“You think Baikal would be okay with me tossing you onto his pristine foyer floor and letting you cream the place?”
He licked his lips. “I don’t suppose so.”
“No,” he chuckled, some of the tension and the anger that had been swirling through him like a twister easing at the ridiculousness of this conversation. “We’re at Concealed,” he confirmed, leaning in reach for the blindfold. The second his fingers touched the back of the fabric, however, Ani pulled away.
“Don’t,” he said, causing Flix to frown.
“It’s unnecessary since you’ve figured out where we are.”
“I’m all right with doing it,” Ani began, “Really. I meant it. I’ll do whatever you want, but…I don’t think I can…See themwatching. Usually when I film, I have a mask on, it’s not the same, but I think I’ll need it. Is that…okay?”
“I was going to drag you in there and make you do this whether you wanted to or not,” Flix admitted. “Isthatokay?”
Ani surprised him by chuckling. “Yeah, I don’t have a problem with that.”
“I’m asking this seriously. Is there something wrong with you mentally that I don’t know about?” He’d just told him he was going to screw him senseless in front of a crowd, even if he hadto do it against his will, and yet Ani was grinning like the cat that caught the canary.
“You want people to see us together,” Aneski said.
Ah, so he was getting all excited because he figured afterward there was no way Flix was going to lock him back up and throw away the key. Fair. Disappointing that that’s where his mind initially went, but Flix couldn’t fault him for it. Turning the hovercar off, he popped open his door.
“Hold on and let me come around for you,” he instructed, stepping out and quickly circling, certain that Ani wouldn’t listen.
Aneski had one foot on the pavement by the time Flix reached there, cheeky grin still in place even as Flix chided him with a click of his tongue and helped him the rest of the way out.
“It hasn’t even been five minutes and you’re already not listening to me,” he pointed out, taking Ani’s hand to lead him to the entrance across the lot. The place was packed, but there weren’t many other people in the garage, which made it easier for them to reach the guarded glass door. “I’m a—”
“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Fulmini,” the guard stopped him from dropping Ani’s hand to access his multi-slate and the membership card stored there. “We’ve been expecting you. The room you’ve asked for is prepared and ready whenever you are. If you would like, you have full use of the VIP elevator which will take you straight up to your desired floor, though I’ve been instructed to offer you use of level five if your plans have changed.”
“They haven’t,” Flix said, stepping through as soon as the guard unlocked the entrance. “But tell Pavel I said thanks.”
“What’s on level five?” Ani leaned in and whispered as they walked through the foyer and straight to the golden elevator set in the middle row of four others. He kept close to Flix,tucking himself against him once they were in the medium-sized box like he actually trusted him.
“What happened to being angry?” Flix suddenly asked. “One minute, you’re so pissed off about Russ, you’re kidnapping me, and the next, you’re clinging to me like this?” He shook his arm but Aneski didn’t loosen his grip. “Don’t tell me all it took was locking you up for a few days to get these types of results?”
“I thought you had something to do with my brother’s death,” he reminded. “Now that I know the truth, the only thing I have to be mad about is the way you’ve treated me since then. Forgetting you took a guy's virginity is fucked up, by the way. But it’s still kind of nice knowing you didn’t think I was bad in bed.”
“You are many things,” Flix stated, “but that is definitely not one of them.” The elevator had mirrored walls, and he took a moment to gaze at their reflections. He was dressed in his Vail uniform and he’d given Ani a similar set just without the pin. With the way the younger man was holding onto him, even with the blindfold as an excuse, it was impossible to miss they were lovers.
“Where’d you keep getting the uniforms from, Ani?” He’d been meaning to ask, and there was no time like the present.
“Huh?” he tipped his head in his direction, but the blindfold prevented him from making eye contact. “You mean the Vail ones? You can’t be on campus without one, so any time I needed to, I borrowed one from a friend. Why?”
“What friend?” Flix already had half a mind to break every single one of Yuze’s limbs, but if it was him, he’d add his fingers in for good measure. No, actually, that was where he should start, considering those hands had been all over what washis.
“Bridger sometimes,” Aneski replied, completely unaware of the violent turn Flix’s thoughts had taken. “Sila once or twice.”
“Sila?” he stopped him. “Sila Varun?”
“Yeah. I did him a couple of favors before.”
“How many fucking people are you friends with on this damn planet?” The elevator stopped on the top floor and dinged, and Flix shook his head as he stepped out.
He should have invited the entire city to this event just to satisfy the monstrous jealousy making quick work of his sanity. Honestly, it was a miracle he’d managed to stay apart from Ani this long if this was how he was going to react the second they became an item.
“That’s what I wanted to ask,” Aneski said as Flix led him down the wide hallway. “How’d you manage to get a room here so quickly? What happened when I went into the bathroom? Clearly something had to have to trigger this. One second, you were refusing to let me step foot out of the bedroom, and now you’ve dragged me out of the house? What’s up?”
“Scared?” Flix stopped them in front of the door with the number they’d been assigned hanging over the top in polished gold.
