“With,” Rafael echoes.
“It’s complicated.”
Rafael snorts lightly. “It looked complicated. You drugged him. I almost didn’t let you take him out of here.”
“So why did you?”
“Because I could tell it was … complicated. And shit gets that way. For people like us.”
My brain whites out for a second so that I don’t have to react to those words. I need them to go past me.
Rafael disengages and walks to the desk. He sits down and starts working at the keyboard.
“Did you see this guy before or after you fucked the man you were … with?”
Rafael’s eyes flick up to me when I don’t answer. I don’t know what he sees because I don’t know what I’m feeling.
Rafael says less abrasively, “Dominic has fucked me out there plenty of times. It’s probably what would be happening right now if we weren’t in here. It’s what Lush is for. At least in part. Before or after, Andre?”
“Before.”
Rafael is busy at the keyboard for a while. Dominic goes to stand behind him. He plays with the ends of Rafael’s hair. Rafael’s eyelashes flutter occasionally, but he just keeps working. He’s breathing hard though. He’s very aroused. So is Dominic. I interrupted them.
“This is where you came in,” he says, getting up out of the chair. “You’ll have to find the guy.”
My movements still feel jerky and unnatural as I move to take the chair. Rafael and Dominic step back, giving me space.
I feel better as I start working. My hands are busy. My brain has something to do. It glitches a bit at seeing myself and Elias, but I focus on my task. I find the guy I’m looking for. He definitely took a picture of Elias.
As I zoom in, Rafael leans over me to study the screen. When that makes me get out of the chair, he seems to catch himself.
“Sorry,” he says.
I tense. I don’t like that my discomfort is obvious. I don’t like that he’s being so careful with me. He’s acting like he owes me for something.
I freeze as an image flashes through my mind, blazing up from the dark space where nothing is supposed to exist: a hand pulling Rafael back, offering me instead with the wordsmore disposable.
A shudder goes through me. Rafael’s gray eyes flick up, and I can see that he remembers that night, remembers how badly I got hurt.
My mind whites it out.
“I’ll match this to an ID,” Rafael promises, but Dominic lays his hand over Rafael’s on the mouse.
Something darkens in him as he says, “That’s Ernesto Atolli. Mafia.”
That jumpstarts my brain. “Mafia? Why the hell would he be interested in Elias?”
Rafael is frowning. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name?”
“Probably because Ernesto’s uncle is Piero Valenci,” Dominic says grimly. It doesn’t mean anything to me, but it obviously does to Rafael.
“Dominic, are you sure?”
“Yeah, Angel.”
“Fuck. Then Ernesto was probably here scouting young men to traffic. Elias is what, early 20s? And he’s very pretty.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap.
