Hiding wasn’t an option. Jonathan noticed his arrival in the room at once. He turned his head, and as soon as he spotted Charlie standing nervously just inside the doorway, hands tangled together awkwardly, he smiled.
“No need to hide in the corner,” he said, beckoning Charlie closer with a quick gesture. “I’m just conducting business.”
The dark man turned to study him, too. For a moment, he seemed surprised that Jonathan wasn’t alone. That moment resolved into a deep, knowing smile.
Too knowing. Whoever the man was, it was as if he could see straight through Charlie’s clothes, straight through his skin, and into his soul. There was a power in the man’s gaze that demanded Charlie walk forward so he could be looked at, even though Jonathan had been the one to call him over.
“I wasn’t aware that you had such a fetching assistant,” the dark man said, eyeing Charlie up and down once he’d come to a stop as close to the man as he dared, which was still a good ten feet away.
“Yes, this is Charlie,” Jonathan said, his smile widening as he moved to stand by Charlie’s side. He draped an arm casually over Charlie’s shoulders, as if they were old friends, which made Charlie jump a bit.
No, not friends. As if he were a prized possession.
That feeling was underscored when Jonathan went on to say, “He’s a recent acquisition.”
The dark man glanced between Charlie and Jonathan. “I didn’t know you were in the habit of…acquiring,” he said. “I was simply told you were a photographer of repute.”
Jonathan laughed jovially. “Yes, well, it is some sort of repute at least.”
Why Jonathan didn’t feel intimidated by the dark man was a mystery to Charlie. The man had a presence that demanded respect and deference, but Jonathan’s smile and posture were as casual as could be. Charlie felt compelled to stand as straight as possible for the man.
Or maybe to go to his knees before him.
“I can pay you handsomely,” the dark man went on, turning his attention away from Charlie like he’d held his heart in hishand and suddenly released him. “My only request is that the job be done immediately and swiftly.”
“I think I can accommodate you,” Jonathan said with a nod, slipping his arm off Charlie’s shoulders and walking across the room to the shelves and cabinets where his cameras, lenses, and other equipment were kept. “Charlie, could you fetch the pillows from the corner there,” he called out the order as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Charlie didn’t think twice. He thrilled at being given any task at all to do. The more he made himself useful, the safer he would be.
“We can take a few photographs in various states of undress,” Jonathan said to the dark man as he brought out one of his cameras and fixed the tripod so that it pointed at the young man on the chaise. “Or we can move directly into the pornography.”
Charlie nearly stumbled over his feet as he brought an armful of cushions to the chaise. The grin Jonathan wore hinted that he was being cheeky on purpose. The past twelve hours had demonstrated that Jonathan was a heathen with very little respect for propriety or decency, which had drawn Charlie to him, but anything bordering on disrespectful toward the dark man felt foolishly dangerous.
Except the dark man laughed. “I admire your directness,” he said, moving to stand out of Jonathan’s way. He took up a spot close enough to the young man on the chaise to signal he was protecting him, but far enough away that he would not be in the picture once Jonathan took it. “Nothing in life is ever achieved by dancing around the heart of the matter.”
“Nothing at all,” Jonathan agreed. He glanced to Charlie. “Help Phoebus out of his clothes, if you please.”
The heat in Charlie’s cheeks flared again as he dropped the cushions on the chaise and helped the young man remove his clothing. He had definitely fallen into some sort of heavenly hellthat was so far from the rules of society that he’d been raised in as to make the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
The young man, Phoebus, didn’t seem at all fussed about stripping naked in front of an audience. Almost as if he’d done it before. He removed his shoes and stockings with careful grace, handing them over into Charlie’s waiting arms. Then he stood to remove his trousers and drawers. Once they were off, he handed them over to Charlie as well.
Then he winked.
It was that impish wink that gave Charlie the sinking feeling, though not an unpleasant one, that there was far more swirling around him than a dark man who wished to have nude photos taken of a graceful young man.
The way the dark man watched him with a veiled half-smile and that irresistible hint of knowing in his eyes as Charlie took Phoebus’s clothes to the side, then returned to the edge of the scene, hovering and ready to help, only seemed to confirm it.
“Charlie, could you fetch a plate?” Jonathan asked, his mien more serious, as he adjusted things with his camera, glancing between it and the chaise, several times in succession, where Phoebus had reclined again. He played with the lens as Charlie hurried to the cabinet of equipment, feeling like he was all arms and legs and nowhere near as graceful as Phoebus.
The only things Charlie knew about the art of photography were what he’d observed the night before. He’d always learned things quickly enough, and he remembered what the box Jonathan had fetched the plates for the camera from looked like. He found one that had already been opened on a shelf, then carried it eagerly to Jonathan.
With an ease as if they’d been working together for years, Jonathan took a plate from the box and fitted it into the camera. “Flash pan,” he asked next.
Charlie rushed back to the cabinet, grabbing one of the narrow trays on a pole that Jonathan had used the night before.
“I need a strip of magnesium ribbon about this long,” Jonathan told him as he handed over the flash pan, demonstrating the size with his fingers.
Charlie hesitated for a moment before rushing back to the cabinet. It seemed so minor and ordinary on the surface, but his entire life felt like it depended on unraveling a strip of metal from a spool and cutting it with shaking hands to the right length.
