Page 87 of Crocodile Tears

He heard a sigh behind him, and then a pair of strong arms lifted him up.

“I think I might have raped someone, Neil,” he rasped into his flatmate’s shoulder.

“No, you didn’t. You were just an idiot, as usual,” Neil said, undressing him as if he was a child. He stripped off Alex’s stinking clothes and threw them into a pile on the floor, then he pushed Alex under the shower, washed him down with warm water, pulled him out, and dried him.

“I didn’t think,” Alex said, his teeth chattering, as Neil wrapped him up in a towel. “I didn’t think that was how he’d view it – how he’d view me. I thought he wanted to… I thought he liked me.”

“You have to be more careful.” Neil put an arm around his shoulder and escorted him back to his bedroom. “It’s different now – you’re not at university anymore. You have to remember who you are, who they are, and what you are to them.”

“Fuck.” Alex sat on the side of the bed, still shaking. “What’s it like, Neil? Being an IS? Does it really feel that precarious?”

“Yes,” Neil answered bluntly. “Anytime your father wants to take his patronage away, I’ll be out there on my own, taking my chances in the Quarterlands, or joining the army just to be fed.” He opened Alex’s chest of drawers and threw him a clean tee-shirt.

“I heard there was rioting in the Quarterlands,” Alex said softly.

“I heard it, too.” Neil tossed a pair of boxer shorts at him.

“It’s a fucked-up world.”

“Yes.”

“And it could all fall apart so easily – that’s what Dad said: civil disorder, breakdown of society, and wars. We could end up like Western Europe, with people living like rats, fighting over what’s left of the land… scavengers – hunting, fighting, killing…”

“It won’t happen here. We’ve got a system that works,” Neil said firmly.

“Yeah, but our system is built on people like Spencer having sex with people like me in case they end up with nowhere to live and no way to support themselves.”

“Oh, there are far worse fates than having sex with you,” Neil said with a sly grin. “And there are far worse people out there than the Lyttons. At least your father wants to take care of his indentured servants. He’s one of the good guys. You are, too, or you wouldn’t care about what just happened. For what it’s worth, you just gave that kid the best sex of his life. I should know.”

He disappeared for a moment and then returned with Alex’s shoes in one hand and his soiled clothes under his other arm.

“Leave those. I’ll sort them out in the morning,” Alex said, lying back and resting his pounding head on the pillow.

“Your shoes are okay.” Neil peered at them closely, and then put them tidily in the closet. “I’ll get your suit cleaned.”

“You don’t have to clear up after me. I can take care of my own clothes.”

“You don’t even know how to work the washing machine, let alone where to take this fancy suit to be cleaned.” Neil snorted.

“I can learn.”

“But you don’t have to, because I’m here. See – you still need me. You’d be useless by yourself.” He leaned over and kissed Alex’s hair. “And one day you’ll realise that.”

Alex waited until Neil had left the room, then he opened his bedside table, reaching, instinctively, for the small packet of croc inside before remembering what his father had said about being proud of him. He knew that if he was ever going to turn his life around, then he had to start somewhere.

He went over to his window, opened it, and threw the croc out into the night, away from temptation.

It was time for a fresh start.

Chapter Fifteen

OCTOBER 2095

Josiah

Josiah strode down to the forensics lab, glaring at anyone he passed on the way. The idea of putting an ID tag on someone and having them invade his most private, personal space was unthinkable. He was angry that Esther had even suggested it.

He threw open the lab door and stormed inside. Mel and her forensics team were busy working, but they all looked up at his dramatic entrance.

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