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Boots in a Flowerbed

 

 

 

 

22. Over The Edge

At first the noise is just a muddled hum, then Kim's eyebrows crunch together when it registers as talking voices. He lowers the book in his lap and listens, then twists around in the large armchair and freezes.

Chaim is in the next room, but he's not alone. Kim's jaw tightens when he sees the sleek, dark shape.

"Toni," he whispers through clenched teeth.

Tight dark trousers and short jacket accentuate the man's slim figure. He says something to Chaim, openly posing, and smirks. Kim can't make out the words, and hardly notices what he's doing as he slides out of the chair and towards the door.

Chaim shakes his head and turns away but Toni is standing in front of him, eyes glowing.

"For goodness' sake, Chaim, come back to your senses at last!" His voice is husky and persuasive. "It's months since you've been anywhere - I can't even remember when we last had fun together!"

"Maybe our ideas of fun just aren't the same any more?" Chaim says mildly.

"I don't believe you." Toni lights a cigarette. "No, I simply can't. What the hell's happened to you?"

"I've found that fun doesn't necessarily have to mean crawling from bed to bed, drunk out of my senses." Chaim smiles softly. "That there are other kinds of fun. And I've never been happier in my life."

Toni stares at him, lips parting, then crushes his cigarette into an ashtray and laughs incredulously. "Oh gods... you sure are far gone with that toyboy, aren't you?"

"Toni!" Kim sees how the dark man winces when Chaim grabs his shoulders. The fingers dig deep; it must hurt. "I've told you before to stop that talk, and I'm giving you one last chance to do that and prove that you really are my friend like you claim to be!"

"Ooh, I like it when you get forceful, sweetheart!" Toni's voice sounds strained and yet he manages to look taunting, then grimaces when the grip on his shoulders tightens some more. "And my oh my, aren't you touchy - so he still hasn't let you deflower that virgin ass? Tsk tsk..."

"I'm sick of you," Chaim growls. "And why do I even bother? You wouldn't be able to understand anyway what I feel for him, you for whom sex is everything and everything is just sex!"

"Don't try to tell me it doesn't mean anything to you!" Toni snorts. "'Just' sex, you say? Well, look me in the eye and tell me sex doesn't mean a thing for you - and I still won't believe you!"

He jerks himself free, but instead of backing away he steps forward, closer to Chaim. His hands ghost up along Chaim's sleeves, one of them skims lightly on the man's jaw and dives behind his neck to cup the blonde head. Toni's face is intense, his eyes lock with Chaim's brown ones, and his lips draw slowly into sultry smile.

"What if your toyboy never says yes?" Toni asks under his breath. "What will you do, Chaim - stay celibate for the rest of your life? And will you never ever regret it?"

"I don't know," Chaim says tensely. "I just know that I love him."

"Hmm, oh yes, sure." Toni shakes his head. "So you love him. Enough to deny yourself every pleasure you used to enjoy before?"

His body molds against his taller friend as he pulls Chaim closer and their lips mesh together. It's a deep kiss, sensuous and languorous. Kim is gasping for breath as Chaim's hands creep to Toni's narrow hips, and then he's standing in the same room.

"Get your hands off of him," he hisses. Toni pulls back a little, raises a cynical eyebrow, as Chaim starts and takes a step back.

"Well if it isn't the toyboy himself!" Toni looks Kim up and down, then nods condescendingly to Chaim. "I always knew you've got taste, Chaim darling, I must give you that."

"The name is Kim." Kim steps closer, hands clenching, rage buzzing in his ears. Chaim looks at him warily, as if in a daze, but Kim's entire attention is focused on the dark young man who is regarding him with openly hostile disdain.

"Kim," Toni repeats, lip curling as if he were tasting something nasty. "I can't say that it would be a pleasure to meet you, though."

"The feeling is mutual," Kim snaps. "And I was wondering which part of 'no' you can't understand. Chaim is not coming with you."

"Don't you think you're keeping him reined in too tightly, 'Demieni boy?" Toni lights another cigarette and takes a puff. "Horses tend to rebel, too, if all their freedom's taken away. Even I know that much."

"Toni," Chaim says quietly. "Please go now, before I lose my temper again."

The dark man stares at his friend for a few moments, opens his mouth but then closes it again. He doesn't even glance at Kim as he spins around on his heels and sways away.

"Drop me a note, Chaim, when you feel you've been played with enough," he tosses over his shoulder before exiting. "I'm not one to let you down, you know that."

When the door closes, Kim takes a deep breath. The fury is dissipating and now he's simply nervous. Chaim's expression is unreadable but his eyes widen when Kim walks to him and grabs his wrists, pulls Chaim's arms around himself.

Kim closes his eyes, snakes his own arms around Chaim's waist and breathes in the man's scent. The arms around him tighten gingerly. Chaim is tall and warm. Kim trusts him. The tingling that he's so often felt with the man but ignored so far, it's once more spreading all over him. This time he's not going to will it away. He's afraid. He's nervous. He doesn't want to lose Chaim.

"Show me, Chaim," he says, voice trembling. "I want to know what you want to do with me."

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