Page 55 of Bloom
Jaime finally went to stand by the wall. Aleric hadn’t snarled and told him to fuck off, so maybe that was a good sign. Aleric knew he’d seen something, and if Jaime could get him to admit anything…
Breakfast dragged on with Aleric picking at his food, sipping juice, and Lord Monet pushing pastries on him because the sugar would help his blood. It was forever before Aleric finally stood, and his Father frowned at the plate he hadn’t finished.
“Eat a snack later and drink more juice. Make sure you stay hydrated.”
“I know.”
Jaime followed without a word and stayed a couple of steps behind him as they entered the entrance hall. Aleric didn’t look at him or speak as he headed for the double doors leading outside.
“Aleric, can you give me five minutes? Please?”
“Why are you still here? You’re like a parasite.”
Nobody had ever called Jaime a parasite, and he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or feel insulted as he followed Aleric outside. “Is it him? Can you tell me that at least?”
Aleric paused halfway down the steps. ”Why?”
Jaime went down another step so he wouldn’t be towering over him, and he glanced around to make sure no one was close. The guards on the wall and by the gate were too far away to hear anything. “You wanted me here. I guess you didn’t expect anything to happen so fast, or not anything so drastic because you didn’t want me to figure shit out too quickly. I’m clearly here as a sort of guard for your sitting room because you don’t feel safe at night or in general. I guess my presence wasn’t enough to dissuade anyone, and the plot was likely worked out before I got here. You wouldn’t clasp a certain person’s arm, and you looked absolutely miserable at breakfast with him touching you. I’ll believe you.”
Aleric’s face remained blank. “Again, why are you still here?”
“Because…” Jaime couldn’t admit his past or who he was. He’d kept those two things so buried, speaking about them was almost unimaginable. His Aunt and Uncle had reminded himover and over to never reveal his true last name or where he came from. “What kind of man would I be if I walked away? It’s pretty shitty to leave another when his life is in danger, and if you won’t tell your Father…I guess you could also argue that I owe you.”
And after last night, he was wondering if Aleric felt like he’d been violated after they had sex. Jaime had only done it to spare him the agony of the heat fever, and Aleric had been begging for it, but once the pain was gone, it might have dragged up memories he didn’t want to think about. He said he didn’t bottom, but there hadn’t been much of a choice then. Receiving was required for the anal orgasm.
Aleric raised an eyebrow. “You owe me? You think I’m a prick.”
“If things had gone differently, and I’d been arrested instead, the jackass who owns The Salty Blower could have made up a more elaborate lie-one where your Father would have sent me to prison without a second thought. I know I’ve called you a prick, and you do get nasty, but you might have a good reason. I guess I’d be a dick too if I didn’t feel safe and had to wake up every morning while-”
He wasn’t sure how to ask with tact. He’d never dealt with anything like it.
“I’ll stay and do what I can. Just tell me who it is, and don’t lie. I should know who to look out for, right? Instead of just being a presence that may or may not dissuade certain people. Also, if you trust me enough with at least a little bit, and we can stop bitching at each other, it would kind of make us look united. Alone, you’re like…” Jaimie thought of Soleil’s crest. “You’re like a mouse hunted by a lynx.”
With Aleric’s stoic expression and drawn-out silence, Jaime expected another snarled response to go away.
“It is him.”
Aleric went around him and down the stairs. Jaime almost didn’t know what to say at the sudden admission. Part of him wanted to hug Aleric because maybe his thoughts last night were all true. He also wanted to go inside with his sword and hack Lord Gautier to pieces. The words flew out before he could think twice.
“Do you want me to kill him?”
Aleric stopped again and laughed. “Are you stupid?”
Jaime turned to him. “I’m serious.” All he could think about was gutting the fucker if he’d touched Aleric that way. It was beyond disgusting, and no man should wake up in his own home while forced to live with his rapist.
Aleric glanced up at him before stepping down and backing away. “If it was so easy, I’d wait until he doesn’t have a certain someone stuck on his cock one night, and he’d never wake up again.”
“I don’t mean to attack him in his sleep.” Jaime approached. “I could make it seem like I’m striking up a friendship and maybe ask if he’d go riding with me. It might take a little time, but he’s rather approachable. If I can get him out and alone, you’ll never see him again, and I’ll run. I don’t have roots anymore, so who’s your Father going to ask? Where’s he going to look? I’ll vanish. Plenty of outlaws are never found.”
He was pretty sure he spotted a note of longing in Aleric’s eyes. The prospect of Lord Gautier disappearing so easily-poof. Dead and gone.
“Gautier might be older, but he’s still a decent swordsman with more experience than you. I think he’d be suspicious, and if you got him out alone, a hundred things could still go wrong. You might end up dead.”
“Or I’ll succeed and live. You’d be safe then. The physician’s a problem. He might not act alone with nobody to give or promisea reward, and you could find a way to have him sacked and out of here.”
“Or he’ll find a way to poison me as a ‘fuck you,’” said Aleric. “What if there's another? Do you think of consequences or always blunder right toward the most violent option?”
“I do think of the consequences. This is…different. So what’s your plan?”
