Boots for the Gentleman

by Augusta Li

  “I got you some things to wear,” Reg said, indicating two large, paper bags. The words “Phillipe Fountainbleu and Son, Fine Tailors,” were written across them in gold leaf. “I had to pretend to be on an errand for the Earl of Ravenshire, since the clothes aren’t my size. So I apologize if they’re a bit, well, not your style.”

  Querry looked at the pile of garments he’d just removed, fouled with blood and the worst kinds of filth and said, “I’m sure they’ll do just fine. Thanks again, Reg.”

  Querry dressed in royal blue, pinstriped trousers and a matching waistcoat. He put on a pair of wing-tipped Oxfords, tied a silk scarf around his neck, and closed his cuffs with gold and lapis links. Then he and Reg sat down to their supper. The salt and grease satisfied Querry’s cravings, and he ate until he was stuffed. Reg opened a bottle of Pinot Noir and then stretched out on the feather bed. The two cats finished their leftovers and curled at their feet.

  Feeling a little guilty over the comforts he enjoyed and the time he spent idle, Querry said, “Where do you think he is, right now?”

  “There can’t be much doubt that Thimbleroy’s got him. As for why, I haven’t yet figured that out.”

  “Reg, there’s something that worries me. Worries me sick.”

  “What is it?”

  “Think about Frolic. Think about his looks, his eagerness for affection. He loves to kiss and touch; he seeks it out. With me, he instigated everything before he even knew what to call it. The first day I found him, he asked me to kiss him.”

  “He instigated with me too. Where are you going with this?”

  “Do you think he may have been designed to seek affection? To provide affection?”

  “Oh. God.”

  Querry nodded gravely and drained his glass before holding it out to Reg to refill. “It may have been written in that book. And if Thimbleroy convinces Frolic that his purpose, his whole reason for being, is to provide pleasure to others, Frolic might go along with it, whether he wants to or not.”

  “And if he doesn’t, he’ll likely be forced,” Reg said in a shaky voice.

  Bolting up, Querry said, “What are we doing here, Reg? We’ve got to go after him! Right now!” He trembled and panted with anger, and then he started to cough. Reg took the flute from his hand and set it aside. He rose up on his knees and wrapped Querry’s head in his arms, smoothing his wavy, black hair.

  “Please, just calm down, Querry,” he said. “You can’t hope to do anything in your condition. He wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “If they—” Querry choked out the words between hacks. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “We’ll get him back,” Reg said, his lips moving against Querry’s hairline and his warm, wine-scented breath washing over Querry’s forehead. “We’ll get him, I promise. Please, just rest for tonight.”

  “Oh, Reg.” A series of sobs wracked Querry’s injured body, and angry tears stung his eyes. Reg held him tight, and he took Reg’s small waist in his arms and balled Reg’s shirt in his fists as he cried. In only two minutes, the spell passed, leaving Querry to feel a bit awkward and embarrassed, but cleansed and focused.

  “Sorry,” he said, sniffling. “I just feel so useless. I don’t like to sit back and do nothing.”

  “You’re only human,” Reg reminded him. Then, slowly, he lowered himself down on his side, keeping Querry’s face pressed tight against his heart. As he had so many times before, Querry closed his eyes and listened to its patter.

  “Feels good to hold you again,” Reg said. “Especially since I never thought I’d get another chance.”

  “Love you, Reggie.”

  “Love you, Querry.” Reg placed a trio of long, hard kisses across Querry’s brow. “I’m glad to have you back. Glad we’re together. I’m sorry it took something like this for me to realize that’s how we belong.”

  “Shh.” Querry reached up and petted the blond hair out of Reg’s face in two firm strokes. His fingertips skimmed down Reg’s cheek and stopped to trace around the perimeter of his shapely lips. Stretching his neck, Querry closed the distance between his own lips and Reg’s skin. He kissed and suckled just below his jaw as his adept fingers dropped to the bow he wore and worked the knot loose. Reg’s shirt fell open, and Querry kissed along the muscle that stretched from his ear to his collarbone. His hand moved back up, over the delightful, soft hair on the back of Reg’s neck and into his plentiful locks.

