by Lucian Bane
Meanwhile, Reginald thought about other things. Things a normal man thought about. Things a normal man fantasized about. He suddenly couldn’t wait till Bones had his lecture then went to sleep so he could return to his impossibly divine and normal thoughts.
CHAPTER TWO
“You should have left,” Bones hissed when they headed back to the house. “You just stood there!”
“I’m sorry,” Reginald said, for the fifth time.
Bones knew he was, he heard it in his virtuous fucking tone. It was the one thing he could count on with Reginald, his honesty with him, his blinding integrity. “You’re the normal one,” Bones went on, plowing them both back to the house. “You should have cut it off. Bitch was in heat, did you not see that?”
Don’t say that, Bonesy.
“Don’t go all quiet on me now,” Bones muttered.
I’m tired. You’re right, I should have cut it off. It won’t happen again.
“She’s bad news, did you see her baiting? Did you?”
Baiting?
Bones heard the cluelessness in his tone. Of course he didn’t see it. He was blinded by her wiles. Even from a distance, Bones caught all of it. She’d seduced Reginald. Fucking slut. “If that happens again, I’m not going to let you do all the talking. I promise you that,” he warned.
“It won’t happen again,” Reginald said, annoyed now.
“I’m just protecting you.”
“Protecting me? I thought this was to protect her.”
“And her. But especially you. She’d hurt you and then I’d have a reason to kill her, and then I would, and then we’d fry!”
Bones couldn’t get in the shower fast enough. He set the water to scalding hot until he realized Reginald trembled under the abuse. He quickly added cold, feeling like the sick jackass he was. It wasn’t Reginald’s damn fault. The dude had gone five years accommodating Bones. Every day, Reggie sacrificed for him. Nobody had ever done shit for him and today, when that fat slut made moves on him, threatened him, Bones was ready to fry if it meant protecting Reginald.
He shut off the water, shaking his head in realization. That little shit had gotten under his cold, hard skin. A place Bones swore nobody would ever go.
When they lay in bed, Bones sank back into the shadows. Mostly so that Reginald could be free to be normal. Reginald was right. Bones had needed him to be normal and meanwhile, he locked him away from everything normal. Watching the little shit trip all over himself in front of a woman of all things made him realize this.
That was on Bones, he owned that. But Bones made sacrifices for Reginald too. For one, he didn’t self-harm anymore now that they shared a body. Maybe he should tell him so he didn’t feel like Bones was nothing but a selfish, sadistic bastard. He was, but not where Reginald was concerned.
A smirk of disgust formed on Bones face as he listened in on Reginald’s thoughts. All about her of course. Her smell, her hair, the look in her horny green eyes. The color of fresh moss? More like the color of frog shit.
Bones moved to pull back, not wanting to hear it, not able to. He wanted Reginald to be normal but he could hardly stand being anywhere near what constituted that.
Fuck. Bones hesitated, needing to know how bad Reginald had been affected by this vile whore. And what a whore she was, practically throwing her pussy at him. Reginald’s problem was he was too normal. What he needed was a lesson in the wicked nature of women.
God, the fucking chemicals Reginald was giving off burned in his blood. He needed to figure out how to ride the filth and not let it take him. Just another dance, that’s all it was. Nothing Bones couldn’t handle or adapt to.
Bones froze at feeling something he’d not in many years. Heat in his groin. Oh, fuck no, Reginald wasn’t…He goddamn was. He was fucking aroused!
Bones stood by like a freight train, ready to plow into him, holding back in hopes he’d settle his ass back down. But instead, Reginald slowly wrapped a hand around his cock and Bones shot a hand to his balls and strangled them in a vicious grip.
Reginald sat up in pain, groaning. “God, I thought you were sleeping.” The alarm mixing with Reginald’s arousal brought old cravings to Bones.
Not. Fucking. That. Bones ground out. You’re not doing that with my body.
A long silence passed between them until Bones felt like a bastard again.
