by Quil Carter
“He’s lucky to have you, Killian.”
Well, I wasn’t expecting that. I turned my head slowly towards him. He was smirking. “You’re getting better, but you should stand up straighter and square your shoulders when you want to be threatening… here.” Greyson turned and faced me. He puffed out his chest slightly and crossed his arms. “Like this. Not hunched over like a scared kangaroo.”
I felt my body droop. Greyson chuckled at me. “I’m not trying to take the wind from your sails, son. I’m just giving you some pointers.”
“Thanks,” I grumbled. I bet Asher could be intimidating, he had the body for it and the stance.
Greyson shifted and took another drag of his cigarette. “I should be thanking you…” Greyson coughed and I saw his grey eyes shift toward the door. “For not… for leaving it to us to tell him.”
The back of my neck went hot. “I shouldn’t have been looking in the first place, and it’s not my place to say anything.”
“Does it scare you at all?”
I shook my head. When I drew the cig up to my mouth I noticed my hand was trembling. “I just want him safe and happy, like we all do.”
Then the doors to the recovery room swung open. Reaver came walking out. He glanced at both of us before nodding at me to follow him.
“Reaver…” Greyson said as Reaver opened up the door to outside. “We’ve got a lot of meat right now. I got some of the good cuts. If you want to come over tonight, pick up your mayor’s share–”
“If you’re trying to invite us over for barbecue, just say it.” Reaver spared him a fleeting glance.
“How about it?”
“I want Leo there.”
“Leo’s… not really talking to me right now.”
“I’m bringing him.”
Before Greyson could tell him no, Reaver turned and walked back onto the street with me. I stuck close to him in case the blood donating had made him woozy but he seemed fine.
Reaver put his shirt back on. I tightened my jacket around my sweater. Cold day today. “How are you going to get Leo to come down?” I asked.
Reaver clicked his radio off his belt and spoke into it. “Yo, Reno, turn to channel three.” He pressed a few buttons on the radio that made it beep.
“What’s up? Turn into a zombie yet?”
“Only on the inside. Listen I need you to make up some BS excuse to get Leo’s to Greyson’s at five thirty, alright?”
“Sure thing, I’ll do it when he gets back.”
“Alright, thanks, over and out.” Reaver clicked the radio into his belt. “There see? Easy.”
“Hey, fuckfaces!” a faint voice down the street called. We both turned around and saw none other than the dork Reaver was just talking to. He was waving his radio in the air.
Reaver snorted and walked towards him. “Looks like he spent the entire night with Asher.”
I felt a bitter taste in my mouth but I didn’t say anything. I followed Reaver to where Reno was jogging towards us.
“Hey, dipshit, did Asher give you a sore ass to match his head? Or did you finally get to top something that I didn’t have to pin down first?”
“Let’s just say all my good parts are sore.” Reno smirked. I felt even more sick. Thanks a lot, Reno…
“Is Asher home now?”
Reno nodded. Reaver turned to me. “I need to talk to Asher for a moment, I won’t be long. Why don’t you walk Reno to the gate and I’ll meet you at home?”
I guess I did want to talk to Reno, but I hated the idea of sending Reaver off to the lion’s den again. It would have been odd for me not to agree, though. Reaver said goodbye to Reno and headed off towards Asher’s house.
“Those two last night… can you believe –” Reno paused mid-sentence when he turned to address me. I guess he saw the nauseas expression on my face. “Sorry, bro.”
“I didn’t even ask you not to, you said it on your own.” I looked at him accusingly. “Do you really have such shit self-control you can’t spend one night alone with another gay guy without trying to sleep with him?”
Reno’s shoulders slumped. He jammed his hands into his pockets and fumbled for a cigarette. “It ain’t like that, bro.”
My mouth was half-open to keep speaking when I noticed his hands trembling. I watched as he quickly took a cautious look over his shoulder before he lit his cigarette. He was walking fast towards the north gate, faster than his usual casual saunter. He wanted to leave Aras and get home…
I looked at him more carefully. I noticed for the first time that he looked a bit… off.
