Page 82 of Xerxes Ascendant
Slender hands came to rest on Kyle’s shoulders as Akira steadied himself.
“Put me down,” he said impatiently from above him. “You’re going to push yourself back under.”
He didn’t care.
“I really do love you,” said Kyle.
Akira stared at him. It was dark in here, with only a splinter of light peering through from the hole far above their heads. Everything was cast in a murky grey gloom – everything except the rich brown eyes, three inches from his face, that Kyle was losing himself in.
In truth, he’d lost himself many years ago. Akira had held his heart for half a decade: first as a mere crush upon meeting the capable, frosty-demeanoured Master, and then soon after as a scalding inferno that had consumed Kyle from the inside out. Akira was an addiction, an obsession, a purity of need andwantandhaveandmine. A complex man built from never-ending layers, wrapped in delightful contradiction and unstoppable conviction, and Kyle loved him more than all the breaths he might never have taken if Akira hadn’t been there to save him, time and time again.
But it wasn’t just gratitude speaking. Kyle would gladly face the horror of almost drowning again just to feel Akira’s hand in his. Would relive this shitty night over and over if it meant having Akira at his side each time. Would render his heart themost vulnerable it had ever been with the greatest of unspoken confessions now given voice –I love you– for the shy smile it won him from the man in his arms.
And then Akira was proven right, as he always was, and Kyle’s face sank under the water just as he opened his mouth to tell him all of that.
He surfaced, spluttering, and tried to ignore the amused gleam in his boyfriend’s eyes.
“Are you going to let me go yet?”
“Not a chance,” Kyle said immediately. Although maybe he should stop trying to hold Akira so high above the waterline, because it only served to shove Kyle further down. And stars, his legs were getting tired from treading water: when it came to fucking a man to within an inch of his life, he could happily go all night, yet this frantic kicking to keep them both afloat was beginning to wear.
But when Akira tucked his legs gracefully around his waist, his arms folding around his neck, and leaned in for a kiss, Kyle forgot all about the strain in his muscles. Forgot the appalling smell of their surroundings. Forgot what terrifying fate they had just escaped, for he could lose himself in this remarkable man without needing anything else but him.
Kyle
Now that you don't owe anyone credits, I cancelled all the appointments I could find in your diary. No more client work for you ever again, pet
Akira
Interesting. I thought you liked me being used.
Kyle
Oh fuck yes I do
But the only cocks that get to ruin that tight little ass are mine, and those I allow.
You hear me? No more solo appointments
If you need a good screwing...if I *decide* you need a good screwing, then you'll find yourself filled with more dick than you know what to do with, but it will be on my terms
Akira
Yes, Sir.
CHAPTER 24
Kyle
Ashadow fell across their faces. Reluctantly, they both glanced upwards to where the silhouette of Mayor Mackenroth was stealing the last of their meagre light.
He seemed to be furiously yelling something down at them. Echoes of the man’s angry voice ricocheted from all directions, but the words were too dispersed by the shape and destruction of whatever subterranean building they were in to make out more than odd syllables.
Kyle was quite fine with that. He’d gotten the measure of the man earlier in his office, and didn’t need to hear more expletive-laden threats of gratuitous sexual and physical violence.
“We’re both on his shit list,” Kyle guessed wryly. “But not so much that he’s willing to jump into shit after us.”
“No,” agreed Akira. There was something strained in his voice that Kyle didn’t like. “But sufficiently that he’s about to try to kill us again. We should get going.”
