He squeezed my hand so hard it hurt, and I rubbed his wrist, and then he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and I nodded. Together we slunk along the restaurant and peeked around the corner. Ari hissed, but there was no way the shouting man could hear us.
The tall skinny guy was berating a much-smaller man standing in front of him with his head bowed.
“That’s Tyler,” Ari murmured. “He was my roommate at the shelter.”
The boy looked terrible, and it was no wonder he was dressed for a position in the back of the house. He had a yellow waterproof apron slung over his jeans and stained white T-shirt. The part of his face I could see was deeply scarred, and even from a distance it was clear no one would hire him for a customer service job. He had his left arm cradled close to his chest.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“I hired you because I need help, not a fucking hospital bill to pay. If you leave for the ER, you’re fired, and I’m not fucking paying you for this week because you’re stranding me when we’ve got a shitload of work to finish.”
Tyler lifted his head and bared his teeth. “It’s not my fault. Dez backed into me while I was working, and I dropped the fry basket into the oil and got splashed. It’s bad. I know what a bad burn feels like, and this is fucking awful.”
“Get back to work!” The man pointed at a nearby door. “I’m already paying you under the table so you can keep as much cash as possible. I’m doing you a favor!”
“He’s doing himself a fucking favor,” Ari mumbled, and he slid his hand into his pocket and drew out a knife, and then, with a tap of my fingertip to his elbow, he slipped the weapon away again. Tyler yanked open the side door that led into the back of the restaurant.
Ari growled. “Tyler is okay. Never rude. Respectful.” Ari watched the man, who I thought might be the owner, with the steely single-mindedness of a predator.
I bent and pressed my lips to his ear. “Do you want to kill that asshole tonight? Would that make you happy?”
He turned and glanced up at me, excitement shining in his eyes. “Yes, Master. Should I kill him?”
I rested my forehead on his and wrapped my arms around him. “Yes.”
He bit his lip, then gave me a swift kiss before he turned, and we peeked around the corner again. There was a car parked next to a green dumpster, and the man stomped over and yanked open the driver-side door. After a moment of rooting around inside, he stood up again and lit a cigarette while leaning back against the car. For someone who had so much fucking work that needed to be done, he sure wasn’t rushing inside to help.
“Let’s wait for him to close up. It’s nearly eight. It can’t be much longer. I think the restaurant is only open for another half hour.”
“Okay,” Ari said, but he didn’t so much as blink.
“Come on. We’ll park the truck somewhere along the street so we can see the vehicles coming in and out.”
He stood up and fixed his excited gaze on my face, and I loved the intensity blazing in his expression. It wasn’t like the smiles, but it was real and extremely potent—all Ari. We moved the truck down the street by about half a block. I had quarters to feed the meter, and I snorted as Ari hopped out and put them in. He grabbed my hand when he got back and settled in for the wait. He never minded things like this. He wanted to be a lawyer, but with his patience, he would also make an excellent cop. It didn’t take long for Ari to lean across the console and kiss along my neck, though, picking up where we’d left off in the restaurant.
“Thank you for the present, Master. I want to do it here, can we kill him here? I don’t want to wait to get him home.” He opened his mouth and slid his teeth along my jugular, and I shuddered at the sensation. I wasn’t scared of him, exactly, but some days he had less control than others, and adrenaline rushed my body.
“Whatever you want.” My cock throbbed. His hand settled on my hard-on, and I chuckled. “What are you doing?”
He rubbed my bulge and leaned down across the console at what had to be an uncomfortable angle to inhale against my crotch.
“You’re going to miss your prey,” I warned and fought to keep my eyes open.
“Master, if I blow you, will you watch? I want that one tonight.”
Humming, I ran my fingers through the long, soft hair on the back of his head. “Yes,” I murmured, keeping my gaze fixed on the restaurant. A knock on the window had me jumping, and I groaned at the grinning idiot on the other side. Billski had only been on the force for two years, and I forgot he worked this area. I’d run into him here and there. Ari sat up and buckled his seat belt, and I lowered my window.
Billski’s round face was redder than a stop sign, and he chuckled. “Hey, I thought that was maybe you, Rogers. Uh....” He glanced at Ari, who stared directly back at him with zero reaction. That was my boy.
“We’re going home to finish date night,” I said, trying to keep the mood light.
He hummed. “Good, that’s a great idea. Uh, you know it’s illegal to receive oral sex in pu—”
“My cock’s not out,” I grumped, then winked at him.
He nodded and backed away from me. “Yeah, of course. You would never do anything like that.” He saluted me in an awkward way, and Ari snickered as I started the truck and raised the window, but when I pulled the truck onto the street, he let out the poutiest little noise I’d ever heard, and I reached over to take his hand.
“Shh, we’re not going to miss him, and if we do, we’ll track him down. You can have him tonight, I promise.”
