Page 7 of Drink Up, Darling
His eyes did not leave Dariel, and a warm pool formed in Dariel’s stomach; his lungs forgetting how to function. He took in the other man’s body once more, noting a swirling floral pattern under the mesh of his left arm. He wondered if it was part of the material or inked into his pale skin. An abundance of silver jewellery adorned the man’s whole body, clinking as he shifted in the chair.
Then Athens spoke. A voice so smooth and calming when he asked, “Do you think he knows?” His eyes shone like turning diamonds, and Dariel noted the gap between his front teeth.
Dariel leaned back as panic and overwhelmed sensations infected every bone in his body. His breath hitched as he opened his mouth. “I’ve never met anyone like me before.” He gulped to ease his throat.
Athens cocked his head, then his face dropped slightly, and he leaned forward, lines of tension in his brow. “What? Really?”
“I…no. Never.”
“Who made you?” A question no one had ever asked Dariel Hale, or any of his iterations, yet it flowed out of Athens as if it was the simplest of curiosities.
Dariel’s chest constricted once again. “I… I don’t know. I never saw… I—”Flames. Burning. Burning. Burning. Everywhere. Forever.
Athens’ brow loosened in sympathy as he leaned his elbows on both his legs, sincerity radiating from his exquisite form. His chest rising and falling normally.
Relax, John.Just breathe, my beloved.
Dariel shook his head vigorously before the shadows came, then sniffed in, pressing fingertips below his eyes just in case. “Sorry. Yeah. Wow. This wasn’t expected. At all. It’s been a, well, it’s been a very odd evening for me so far.”
A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of Athens’ mouth. “I take it he didn’t tell you I’d be coming? He didn’t tell me you’d be here, either.”
Keep the conversation normal, come on.
Dariel sighed out a relieved laugh. “It seems he has kept a lot of things secret.”
“Tell me about it. I get an email asking me to come here to help plan out the interior of his home for an exceedingly pretty amount of money, but now looking at the size of it, I feel as though I should have pushed for more.” Athens had a sweet laugh.
“I wonder what the urgency is, he came across pretty desperate,” Dariel said, trying to sound casual.
“Wild, really. Mid-life crisis, I reckon. I wonder if I’ll get one of those soon.” Athens picked at his nails, then looked up through his lashes to see if Dariel was looking.
All Dariel could do was gawk as he took in Athens’ form for the third time, fully enamoured.
“So do you think he knows, then?” Athens continued to look at his black nails, silver rings adorning each finger. Silver always bothered Dariel, made him turn out in a horrible, burning rash.Always burning.
“Huh?” He hadn’t processed Athens’ words.
The other man looked up, cocking a brow. “About us? Who we are?”
“Surely not.”
“A coincidence, then?”
“Definitely.” Dariel gulped again, noting the lump in his throat was there to stay.
Athens shrugged then relaxed back into the chair once more. “Stunning building, right? I wonder how he wound up here.”
Dariel chewed at the inside of his mouth. “I tried to ask him, but we didn’t get much of a chance to talk, I’ve only just got here myself.”
“That was your bag in the lobby? I thought I could sense the blood. Fox, right?”
Dariel nodded.
“Hmm. His staff haven’t been doing their jobs then.” Athens laughed, and Dariel wanted to join in, but it only made him more unsettled.
“They’re not here,” he blurted out.
At this, Athens threw him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
