Page 56 of Faithless
“Hm, maybe next time,” she mused.
My eyebrows lifted. “Are you saying you’d want to see me again after this?”
“I mean, we got off to such a great start.” She chuckled.
“We sure did. I’ll never forget it, Aurora.”
Her next smile seemed a bit sad, and I felt it too. She’d be here for a few weeks, at most, and then leave. Maybe we’d have sex, maybe we wouldn’t. But sitting and talking as two people, just because we could, was such a rarity for me. I wasn’t bullshitting to flatter her. I’d remember this for however much longer I lived.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“I’m the Butcher.” My response was automatic. Real names were forbidden, especially to the guests. Our names humanized us, gave us an identity outside of our roles. But fuck, Iwantedto tell her.
“You know what I mean.” Aurora’s look was playful but stern. “I gave you mine.”
I sighed, disappointed that I could no longer live in the fantasy of being on a date with her. Reality had to whisper in my ear and remind me of the consequences. “I’m really not supposed to tell you that.”
Her face fell, the realization dawning on her. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It’s pretty unfair, huh?” She leaned closer to me. “What you go through here.”
I thought of the last beating I got. It was a few months ago, shortly after Tezca had arrived. The guest wasn’t satisfied because I didn’t choke her hard enough.
I thought of the Tank, a ruthless fighter and a decent enough guy, for a gladiator. He was made bait at last month’s animal-mauling fight because he developed feelings for a guest, to the point of being convinced she would free him and they would run away together. The guy ran his mouth too much and died in an excruciatingly painful way—ripped to shreds by a pack of starving dogs. And the guest he fell in love with? She added me and a few others to her rotation to replace him.
Unfair? That was the fucking understatement of the year.
“You could say that,” I answered through the tightness in my chest.
Reality kept me alive, so I had to stay firmly anchored to it. No matter how much good conversation, laughter, or flirtations I shared with Aurora, she didn’t feel a thing for me. She wasn’t here to save me.
Aurora looked like she was about to say something, then jumped in her seat, pulling her feet up to the cushions. “Oh my God, is that…?”
My head snapped around to where she was looking, where Tezcatlipoca sat like a cat-shaped shadow with yellow eyes. Fuck! My blood pressure spiked for the second time that day. He was absolutelynotallowed anywhere near the guests.
“Tezca!” I hissed. “What the fuck are you doing here? Go!”
He ignored me, naturally, and walked forward. The black jaguar went around the coffee table and approached Aurora. I thought I was going to have a stroke when he placed his fucking chin on her knee and looked up at her with wideplease-pet-meeyes.
“Well, hello.” Her voice was calm, even amused as she reached a tentative hand out toward his head. She glanced at me, fingers pausing in midair as she asked, “May I?”
Not that she needed my permission to touch a god, but I nodded. “If you promise not to tell anyone about this either.”
“I promise. My lips are sealed.” Her palm came down on the big cat’s head, and his eyes closed, lifting his head to press against her hand. “Oh, you are just beautiful,” she cooed, scratching his ears. “Aren’t you? Such a handsome boy, yes. Oh!”
Aurora yelped with surprise when Tezca jumped on the loveseat, effectively shoving me out of the way while he lie across her lap. She laughed as he flipped over to his back, silently demanded more scratches under his chin and on his belly. “You remind me of a cat I had growing up.”
Her nails raked gently over his neck and ribcage, fingers smoothing out to rub in circles over his belly. Tezca opened one eye to stare at me, taunting me as if to say,she could be running her hands all over you, but too bad.
“Is he usually like this?” Aurora massaged Tezca’s front paw pads, gently pressing on the muscle that exposed his claws, the sharp curve as long as my pinky fingers.
“He’s never like this,” I admitted. “Not even with me.”
“I guess he likes me.” Tezca flipped over so his chest and chin rested on her legs, and she stroked down his long back to his tail. “Well, I feel the same way, Tezca. You are just absolutely gorgeous.”
The tip of Tezca’s tail tapped against my thigh.Yeah, I’m jealous, you jerk. Is that what you wanted to hear?I thought.
