Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (56 page)

The prospect fascinated and intrigued me, and it gave me the confidence to say what I said next. “I just want to see what happens. I know we just met… I’m not stupid, this shit takes time. Why don’t we… go out for dinner sometime?”

With a shy look that made the blush come out in his cheeks Jack nodded slowly, and when I handed him his drink back he took it gently and swirled its contents. “Okay… I would like that, as long as you’ll let me make sure it’s okay with the brothers in charge of me. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”

I smiled when Jack put his jacket down and together we walked back into the living room.

We both sat down and I picked up my glass too. I was both surprised and proud of myself for how I handled that. I had come a long way from being the chimera hiding under the bed, and an even longer way from being the boy chained to the bed.

I could do it though. As I took in Jack’s beautiful face, seeing my potentially new boyfriend in an entirely different light, I felt a swell of responsibility go through me. If I was going to be the dominant one, it would be me taking care of Jack, it would be me protecting him from everyone. And I would do it. I would spend my entire life making sure he was happy, and that no harm would come to him.

And when it was time to tell him I was a chimera… he would know for certain that we were really meant to be.

“To dinner with a new friend then.” I raised my glass.

Jack looked at me. I could see a thousand unspoken thoughts passing through that gaze, though what they were would remain a mystery to me.

“To a new friend,” Jack said with a shy smile, and clinked my glass against his. “Cheers.”

“Ohh, doesn’t he just look so fancy!” Nero gushed. He was standing beside one of the black cars that the chimeras were driven around in, several snowflakes falling around him. He was dressed in a suit and tie because he was going to be my driver. It was him insisting it, not me; I think he just wanted to be a fly on the wall while I went on my very first date.

“That’s me, all me,” Kass said rubbing his hands together to keep them warm. “I bet it didn’t take nearly as much soap to clean him this time. He had three inches of grime on his entire body.”

Nero’s mouth raised in a smirk, even though it was dark outside his white teeth seemed to glow. “Oh I remember. I remember that day real well. I was the one who did his hair after I made you piss off. Remember what happened after that, Sangy-Wangy?”

My cheeks burned. He was talking about the first handjob I had given him. Even at night sometimes I thought about it to the point where I got hard down there, but I still had refused to do anything to it. I wasn’t quite comfortable with the idea, even if my body sometimes ached for me to touch it. Fantasizing was one thing but actually doing what Nero and me did? No way!

“He’s blushing!” Nero said his singy voice making plumes of vapour from the cold. “Do you think he’s going to break in Jack tonight? You can if you want. I’m sure he wouldn’t care.”

Nero winked at me but the reward for his quips was only a glare from me. He chuckled and opened the car door for me with an over embellished bow. I got in and turned to Kass.

“Thanks for helping me get ready… Nero can you give him a ride home once you drop me off? It’s already dark out and his apartment is five blocks away.”

“Whatever you want, puppy. He’s a cool kid, tight ass too.” The door slammed on my scowling face. As Nero got into the driver’s side of the car I wondered to myself if he was joking or not. He seemed to love having threesomes with Ceph, and telling me about it after, so I didn’t put it past him.

“Elish has made reservations for you at his favourite place. Some pretentious yahoo-fuck restaurant that pays a piss-load of money for fresh ingredients. Just watch out for the media, Silas has started approving cooking shows, not just the olden day ones but today ones, so it’s no stranger to cameras. Anyways it’s a stupid place but I guess it’s right up your alley for dating and woo’ing your future husband.” Nero paused as I groaned, before saying. “I was getting somewhere with this… give me a moment.”

I put a hand up to my face and groaned again. “You’re high aren’t you?”

“When am I not?” Nero said with an absurd laugh that suggested it would’ve been more of a surprise if he wasn’t high. “Oh right. The media has already been kicked out and threatened by Elish himself. So if you see anybody with cameras tell Jack, he’s gotten the same briefing from Elish that there isn’t to be any media on this. It’s bad enough the family can’t know you’re here but it’ll be even more difficult to explain it to the public once Sami Fallon comes out as Sanguine Dekker, okay?”

I nodded, glancing out the window, though there wasn’t much to see it was completely dark and the tinted windows only made it worse. “No media, okay. Um…” I furrowed my brow. “Can I borrow some money?”

