Page 89 of Sinful Crimes for the Artistically Inclined
“Yeah, I know.” Leo shifted in his expensive shoes, his hands wandering into his pockets. “I felt bad.”
Percy kept hard eyes on the averted face. “And what happens when we feel bad?”
“We fail,” said Leo, his eyes stuck to the floor.
Percy clapped a gentle hand to his cheek. “But you didn’t at all. Well done, Leo.”
Leo’s face shone like a lightbulb, and with those last three words, he was standing tall again, staring up at Percy adoringly.
Percy unzipped the bag and stood back to make way as Althea tumbled out onto the floor. He put out a hand which Althea took, and he pulled her to her feet.
“The baggage compartment?” she gasped, doubled over with hands on her hips. “I can’t breathe in there! I almost died!”
“I deliberately got a fabric bag,” Leo protested. “And I didn’t even zip it all the way.”
“You did everything just right,” said Percy, ignoring Althea, though Joe was hard at work listening to her complaints. “Thank you. I’m deeply impressed. But now that we’re all here and we’re all safe, I don’t want to see either of you for twelve hours. Leo, where’s my room?”
Leo shifted a fidgeting hand to the back of his neck. “Your what?”
“My room. My real room. The one with the shower and the large bed. Where is it?”
“It’s…” He took a bolstering breath. “This was the last one they had.”
“I know you’re joking,” was the calm, vaguely menacing reply that arrived on top of a cool smile.
Leo’s eyes sparked. “I can’t help if it’s all booked, Percy.”
Percy’s eyes sparked. “You knew I was bringing Joe, Leo.”
Like a switch had been flicked, the formerly awkward Leo’s voice raised well above an acceptable level for a small cabin pushed tight with a hundred others on the high sea. “You told me passage for three, plus one illegal. You didn’t say, ‘plus a fuck bunker’.”
“Fuck bunker!” Percy shouted. “Leo, you absolute shit!”
Leo rolled his eyes just like a teenage boy might. “Oh, but never mind us. Althea and I will go wander the ship while you two?—”
“You know Althea can’t leave this room,” Percy hissed. “She shouldn’t even be in here!”
“Well,” Leo grinned annoyingly, “since she’s not in the baggage compartment, I guess that’s up for grabs then.”
“Joe is not the kind of date one takes to a baggage compartment!” Percy yelled.
“What?” Turning dramatically to address Joe and Althea now, “How disrespectful is that? Other men are fine in the baggage compartment, but not ‘the hottest priest on earth’.”
“Shut up, Leo,” Percy blustered, turning to Joe. “I never fucked anyone in the baggage compartment, just so you know. It’s pure slander. And I never said that about the hot priest thing. Or, well, I did, but only because it’s true. Of you. I don’t fetishise your priestliness or anything, because that’s how he makes things sound.”
“It’s a double standard is what it is,” Leo dropped.
“Life is a double standard!” Percy snapped. “Now shut up or you’re fired. In fact, no, you’re already fired. I don’t even know why you’re still here.”
Swiftly Leo turned, reached into his bag, and pulled out a bottle of scotch.
“You’re not fired, Leo. Not this one time.” Percy ripped the shirt from his beautiful body, both Althea and Joe gripped nearby objects for stability, and he threw it at Leo. “Wash this. Get glasses. Where’s a shower?”
Through gritted teeth, “There isn’t a shower.”
A red flush rose to Percy’s cheeks.
“But I brought cards too,” Leo said, taking a small packet from his pocket.
