Page 30 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
The kids around them immediately shut down, wary and suspicious. Toby returned to take things in hand. "We'll put you inside his office. You can wait for him there. He'll get things straightened out."
"Who's this magical godlike creature? Is he so holy you can't speak his name?"
Toby snorted and took Blaze's arm to steady him as he climbed out of the cart with Damien still stuck tight to him.That's a problem.
"Look. He's not walking too great, and if you touch him, he'll probably attack you. Maybe. You give me my hands back, and I'll help him inside."
"You must think I'm stupid," Toby sneered.
"Yeah, well, my low opinion of you isn't the issue here."
They had a litter ready for Damien, and Blaze could only shake his head as two of the kids tried to pry him free of his shirtfront handhold. With a savage cry, Damien whirled and struck out, flattening the nearest boy and sending his companion reeling. Blaze casually stuck out a foot and tripped a third one that came to help. The whole fiasco could have reached ugly real fast.
A girl with a black Mohawk stepped out of the crowd, though, took Damien's arm, and whispered a single word, "Sleep."
Damien collapsed in a heap as if his bones had dissolved. His chest rose and fell evenly, his features smoothed out peacefully in sleep.
"Thanks for that," Blaze murmured to the girl. "Probably the best thing for him."
Mohawk girl shrugged and walked away without a word. Not the world's friendliest kids. They carried Damien into the longhouse and set him down in an office at the far end of the building. He got fussed over with blankets and pillows. Blaze got the hard chair in the corner with his cuffed hands behind him and his ankle chained to a heating pipe.
He shifted uncomfortably, trying to think around his irritation. Sure, he could heat the cuffs so they were soft enough to wriggle out of, but burned and blistered skin made that a last resort. He could set the building on fire. Good odds that their hosts were compassionate enough to rescue them, thus getting him unchained, but that would put Damien in unnecessary danger.
"Hey," he whispered. "Damien… Hazelwood! Wake up, damn it. This is no time to suddenly become a heavy sleeper." He stretched his free leg out, hooked a nearby wastebasket, and sent it skittering over to smack into Damien's makeshift bed. Nothing.
Resigned to waiting, Blaze slouched in his chair. The kids seemed reasonable and humane. There would be a way to get out of this peacefully. He was just starting to relax when voices filled the space outside their little office prison.
"So no ID's yet? Did they look like feds? Or worse, Guild?"
That voice, that irritatingly cheerful voice…Oh, hell, no.
The office door burst open, and a smile attached to a lanky blond figure slid into the room. "Well, flood and famine! Blazey! Are you a fed now? Since there's no way in seven hells you'd ever go Guild."
"Aw, fuck."
"Tsk. That's no way to greet an old friend. Some people never change." Shudder McKenzie sauntered over and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.
Blaze bent his head to rub it off on his shoulder. "Disgusting. No knowing where you've been."
Shudder only laughed and changed course so he could crouch next to Damien. "And you brought me the world's prettiest fed. Your partner?"
"Let me loose, you fucking prick!" Blaze jerked against the chain hard enough to rattle the wall. "Then maybe I'll talk to you."
"Oh, yes. Yelling at me will convince me you won't haul off and knock me across the room if I let you go." Shudder plunked down next to Damien and stroked the matted hair off his forehead with two fingers. "Poor thing. You've had a rough day, haven't you?"
"Don't touch him."
"Why, Blazey? Jealous? Is he yours?" Shudder's smile turned wicked. "Or he's not, but you want him to be."
"Don't call me that, dickweed."
"Blazey, Blazey, your temper's going to put you into an early grave."
"He doesn't like to be touched, moron. But I'll be happy to watch and laugh when he wakes up and decks you."
Shudder chuckled and shook Damien's shoulder gently. "Wake up, pretty fed. I bet those eyes are as pretty as the rest. A little dusty and battered, but I'm not one to judge."
With what he felt was well-deserved smugness, Blaze settled back to enjoy the fireworks. Damien's eyelids twitched. He blinked to clear his vision and jerked back from the invasion of his personal space. Then he did something that twisted a knife in Blaze's gut. He smiled.