  “Come here,” Querry said, giving Reg’s tresses a tug. “Give me your mouth.”

  “Yes, Querry,” Reg breathed. He slid down until they faced one another, and their lips met. Querry took a second just to savor the contact of their faces pressed close, and then he angled his head and let his tongue venture into Reg’s mouth. Reg’s tongue met Querry’s fervently, the tip swirling around Querry’s tip as his hands clawed at Querry’s shoulder blades. Wriggling his arm between their tightly pressed bodies, Querry began to pop the little ivory buttons of Reg’s linen shirt one by one. As soon as he finished, he brushed it aside and took hold of Reg’s waist, feeling the muscles twist and contract in his hand as Reg writhed with anticipation. Then he let his fingertips dance up Reg’s spine and back down, to the downy hair just above his ass.

  Reg groaned with need, the sound reverberating through Querry’s body. Querry pried Reg’s clutching hands away from his clothing and sat up on his heels. He tugged away his necktie and flung it off to the side. As he hurried out of the expensive waistcoat and shirt, he watched Reg stretched out on the blankets. He’d rolled to his back, and his white shirt hung open, almost off his shoulders, revealing a smooth, slender body that looked made of gold silk in the firelight. His heart beat so hard and fast that Querry could see it shake his entire torso. Across his lovely face came a look that mixed trepidation, desire, and compliance in an intoxicating way. With a trembling hand, he reached out to stroke Querry’s bare chest.

  “And just why did I bother dressing?” Querry teased.

  “I- I don’t know,” Reg managed.

  As Querry unbuckled his belt, Reg kicked off his plain, black shoes. Both pairs of hands seized Reg’s waistband and tore his trousers and undershorts to his knees, then off. He sprawled back out, his head propped on one of the former sofa cushions, his dark erection pointing up and left and jumping with his pulse.

  Querry stood, toed off his own shoes and slowly unbuttoned his fly. Taking his time, taunting his lover, he reached inside and took hold of his hardened cock, bringing it out through the opening but not removing his trousers. As Reg looked on with longing, Querry gave himself a squeeze, causing a pearl of pre-come to bud from his slit. Reg moaned again, and his hand jerked like he might touch himself. Instead, though, his fingers opened and closed around handfuls of blanket as his waist twisted. A shiny film of perspiration covered his body.

  “Querry,” he panted. “There’s some hand lotion. In the box with the soap.”

  The thief got out of his clothes and dug among the fragrant shells until he found a little tin with a chemist’s logo stamped into the lid. He turned back to face the bed, ready to scoop out some of the creamy, musk-scented balm, rub it over his length, dive on Reggie and take him hard.

  But then he stopped. As much as he wanted Reg, wanted to be inside him, for once in their lives they had time. For once, they wouldn’t need to rush to satisfy themselves before someone noticed them missing. They had all night, and Querry planned to put it to good use. He set the tin on the barrel table for later and crouched down by Reg’s feet. Wrapping his hand around Reg’s left sole, Querry lifted his leg into the air and kissed the dome of bone at his ankle. His other hand moved up Reg’s opposite thigh slowly, leaving raised pores in its wake, until it reached Reg’s balls and gave them a gentle squeeze. In response Reg’s hips bucked up, and Querry chuckled.

  Kneading Reg’s sack, feeling the testicles inside it rolling over his fingers, Querry kissed up the inside of his leg. When it met his body, Querry let go of Reg’s foot
and stretched out over his chest, savoring the amazing feeling of skin against skin. He touched Reg’s burning cheek and felt out his lips before kissing him long and hard, thrusting his tongue almost into Reg’s throat. Reg’s legs wrapped Querry’s hips, his heels compelling Querry forward.

  “Not yet,” Querry said into Reg’s ear.

  “But, Querry—” Reg practically pleaded.

  Sitting back up, Querry grinned mischievously and said, “Not until I kiss every inch of your beautiful body. Touch you everywhere. Just lay back, Reg.”

