Page 54 of Prior Claim
“Pretty good,” Sevastyan chuckled. “It’s been a long flight. I don’t think he knew what the words sinus and rinse meant together.”
Rei nodded, as if Sevastyan had just cleared everything up for everyone. Sevastyan asked the driver a question about food, and the conversation took a sharp turn toward the man’s favorite hot dog eateries and how he sometimes ate New York style pizza, which seemed like a low-key scandalous admission. That didn’t quite make sense. Rei let the words drift by him, only listening for anything he might need to respond to. Outside the window, automobile lights slid past, the opposite side of the freeway five lanes wide and full.
“You boys stay warm, now,” the driver said, dropping them off in front of a hotel in the downtown area, which he’d called The Loop for some unknown reason.
“Will do.” Sevastyan waved him off.
Rei occupied his hands with their luggage. Sevastyan led the way into the hotel lobby and then immediately back out the other side onto a cross street. He took one of the rolling bags from Rei, letting both of them walk faster in the biting January wind. Rei shivered, grateful for the mask over his face. There were bits of snow and ice in the air. The wind ate through his puff coat.
Sevastyan led the way down two blocks, around a corner, across a street, and then right again onto another street.. Twice they detoured through lobbies or what appeared to be mostly closed shopping areas. As they walked, Sevastyan wrapped a scarf around his head and covered his face. They entered the lobby of a tall glass-fronted building. Sevastyan went directly to the bank of elevators and called for a car. One of the six sets of doors swished open. Rei followed Sevastyan inside. The car was clean, the walls mirrored and shiny. Sevastyan hit two buttons, one for floor eight and one for floor thirteen.
On floor eight, Sevastyan held the door. Rei disembarked first and waited for Sevastyan to signal where to go next. Sevastyan scanned the hallway and then nodded to the door to the left. He opened it with a keycard.
Inside was a condo, fully furnished in beige and cream, with brown accents. There was a wall facing the door, creating an entryway that blocked sight-lines into the rest of the unit. The floor was tile. There were hooks for coats and cubbies for shoes. Sevastyan went first, taking two steps to the left and into a front seating area. Rei waited with the luggage at the front door. A few moments later, Sevastyan returned, a gun just disappearing into a holster under his coat. He must have retrieved it while checking the space. Guns were difficult to fly with.
Rei followed Sevastyan around the end of the wall into the condo. Besides the small seating space that could be seen from the front door, there was an open area dominated by massive windows with a full living room setup in front of them: white couches, a three-seater facing a two-seater, two brown stuffed chairs with their backs to the floor-to-ceiling windows, and a fireplace.
Sevastyan moved toward a hallway to the right. He signaled Rei down. Rei sank down to the floor in a kneel and waited. At least the heat was on. The warmth of the condo slowly seeped through the mask and into Rei’s cheeks.
For the next thirty minutes, Sevastyan went over the apartment, checking the security he had probably put in place at some point before. Rei remained still and silent. Until Sevastyan was satisfied, he had to assume he was on camera, and as long as he was on camera he had to be Sevastyan’s perfect slave, without needs or regard for himself.
“Secure.” Sevastyan returned to the living room. “Guard down.”
Rei sagged in place.
Sevastyan pulled off his coat, tossing it toward one of the chairs. Stiff and tired, Rei pushed himself to his feet, doing the same, though he laid his coat down carefully.
“Little one,” Sevastyan whispered.
Rei turned.
Sevastyan wrapped him in his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. You were so good. So very good. So brave.”
Rei clung to the front of Sevastyan’s hoodie.
“I’m sorry. Hold on.” Sevastyan let go and pulled off his hoodie. He shucked his under shirt as well, leaving nothing but bare skin. Rei shivered, looking at him. He couldn’t touch, not on his own. He didn’t have the right.
Sevastyan caught him. “You need skin, little one. Hold still.” He pried the sleeves of Rei’s chunky sweater off his hands and grabbed the hem, tugging it over Rei’s head. The mask came with it, the fabric dragging it off Rei’s ears and nose. Sevastyan dropped the sweater to the couch with their coats, pausing only a moment to shake it out and lay it right side out for future wear. Then he turned back, pulling Rei’s base layer shirt off as well. Rei’s fingers reflexively curled into fists. Sevastyan drew him in, wrapping his arms around Rei. “You did well. You held it together so long.”
Rei pressed his face against Sevastyan’s shoulder, clinging to all the skin that had been forbidden.
Sevastyan uttered a wordless groan. “Food is coming in ten minutes. I want you to try to eat.”
“Yes, Master.”
Sevastyan pressed his lips against the top of Rei’s head. They sat on the couch, Rei in Sevastyan’s lap, clinging, until the buzzer from the lobby announced the food delivery. The front desk accepted the delivery and a service person brought it up.
Sevastyan put on his hoodie to go to the door. They ate sitting on the floor together, wrappers and takeout containers spread out on the ground, the coffee table pushed to the side, out of the way, and the couches hemming them in. Sevastyan had ordered a variety of food: pizza, antipasto salad, sautéed spinach, a spread of soft cheeses, olives, roasted garlic, and tomatoes with fresh basil. It was a hedonistic amount of food. Much of it warm. All of it cooked to perfection. And to top it off was chocolate cake: gluten-free, Sevastyan explained, so more like a fudge than a sponge. Rei’s fork slid through it like creamy butter, the color richer than a chocolate bar, the texture smooth, each bit on the fork shining in the light of the lamps. Rei ate one bite and leaned back against the couch, skin tingling from the deep dark notes of chocolate mixed with rich cream sparkling on his tongue.
“It’s sin,” Sevastyan said, licking a bite from his own fork. Rei watched Sevastyan’s Adam’s apple move in his throat and groaned. Sevastyan smiled back. “Drink water and give it a moment, then have more.”
Rei clutched at the bottle of water and chugged it, never taking his eyes off Sevastyan. He was beautiful this way, when the Merchari agent and the double agent disappeared and he was just this, just Sevastyan—-in love with food, with texture, with sound, with sharing all of it with Rei. It made the world bleed with color again. When was the last time they’d had a moment like this?
If it were always like that, I wouldn’t be leaving.
Rei rolled the words from the past around in his head. All still true. If it were always like this, then neither of them would change anything.
Rei carved out a second bite and held it on his tongue. He crawled through the containers and paused before touching his master. Sevastyan inclined his head, inviting him in. Rei moved into Sevastyan’s lap and Sevastyan widened his arms. Rei pressed his bare chest against Sevastyan’s and leaned in, slotting his lips against his master’s.