Can you… maybe not participate? Reginald asked.
Rage spiked through Bones at the logical request. He would use that on him. Here Bones was, asking him to be normal, while forcing him to be as abnormal as they came. I can’t, Bones said.
You can’t or you won’t?
I can’t and I won’t.
How do you know you can’t?
Because I won’t.
But you can?
I can’t!
Bones wished he’d drop it but he knew Reginald. He wouldn’t. And the one thing he liked about Reginald was his ability to see logic and reason, although, he was getting a little too good at using it against Bones. Logic didn’t apply with Bones, he needed to get that.
I gave you what you needed, Bones.
And that fucking shit there. And I’m grateful, Reggie. But don’t force me to do this.
Why?
His curiosity burned with a need to understand, not fight. Like if he could understand, he’d leave it alone, or try to. But that meant divulging things Bones couldn’t.
You don’t want to know Reggie.
Guilt slowly seeped into Bones as Reginald’s hand slid off his cock. Okay, Bones.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
It’s okay Bones, really. I don’t want to do anything that hurts you.
Bones fought with himself. Reginald wasn’t using logic, he was using something more potent. His kindness. It was toxic to Bones when he used it on him. Which was odd given how much Bones loved cruelty.
Reginald turned over and put his back to him. I’m tired anyway Bones. Go to sleep.
Sleep. Big ha ha there. That was a luxury Bones enjoyed through Reginald. The biggest reason Bones lurked in the background all damn day was because he was exhausted. Tired from fighting the monsters inside, resisting their cravings. He had to stay up and watch. He wasn’t sure what they might do when Reginald slept.
****
“The cameras make sense,” Reginald told Bones for the tenth time. “You’re being overly paranoid.”
“I don’t want you watching her.”
“You said come up with a compromise. You agreed this was safe enough.”
“I didn’t expect you’d want it for watching her.”
“I don’t want it just for watching her. I want it for watching everybody.”
“But especially her,” he said.
Reginald paused, realizing. “You almost sound jealous, Bonesy.”
The barked laugh he gave was comical to Reginald. He never saw Bones like this. “Jealous, good one Reggie. You know damn well that’s not it.”
“So you want me to find another woman to watch.”
“Why a woman?”
Why a woman? “I’m not watching a man,” Reginald said, wondering where Bones’ head was.
“Why do you suddenly need to watch people? It’s kind of strange, don’t you think?”
Reginald paused and took a breath, mostly to give Bones a moment to hear how stupid his line of questioning was, given how strange everything was about him!
“I mean why her, why not look around? You don’t settle that quickly on something like this.”
The vehemence in his tone reminded Reginald of his need to go carefully. A man couldn’t possibly have that much hate without some kind of just cause. “Fine, Bones. I’ll look around.”
“No you won’t,” Bones muttered.
“If I say I’ll look around, I mean it.” Reginald waited again for his approval. All of this was pointless if he didn’t have his cooperation. He’d get Bones closer to normal things through observation at least, but he wanted him fully awa
re that was Reginald’s plan and tactic. He’d not trick him into it, but he wasn’t above harmless coercing and indirect persuasion either.
“Six weeks,” Bones muttered.
“Six weeks what?”
“To look around,” Bones hissed.
“Fine, six months.”
“I said weeks.”
“Fine, six years.”
He felt Bones staring at him. “What are you doing? Is this psychobabble?”
Reginald laughed a little. “Maybe it’s just joking.”
“Maybe it’s not funny. Maybe this is more serious than you get.”
“Well, it’s hard to get when I don’t know it,” Reginald said.
“And you don’t need to know. You can take my word for it.”
“Sure I can,” Reginald shook his head at Bones’ stubbornness.
“You damn well can. And you damn well need to.”
“Well, are we damn well done here? Can I damn well finish hooking the cameras up?”
“Sure,” he said, raising both his hands like he wasn’t going to be responsible for the damage that was damn well coming.