  He obeyed, and Querry’s hands and mouth began their tour of his skin, beginning at his chin and taking a meandering path down his neck and across his chest and then down the gully between his stomach muscles. When he reached Reg’s cock, he held it in his hand and licked from the base to the head, letting his tongue circle around the corona until it glistened with saliva. Then he kissed in an angled line over Reg’s protruding hipbone, then up his waist. Taking Reg’s wrist, he guided his arm over his head and ruffled the sparse hair beneath it with his nose before continuing across his bicep and forearm. Next Querry took hold of Reg’s shoulders and rolled him to his belly.

  Right away Reg started to draw his knees up and lift his ass into the air, but Querry held a hand to his lower back, halting him. He looked over his shoulder at Querry, confusion and need pouring from his soft eyes.

  “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” he said.

  Running a hand up the long, vertical muscle of Reg’s back, Querry said, “Just be still. Be still and let me admire you. I’ve never really had the chance.”

  With a deep sigh Reg dropped his head back into the nest of pillows, and Querry traced the lines of his calves and thighs. Reaching the soft crescents of his ass, he urged them apart and leaned in, breathing Reg’s smell before letting his tongue swipe the length of his furnace-hot cleft.

  “You taste so good,” he breathed into Reg’s crevice. He took another long, slow swipe with his tongue, this time stopping to let the tip breach Reg’s tight opening. Reg cried out sharply with surprise, went rigid a moment and then relaxed again. Querry let his tongue slide in and out of Reg’s hot, sweet hole. His semen trickled down his cock, and he knew his partner would be just as frustrated, if not more so.

  Reg confirmed it, saying, “God, Querry. I know your strength is down, but could you—could you please….”

  Lifting his head and bringing Reg to his knees, Querry breathed, “Say it.”

  “Fuck me, Querry!”

  “Nice and hard? That’s how you like it. Am I wrong?”

  “No. No, please. Please, Querry.”

  “Get your hips up a little higher,” Querry said, finding the tin of lotion and using it to make his cock shine. Reg scrambled to comply, and Querry wrenched his cheeks apart and circled his anus with the head of his penis. Then, holding tight to Reg’s hips, he thrust in hard. Reg swallowed a squeal, turned his face to the side, and bit his lip. Querry drew himself out almost completely before stabbing back in again and again, hard and deep, just like Reg enjoyed. As he did, he listened to the muffled sounds of pain and passion his partner made.

  “Scream,” Querry said, driving in and out of Reg with all his might, drenching them both in sweat.

  “Ugh. What?”

  “Scream for me, Reggie. I want to hear you scream. We don’t have to be quiet.”

  Querry gave him a few savage pumps, and each one elicited a low wail of ecstasy that turned Querry on more than he would have ever thought possible. Stamina renewed, he reached around Reg and grasped his quivering cock as he kept up his furious pace. Their skin smacked together, loud and wet.

  “Scream my name,” he said through gritted teeth, nearing the end of his endurance. He felt Reg’s erection skip in his hand.

  “Querry! Oh, Querry. God!”

  Unable to hold off much longer, Querry plunged deep into Reg’s body and fucked him with hard, short strokes while matching the rhythm with his hand. Reg cried out wantonly, Querry’s name spilling from his lips again and again.

  “God, I love you, Reg,” Querry said. Then he threw his head back and released a shout of his own as he came hard inside the other, shooting spurt after spurt of come until his entire body felt drained. Just when Querry didn’t think he had the energy to remain upright, he felt Reg’s cock dancing against his palm. “I want to hear you come,” he said.

  “Querry, I’m coming! Oh my God! God, I love you.” Reg beat fists against the blankets as he whimpered and shook, going to pieces with bliss. Hot, white come splattered Querry’s palm. He slid his fist to Reg’s head and squeezed and twisted. Reg’s head thrashed from side to side, and his cries of pleasure were almost indistinguishable from pain. Finally both of them collapsed, Querry laying belly-down over Reg’s back.

  “I’ve never loved anyone like I love you,” Querry said, raking his fingers through Reg’s sweaty hair.

  “Except maybe Frolic?”

  “Maybe. Is that the way you feel about us?”

  “I think,” Reg admitted. “I don’t think I’d like to have to choose between the two of you.”

