Page 6 of Genie's Boy
“That, my dear boy, is where you’re wrong. I know everything about you, how sometimes in your sleep you whimper and call out to your mother. There are nights I've watched you cry yourself to sleep, exhausted and shivering. Once you finally slept, I covered you and stood guard, ensuring your safety and willing the demons that haunted you away.”
“Ensuring my safety? How-how do you get into my room?” Again, with the stuttering. What was it about Genie that had me both questioning his motives while wanting to be pulled into his arms at the same time?
“One of many things to share with you when the time is right, and I believe you can handle the truth without running away.” Genie’s soulful eyes held none of the arrogance I’d once associated with him. Nothing but love shone through, yet I still couldn’t grasp that single wordmy mind was stuck on.Love.He was a stranger to me, though it appeared I wasn’t to him.
Love.
Something I’d not felt since…
Shake it off, Raj, and get to the point.
“So, let me get this straight. You come in here nightly and watch me sleep and you don’t see anything wrong with that?”There, make it hard. Get angry, fight back. Don’t give up the sheep and fatted cow until you’ve reached your worth in trade. Not that you have anything to trade for his hand.
Wait, did I want his hand?
“I’ll warn you once to curb your tongue, boy. Or you’ll likely find something you’re not prepared for stuffed into it.”
The gasp and subsequent shivers after Genie’s growl shocked me, but I couldn’t let him get to me. Not yet. Answers were needed more than exploring the strange reaction my body had to his dominant responses. Maybe there was something to his words to explore whatever this was between us.Save those thoughts for another day and focus.
“Watch my mouth? I'm a grown man, an adult. I can speak how I want to whomever I wish.” There, I managedto get the words out without groveling. Though the fine line I walked was frayed, just a bit.
Genie crossed the room just as quickly as he had before, only this time, instead of grabbing my throat, he pushed me back onto the bed. His arms bracketed me and firmly kept me in place. His arousal pressed against mine, and it took all my strength not to thrust upward. There was no escape, and no way he didn’t feel how his actions affected me.
“You will do as I say and watch that mouth of yours, boy, or I’ll put something in it.”
“Y-yes, yes, sir.” What was the hold this man had on me, aside from the physical? Currently I wanted to apologize and subsequently drop to my knees, beg for his forgiveness, and willingly submit to things I had no idea how to do.
His lips furled, a mix of snark and snarl. “That's much better. Continue this way and you and I will get along just fine. Good boys get rewards. Learn to curb that sharp tongue of yours and open your eyes and you will see how beautiful our life could be. I've never done you any harm, nor will I, unless of course you request it.”
“Sorry.” The tone with which the word came out didn't screamsorry,though he didn’t call me out on it. “But how can you watch over me and keep me safe while others arebeing arrested and thrown in the dungeons? How long will it be before the Maharaja sets his sights on me? Look what he did to my parents. Feeding your family shouldn't be against the law.” With every word uttered, my arousal depleted, and the renewed blood flow to my brain cleared my thoughts.
“No, it shouldn't be. You are correct, but under current rule everything is subject to change as he so desires.” Genie’s dislike for his employer was clearly conveyed through his words.
“Don't you work for him and carry out his wishes?”
“Wishes?” Genie slid down beside me and ran his fingers through my hair, immediately putting me at ease. “In a sense. But there's much more to this than you know. Do I work for him willingly? No. I am not there of my own free will as I am in this very room with you right now.”
“I don’t understand.” Was he holding something Genie valued captive? A family member or a treasured item?
“You will in due time, sweet boy.”
Silently, we sat side by side as his words sunk in, though I struggled with what they meant. Trust wasn’t something that came easily to me. I was a loner. Betrayal was constant in our village, and I couldn’t risk that. Not when I knew all eyes were on me, Raj, the son of thieves. Any commonerwould throw me to the wolves to save themselves and not think twice about it.
“Do you trust me?” An ironic question from Genie given my current state of mind.
“I trust no one.” That sounded crass even to me, but it was the truth.
“Understood, and I appreciate your honesty, so let me rephrase that. Will you trust me long enough to let me feed you? I’d like to have dinner with you.”
“What if we’re seen together?” Drawing attention wouldn’t bode well for either of us. Not only given Genie’s stature within the hierarchy, but two men dining together was frowned upon.
“I know just where to take you.”
“I haven’t agreed to go anywhere with you.”Yet.But I left that word unspoken. I wasn’t quite ready to hand myself over to him no matter what capacity it was in.
“I promise to be the perfect gentleman and keep my hands to myself. Unless you deem otherwise.”
My thoughts froze and my pants tightened at the idea of what that could entail. Why was all this happening to me?