“Thank you Bones. And I would hope you trust me enough to know I will be very careful.”
“It’s not about trust and it’s not about you.”
Reginald nodded as he got to installing the software for the fancy cams he set up near “various” graves.
“This is about that slimy cunt making moves on you and you being the virtuous candidate for being played.”
“Plaaaaayed. You make me sound like an imbecile.”
“Reggie,” Bones said, back to pissed. “You don’t know what’s coming.”
“I know I’m not.”
“You little fuck, you’re going to play this like it’s nothing, aren’t you.”
“Aaaaand action.” Reginald clicked finalize on the live feed. “Yessssss,” he hissed as the four graves came into view immediately. “Look at that, it’s crystal clear!”
“Yeah, amazing,” Bones said.
“Stop freaking out, Bones. I’m just using your eyeballs.” He zoomed in on the grave of interest. “Unless you want to let me take your dick for a spin at some point.”
“At no point are you doing that, Reggie boy.”
“I know,” he said lightly.
“You sound like you think that could change.”
Reginald shrugged. “Maybe you’re a paranoid, cynical bastard.” At Bones’ silence, Reginald chuckled. “But I do love you, Bones. I would never do anything to hurt you.” Reginald focused on Bones reaction to that, hoping he believed him.
“And for the fucking record, I do trust you,” he muttered.
Reginald smiled a little at hearing it. At hearing that Bones cared that he knew that. “Good. You damn well should trust me.”
CHAPTER THREE
Reginald fussed with the items on his desk, eyeing the clock again.
Fourteen and three-quarter minutes now, Bones informed dryly, watching him arrange his study tools perfectly. You know there is a name for what you’re doing. I believe it’s called … Bones tapped his temple. Something, something, disorder.
“Very funny,” Reginald muttered in a sing song tone. “You should try actually paying attention when I study. If you did, you’d know it’s called obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, but that’s not what I’m doing. This is simply me being exactly orderly.”
Right. Because the paper and pen continuously move all over the place.
Movement drew their eyes to the screen, quickly putting an end to their constant bickering.
“Class is in session,” Reginald eagerly said as he sat and picked up his voice recorder. Bones stepped slightly back into his mind as Reggie prepared to play doctor. “Day one. Tuesday. Five-fifty-five P.M. Our subject has arrived and … Oh, she looks …”
Like shit shoved into a dirty sock. Bone’s peered out of the smallest crack and took his own, inconspicuous notes.
“Look at that,” Reginald hurried, pointing at the screen. “I’ve seen her do this.”
Scratch her arm?
“No, she’s picking at her skin. It’s a symptom,” Reginald said. “One in the OCD family. It’s called Dermatillomania or Excoriation. Often due to stress or anxiety, or depression.”
Or an STD. Bone’s conducted his own study, mostly of her imperfections. Fat nose, probably ears to match. He spied the tips poking through her hair, confirming it. And that hair. Nappy-headed-prostitute must be the trending style.
“Stop being so mean,” Reginald muttered.
Stay out of my thoughts and it won’t bother you.
“Well, I kind of like being in your thoughts.” Reginald sat forward a little. “Something’s happened to her,” he whispered.
Looks like she’s been repeatedly mugged today, Bones’ mused.
“God, she’s crying again.”
I’d cry too if I looked like her.
“She’s not ugly and you know it,” Reginald snapped. “You’re just playing scruffy wuffy.”
Bones smirked. Scruffy wuffy? The fuck does that even mean?
A hint of sadism reverberated in Reginald’s low laugh. “It means that deep down underneath all that scruff, there’s a little puppy that goes wuff.”
They both saw it at the same moment and sat forward. She’d dropped something. “Don’t pick it up,” Reginald whispered, frozen as they watched the white paper. “Please, please,” he begged in a light squeal.
As if in answer to his plea, a wind tossed the little clue several feet behind her.
“Yesssssss. What do you think it is?” Reginald wondered quietly as though she might hear.
