Page 67 of Natural-Born Cullers

Light dropped his head.

Christ. Cath. If only….

Light waited, turned an ear to listen to a reply off Brin, to see the angered shift in coloured particle over how they should have agreed that he and Brin should have been sharp enough to pick up on the signs to Cath being a culler.

But everything stayed quiet behind him, all the colours to life… mute.

“Yeah, keep it moving.” That came off Ray as two late teens passed by, looks coming the waiting room’s way.It was the fifth time Ray had denied access to someone when it came to the waiting room, and Light didn’t blame them for throwing longer, darker looks his way. Hell. He hated signs of the privileged and rules-for-one, rules-for-another bullshit he knew he carried since being with Gray.

From one of the chairs, Simon sat working at his laptop, and Light flicked him a look. His hand sported a self-care bandage, but his tap on keys looked painful, and the bruise to his cheek shone a little more in the light of the waiting room.

A look came Light’s way, and Light avoided it, not wanting… liking the contact.

“Ray.” Light went over, and Ray stopped him leaving the room as Simon eased the lid to his laptop shut. “Do you mind if I get a drink?”

Ray narrowed his eyes. “You thirsty all of a sudden, kid?”

“Cold.” And he didn’t lie there. “I just need something warm.”

Ray gave a sniff, a look down at the coffee machine. “What do you need?”

“The coffee machine is right there, you can come with me, by all means. Hell, even get a baby harness, or one of those dog ones that stretch so you don’t even have to move, but I’m damn well capable enough to get a drink for myself.”

Ray folded his arms, his lean back into the wall getting really comfortable.

Yeah, he knew his attitude rubbed people the wrong way, but he just wanted a bloody drink. “Just a drink, ten feet away,” Light said. “I’ll be straight with you and say I’ve already checked you need security cards to get out of here, which, amazingly enough, are only warn by security guards who no doubt wrestle rhinos to the ground like you too. The machine is right there. It’s not near any hazardous substances, and you can keep five paces back so I don’t maim or blind you from death by hot coffee. I can’t get out.”

Ray snorted a smile. “You’re not doing yourself any favours, kid, you being honest over saying you’d checked out the exit points and considered chemical burns to get to them.”

“I came through a door and the coffee machine is just there, pretty hard to miss.” Light leaned next to him, getting just as comfortable. “You could always try blindfolding me next time you draw the short straw with having to babysit.”

No reply came, so Light folded his arms, definitely getting just as comfortable, and Ray flicked him a look up and down as Light gave a sniff. “Just a hot chocolate. Please.”

“Seriously?” Ray cocked him a brow and his look softened. “You want a… hot chocolate?” Then he mumbled. “Bloody kids.”

“I’m saving the hardcore coffee beans until I’m twenty-one.”

Ray snorted a laugh, then he nodded to the coffee machine. “Compromise. You get your own, but I go with you?”

“Good job I don’t need the little lads’ room, ain’t it?” Then Light waited there for a moment, not moving, and Ray eyed him up. Again.

Light held out his hand, made a point of looking down at it. “Captivity doesn’t exactly provide me with a wage packet. I’m broke.”

“For fuck’s sake. Really?” Ray dug deep, very deep in his pocket for his wallet. “Here.” He handed over ten pound. “Go wild, and by wild I mean one exceedingly small hot chocolate.”

Light took it with a thanks, then he headed past Ray, down the corridor.

The Costa Coffee machine had been pulling at Light since he’d been here, and as someone in front finished, Light rested against the wall, making sure Ray was happy with the distance between him and the stranger, more that death-by-wooden-spoon look towards Light that came off Ray now.

Trust really was shit, but that was okay. Ray’s loyalty was one hundred percent Gray.

A young nurse joined the man getting coffee, and as a look went between them, then at Light, Ray gave a cough, which got the young woman sorting through her pockets for change very bloody quickly.

Light was more taken with the room opposite. A young girl sat with a drawing pad in her lap, legs drawn up close on the seat. Hair was long, black, rowdy, and she wore jeans and a pink shirt that said the whole look was going to cause many a trouble for man… or woman when she got older.

But it was the man that lay on the bed, breathing tubes coming out of his mouth, that held Light’s attention more.

Most people could pass him by, and it would be like nothing more than passing lights on a darkened highway: too fast to really register on his radar. And the man in the private room, he held that ghost-like paleness, looking like he’d slept for a lifetime, but he had this damn haunting beauty about him that wouldn’t allow Light to look away because he was held in place in bed, unable to pass anyone by.

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