knees to his chest and watched Vic dress, and wondered what it was about that company that it had this hold on him, that he’d rather kill himself than let it go.
As he shrugged on his coat over his suit, Vic sank down on the edge of the bed and dipped in to brush a kiss across Amani’s mouth. “Hey,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow night. Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” Amani asked. “Like I almost watched you die less than forty-eight hours ago?”
“Except you didn’t. I promise I know myself, and my own limitations. And I stayed in bed yesterday, didn’t I?”
“Only because I yelled at you.”
“And it’s very effective when you do. But I can’t miss any more work, and you can’t miss any more school.” Vic offered an outstretched hand. “Listen. Since I had nothing to do but think yesterday, I had a rather brilliant idea.”