John grinned at him.“Not in front of your boyfriend, Cyril.”
Cyril rolled his eyes and stared at John until he sighed and his shoulders slumped.Satisfied that John would obey, Cyril rushed to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit.By the time he was back, John’s jacket and t-shirt were gone, exposing his chest.
Just like Cyril had thought, there were more wounds he hadn’t been able to see before.
It was horrifying.John’s chest was turning black and blue, which meant that whatever had happened to him wasn’t as recent as Cyril had thought.Someone also seemed to have taken great pleasure in cutting up John’s chest and stomach.Cyril stopped counting the parallel wounds when he reached fifteen.Some of them were so deep that Cyril suspected they’d need stitches, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with that.
Now that John was half naked, Cyril could see that his arm wasn’t broken, or at least, he didn’t think it was.The reason John had been holding it against his chest was that he had more long cuts on his forearm.They came too close to John’s wrist for comfort.Cyril decided to focus on those first and prayed that John wouldn’t need more than he could give.He’d clearly lost blood, and that wasn’t something Cyril could help with.
“This wasn’t done today,” Vale said as Cyril went to work.
John shook his head.He was pale and sweating.Cyril wanted to tell Vale to grab a glass of water, but he knew his boyfriend would want to know what had happened first.He wouldn’t leave Cyril unprotected if there was a chance someone was coming after John.
“I escaped,” John said in a strained voice as Cyril continued poking at his wounds.“See?They hadn’t gotten started with the second arm yet, and my legs are fine.”He offered up both his arms for Cyril and Vale to look at.
Cyril wasn’t sure where John found the strength to joke about this, but he was glad that he was.He wasn’t sure he’d be able to deal if John was whining in pain.He was already having a hard time dealing with the wounds as it was.
“What happened to you?”he asked, never looking away from the cut he was cleaning.
“Someone grabbed me.I wasn’t on a job, so admittedly, I wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been.I was just having lunch.Next thing I know, I’m waking up in an empty warehouse, tied to a chair.”He grimaced.“They had to untie me when they started in on the arm.”
“Who did this to you?Why?”
For some reason, John glanced at Vale.Vale didn’t seem to notice.He was keeping an eye on Cyril, like always.It was something he did a lot, as if he was afraid that if he didn’t, Cyril would disappear.Considering everything, it was understandable.It even felt good because Cyril knew that if anything happened to him, Vale would find him.Hell, he’d know before it happened and would prevent it.
“They grabbed me because they were looking for someone,” John eventually said.
They were finally getting somewhere.“Who were they looking for?We should probably warn them.”
“It’s why I came here.They were looking for Vale.”
* * * *
VALE WASN’T SHOCKEDto hear that.In his years as a professional assassin, he’d made a certain number of enemies.This wouldn’t be the first time someone came after him, although usually, they didn’t stop to torture one of his friends first.
Not that John was Vale’s friend.He wasn’t.
“Vale?”Cyril asked, his hands faltering for a moment before he continued cleaning the cuts on John’s arm.“Why?What do they want from him?Who were they?”
John glanced at Vale again.There was something in his expression that told Vale he wouldn’t like what was about to come out of his mouth.Vale wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.
He had to.If these people were coming after him, they might attempt to get Cyril next, and it wasn’t something Vale could tolerate.In fact, he’d sooner go after these people and kill every single one of them than allow them to even look in Cyril’s direction.
“She mentioned an organization,” John said.
Vale understood the meaning of the words right away, but Cyril didn’t.He didn’t know what John was talking about.
“What organization?”he asked.“And who isshe?Do you have more information?Can you give us more details?”
Vale opened his mouth, but nothing came out.He wanted to tell John that it was unnecessary to give more details because he knew.He wanted to tell Cyril to let it go because it wasn’t important.He couldn’t do either of those things.
He couldn’t keep this from Cyril, even though he desperately wanted to.He knew that telling him everything might mean losing him, and that wasn’t something Vale was ready for.He never would be.
It didn’t look like he’d have a choice.
The Organization was coming after him.They were lethal, and if he wasn’t careful, they could easily get the upper hand.They’d go for his weakness, which was Cyril, which meant that Cyril needed to know that someone might come after him.
He wasn’t going to be happy.
