Page 45 of The Laughing Game

“I didn’t have a home life.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father sent me away. Never mind, it’s an old wound,” he said, looking at the floor, then back at me with a universe of pain in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

I gazed at Vihaal, my heart expanding for this self-contained and confident man who’d apparently grown up in less-than-ideal circumstances, and realized there was a lot more to him than I’d imagined.

“Well, that was a crap and a half,” Gideon said as he dropped a bag of M&Ms on the table in front of me. “You can have my free candy,” he said. “I got the value deal.”

“Pssht. It’s hardly free and it’s hardly a value,” Vihaal said, reaching out and taking the candy and putting it into his coat pocket. “I’ll hold on to this.”

“Whatever. Come on, we need to get to our seats.”

I stood and grabbed my jacket, following Gideon as he showed the tickets to the hostess.

“Theater ten,” she said. “At the end of the hall.”

“Thanks,” Gideon said. “Bye the way, I love your helix piercings.”

The young woman smiled. “Thanks. Your coat is amazing!”

“Thanks, it’s very warm.”

He turned to me as we moved forward, Vihaal trailing. “I got seats near the back. V tends to get bored and I didn’t want him disrupting the whole theater.”

“Oh,” I said, not sure what he meant, but glad to sit beside him in the back row, where we weren’t in the middle of a crowd of strangers. Vihaal sat down on my other side.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, “Don’t you want to sit together?”

“No,” Gideon said, shoving popcorn into his mouth. “Not here.”

Vihaal grunted. “I’d rather sit with you, Angel.”

“Well, then, this is perfect,” Gideon said. He reached for my hand and squeezed it, then placed a buttery kiss on my cheek, checking for other people first.

He went back to eating popcorn and sipping his drink.

“It’s like bringing a ten year old to the movies,” Vihaal muttered. He stretched his legs out and leaned back, closing his eyes.

“I heard that,” Gideon said. “Better than feeling like I’m with my grandpa.”

Once the movie started playing, after the teasers, Gideon was entranced. I was less so, but eventually started to get into it, until Vihaal got into distracting mode.

He must have been waiting for just the right moment. There was crinkling as he pulled the bag of candy from the pocket of his coat and ripped it deftly open. After a moment, Vihaal showed me his open hand with a tiny brown M&M in the center.

I took it, popping it into my mouth, giving him a glance and mouthingthank you.

He smiled and reached into the bag for another. This time he offered it between two fingers. I glanced over at him and he smiled. I took the candy.

M&Ms were great, but even more delicious was the fact that Vihaal was doling it out to me in measured bits.

The next one he held right in front of my lips. I side-eyed him, and he smiled and raised his eyebrows, as if he was daring me. After a moment of hesitation, I opened my mouth, and Vihaal placed the candy on my tongue. There weren’t many things I wouldn’t do for chocolate.

I gave Vihaal what I hoped was an incendiary look and licked my lips. He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“One day, I’d like to have you on your knees, naked, beside the kitchen table—your place or mine, I don’t care—with your ankles bound and your wrists tied behind your back.”

I tried not to make a sound but my cock bounced in my pants and my heart started beating a frantic rhythm.

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