‘Ruin away.’
They walked back companionably together until Squeezy asked suspiciously casually, ‘So, how’s the fucking Aleksey thing going?’
Aleksey snorted. ‘I don’t know. Autosexuality is unnecessary: I have Ben.’
‘You know what I fucking mean. Got the professor a tad confused, see. He thinks you’ve just changed your name, like you were Nikolas Aleksey or something and now you’re just using your middle name. How have other people taken it?’
‘Ben, you mean?’
‘No, not fucking Diesel. He knew who you were before. I mean people you’ve—’
‘Lied to? Deceived?’
‘Yeah, those people. People you’ve lied to and deceived. Exactly. How they taking it, like?’
‘I have not had a Russian hit squad here for me yet, but I suspect they all have more important things to be thinking about just now. Why?’
‘Oh, no particular reason. So, you think Diesel’s going to like his fucking birthday present? If he don’t want it, I’ll have it. Got a nice house to put it in now.’
Aleksey smirked. ‘I have a feeling what goes in that house isn’t really up to you…’
At that, he did get more successfully attacked, but fortunately, when it came down to it, the dogs were always on his side, and no one, not even Squeezy, risked a raised Radulf muzzle.
* * *
Ben was just dropping off to sleep when Aleksey saw the clock had clicked over past midnight. He poked the warm, naked figure in the ribs. ‘Happy Birthday.’
Ben grunted. He knew what day it was; he was just trying to ignore it.
‘Do you want your present now?’
Ben turned over in the bed and regarded him suspiciously. ‘You haven’t bought me anything—I’d know. You haven’t been out anywhere without me, and I’ve been monitoring the post.’
‘According to you I am the master of second-hand gifts. Maybe I have recycled something we already had.’
Ben smirked. ‘That means you haven’t. Okay then, yes. I do want my present.’
‘It’s not here.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘In this actual room. It’s inanotherroom.’
Ben hopped out of bed and pulled on his discarded jeans. Aleksey did the same and watched wryly as Ben checked the study first. It was like a game of spot the difference: he did a quick sweep, decided there was nothing of interest he wanted, and moved onto the gym. This was a good second guess, as Aleksey often upgraded his equipment for him, but all was the same. The bathroom, Aleksey noted with amusement, Ben didn’t bother with. Nothing that came in a wash bag had ever interested him once.
He glanced in the pool. It was possible he’d been bought some diving equipment. They’d talked about this one night: some decent scuba kit to keep on the island, but no. He went into the kitchen and checked under both dogs, ignoring indignant rumbles at having deep sleep, warm baskets, and artfully arranged blankets disturbed. The kitchen wasn’t a very likely place to find a gift. Ben liked eating, he enjoyed cooking, but if Aleksey had bought him a new pan, he knew where that would get put fairly swiftly.
Next came a trawl through the living spaces, from the TV and main area to the piano and billiard room. He even checked in Molly’s suite.
‘The garage?’
Aleksey shook his head. ‘You’re worse at this game than Nika was. Look harder.’
Ben thought for a moment then glanced back towards the empty suite which used to be Tim and Squeezy’s, not needed now as they were the proud owners of their own Dartmoor farmhouse.
He went in.
There was a slightly stunned gasp, which Aleksey reckoned was a very acceptable response. When the moron had called him in after he’d finished assembling the state-of-the-art Obutto flight simulator cockpit with its three wrap-around curved monitors, ergonomic racing car seat with mounts for pedals and flight stick, he’d been reduced to a similar stunned silence. Squeezy had already loaded up the latest Microsoft Flight Sim software on the new Alienware Aurora R11 computer with the same Cessna plane Ben was learning to fly on. Other than such unpleasantness as crashing in a deadly fireball, or being killed instantly by bird strike, it was as close to flying a real plane as you could get.
