Bought and Paid For

Four

Jade woke alone, sunlight streaming past the expensive curtains. The TV was still on, silently flickering in the corner. Jade groped for the remote control and switched it off. He slumped back in the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. Had Hunter enjoyed it last night? It had certainly been abrupt, but that was hardly Jade’s fault, he would have kept going if Hunter had wanted him to. The ‘mine’ thing had been promising, but leaving him without even so much as a goodbye wasn’t. Argh, confusion.

The beside phone rang shrilly, making him jump. He answered it with a cautious “yes?”
“Hey, how was it?” The voice sounded familiar but Jade was too sleep-hazed to place it.

“Sorry?” He pushed back the covers and sat up, lifting the body of the phone into his lap.

“Hunter. Last night. How was it?” The voice sounded both irritated and amused by his density.

“Sorry, who is this?” Jade stared at the phone’s earpiece as if expecting a picture of whoever was on the other end of the line.

“Jesus… it’s Davey. How was the fuck? You did fuck him, yeah?”

“Davey? Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Jade twisted the phone-cord between his fingers, a vague concern that he was being tested for indiscretion at the back of his mind.

“Yeah what? Yeah you fucked him? How was it?” Jade could hear the smile and curiosity in Davey’s voice, veiling a slight glimmer of… jealousy?

“Uh. Good. I guess. I dunno.” Jade tugged at his hair, trying to kick his brain into gear.

“You don’t know? Oh for fuck’s sake. Wait there, I’m coming over.” The line went dead and Jade stupidly listened to the dial tone for a few seconds before replacing the phone in its cradle.

Ten seconds later Davey burst into the room dressed only in thin black pyjama pants that clung obscenely low on his hips and seemed to be held up by willpower alone. His hair was wet and he was halfway through applying his makeup: one eye was fully made up, the other with just a thin line of eyeliner and his lips almost invisible under foundation. He dumped a large purple case in the middle of the bed and sat down cross-legged. Jade blinked, taking in the mass of tattoos and the contradictions of muscle and makeup, stretched ears and beautifully manicured nails.

“So. Tell me all about it!” He was acting like a BDSM schoolgirl at a sleep over. “Come on, spill. I’m gonna find out anyway.”

“You are?”

Davey grinned. “Well duh. He’s quite a talker when you have his balls in a vice.” Something in his voice told Jade that he wasn’t actually joking. He shivered slightly, wondering just how far the dom/sub thing ran for Hunter. Davey took out a mirror and an eyeshadow palette and began work on his other eye. “So… Start talking.”

Jade looked at his hands, pushing back his cuticles with his thumbnail. “I uh. He came in, last night. And uh, we… he… uh…”

“He fucked you?”

Jade’s blush went unnoticed as Davey carefully blended cobalt and charcoal pigment into his socket line. “Yeah…”

“Well?” Davey waved his arms around impatiently, ignoring the dark dust he was spilling all over the covers. “How’d he do it? Hard and fast? In time to music? He tie you up and tell you he was gonna marry you? He paint you purple and stick a banana up your ass? What?”

Jade opened and shut his mouth a few times, unused to being put through the third degree. “Uh. Kinda fast, I guess. Pretty hard. Um.”

Davey nodded before carefully applying mascara. He glanced sideways at Jade. “It lasted all of three minutes, didn’t it?”

This time he enjoyed the full effect of Jade’s deep red blush. “Yeah. It was pretty quick. I… I…”

“You blanked, didn’t you?” Davey pinned Jade with a penetrating stare, cruel smile curving his lips.

“What? No! I...” Jade was horrified at the slight on his skills – and terrified that Davey might just be right. “Wait, why are you asking all this? What the fuck has it got to do with you?” His voice trailed off under the intensity of the killer glare shot his way.

Davey’s voice dropped to a threatening growl. “Listen honey, in approximately six to eight hours I expect to have you spread and handcuffed and screaming into a ballgag – anything to do with Hunter’s sex life is my business, okay? I was here first.” There was a moment of impasse, then Jade nodded sullenly, lowering his eyes, mumbling something under his breath.

If Davey had had claws, you could be sure they’d been out. “What was that?” He snapped, makeup forgotten, somehow now on his knees, right up close, invading Jade’s personal space.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Jade shook his head, cowering away.

Davey leaned in, teeth bared in an evil grin. “No. Tell me.”

Jade turned his face away and took a ragged breath. “I said… I said, so why did he buy me then?” He bit his lip, but couldn’t stop himself probing the wound. “I mean, if he was so satisfied with you, why would he want me?”

Time stopped. Jade’s neck muscles ached with tension; he half expected Davey to attack him and rip him open with those bright white teeth and glossy black nails. He stared beseechingly up at him, mesmerised by the way his nostrils flared with every angry breath. Davey’s muscles rippled as he sat back on his heels. Jade could practically see him counting to ten before he exhaled.

He stood and carefully packed up his makeup, pointedly snapping the clasps closed. He crossed the room to the door and turned; a carefully neutral expression on his face. “Get dressed. We’re leaving for the airport in an hour.” The door slammed shut behind him.