“It looks worse than it is,” Everet said, lifting his head and straightening his stance the moment he realized he was being watched.
Kane’s gaze snapped up to the raven’s face. “I thought you said I could trust you to tell me the truth.”
Against all of Kane’s expectations, his words caused Everet to smile.
Something inside him sang with joy as he saw the raven’s lips twitch and curve with approval. He’d made Everet smile. He could make him happy. That was it—that was the perfect way for him to make up for getting Everet whipped.
“Do you want a blowjob?”
Everet laughed, sounding even happier, but the noise quickly morphed into a hiss of pain. “Not right now, thanks,” he murmured.
Kane frowned. “You have to. It will make you feel better.”
Everet’s expression changed. He stared at Kane for several seconds, his scrutiny so intense it made Kane squirm.
“You remember what I told you about trying to trade sex for things?” Everet turned away from the post and put his hand on Kane’s shoulder.
It wasn’t obvious if he wanted to touch Kane the way a man touched a lover, or just needed something to stabilize him. Part of Kane was desperate to step back and run away, but he found himself unable to deprive Everet of anything that might help him stay on his feet.
“I wasn’t trading, I was just offering,” he muttered, pushing his hands into his pockets.
“Because you think I’m angry with you, because you think sucking me off will fix something?” Everet shook his head. “No.”
“Maybe I just thought that an orgasm would make you feel better,” Kane snapped.
Everet smiled, but he also shook his head. “At the risk of making myself sound far more vanilla than I could ever actually be, sex is for the bedroom, not the whipping station.”
“Okay.” That wasn’t a deal breaker. Kane turned to go back to the apartment. The sooner they got back to the bedroom the better.
Everet’s grip on his shoulder tightened.
Damn. That was right. He couldn’t run away and expect Everet to chase him right now.
Kane frowned down at the floor, unsure of the best way to handle the situation. “If you want to lean on my shoulder on the way up to the room, I don’t mind,” he hazarded.
Everet nodded his acceptance. “Thanks. Just fetch my shirt first, please.”
Kane hurried across to the table, snatched up the garment and returned to Everet. He gave it to him, but Everet made no attempt to put it on, he just held it in one hand, and returned his other hand to Kane’s shoulder.
Leading the way back to their apartment, Kane soon found himself monitoring Everet’s progress via the weight the raven placed on his shoulder. By the time they were in the living room, Everet seemed to need a hell of a lot more support than he had when they first left the whipping post. His steps had shortened, his grip on Kane had tightened, but his back remained straight, his chin up.
It was only when they got inside the apartment that Everet’s energy seemed to completely desert him. He slumped down onto the sofa, but he made no attempt to lean back against the cushions. He stayed right on the edge of the seat, his elbows resting on his knees, his head bowed.
Kane didn’t need to remain at his side any more. He walked away, only to stop halfway across the living room.
Damn! Belonging to Everet made him weak and stupid. He’d come dangerously close to missing a trick. The raven had kept him so busy he’d almost forgotten what his main priority should have been the whole time.
Carefully schooling his features into a neutral expression, Kane retraced his steps and sat alongside the other man on the sofa. “I should call the doctor to check you out.”
“There’s no need,” Everet said, without even looking up. “Raynard knew what he was doing. I don’t need a doctor to tell me that my back will heal without any help. Time is all it needs.”
“It can’t hurt to check,” Kane pushed.
Everet looked up. His hair had lost its slicked back style; several black locks fell forward into his face. He stared past them at Kane, a slight smile on his lips. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“But I do!” Kane protested. “I should get the doctor. If nothing else he should be able to give you something for the pain—”
Everet’s expression changed from one extreme to the other in less than half a second. His brow creased as his eyes narrowed. Any hint of a smile left his face. “No.”
“I just meant…” Kane began quickly.
“There will be no drugs in this house.”
Kane’s forearm screamed in protest. Damn it, he needed it. The moment he’d remembered the easiest way to make his heart sing and his pain disappear, it became vital he get his hands on a hit.
He wouldn’t have to feel guilty if he had quicksilver rushing through his veins. None of this would be important anymore. Everet wouldn’t matter to him if he could just have a little sparkle injected into him. His hands curled into fists, as if he really could reach out, grab hold of the idea and hold onto it no matter what Everet said.
He stood up, but he had no idea where he intended to go. Pacing across to the fireplace, he turned and made his way back to Everet, only to repeat the process all over again.
The apartment door called to him. He could escape now. Everet was in no condition to catch up with him. The raven would be in far too much pain to—
Kane shook his head. No. That was wrong. Most men worked that way, but Everet wasn’t most men, he worked according to his own rules. Everet would run after him no matter how much it hurt.
Hell, he’d probably try to chase him down if he had two broken legs, and a broken wing to boot. He’d catch him, too—even if he had to claw his way along by his fingertips. He was stubborn like that. And Kane had already hurt Everet enough, forcing him to give chase would be wrong.
