Page 18 of Slay Tricksters and Silent Skeletons
“You’re such a fucking brat,” I muttered. I pointed to the chair across from my desk. “Sit.” Once he dropped into the chair with a wince, I grabbed the bottle of pain pills Rico had given me for him and dropped one out into my palm. I handed it to him, then gave him a bottle of water. “Take that. Then, we need to go through employee files to find three guards for Anurak while you’re out of commission. Rico wants you to have final say.”
Bento groaned after he’d swallowed the pill. “I don’t do admin bullshit, Niran,” he said, capping the water bottle and setting it on my desk.
“You do today.” I turned the tablet toward him, then slid him a notebook and a pen. “Write down who you think is suitable. Remember, you need three.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why fucking three? Isn’t that a little overkill? The mother fuckers who tried to kidnap him are currently wasting away in the basement.”
I rolled my eyes as I turned toward my computer so I could start on payroll. I was supposed to be on leave, but I didn’t trust Alfonzo to get this done in time. The man couldn’t sit at a desk long enough to handle something like payroll. He was a field man through and through, even if he was Rico’s second-in-command.
“Because it will take three men to replace what you could do as one,” I retorted, pulling up the system I needed. “Now hush and do what I told you.”
Bento sighed loudly as if being forced to sit in a chair and do something as simple as going through employee files was such tedious work. “You better be glad I like it when you get bossy with me,” he muttered. “And I expect a workout after this. I’m restless.”
I shook my head, already punching numbers into the system. “No working out for at least three months,” I told him. If his jaw dropping could have made a sound, I would’ve heard it, no fucking doubt. “Doctor’s orders. And even longer than that if your physical therapist isn’t comfortable with you returning to work.”
My tablet made a loud clatter as it hit the wooden desk. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, preparing myself for Bento losing his shit. And itwasgoing to happen. I’d just ripped away the one thing that gave him a way to push out his extra energy and his feelings. The one thing he’d been able to rely on since Rico had brought him here and put him under my command.
Stability.
“No,” he snapped. I opened my eyes to look at him. He jabbed his finger into the desk. I turned my chair so I was facing him and steepled my fingers over my flat stomach. “I’m already being ripped of my duties as Anurak’s fucking bodyguard. I can come to terms with that, Niran.” He was already breathing hard, his eyes burning with anger. “You can’t take this from me too, goddammit.”
“You got the shit beat out of you, your head shoved through a fucking window, and you wereshot, which required fucking surgery and blood transfusions, Bento. You areout of fucking commissionuntil I give an order otherwise. Arguing with me and getting angry will not change the facts. It’s not safe for you to workout, and I will not put your safety at more risk than is needed.”
He clenched his jaw so tightly, his molars audibly ground together. “Fuck you,” he growled, jerking up from his seat.
“Sit. Down,” I ordered.
He marched toward the door. “Go fuck yourself, Niran.”
“I said tosit down!” I barked, jerking up from my chair now, too. He curled his fingers around the door handle. “If I have to come around this fucking desk,kon-dii, you’ll regret it. Do not fucking test me.”
He spun to face me, his dark eyes heated with rage. “I’m out of commission, right?” He waved his good hand at the desk. “So, you and Rico can figure this out for your fucking selves. Maybe I’ll take a goddamn vacation. No reason for me to remain here, right?” he hissed.
The thought of him leaving filled me with a panic and a rage so visceral, it stole the breath from my lungs. Snarling, I stormed around the desk, and it was then that Bento realized just how much trouble he was in. He took a step back, his eyes widening in alarm, but it was too goddamn late. He should have heeded my fucking warning when I gave it.
I wrapped my hand around his throat and pushed him up against the door. His breath punched from his lungs, and I leaned in, bringing our faces so close, our lips brushed.
“You’renotfucking leaving,” I growled. And then, I crushed my lips to his.
16
Niran
Kissing Bento was nothing like I’d ever experienced before. Immediately, his lips softened beneath mine, his submission as natural as breathing. When I licked along the seam of his lips, he moaned softly and opened his pretty mouth for me, letting me in so I could memorize every curve of his mouth and its velvety softness.
I’d never been much of a man for kissing. I preferred to fuck and be on my way. But kissing Bento? I could do it all fucking day. The rest of my life, even. Kissing him was almost as erotic as I imagined fucking him would be.
And trust, I was about to find out just how good his ass felt wrapped around my cock. My boy had a lesson to be learned, and I was about to fucking teach it.
Him eventhinkinghe could fucking leave me waswrong. I wouldn’t stand for it. He wasmine, and as long as I was still drawing breath into my lungs, he would be by my side. Avacation without me? Fucking laughable. If he even had another damn thought about abandoning me, I’d tie him to my fucking bed for the rest of his days.
“You think you can fucking leave me,kon-dii?” I growled as I pulled back, my hand tightening around his throat.
“I don’t—” I cut off his air supply, and his eyes widened, his good hand coming up to wrap around my wrist. He didn’t try to pull my hand away though. He just… held on.
“That is what you said, is it not?” I snapped. “That you’ll just take a mother fucking vacation? You think you’re goinganywherewithout me that’s not fucking work related?”
“I’m sorry,” he croaked, his voice strangled. “Niran,I’m sorry.” His eyes were pleading with me to take his apology, to know he meant it. And I knew he did. When Bento was angry, which was rare, he tended to say shit he didn’t mean. I knew that. But that didn’t change the fact that he’d threatened to leave me.
