Arkady snorted and walked over. He pinched the lapel of the jacket between his thumb and forefinger and looked down at Cash.
“Half of the monsters on the East Coast will be here, the ones that Belladonna cares about, anyhow. If we’re going to pass you off as my boyfriend, you need to look the part.”
“I never let you dress me when youweremy boyfriend,” Cash said.
“At sixteen you’re meant to look human.”
Cash looked down at himself. It wasn’t a cheap suit. It wasn’t expensive either, but it was what he’d bought it to be—sheep’s clothing, camouflage. But around here it made him look like prey, soft in a shell of a manmade fabric.
“I didn’t bring anything else,” he said as he pulled the jacket off. The shirt underneath would do. Plain black silk was a bit aggressive, but he didn’t need anyone to like him. Just not eat him. “Donna can just deal with having to look at my wrists.”
“Wait.”
Cash tossed the jacket onto the bed as Arkady walked past him. “I’m not wearing one of yours,” he said. “You’re an inch taller than me.”
“Two,” Arkady corrected. He glanced over his shoulder. “And sure, otherwise it would fit like a glove.”
He opened the wardrobe and reached inside. Hangers rattled, and there was the distinct sound that expensive fabrics make when they rustle against each other.
“Here.” Arkady pulled out a light gray brocade jacket with blue-green highlights and held it out to Cash. “You might as well get some use out of it.”
Apparently nothing really had changed. The jacket had been a birthday present. Cash left it behind when he got out, along with most of his things. He’d been young and hurt. It had felt like he’d made a point.
“I didn’t know you kept that,” he said slowly as he tried to work out if it was creepy or not.
“I didn’t, but I didn’t make a point to throw it out either. I don’t live here anymore,” Arkady told him. He looked exasperated at Cash’s surprised look. “Did you really pay no attention to what I did for the last ten years? Did you think Donna and Madeline could share a roof?”
Cash shrugged.
He had in the beginning. When Ellie wouldn’t sleep during the night—her innate sense that she was meant to stalk the night at war with the expectations of the only day care he could afford—he’d sat up with her and pored over posts on monster.net. It was impossible, despite what the better-bred monsters thought, to live among humans without picking up their vices. Monsters had their own gossip columnists, although anonymity was important—if they crossed the wrong monster, they wouldn’t have to worry about being sued. Or alive.
Every time he picked the scab off, he’d been surprised it was still raw underneath. So he stopped. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt after three years. Or six. Cash had never wanted to risk it. What was he going to do? Fight Madeline for his man? Arkady had marriedher, and she could have killed Cash without chipping her manicure. It was safer not to know what he wanted.
He pretended he didn’t care until he believed it. That was the same thing as it being real. Basically.
“I didn’t want you to be unhappy,” he said as he took the jacket and put it on. “That doesn’t mean I wanted to know youwerehappy.”
It felt expensive on his back. There was aweightto a well-made jacket as it settled over his shoulders and found its own shape around him. Cash had worn flak jackets on shoots, and they felt weirdly similar. The coat just had more style.
Arkady caught him by the arm on his way to the door and pulled him back.
“What now—?” Cash started to ask, irritated. Before he could get the rest of the question out, Arkady buried his fingers in Cash’s hair. The hair band snapped off as Cash’s curls made the break for freedom.
“Don’t tie it back.”
“Donna won’t like it.”
Arkady twisted his hand around the curls, his knuckles hard against Cash’s skull, and pulled his head back slightly. Just enough to make the point that he could. Blood left Cash’s head and puddled, hot and restless, in his already tender balls.
“But I do,” Arkady said. He bent down and kissed Cash’s forehead with a chaste, hot scorch of skin on skin. “And Donna isn’t going to fuck you later.”
Cash’s hard-on resigned the field on that one. Just the idea of it was better than a cold shower.
“Why the hell would you even bring that up?” he asked as he made his second attempt at the door.
Arkady grinned and slapped Cash on the ass on the way past. “Those trousers hide nothing.”
Cash blushed a hot scald of red as he stepped out into the hall with Arkady behind him. It would give the maid on her way by—her arms full of freshly laundered silk sheets—something to talk about later.
