“I can’t…” Ryland swallowed.“This isn’t what I…” He’d never be able to explain it to Arslan if he agreed to pay back the loan that way.
“Don’t flatter yourself, pretty.I’ve never seen the point in renting boys by the hour when I can get much better for free.”
Ryland’s gaze flickered to the man sitting on the floor a few feet away, at the base of another chair.He didn’t look like someone paying off a debt.If anything, he looked completely relaxed and very happy with his place in the world.He also looked remarkably like Mark Jefferies, one of the first-year undergraduates in the maths department.Ryland had seen him wandering around the maths building on occasions, usually with a rather lost expression on his face, as if he was venturing into strange and unfamiliar territory.
If the marking Ryland had flicked through while he was collecting it from a junior maths professor’s office was anything to go by, Mark was also way out of his depth and had no chance of passing next week’s exam.He’d probably be off the course completely by the end of the month.
Ryland breathed a little sigh of relief as he realised the rumours surrounding Jason were just student gossip.Then, before he could work out how to frame an apology for simultaneously calling one man a prostitute and another a sexual blackmailer, Jason went on.
“Still, you’re pretty enough that, if you can’t keep up with repayments, they’ll be plenty of men who’ll be happy to help you earn the cash.”His voice was completely expressionless.It wasn’t a joke.It wasn’t a rumour.
Jason nodded to Mark, who jumped to his feet and walked out of Ryland’s field of vision.When he came back, he tossed two thick wads of notes to Ryland.He didn’t look as lost here as he did in the maths building.
“Interest is two hundred a month,” Jason announced.“First payment due at the end of this month.”
Ryland snapped his attention back to Jason and nodded his understanding.He clutched the notes tight in his hand.“I’ll make the payments on time.”
Jason shrugged as if it made no difference to him either way.And Ryland guessed that it really didn’t matter to Jason if he had to call in the collateral on the loan.It would matter to Ryland though, and it would matter to Arslan, too.
Finally, the doorman took his hand off Ryland’s shoulder, allowing him to rise to his feet.
When the doorman deposited him back on the pavement outside the house, Ryland made a conscious effort to push all thought of Jason out of his head.It was done.It couldn’t be undone.There was no point worrying about it, or the repayments, right then.
Jason might scare the hell out of him, but Arslan was the one Ryland had to concentrate on now.When it came down to it, he could cope with Jason thinking he was some sort of rent boy in waiting, as long as it gave him the means to make damn sure Arslan knew he hadn’t been playing the part of one that night in front of the fire.
On the bus journey to Kershaw’s pub on the other side of the university, Ryland kept that thought in the front of his mind, and his right hand in his pocket, clutching the bank notes as if they might evaporate if his grip on them slipped.
This time, there were no agonised minutes wasted pacing along the pavement outside the pub, debating if he should go inside or not.With the need to have everything settled between him and Arslan burning inside him, there wasn’t a second to waste.He marched straight up to the man sitting in one of the booths along the back wall of the building.
“I want to be thrown to the lions.”
Kershaw looked up from his newspaper.Glancing over the top of his glasses, he ran his eyes up and down Ryland’s body.The last time he’d done that, Ryland had been standing in one of the back rooms of the club stark bollock naked.It wasn’t a particularly nice memory.He waited impatiently for Kershaw to say something, but the guy merely turned his attention back to the article he’d been reading.Ryland frowned.“I said, I want—”
“I heard you.”
Ryland took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the money in his pocket.
“Come back next week.”
“What?”Ryland shook his head.“No.I can’t.It has to be—”
“You’ll come back,” Kershaw told his newspaper as he turned the page, licking his thumb to get a grip on the stubborn tabloid.
Ryland hesitated, wondering if the guy only took notice of men who weren’t wearing any clothes.If he couldn’t get to Arslan without “auditioning” again, he really wished Kershaw would just spit it out so he could get it over with.
“Either you liked the money or you liked getting done by the lions.Either way, you’ll come back next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, too.Your sort always do, once they get a taste for it.”
“I don’t—”
“Join the queue.”Kershaw looked away from his newspaper for a moment and scanned Ryland up and down again, lips pursing as he weighed him up.“If I run out of fresh meat for them, you might get another shot at it sometime.Leave your name and number at the bar and—”
Ryland shook his head.“You don’t understand.I spoke to…to one of the lions, and…” The look in Kershaw’s eyes made it look like he’d heard it all before and wasn’t the least bit interested in hearing it again.
Desperation rushing through him, Ryland couldn’t think of anything else to do, he pulled the money out of his pocket and dropped it on the table in front of Kershaw.
Finally, Kershaw set his newspaper aside.
“That’s the money you paid me for last time.You can have it back.And I don’t want to be paid for this week either, so you can keep that, too.I just want you to take me to the lions’ den and leave me there.”
