Page 56 of The Wild Charge

Tonight, he cut a wedge of chicken from Reese’s plate himself, watched Reese spear a shrimp on his own fork.

Reese said, “It’s good. I like mine better.” They swapped the plates back, and Reese said, “What?”

“Nothing. You want some more wine?”

The second glass tasted better than the first, Reese said. Tenny said that was how it usually went.

Tenny started to refuse when the waiter asked them about dessert, but he’d seen Reese eyeing the little round, three-tiered chocolate cakes at the neighboring table, so he ordered one of those.

It was easy, the whole thing. The way time melted and the food and wine warmed his belly, and, once those initial nerves had been chased away, talking was as effortless as it always was between them – which was to say, their own, comfortable brand of unusual.

“But I don’t understand why they like them so much,” Reese said, notch appearing between his brows as he carefully halved the cake and nudged one side across the plate, closer to Tenny. “The scenes are all staged. None of it's real.”

“That’s the whole point, you tit,” he said, without heat, and apparently petty insults were on the table when he was dating Reese. “People like that it’s make believe.”

“But…why?”

“You’rethe one who reads poetry books, and you’re really asking me why the rest of those braindead idiots like action movies? Really?”

“Poetry,” Reese said, seriously, “is the writer reflecting on real things. It isn’t fake.” His nose wrinkled. “Like that one chase scene Aidan always rewinds. We’ve been involved in actual chases. Why watch a fake one?”

It was a testament to how weak he’d become that his first inclination was to laugh rather than lob an insult and bolt. He managed not to do either, and said, “I don’t think you understand how fiction works.” When he only earned a blank stare in response, he sighed. “It’s a vicarious experience without any of the real-life risks. All the excitement without actually almost dying.” He shrugged. “People find it entertaining, or some such.”

“Do you?”

A benign question, but one that set him back on his heels. People didn’t ask him questions – certainly not throughout his upbringing, and not really now, either. No one ever asked his opinion, or wanted to know what he thought outside of his professional take on a situation. He bit back his automatic, flippant answer, and gave the question some thought.

“Well,” he said at last, a little bit stunned by his own introspection. “I suppose it’s…soothing, in its own way. Knowing it isn’t real. Pointing out all the ways they’ve gotten it wrong.”

Reese gave a low chuff that would have sounded like a sigh on anyone else, but which Tenny had come to learn was a kind of laugh; rare and startling every time, hard-earned and fleeting. “You do like making fun of people on television.”

“Darling, that’s because they make it soeasy.”

His own words hit him a beat late, and he faltered, fork poised above his half of the cake.Darling. Ababy, or alove, or asweetheartwould slip out in the throes; that was only natural, when the blood was pumping and he was feeling good; he’d been trained not just to have sex, but to have the kind of sex that catered to whoever he was paired with at the time.Create a fantasy, one of his handlers had said;make them believe you’re invested. An old habit.

But he didn’t use pet names outside of the bedroom; certainly not in public.

Honestly,whatwas happening to him?

He realized he hadn’t taken a breath for a long spell, and did so now, drawing it in with forced slowness; when he flicked a glance up at Reese, he expected to find him watching, scrutinizing, and wasn’t wrong.

“What?” Reese asked.

He put his fork down, cake no longer appealing. “Nothing. You can have all of that.” He nudged the plate over onto Reese’s side of the table.

Nothing, except it suddenly started feeling like a properdateagain and I still don’t know how to handle that. Because I’m weak, and stupid, and–

“Are you ready to go?” Reese asked. He licked a bit of frosting off his lip. “The cake’s not as good as Maggie’s. We can leave if you’re ready for the sex part.”

Tenny choked on nothing. “What?”

Reese set his own fork aside, expression very serious. “It’s a date. You go to dinner, you drink wine, and then you have sex. Right?”

Tenny steeled himself, took a few steadying breaths – and still couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled up in his throat.

Reese frowned. “That’s what Kris said–”

Tenny waved him to silence, still laughing. “No, no, it’s fine. Your sister’s correct. Wine, then dinner, then the sex.”

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