Kane shook his head again. He pushed his hands through his hair, trying to straighten out his thoughts from the outside in. He was all muddled. Belonging to Everet was so different to belonging to any other man he knew, it had completely messed up his brain.
He’d known lots of men who’d completely scrambled their minds on drink and drugs, but he hadn’t realized it was possible to do that simply by over indulging in the presence of another person.
“I’ll help you into the bedroom,” Kane decided. It was all simpler in there.
“I told you before,” Everet said, a very slight edge to his voice even though he was still trying to sound all nice and patient. “Sex isn’t a bargaining chip. You don’t have any ground to make up with me. I’m not mad at you.”
Kane glared down at him. “What if it’s not about any of that? What if I’m just horny?”
“So you liked watching me get whipped?” Everet asked.
“Yeah, it was hot. All I could think about the whole time was how much I wanted to jump you. It’s only your stupid sex is for the bedroom rule that made me wait until we got back here.”
Everet raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t think that particular lie was even worthy of comment.
Kane sighed and looked down at his fly. His cock had never been softer. He wasn’t going to fool anyone. “Maybe I want everything to be as simple as two guys in bed together,” he said. “As simple as pleasing the man I belong to and making him feel better when he’s in pain.”
Everet blinked, his eyes revealed his shock, even while his other features remained impassive. Kane kept his own expression entirely neutral, but no one could have been more surprised than he was by the words that had just left his mouth.
Now they were out there he realized, to his great surprise, that they were true. One part of him wanted a high, but another part of him just wanted to please Everet—and right then, that bit of him was the stronger of the two. If he had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, the angel had just taken off his halo and beaten the devil over the head with it until the poor little bugger gave up any attempt to whisper anything at all in Kane’s ear.
He didn’t understand it, Kane wasn’t even sure he wanted it, but he knew in that moment that, without any shadow of a doubt, that was the way things were.
Everet watched confusion flicker in Kane’s eyes. The boy was a good actor, but he wasn’t
that
good. He looked so lost, so scared, as he tried to work out what went on in his own head.
The desire to wrap him in his arms and hold him for the rest of his life overpowered every sensible thought in Everet’s head. He pulled himself to his feet. The flames that had burnt across his back raged all the more fiercely as molecules of oxygen brushed across his skin and fed the blaze.
Everet forced himself to ignore that. He stepped forward.
Kane remained perfectly still as Everet took his hand.
“The bedroom,” he said. “Just because we can make each other feel good.”
Kane nodded.
It was impossible to tell who led the way. Everet knew his balance was still shot. His grip on Kane’s hand was only partially intended to reassure the magpie. Everet wasn’t sure he’d have made it to the bedroom door without Kane’s support.
Inside the room, Everet headed straight for the bed and sat down heavily on the edge of it.
“What do you want to feel better first,” Kane asked. “Your back or your cock?”
Everet managed to lift his head and peer up at the other man. Kane held the little pot of ointment Raynard had given him in one hand. His other hand was empty. Apparently, no props were necessary in order for Kane to make his cock as happy as hell.
“My back,” Everet said, ignoring the fact that, in spite of everything else, his cock had started to harden at the very idea of Kane’s hand wrapping around his shaft.
Kane nodded. The mattress shifted beneath Everet as Kane climbed onto the bed behind him. Even the tiny movements Everet made as he automatically balanced himself sent new bolts of searing heat through the muscles in his back.
Everet gripped the edge of the mattress and gritted his teeth, riding it out as best he could. He heard plastic move against glass as Kane took the top off the pot. The ointment had a strong metallic smell. Anything that smelled that bad had to do someone some good.
“I just rub it into the whip marks, right?” Kane asked.
“Yeah.” Everet closed his eyes, determined not to react however much the application hurt. Kane wanted to help, and he couldn’t let any negative reaction to such a positive sign of progress creep past his defenses.
Everet wasn’t sure what he’d expected as he waited for the first touch. Clumsiness? Carelessness? For Kane to quickly lose interest in the task and leave it half done? He quickly realized that all those guesses would have been wrong.
The magpie’s touch was gentler than anything Everet had ever felt. It slid over the injured skin so tenderly, it was barely possible to feel his fingers moving against him.
The lotion quickly cooled on Everet’s skin. That was the only way he was able to track Kane’s progress across his back and down toward the lowest whip marks, placed as low as they could go without the risk of doing Everet serious damage. Raynard really had done his best to space out the lashes and stop them crossing over each other. He’d have to remember to thank the hawk for that.
Everet felt his breaths become less labored as the skin ceased to shift and burn with each lungful of air he took. He opened his eyes and stared down at his boots.
“Did I miss anywhere?” Kane asked.
“No.” Everet turned just far enough to be able to look over his shoulder and meet Kane’s eyes. The skin across his back only protested mildly at the movement.