The entire car echoed with Nero laughter. Thankfully he was able to get it together enough to turn down another road. “Money?” Nero snorted. “We’re chimeras we don’t need–”

“I’m not though,” I said in my own defence. “And I’m going to be – you know – I want to make a good impression. On the television the man always pays for things… and well, I know we’re both men but–”

“Ohhh…” Nero nodded. “I understand now. You gotta be the manly man and everything. That’s kinda dumb though, you’re not really going to be the dominant one. You two are kinda just going to be equal subs.”

I glared at him, and my glaring only intensified when Nero gave me a shit-eater grin through the rear-view mirror. “You’re not really the dominant type, Sanguine, and having thoughts like that is kinda stupid and old fashion. If you want to be the dominant one you’re better off taking him as a cicaro which Silas would never allow. It doesn’t work like that pre-Fallocaust, not like how it works in books or movies, especially when you’re dealing with chimeras. It’s best to throw out all those old fashioned notions and just enjoy the other person.” Nero then paused. “That goes for sex too. A lot of dominant guys think it makes them less manly to let another guy fuck them, but that’s just dumb and you’re missing out on a lot of fun experiences if you have that mentality. Please don’t fall into that trap, I fucking hate guys who think like that. I love pinning ‘em down and giving ‘em what for, but yeah, bro, don’t be one of them.”

“I don’t think I would mind…” I said honestly. “I’m not really into any of those types of things yet.”

“Still!?” Nero sighed. “Please tell me you’ve at least rubbed one out by now?” I saw his head shake before I got a glare from the mirror. His royal blue eyes were reflecting against the bright lights of the buildings, it looked like we were heading into a really populated place of Skyland. The street lamps were all lit up and the stores were too. We had some stores where I lived but a lot of it was still in development.

“I just…” I sighed and slumped back in my seat. “It feels gross to think about…” When Nero let out a loud angry groan I tried to backtrack, “I know it’s stupid but… I associate all of it with…
him
. I know it sounds retarded but it’s like if I enjoy it… I’ll have enjoyed everything he did to me.”

I expected Nero to laugh at me, or toss a couple insults my way but instead I saw his jaw tighten and his eyes deflect away from the rear-view mirror. It was quiet between the two of us for a solid minute, though it seemed like a lot longer.

“I’m not Mantis. I’m not Elish… I’m not smart,” Nero finally said, his tone was low and serious. “Just please try and make an effort to kick that idea out of your head, okay? You’ll have to do it eventually, man. If you want it to be me. Seriously. I’d be gentle as fuck. I might have an expert-level size dick but with some easing we could make it work, and if you want to take my ass to town I’d let you do whatever you wanted.”

I slunk down in my seat at his stern expression. It was weird to see Nero being serious and it made me uncomfortable since this was a topic he had rarely been serious about. Though since he was being sincere with me I had to reciprocate.

So I nodded. “I think when I am ready… it’ll be with you. I trust you more than anyone else in the world. You’ve…” I looked at my feet. “I mean it when I said it before. While I was down there, when he was doing those things to me, when I went inside my head, you were there waiting for me, waiting to take me on an adventure until it was over.”

“Shit, Sanguine…” Nero whispered. “If I wasn’t engaged to Ceph I’d marry you in a second, you know that, right?”

I smiled, and I would never admit it out loud but his words had flattered me. Though the thought of having Nero as a husband made me tired just thinking about it. Plus I would demand he not sleep with anyone else, and if he did I’d chew his face to ribbons so maybe it wouldn’t work. Nero seemed to love having sex with all his brothers but I understood that was just his way of showing affection.

“Okay, I’m going to pull into the restaurant,” Nero said, before looking at me through the mirror. “I’ve been driving in circles for a few minutes now. I didn’t want to ruin our important discussion. All ready for your first date, puppy-wups?”

My smile widened and I nodded. “Yeah, I’m all ready. Thanks for… everything. I hope this goes well. I really like him, and it seems he likes me too.”

The car turned and I looked out the window to see we were pulling into a detached building in a large parking lot, though there were only several cars parked in the spots. Most Skyfallers couldn’t afford cars, and they were still rare even in Skyland which only housed the elites.

The building itself was brightly lit with Christmas lights and even had its own sign. The sign though looked like a bunch of old pre-Fallocaust signs welded together. It was called Red King, and it looked like the Red from a Red Lobster sign and the King from an old Burger King sign, but above it there was also a brightly lit M from a McDonalds except it was turned to its side so it resembled more of an E. Even though it was rather patchworked it was still impressive, and as I stepped out into the winter air and the wonderful smells and low playing music sounded, I was even more impressed.