I felt the breath get sucked out of me. “What did he do?”
As my cheerful happy-go-lucky friend’s lip stiffened, my heart broke.
“Reno, did he rape you?”
“SHH!” Reno hissed sharply. “No, no it was nothing like that, believe me.” He looked around and took a deep inhale of his cigarette. “Don’t… don’t even say that word. Fuck.” He shuddered, and started walking quickly towards the north gate.
“Tell me? Please…” I pleaded.
He nervously brushed his black hair back and blew a sharp puff of smoke out into the cold air, his frozen breath only adding to the thick plumes.
“It wasn’t… that, just… let’s be clear. I know what that is and it wasn’t that… he just, wouldn’t take no for an answer, not even when I pushed him. I just gave him what he wanted, so it didn’t escalate.”
I had to stop for a moment. I leaned up against a light pole, holding my stomach. “That’s still…”
“No, it isn’t.”
I knew he had to tell himself that so he could justify it to himself and I knew what he meant when he said he knew what real rape was. I assumed he meant Bridley.
Poor Reno, and here I was being an accusing asshole.
“Are you hurt?”
Reno shook his head. “Nah, it wasn’t brutal, I just… I dunno, once he got his threats in I just bent over and took it. He didn’t even hide the fact he was pretending I was Reaver. I think he thinks I’m too scared to tell anyone. He kept telling me to do what Reaver had done to me.”
I sank down to the pavement. I thought I was going to throw up. I hated being right, and I hated being proven I was right time and time again. I needed to out Asher for the person that he was, and I had to get Reaver to listen to me.
Gosh, if I hadn’t been so paranoid at first and mentioned it so many times, he would’ve taken me seriously now. I had cried wolf so often he just plugged his ears whenever I mentioned it.
“Um, you knew about that right?”
I looked up at him not quite knowing what he was talking about.
“Um, when me and Reaver were teens…”
“Oh, that… I know, he told me.”
I heard him let out a relieved breath. I couldn’t relate to the relief; I had bigger things on my mind than where Reno’s mouth had been before I even knew Reaver.
“If I can get Asher to say something on the voice recorder… I can have my proof. I’ll know if he’s trying something with Reaver,” I said with a sigh. Carson had still had the recorders, and I had bought both of them. One of them I was planning on slipping into Reaver’s cargo pants before his next drinking night with Asher. The other recorder I was going to keep on my person at all times. Not only to catch Asher saying something, but if Leo and I ever ended up alone together again I could have some justice if he murdered me. My corpse might decay and rot, but plastic lasts forever.
I gave Reno a big hug before he disappeared back to his house. I still loved his hugs, and I knew he liked mine. Hugging Reaver was like hugging a cactus at times, so Reno and I reflected our need for hugs onto each other.
Reaver wasn’t home when I got back to the basement. He didn’t return until almost forty-five minutes later. I wasn’t impressed with how long he took yakking it up with Ashfucker but it would be useless voicing it. I wasn’t his mother and I didn’t want to be a nagging hen. So I just made some rat chilli to take
to the barbecue.
It smelled so good that, on the way to Greyson and Leo’s, Reaver kept trying to steal handfuls, not finger dips, not even spoonfuls, literally handfuls even though the chilli was still boiling hot.
“Stop that, you fucking barbarian!” I hollered, kicking a rock at him as he jumped away.
Reaver licked his hands and gave a victorious laugh. I made a note to keep that hand well away from my sensitive parts until he washed them properly. Well, at least we all seemed to be in a good mood. I was rather upset with Reno’s admission earlier in the day, but Reaver seemed in high spirits so that really helped. I hoped it was because he and Greyson were making amends and not because he saw Asher.
Greyson was in the back when we walked in. He was trimming six beautiful pink steaks.
I put the chilli on the stove and went outside with Reaver.
“Oh, I see you invited Mickey!” Reaver exclaimed poking the steaks. “I know arian teenager when I see it.”
