Page 63 of The Club

Money greases the gears, my father used to say. He wasn’t wrong about everything.

At the top, the elevator doors slide open with a ding. I lead Rafael through the discreet service hallways to my penthouse’s back door.

We walk into the pantry and through to the open-plan kitchen. My place is less artsy than Rafael’s, more coldly modern and utilitarian. I actually like his place better, but I have to be here tonight. I was seen entering the building at eleven p.m. I need to leave in the morning and head to the office as though I’ve been here all night.

Rafael looks around, but I don’t think he’s really seeing much. His eyes aren’t focused. He’s not quite here. He seems to wake up a little when I unzip his jacket. It doesn’t show much on the black leather, but I tell it’s splattered with blood.

Rafael’s eyes focus on me. “You smell like smoke. What were you doing tonight?”

“Burning some trash.”

“Human trash?”

“Not this time. Your phone’s buzzing.”

When he doesn’t react, I reach inside his jacket and pull the phone from his interior pocket. I hand it to him. He declines the call and shrugs out of his jacket.

As I take the jacket from him, his phone starts buzzing again. “Who is it?” I ask.

“Noah.”

Noah Carter.

The former FBI agent was with Rafael and Dante when they came after my father. I don’t know much about him except that he got a whole bunch of boys off the Island. I was already gone bythen. My father had decided I’d learned my lesson. Eight months was enough, he said. He didn’t want me to start liking it.

Fuck, I don’t want to start thinking about that.

“Answer him,” I tell Rafael.

If I didn’t already realize how fucked up Rafael’s head is right now, the fact that he doesn’t argue with me says it loud and clear.

“Yeah,” he answers woodenly as he accepts the call. Then he says, “Yeah, I’m safe.” Then, “With Dominic.” He listens for a few seconds then says, “I can’t talk right now,” and ends the call.

I’m glad Rafael’s not looking at me right now. Because, holy shit, that fucks me up.

I’m safe.

With Dominic.

It’s not really true. And yet, somehow, it is.

He told Noah he couldn’t talk right now, and he can’t. His mind is somewhere else. He can focus for a second, then he’s gone again.

Where the hell would he have ended up tonight if I hadn’t tracked him down?

Would Noah have found him?

Maybe. Maybe not.

I get him back to my bathroom and get him undressed. I get him in the shower. He lets me help him, but he’s not enjoying it. His cock doesn’t respond. Mine doesn’t either. Whatever is going on right now, I don’t like this.

After, I make him get in bed. I tug him against my body. It takes me a while to fall asleep, but eventually, when I’m sure he’s out, I do.

***

I often don’t sleep well, so I’m already awake from my own nightmare when Rafael starts having his. He’s lying on his back. His cock is tenting the sheet. At first, I thought he was justhaving a sex dream, but he starts making such bad sounds that I grip his shoulder and squeeze.

It’s not enough, so I shake him. He wakes with a shout. He wrenches away from me, scrambling out of the bed, taking the sheets with him. He falls in a tangle.

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