Page 46 of Kings of Lust

‘Please. It would do you some good. I promise.’

‘Since when do you know what’s good or not for me?’ He was going into a defensive mode, but I had totally different plans for him.

‘Listen, I know that I’m probably just some new toy for you. And maybe you don’t even believe me, but I care about you.’

‘You’re not a toy,’ he murmured, allowing that same consuming darkness to invade his eyes. ‘I fucked up big time. I know.’

‘Well, unfuck it. Trust me. Give me an hour of your life.’

‘An hour outside these gates?’

‘An hour with me.’

‘Step aside,’ he muttered, walking past me and searching on a shelf for a pair of joggers. ‘Do I look baggy enough?’

‘Not really, but it would do.’ His clothes could be torn to pieces and he would still look like royalty, but I just pulled his cap lower over his eyes and hoped no one would recognize him.

‘Let’s call for a cab.’ I took my phone out to give the order to the dispatch.

‘A cab!?’ His highness was used to travel in style.

‘Yeah, we can’t take the limo where we’re going. Alfred taught me that.’

‘I’m not going into the Pit if that’s what you’re suggesting.’

‘I promise you’ll be safe.’ I had an exact plan for where we were going and it didn’t involve entering any of the dangerous zones.

‘I’m not afraid if that’s what you’re implying.’ Men will be men. He was afraid and I knew it. But not the normal fear that people would get when walking into the unknown. Ferris was afraid of triggering his memories. He was afraid of his nightmares.

‘I know you’re not afraid. I didn’t mean it that way,’ I snuck my hand into his, hoping that his temper wouldn’t surface again. ‘I hope you’re hungry.’

‘I was going to call you to come to dinner, but you beat me to it.’

‘My treat this time,’ I laughed, pretty much determined to show him what a good day in the Pit really meant.

The cab arrived, and unfortunately, we couldn’t leave without a car full of bodyguards somewhere on our trail. At least they kept a decent distance, enough so we didn’t notice them as we looked around us. I was getting used to them anyway, to the point I even forgot they existed since I had two guards of my own. Always watching, but never interfering.

‘We’re here,’ I paid the cab driver right after he stopped in front of a local fast food joint.

‘Here!?’ Ferris almost shuddered, convinced that a hospital bed and a food poisoning diagnostic were waiting for him.

‘You’ve put way worse things in your mouth than this food,’ I chuckled, practically dragging him inside. ‘Let me order. I know exactly what to get.’

‘No doubting you on that one.’

He stayed with me, just quietly observing my every move and pretty much everything else around him. He was a curious child, stepping out into the real world for the first time.

‘A small chicken wings menu to go,’ I ordered while Ferris was looking back at me a little confused.

‘That will be $2.50,’ the cashier took out the receipt as I slipped her a $5.

‘Keep the change.’

She just nodded, turning her back on us to prepare our order.

‘I have some cash on me,’ Ferris offered, probably noticing that I ordered a single menu.

‘I told you it’s my treat.’ I didn’t get to explain since the waiter already was giving me a paper bag over the counter ‘There you go. Have a nice evening and don’t forget to come again.’