Page 92 of Kings of Desire

‘Soon... I thought...’

‘Soon as in a few hours. Don’t tell me you thought I would stay the night and cuddle with you.’

I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him this evening, but his clothes weren’t the only thing that had changed.

‘I don’t need your pity, Brax. I need your help.’

‘And I need a drink. Do you have any in the house?’

‘Wine,’ I pointed towards a small display shelf where a dozen properly aged bottles of wine were waiting. Thought after my latest experience, it will be a while before I put my lips on a glass of that liquor again.

‘Wine is for the ladies. Anything else?’

There was a bar, but I never had the curiosity to open it. I guess now was the right time to do so. I walked to the wooden handcrafted sculpted furniture and pulled open the door that hid the drinks from sight. Gin, rum, vodka, champagne, and a vast selection of pretty much everything, though not whiskey, his favorite drink.

‘Vodka?’ I asked unsure of what to bring him.

‘That will do. Search for the largest glass you have, and fill it. We need to talk business first.’

He paused as if he had something on his mind. ‘And fetch a glass for yourself.’

‘I don’t want to drink.’

‘Did my request sound like a question!?’

The arrogant bastard thinks the world should bow at his feet.

‘No. It didn’t.’ I poured two drinks in different size glasses and then handed him the largest one as herequested.

‘Quite a place you gotfor yourself.Did you make adealfor it?’ I knew where he was going with this, and it was fine by me. It was the truth anyway. ‘Who’s the lucky man?’ Jealousy or envy. Couldn’t quite tell.

‘I can’t give you his name. It wouldn’t be fair.’

‘Fair....right.’ He took the last drag out of his cigarette ‘I don’t give a fuck, as long as he’s not screwing you.’

‘He’s not.’

‘Well, in a couple of hours you’ll be free to do whatever you please.’

‘Yes...free,’ the word seemed so bizarre now since I will probably never be free again. My nights will belong to Ferris while some broken pieces of me will belong to all of them. They all took a part of me, turning me into a pretty little ceramic decoration that wears the signs of being dropped on the floor.

What I found more than strange was that a man like Brax didn’t try to find out any more about whose house this was, especially since I know information meant power in his world. Information is everything, no matter how big or small. Though, this time, it was like he was preventing himself from caring. Taking all precautions to assure himself that he knew nothing more about me than he needed to.

‘What happened to your hand?’ I asked, looking at a white cloth wrapped up over a bleeding wound that looked like it extended to all of his knuckles.

‘Rough day at work... The fucking riots are doing my head in.’

‘I’ve heard about them. News about a bomb attempt was on tv earlier.’

‘Yeah, well soon that’s all it’s going to be on tv. You know, you’re bringing your family into a burning town.’

‘I’m taking them out from a burning town.’

‘You’re right. It’s probably the whole fucking world that is about to catch fire.’ For the first time, I saw fear and concern in the eyes of the man that showed none before. Things were serious. A matter of life and death, and I could feel him losing ground since this is a war that won’t leave him unaffected. ‘So, when are your men going to get them out?’

‘Tonight,’ he took a step in my direction, placing his empty vodka glass on the sofa’s arm.

‘I was expecting to see them...before...’