  “We need to get him back,” Querry said again.

  “How?”

  “The junk shop.” Querry pushed himself up on his hands and knees and went to fetch the washcloth and basin. He wiped Reg clean, then himself, and poured them each another glass of wine. Both men propped the large cushions against the wall and leaned there. Reg covered their lower bodies with a satin sheet, as Querry explained. “I need to replace my gear again, and if there’s any news about a clockwork, Dink will have heard it.”

  Reg nodded and said, “It’s as good a place to start as any. We’d best get some rest.” He kissed Querry on the cheek and then curled on his side. Querry spooned up behind him, feeling gratified and happy, but not quite complete.

  Chapter Eleven

  AFTER taking five different carts and a meandering set of country roads to the outskirts of the city, Querry and Reg arrived at the edge of the factory district just as night fell. It was bitter cold and still; nothing but the distant chug and clang of the plants broke the silence. The clouds hung low and pregnant with snow, but, as yet, none fell. Darting from shadow to shadow, hoping the hood of his fur-lined cape would hide his face, Querry led his companion toward Dink’s shop, jumping at the slightest sound, unnerved even by the crunch of their feet on the filthy snow. Reg’s gloved hand went again and again to the antique pistols with the mother-of-pearl grips that he wore across his hips or to the rapier beside them. Querry knew Reg could handle them. He’d been quick and adept when they’d played at swords as boys, and weapon proficiency remained part of a gentleman’s education. Still, Querry hoped Reg’s skills wouldn’t be put to the test. Fortunately the brutal temperature gave them the streets to themselves, and soon Dink’s scrap yard came into view. Taking Reg’s hand, Querry sprinted the final block and turned onto the path that led to the small store.

  The chimes announced their entry into the warm, well-lit space. Querry breathed into his hands to warm them as he looked at the treasures gleaming on the walls and lining the shelves and counter. Reg, who’d heard Querry talk about the shop but had never seen it himself, gazed around with almost as much amazement as Frolic had. Gingerly he touched a polished brass, telescopic monocle.

  “Odd,” Querry said, looking at the chain-mail curtain from which Dink should have already emerged. He called out his old friend’s name, though, and heard a scuffling from the other room.

  To his surprise, not Dink, but the blond leader of Dink’s scavengers, the boy who called himself Lizard, appeared. Querry could see at once that something had badly shaken the boy; his face was pale and his eyes darted back and forth. In his hand Lizard held a heavy, metal wrench, and he didn’t look like he planned to use it for tinkering. Seeing Querry, the boy relaxed only slightly.

  “Lizard,” Querry said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Where’s Dink? Has something happened?”
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  “Yeah, you might say that,” came the answer. “Couple of weeks back, half a dozen big blokes show up in the middle of the night. Me and the boys was asleep down below, and we woke up to hear all kinds of noise coming from the shop. We hear Dink arguing with someone, so we come up to investigate. Now, these blokes claim to be coming from that Lord Thimbleroy, but they sure don’t look it.”

  “How so?” Querry pressed.

  Lizard shook his head. “Just, don’t. Too rough, like, street gang types.”

  Querry nodded. A boy like Lizard knew thugs when he saw them. “What happened?”

  “They say they’re recruiting artisans for work on that there tower. Old Dink tried to brush them off, when they tell him the job ain’t optional. I come out from behind the curtain, tell them if they want to take Dink, well, they’re gonna have to go through us first. But Old Dink calls us off. Told me to keep an eye on the place, and he’d be back as soon as the job was done. Wouldn’t hear no arguments.”

  “He went with them?” Reg asked.

  “Who the hell are you?” Lizard asked suspiciously, bringing the wrench to rest across his shoulder.

  “This is Reg,” Querry said. “We grew up together. Speaking of which, where are the other boys?”

  “Ain’t no more work or food here, mate,” Lizard said. “Reckon they’re off to find some someplace else.”

  “Why not you?”

  A serious look fell over Lizard’s face, adding years to his countenance. “I made Old Dink a promise. Said I’d look out for the place. If it weren’t for Old Dink, don’t know what would have become of me. Mum went off with a drunken gambler, see.”