Who knows? A bucket list hopefully. But likely her pimp’s phone number. Bone’s went back to studying her, his eyes locked on those kankles. He slowly allowed his gaze to roam upward over her body, shaking his head.
“What?” Reginald wondered, annoyed.
“What do you see in her? I’m trying to look with normal eyes and she’s just … you can do better than this Reggie. A lot better. By the world’s standards, you’re considered way above average.” Bones knew that from past experience. The women naturally flocked to him and he was convinced it was because evil gravitated to punishment. They all loved him up to his proposition—gratification by mutilation. It became his get-the-fuck-outta-my-face card when it was obvious having any kind of legal sexual relations wasn’t in his blood.
“I see… something different in her.”
They’re all the same, Reggie. To think he’d have to watch him go through that revelation. And even if she was different, even if she wasn’t, by some miracle, another whore, Bones was still what he was. He hated to even think that Reginald would put any hope in him whatsoever. But he was sure that’s exactly what Reginald was doing. Hoping to change Bones, to help Bones. Oh, Bones would love nothing more than to let Reginald use his body to be normal. But it’s what he was that was the problem in that scenario. Bones knew what he craved, what he had to have when it was in his fingers, and he’d never again let himself be put in a situation where his monsters reminded him of who was boss. It wasn’t Bones. It was Satan.
Their breath froze. “Holy hell,” Reginald whispered.
The second her gaze left the screen, Bones muttered, “Horny whore done spotted the cams.”
“No she didn’t,” Reginald said. “And don’t call her that until you have proof.”
Bones shook his head. “The proof is coming, I assure you.”
“Well, the cameras are well hidden, she couldn’t see them. She’s looking at the fake flower I stuck it on.”
Bones watched as she tossed those rose petals. “She throws the—”
“I know what she does,” Bones cut in, annoyed. “I was there when she told you the stupid bullshit. She did it again!” Bones said, alarmed.
“She barely looked,” Reginald hissed. “Just stay calm.” He brought the voice recorder to his mouth. “Subject is now leaving at six after six
. Eleven minute visit with her deceased brother.”
Less time than the last ones.
“Ohhhh, good point,” Reginald considered, writing that in his tablet. “She did seem in a hurry. Something happened, I can feel it. Something at work maybe.”
If she even had a job, Bones thought. By the looks of her, she was the kind of woman that lived at home still, taking care of her elderly parents. He wasn’t happy that she actually had no whore like traits but there were whores and whores at heart. And he was willing to bet she was a whore waiting to happen.
They both watched her hurried steps down the cement walk. You’d swear she’d never been fucked. At all. Ever, Bones mused.
“She could be a virgin.”
Bones laughed only to have Reginald refuse him the use of his own body to express it. “It’s bad manners,” Reginald said, in defense. “And come on. You’re a little too educated to think every woman is a whore, I hope. Surely you have to know that’s not true.”
She’d fuck any dirty Joe in the right situation.
“Or,” he said extra lightly, “she could make love to a clean Joe in the right situation.”
Bones gave a disgusted smirk at hearing Reginald wanted to be that clean Joe. The idea he even contemplated it sent a tremor of indescribable rage through him.
“God, Bones, are you kidding me?” Reginald asked when he felt the violent reaction. He thought he was being dramatic, Bones knew. If only.
She opened the gate leading to the parking lot where the cameras stopped and abruptly ended their sick studies. “We need more cameras,” Reginald said, hurrying out the door, eager to get to the piece of paper before it disappeared. Was it a receipt? Bones heard him wonder. Somebody’s phone number?
Bones didn’t offer his two cents as he searched the ground as well. A flash of white caught their eye and sent them on a bumbling stumbling chase for it.
Reginald stomped his foot on the paper before it could fly away again and quickly picked it up and put it in his pocket. “Wait,” he hissed when Bones reached to snatch it out. “Just … wait.”
****