I dug my hands into my pockets, and admired the bright Christmas lights that trimmed the entire building, the roof included. Everything on it looked newly repaired with building material that almost matched but not quite. Even the porch (with Christmas lights twisted around the railings) had a lot of newer boards in it.

“He’s waiting inside,” Nero said clapping me on the back. “He has the phone if anything goes wrong but it won’t. Order a lot of food and don’t ask who’s paying, the monarchy is paying. Just fucking have a good time, pup, you seriously deserve it. Call when you wanna go home. I’m going to drop Kass off and do some Legion work with Cephy until pick-up.”

Suddenly I felt the blood drain from my face. I couldn’t believe it but standing in front of that restaurant had made all of this a reality. I was nervous; I couldn’t believe I was nervous!

“Okay.” I managed to nod. I took a step towards the restaurant and inhaled a deep breath of cold air. “Have fun with work… wish me luck.”

I felt his lips on my cheek. “Good luck.” Then he gave me a smack on my butt. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

I decided to ignore that, and the urge I had to kick him right in his own backside, and headed towards the restaurant. Trying to ignore the dizziness on my heels and the nervousness steadily forming a lump inside of my throat.

It was just a date with Jack, and you’ve already spent a lot of time with him. You’ll be fine. It’s just a date.

Your very first date…

And though Crow was gone, there was still a derisive little voice in the back of my head that told me, one way or another, that I was going to screw this up. I ignored it, I was good at ignoring these voices now, and walked up the steps and opened the door.

It was entirely empty…

The restaurant walls were made out of logs like you would see on a log cabin, with paintings hanging up that had matching black frames. There were plants on the windowsills and giant ones in big brass planter pots, all surrounding over two dozen tables with white tablecloths and black leather chairs. It looked peaceful inside, extenuated by the recessed lighting in the ceilings and the candles lit on the tables.

But still… it was empty.

“Hey…”

I sprung up in the air and heard a soft laugh. I quickly looked towards the voice and saw a shadow standing beside a fish tank. I don’t know how I hadn’t seen him when I had walked in. I guess my mind had expected to see him sitting beside a table.

“H-hi,” I stammered. I wish I had brought something to give him, chocolates or something like in the movies, but I had nothing on me.

Jack stepped out of the shadows and I felt my breath get taken away when I saw him. He was dressed in what looked like a cross between a jacket and a blazer, with long sleeves that had silver cuffs. The jacket-blazer also had shining buttons going up the middle of it, all the way to a collar that held a silver chain. He was all…

“You’re all sparkly,” I said before realizing that was a stupid thing to say. I swore at myself internally and bit my lip as punishment. “W-want to… sit down?”

Thankfully Jack ignored my comment. He brushed his silver hair behind his ear and nodded, looking so shy and nervous it made my heart swell. I was just as scared as he was, but there was something inside of me that wanted to protect him. Nero said it was old fashion for me to act like how the straight men do in movies but I still wanted to be the one to guard him. I wanted to be his rock, even if I was still too messed up to be my own rock.

“We have a private room… Elish made sure this place was empty but I knew you would feel more comfortable some place closed off.” My temperature rose as he took my hand and started leading me through the main area of the restaurant, weaving between the leather chairs and table cloths so white I just had to run my free hand over them as we walked.

“The family is really thrilled about this. I’m surprised. I was expecting them to raise an issue considering you’re new and a –” I knew he was going to say greywaster, but he stopped himself. Probably realizing it would be rude to bring up. “Well, Elish likes to keep tabs on everyone and I was worried since there isn’t a record on you he would raise an objection but he…”

Jack’s voice trailed and inside I was laughing hard at his confusion. “He seemed happy for us to be on this date and even called and made special arrangements for us.”

Jack pushed open another wooden door and we walked inside a small area about eight by nine with a table and a blue booth on the left hand side. Behind the booth was a big map of what used to be Vancouver Island, now Skyfall. It looked all green and blue. I liked the colours.

“Did you like… save Ceph’s life or something?” Jack asked as we both sat down. Still not able to help myself I started smoothing out the tablecloth, it was amazingly white.

I shook my head. “King Silas just really seemed to like me…”

“I see that,” Jack said. We both glanced up as a young man with gelled blond hair wearing a waiter's outfit came in and silently started filling our glasses with something that might be wine. Then he gently set down burgundy leather-bound menus and slipped out, all without saying a single word.