Arslan launched himself to his feet.His chair crashed back, toppling onto the floor behind him.The dining table shook as his hands thudded down on the well-polished surface.The chinaware rattled.
Unless Franklin was very much mistaken, it was only Ryland’s fingertips, placed gently on Arslan’s arm, that kept him from hurling himself across the room at Franklin and quite possibly tearing him limb from limb.
“I’ve got more sense than to take any notice of petty insults,” Ryland said, calmly.He glanced down the table at Franklin.“I know exactly what my master’s interest in Cameron is, just like I know how little interest I have in his money.”
Franklin took another sip of his coffee.Still sitting back in his chair, he gave everything he had to making it quite clear he wasn’t going to be intimidated, not even if the uncomfortable feeling shivered its way down his spine every single bloody time he pushed forward.“So, your…master rescuesallthe lost little lions, not just the pretty ones?”He set his cup back on the table.
“Franklin,” Arslan warned.“Cameron is—”
“Cameron is still sitting here.”Cameron rose to his feet as he said it, kicking back his own chair as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.
The room fell silent.
“I’m sorry,” Ryland said eventually, with what sounded suspiciously like genuine regret in his voice.“Will you tell us whatyouwant?”
“I’ve survived on my own and paid my own way for years.What the hell makes any of you think I need either of you to look after me?”Cameron demanded.
“This pride will support any lion in our territory who needs our assistance while he looks for more suitable employment,” Arslan said.He turned his glare on Franklin.“Andwewon’t expect anything in return.”
Cameron made a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat.
Arslan straightened up, his annoyance seeming to turn into cold fury.
Franklin didn’t miss how Cameron’s lips twisted into a bitter smile when he noticed that.
“Oh, don’t worry.I know you have no interest in screwing me, darling.But no pride never gives without expectingsomethingin return, does it?”Cameron looked up toward the ceiling as if trawling back through his memories.“Let me see.Obedience.Respect for the rules of the pride.Living up to the standard expected of a pride,” he sneered.“There’s more than one way for a man to get screwed in exchange for a few quid.”
Franklin smiled, thoroughly enjoying Arslan’s discomfort.Then, Cameron turned back to him, still as angry as ever.
“And there’s a reason why I’ve always stuck to guys who pay by the hour.”He looked Franklin up and down with no more respect than he’d offered Arslan.“I’ve no interest in letting some pathetic little punter think he could ever own me for any longer than it takes for him to zip up.”
Franklin rose, putting him on the same level as the other two.Even as anger rushed through him, he knew in some deep bit of his psyche where he didn’t often explore, it came less from embarrassment over being spoken to that way by a damn rent boy and far more from fear.
It actually sounded like Cameron actually intended to walk away.That couldn’t be allowed to happen.But, for the first time he could remember, Franklin wasn’t sure if a large enough check would change someone’s mind.He’d never known a fear like it.
“I am nothing like the men who pushed a few notes into your hand in an alleyway,” Franklin bit out.He was better than that.And, maybe more importantly, he wasn’t someone who Cameron was going to walk away from—not now, not ever.
“Because you can afford more than a few notes?”Cameron mocked.
Because I’ll look after you for the rest of your life.
Franklin managed to stop the words escaping from his lips, but the very fact that they’d been there, right in the front of his mind, waiting to be said, was more than a little bit terrifying.He looked down for a moment and stared at the neatly laid breakfast table as he took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together.
“Because my intentions are different,” he finally settled on.“Do you really think I would have taken the time and trouble tracking you down if all I was interested in was some alleyway fumble?”
In the silence that followed, Franklin carefully studied his own words.They were…acceptable.A little bit of weakness may have crept into the statement, but his true level of interest in Cameron hadn’t been disclosed.He still held a reasonably strong bargaining position.There was no way anyone else could have guessed that Cameron was the only man Franklin had ever met who really could name his own price.
“What are you interested in then?”Cameron demanded.
Franklin’s attention instinctively went to Arslan and Ryland.They stood next to each other with an entirely casual form of intimacy, the lion watching over his sub, Ryland obviously happy to be owned by his master.
A movement in the doorway pulled his attention then.Ellery and Kefir had arrived.Franklin’s gaze fell on the collar around Kefir’s neck.Yes.That was more like what he should be looking for with Cameron.Yes.That would be acceptable.
Franklin turned back to Cameron and did his best to picture Cameron’s neck decorated by a collar.It wasn’t as easy as he expected it to be.It was only made more difficult when he heard a snarl starting to build at the back of Cameron’s throat.
Arslan seemed to realise then that other members of his pride had arrived to share their breakfast.He waved a hand, welcoming them into the room.They barely had a chance to step through the doorway before Cameron raced past them in the opposite direction.Ellery only just had time to catch hold of Kefir’s shoulder and pull him out of Cameron’s way to stop him getting trampled.
Franklin’s eyes tracked Cameron’s progress until he was out of sight.The sound of light footfalls on the stairs floated through to them a moment later, and Franklin remembered how to breathe.Cameron hadn’t left the house.