“Well, his was the best meat out of all of them. His family wanted him whole but I managed to make a few cuts in his backside before Gary sent him to processing. He had quite a few chunks out of him anyway.”
It was still hard to get used to eating people that I had once known. I was used to eating human flesh like everyone else. I had a good disassociation with that; especially when they were rats, they weren’t even proper humans. But eating someone I had once said hi to, that was a first for me. Usually the pieces we got from dead residents were just in the mix with all the others, you didn’t know what came from who.
“Yum, make mine near raw,” Reaver said. He offered me a beer but I sniffed a couple pills instead. I’d had a big aversion to drinking ever since Reaver started getting hammered with Asher.
“Jeez, you really got him hooked on that stuff, haven’t you? Look at his nose, it’s all red and dry.” Greyson shook the barbecue prongs at me.
I wiped my nose self-consciously. “It runs in the cold… it’s not drugs.”
Greyson chuckled and laid the steaks into the coal pit. “You stop those cold turkey for a day and a half and then you can tell me it’s not drugs.”
Reaver gave me a sideways glance. “I alternate him on morphine and codone. I don’t give him enough time to get hooked on either.”
“You do?” I had never noticed that, I just did what he told me to do. I rarely ever went rooting through his drug case on my own. I liked him having control over those things since they were all his.
“Sure, I don’t want to get you dependent. Detoxing isn’t fun,” Reaver said. He took a swig of his beer and lit a quil. “I’m just waiting for Asher to get hooked. He’s been buying them from me like crazy. I’m going to cut him off in two weeks and see how much I can make him beg.” Reaver gave an evil cackle. Well, at least he was still evil Reaver, even when it came to his new raticater friend.
“I’ve barely seen that kid, he’s alright then?” Greyson asked.
Asher had come the day Reaver created West Aras, and he pretty much stayed on Reaver’s land unless he was buying things. I guess those two really didn’t get to talk to each other much. That was strange, usually Greyson got to know all the newcomers personally. Made for easier relations.
“He’s good at what he does.” Reaver nodded. “He’ll probably start dating Reno soon. They’ve been banging for a few weeks now.”
Greyson chuckled. “He can’t be that bad then if you’re letting him do that.”
Well, that darkened my mood. As they carried on their conversation I excused myself to the washroom. When I was all drained, I dished the chilli into some bowls and sat on the couch to do some more lines. Greyson already had a mirror out, so I assumed he wouldn’t mind.
I laid out the powder and was surprised to see the mirror looked heavily used. Greyson must have been sniffing a bit more than usual since Leo left him.
I cleared off my yellow lines. When I was done I raised the mirror to take a good look at myself.
I needed to cut my hair soon, and shave. I scratched my chin. I bet Asher had to shave everyday like Reaver did…
I went to put the mirror back down when I caught a reflection. I turned around and felt my face go pale.
Leo was standing by the open front door. He was holding a small briefcase in his hands. He was looking at me, confused.
“Why are you here?” As if answering his own question his eyes flickered over to the patio door. “Reaver’s here too? They’re talking?” Leo dropped the briefcase and started walking towards the patio door when he stopped himself, as if thinking better of it.
“Greyson talked to him privately, Reaver’s been taking small steps ever since,” I said quietly.
Leo stared at the door longingly. I knew why, and all threats aside, I did feel badly for him. That was his family after all. In one fleeting moment he had watched it dissolve in front of him. The man he loved choking the boy he had saved. At least he acted like a father in the end and hadn’t stayed with Greyson. It might not be permanent but at least he made a statement by leaving.
Suddenly Leo jumped, his face had that caught look, he quickly turned around and started to walk back out the door. I could see why, a second later the patio door slid opened and Greyson ran out.
“No, no, please, stop. Leo, please?” Greyson grabbed his arm when Leo was only a few steps to the door. Leo stopped. I could see his eyes get heavy.
I wonder if he ever calls him Lycos in secret, I wondered.
“Reno said you needed me to drop off the… the briefcase,” Leo mumbled.
