Page 9 of Crocodile Tears

“For over an hour?” Josiah asked sceptically.

“Yes.”

“On your own?”

The indie sighed. “Yes.”

“Can anyone vouch for your movements?”

The indie glanced over Josiah’s shoulder as a black SUV turned the corner at the bottom of the street and disappeared. His face twisted in a strange combination of grimace and smile.

“No… nobody can vouch for me.”

Josiah had heard enough. “You’re under arrest. We’re taking you back to Inquisitus for questioning.” He put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Now, I’ll ask you again – what’s your name? Your real name, this time – not the one Dacre gave you – that little charade died with him.”

“Alexander,” the indie said quietly, and a little smile curved at the corners of his lips, as if he was amused by some private joke. “My real name is Alexander Lytton.”

Chapter Two

NOVEMBER 2083 - TWELVE YEARS EARLIER

Alex

“Shh!” Alex giggled as he fumbled with the keypad to his flat. Leo, the pretty blond man he’d picked up at the club, was licking the back of his neck brazenly, making him giggle even more.

“C’mon… I’m horny,” Leo complained, as Alex messed up the code to the keypad and had to start again.

Laughing, Alex turned and grabbed him, pulling him in close for a drunken kiss. Leo pushed him back against the door, which suddenly gave way, depositing them both on the floor of his flat in a heap of entangled limbs.

“Shh!” Alex whispered again, theatrically, as they rolled around.

“Why?” Leo pouted. “Don’t wanna shh! Wanna fuck.”

Alex pulled his head down and kissed him hard, silencing him. The wooden floor was uncomfortable, and after another long, drunken kiss, he scrambled to his feet.

“C’mon… bedroom.” He reached out to pull Leo up, and they both fell against the wall. Leo leaned into him, his breath reeking of booze. Then, with a salacious grin, he sank to his knees in front of him. Alex threw back his head and moaned loudly as Leo gave him a sloppy, uncoordinated blowjob.

He was close, so close… when light suddenly flooded the room, and his flatmate, Neil, was standing there, blinking at them. At that precise moment, he came in Leo’s mouth.

“Oops! Hi, Neil.” He gave a stupid little wave.

Leo drew back, wiping his hand across his lips. “Is this your boyfriend?” he asked, leering at Neil. “We could have a threesome.”

Alex laughed. “Nah. He’s not my boyfriend, and he’s also not a threesome kind of guy, are you, Neil?”

Neil folded his arms over his chest disapprovingly. He was a tall, solid young man of nineteen, with thick brown hair, deep-set eyes, and a pair of startlingly dark, bushy eyebrows that slanted ferociously across his forehead.

“Shame.” Leo got to his feet. “He’s sorta cute.”

“Not as cute as me,” Alex said with a pout.

Leo grinned. “Nobody’s as cute as you, baby. You’re a beauty, but you know that, dontcha?”

He ran a finger over Alex’s lips, and Alex opened his mouth, sucking down teasingly.

Neil was still standing there, with a wounded look in his eyes that made Alex feel both guilty and irritable at the same time; Neil’s hopeless crush on him wasn’t his responsibility.

“You’d better go,” he told Leo, his mood changing.

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