Page 103 of The Laughing Game

“Hey, you know what, V?” Gideon said, with a grin. “Sometimes it’s good to remember you’re human.”

“Very funny.” He gazed sheepishly at me. “How are you doing, Angel? Fed up with us, yet?”

“Nah. You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Well, then. Let’s go home, shall we?”

* * * *

“Oh my God, it was horrible. Blood everywhere. It wouldn’t stop!” I said, describing the scene in the Bordello to Jacob and Sebastian, at a lunch spot in the Byward Market the next day.

“Sucks that it was right as things were getting good,” Sebastian said.

“Yes! I was raring to go and then—blam! Bright red blood on V’s face. I didn’t know what was happening.”

“Sebastian and I have discussed installing some kind of sound-activated emergency call device. I think we’re going to do it. That was a close call,” he said. “We did warn the cleaner.”

“Yeah, I don’t think there was much on the floor. But we got out of there so quickly, I don’t know.”

Jacob and Sebastian glanced at each other. It looked like they were trying not to smile.

“What?” I asked.

“You, uh, call Vihaal, ‘V’, do you?” Jacob asked.

I blushed.Dammit. “Sometimes.”

“Well,” Sebastian murmured. “That is just adorable.”

“It’s Gideon’s nickname for him. I kind of picked it up. Anyway, it’s easier to say than Vihaal.”

“And quicker,” Sebastian said, with a leer. “‘Oh, V, can you pass me the poppers?’”

“They don’t use poppers,” I said, giving Sebastian a critical look. I’d only recently learned what poppers were, and why some people liked them.

“Okay. Then, ‘V, can you pass me the cock ring? So I can stay nice and hard for you?’”

“Honestly, how old are you guys? Wait. Do you guys use poppers?”

Jacob started laughing.

“Sometimes,” Sebastian admitted. “Never mind.”

“I think it’s wonderful that you three are, uh, getting along so well,” Jacob said.

I nodded. “Yeah, it is. Anyway, V’s—Vihaalis miserable right now because he’s got gauze stuffed way far up his sinus cavity. I feel so bad for him,” I said, taking another gulp of my beer. “Anyway, the packing comes out day after next.”

“That’s good,” Jacob said, watching me carefully. He took a French fry from the plate we were sharing. “Things are getting serious between the three of you.”

I traced a crack in the top of the Formica tabletop with my finger. “I mean. Yeah. I think so.”

“So, are you calling yourself bi, or pan, or gay now?”

“Fuck if I know. Definitely not straight.”

“Have you, uh, you know… How far have you gotten?” Sebastian asked.

I blinked. “Sebastian, really? Are you trying to find out if someone’s popped my cherry? Is that the initiation?”

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