Reaver tiptoed past them and jumped onto the couch. He sat beside me but didn’t say anything. We both watched the scene in front of us.
“Come home.”
“I can’t, Greyson, I can’t.” Leo pulled his arm away and shook his head back and forth. “I’m tired. I’m out, I’m done… we’ve already gotten too deep into this and I’m ending it one way or another.”
Leo turned to walk out the door, but Greyson jumped in front of it, preventing any means of quick escape.
Leo sighed and folded his arms.
“You know you can’t leave here. You know in the end it’s just us.”
“I… can leave. I’ve already started making plans.”
I gasped, and I heard Reaver swear under his breath.
“You can’t take him, I won’t let you.”
“I’m not fucking going anywhere!” Reaver said loudly, just as Leo answered back. I didn’t hear what he had said. I elbowed Reaver for making me miss the answer. Though Reaver was right, try all they might Reaver wouldn’t be going anywhere. If I was going to leave Aras it certainly wouldn’t be with Leo, the person I had been trying to get away from.
“I’m sorry, Greyson,” Leo whispered. “Plans have changed… you know this.”
Plans changed? What had they talked about when Leo had told him I knew… or was this still about Greyson leaving Reaver alone when it came to his dreams of being mayor? I didn’t know.
The pain on Greyson’s face made my very soul hurt. I could only imagine what it would be like to have your partner not only leave you, but want to leave Aras. I knew if Leo was leaving he wouldn’t just be going to Anvil… he would be going far. Greyson might never see him again.
“Why are you trying to make me face these problems alone?”
“There are no more problems anymore, Greyson. Only the ones you want us to make.” Leo looked towards Reaver. “We raised a good kid, who is a good person. I won’t let you jeopardize that by complicating things. I won’t let you ruin his life over dreams that died a long time ago.”
Wow, Greyson wanted to tell Reaver he was a chimera but Leo didn’t. I got it.
I hated it but Leo got bumped up a bit in my books. In the end we all wanted what was best for Reaver. I disliked my forgiving nature but I was starting to soften towards the Skytech scientist. He knew Reaver finding out would cause a lot of problems inside my boyfriend.
“He’s just a mayor, leadin
g two hundred independent residents. He isn’t a fucking king,” Reaver grumbled. My poor in the dark boyfriend, who still thought this conversation was about Greyson pushing him to be mayor.
Leo’s eyes shot towards Reaver, and a fraction of a second later so did Greyson’s. Reaver stared back, obviously not as shy about our eavesdropping as I was.
Greyson gave Reaver a withering look and the two of them went outside; the patio door slammed behind them.
I let out a hiss between my teeth, but I suppose that was a good thing. Reaver might be clueless about the real nature of this argument but he wasn’t stupid. Greyson had already told Reaver he wanted to have a conversation about him and eventually he would clue in.
“Well, we shouldn’t listen anyway.” Reaver rested his hands on the couch and leaned down on them. He had no interest in deferring our gaze from Leo and Greyson, and neither did I. We both watched as the two of them started to talk.
Their body language said everything. Leo was talking with his hands a lot again, and Greyson kept folding and unfolding his arms and pacing back and forth.
I heard a pensive sigh beside me, it almost sounded wistful. I rested a hand on Reaver’s shoulder supportively. I felt even more proud of him for caring.
“I want the steak, it’s sitting right there.”
I rolled my eyes. Served me right for being silly enough to think that longing sigh was for his adoptive dads to get back together. I rubbed his back and we continued watching.
Then I saw the moment I had been hoping for. Leo’s body started to relax, and he stopped talking so much with his hands. I could even see the lines in his face soften as Greyson took his hand. He didn’t pull it away, and that’s when I knew they would be okay.
I squealed out loud when Leo and Greyson hugged, and I could see a small smile on Reaver’s face though he did try and hide it. Feeling all squishy I leaned over and kissed the corners of Reaver’s lips.
He moved his face towards mine and we briefly and but very deeply kissed. When I broke away I saw Leo and Greyson kissing too.
