He frowned. “You think I’m going to unchain you from the wall but keep you trapped in this house on your own?”
“I’m sure you’ll provide one or two staff members to clean and cook,” Ani said. “But otherwise? It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
“Yes,” he disagreed. “It is. I can’t fuck you if I’m not with you, now can I?”
He couldn’t smell him or talk to him or listen to the sound of his breathing either, but Flix kept those things to himself.
“It’s not another trap, Tiny Terror,” he reassured again.
“Then…why the change of heart?”
Actually, this was a good chance to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me you’re friends with Rabbit?”
“Trace?” He shook his head. “We’re not that close. We just run in the same social circles sometimes. Why?”
“He vouched for you.”
Ani cocked his head. “You sound…jealous.”
“Do I need to be?”
“OfRabbit?” he snorted and laughed. “Come on.”
“Of anyone,” Flix corrected.
“I’myourOnus,” Ani pointed out. “And you’ve got me locked away. If anything, I should be the one worried about becoming jealous. Who knows what you’re doing or who you’re talking to out there.”
Flix rolled his eyes and stood. “Shower. Now.”
When Ani still didn’t seem entirely convinced, Flix started undoing the buttons of his shirt. That seemed to reassure him at least enough to get him to climb off the bed and head toward the bathroom, though he paused again just beneath the entrance.
“You can keep the door open,” Flix offered. From where the door was situated, Ani couldn’t see into this side of the room, but he’d be able to keep his eye on the exit that led into the hallway. Flix wouldn’t be able to walk out without him catching him first.
“Why are you being nice all of a sudden?” Aneski asked.
“I guess we’re both going to have to work on gaining the other's trust again, huh?” He hadn’t realized it’d gotten that bad. No, that was a lie. Of course he had. That’d been what he’d wanted from the beginning, what he’d set out to achieve. “The original goal was to push you so far away that you’d be too pissed to bother with me ever again, but clearly that failed miserably. If we’re going to be with each other anyway, there’s no need foreither of us to hate the experience. It’s going to be a lasting one, after all.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say, Ani?”
“I want you to tell me what I really have to do to get out of here,” he said, then backtracked and added, “I’ll come back, I didn’t mean that how it sounded. I want to be able to come and go freely. What do I have to do to get you to let me?”
“Getting ahead of yourself, don’t you think?” Flix drawled. “You’re always like this. I give an inch, and you instantly think you deserve a mile.”
“You used to give me everything I needed even without me having to ask for it,” Aneski replied.
“I spoiled you,” he agreed.
“So, spoil me again.”
As if turning back the clock was that simple.
“Ani.”
“All right,” he held up a hand and stepped into the bathroom. “I’m going, I’m going.”
Flix listened to the sound of the shower being turned on and rubbed at the ache in the back of his neck. Was it meant to be this difficult? Logically, he could see the reason in everything he’d been told, and yet…
