“Fuck, I love when you speak to me like that.”Sai’s voice slips back into my mind in a wicked rasp.“Makes me feel the opposite of small. Makes me feel large and har—”
“Good boys listen to their masters.”I slice him with my gaze, making it clear the interruptions stop now.
“Oh,fuck me,” he splutters, eyes shut, words barely audible beneath my darkness binding his lips.
I wait to see if he’ll listen, if he’ll make true on his words and behave. When he leans back on the table with one hand, watching but silent, I continue.
“Moving forwards.” I clasp my hands together on the table, pretending Sai wasn’t just whispering into my head. “I think it would be best if we started again. A clean slate.”
Even beneath the gag, Sai’s cheeks show he’s grinning. Julien nods, Ezekial smiles, but Kane… it’s like he knows.
Because he just watches me, waiting, those dark eyes steady.
“As friends,” I say.
It’s like a bomb explodes.
Or the aftermath of one. The moment when time freezes, and silence thickens just before the chaos erupts.
Well, it would be silent, if I couldn’t hear them.
“Did I… did I fucking hear that right?”Sai starts.
“Keep calm, just… just let her keep talking,”Ezekial murmurs.
“I believe she has finished.”I feel Julien’s gaze land upon my clasped hands, trailing over my stern posture.“She’s waiting for our response.”
“Our response is fucking ‘no’!”
Ezekial’s gaze flashes to Sai.“We can’t just say no!”
He scowls.“Erm, yes, we can. Look, I’ll say it—”
Another barricade of darkness slides over Sai’s mouth and his eyes narrow into angry slits of blue. But Kane’s stony gaze drills into Sai with several silent threats that stop him from saying anything.
“Is that a problem?” I ask, sweet as sin, enough sugar to sting.
“YES!”Sai screams in his mind. Thankfully, everyone winces, meaning no one sees my flinch.
Now, I simply wait, studying each man, knowing the serum will be burning away, and that the need to answer my question will start to feel unbearable...
“Julien, fucking save us, man.”Sai seeks him out, eyes wide and pleading.
So do I, and the vampire who always seems so aloof and knowledgeable, as though he’s seen a thousand lifetimes, now looks… panicked.
I can see the cogs turning in that ancient mind as his eyes meet mine and the serum begins to gnaw away at his restraint.
“Initially, it may—”
“Initially?” I parrot back with a coy smile.
Julien stills, pauses.“To begin with… at the start...”
I smirk. I’ve turned him into a dictionary.
“Why would we only be friendsinitially?” I query.
“Friendships take many forms. They’re complex, and they can… evolve. Become…”
