Page 16 of A Suitable Brat
“He might get difficult.”The brat was a brat and would stay a brat if Westin had anything to say about it.“I’ll have to phrase it right.Telling Sun what to do only works while fucking, and even then, he can be stubborn.”Defiance and obedience at the same time, beautiful and not even remotely peaceful.And yet Westin ached for him.
“He seems to have no problem with other people giving him things.”Hely wasn’t even saying it to be mean; the observation was gentle.“Why would he object if you wish to?”
“Because I’m not his lover,” Westin explained, some tartness in his voice until he heard himself and remembered the look on Sun’s face when Westin had said nearly the same thing to him.“Iamhis lover,” he corrected.“A regular lover.But only one of them, and as friends without any romance.”
Hely smiled and Westin was surprised at how much he resented it.
“Westin, you are my friend, so I will be kind now, kinder than I could be.You shouldaskyour brat why he came here tonight.Or why he lets you call him brat, for that matter.”Hely lifted a hand.“Don’t tell me he’s not your brat.He wasn’t going to spend money here.He didn’t come to Solace House with anything on his mind but you, although he had heard of us.And why do most people come to Solace House?”
“For solace.”Which meant peace for some, comfort for others.Often quiet or calm, but not always.The critical requirement was to feel at ease, and for that, people needed to trust.They had to feel safe.For some, Solace House was one of the few places where they might do so, which was why they gladly paid higher prices.
And Sun had come here for him.
“And he came here for you.”Hely echoed Westin’s thoughts as though he could read them on Westin’s stunned face.He continued to smile but now with satisfaction.He sat back and said nothing else while Westin stared blankly at the curtain to the common room and grew so hot he could feel it in the toes he no longer had.
After a few moments, Westin began to knit again, slower.
“I don’t believe it,” he finally murmured, although Hely probably knew that already.“Even if I admit that my future will be dull without him, it would be dull with him.Forhim, surely.That is to say, he wouldn’t be a captive.He could leave.I can’t make him do anything.I don’t want to, but I just never could.Except for….”The needles went still.“He’s furious with me and you think I should try to convince him to marry me?”
“I didn’t say that,” Hely remarked,beyondsatisfied.“Youdid.Imerely pointed out that you would make a good husband.”
“Dull,” Westin insisted.
“Does he seem like someone who would allow things to get too boring?”Hely’s amusement was audible, then drowned out by a rising murmur from beyond the curtain.
Westin turned toward the trouble, absently reaching for the weapon he wasn’t currently carrying.It wasn’t much of a commotion, but raised voices in Solace House were so unusual that he had tensed before he recognized the sounds of Sun being stubborn and rude.
“Where are they?”Sun demanded, not shouting, but loud for the Solace common room.
“Not so charming now,” Hely remarked.
“Are they in there?”Sun asked again, leaving Westin to wonder which worker had darted a look to or gestured at the booth he shared with Hely.He didn’t blame whoever it was; Sun was every inch an intimidating outguard when he chose to be.
Then the curtain was torn open, and Westin accepted that a worker might have been flustered by Sun for entirely different reason.
Sun stood in the booth’s entrance with no pants and no shoes.His hair was damp and slightly curled from the heat of the bath.His bared skin looked warm to the touch, the trail of hair from his chest to his stomach dark with water because he apparently hadn’t bothered to fully dry himself.His breeches clung to his wet legs as well, as though he’d flung himself from the bath, barely attempted to dress enough for decency, and then stormed into the common room in search of them.
In search ofhim.Westin’s eyes were stinging, dry because he was staring, struggling to look away from all of the damp, hot skin being displayed for anyone who cared to look.
And plenty did.
Alit was blushing fiercely in the distance, visible over Sun’s shoulder, although Westin was more interested in the shoulder itself, and then Sun’s chest again, before he belatedly remembered that Hely was watching him pant over Sun and brought his gaze up.
Sun was frowning, glancing from Hely to Westin with a brief, deeper frown at the unfinished scarf in Westin’s lap.
“Honestly.”Hely stood up, shooing away the oglers and shutting the curtain again behind Sun so briskly that Sun jumped.“You may as well come all the way in.”
“Does that cost extra?”Sun returned, but with distracted interest and not attitude.Then he seemed to correct himself, bowing his head to Hely.“Sorry, I…”
“You’re not sorry.”Hely sat back down and gestured for Sun to do the same, but Sun seemed stuck where he was.He frowned down at the knitting as if absolutely confused, so Westin began to use his needles again although he wasn’t counting a single stitch.He could take the mess apart later.
Sun finally turned that frown on Hely, his contrition short-lived.“What, he’s not good enough for you?”
Westin didn’t get a chance to comment.Hely beamed a smile which Sun riled up further, though he turned that wrath on Westin.
“Are you spending the money you would have spent on a tumble on me and my bath?”He jabbed an accusing finger at Westin.“That isenough.You can’t take care of yourself even when it comes fucking or…or… talking or whatever they call it here?You grew up adored and cared for; I can tell because you refuse to be selfish.Selfish is useful!If you were selfish, maybe you’d….”
“What?”Westin prompted, mesmerized by the impatient, embarrassed, half-naked brat who hadn’t even taken the time to dry off before he’d sought Westin out.“Maybe I’d what?”
