It was a public place. Nesof had the right to eat at the restaurant, and confronting him would be a terrible idea. A chance Almon couldn’t resist, however. He stood with an apology. “Could you please excuse me a moment?”
Still deep in his story of conquering the farming world, Dejo waved him off, as did Guherf. Almon set off toward where he’d thought he’d seen Nesof, checking the faces of those he passed.
He reached the other end of the dining room without discovering any sign of the orderly. Had he been mistaken? The lighting was intimate, forcing him to squint to see any distance. Joseph would be damned near blind in this room. Why was it so dark?
Almon headed back toward his party’s table, moving slowly, getting a close look at the patrons around the bar area and at the scattering of tables. No Nesof. He must have been mistaken.
It was just as well. Getting into a shouting match or brawl with the other Nobek would no doubt cost Almon his job. As well as land him in a containment cell. Almon was acting like a Nobek fresh out of training camp instead of the cool-headed middle-aged man he was. I need to stop being a paranoid ass.
Fortunately, little notice was paid as he returned to his seat. Drinks had arrived in his absence, and Almon sipped politely as he settled in again. He discovered it wasn’t the best kloq he’d ever drunk, though it was supposed to be topnotch. When Guherf glanced at him and raised his glass with his usual cheerful smile, Almon smiled back and dutifully had another swallow.
Definitely not a great drink. Barely even good. Between that and the low lighting, it was becoming apparent that he shouldn’t bother with bringing Joseph here for a celebration.
At least the conversation had veered from Dejo’s attempts to modestly boast. Not that a discussion about new farming industry regulations was any more Almon’s cup of tea, but such conversations made no pretense about being anything but boring. And he’d learned enough about Guherf’s work to follow along a little.
Except his head was swimming a bit, making it somewhat difficult to keep up with the conversation. Was he dehydrated? Almon had another sip of the subpar kloq. It didn’t help. When he visually scanned the room, the dining area rocked gently, as if he’d somehow found his way onto an oceangoing ship. The sounds of dishes clanking and conversations faded into the distance.
What the hell? I’m dizzy. Faint. No, I can’t collapse in front of others. Can’t let myself seem weak.
He lurched to his feet as their meal arrived. He hadn’t seen the waiter approaching, and he collided with him, sending the tray crashing to the floor. As Almon mumbled an apology and excused himself from the table, his knees folded beneath him.
The shocked faces of Guherf and the others were lost in a tide of wedi herb-scented blackness.
Chapter Fifteen
“When did you figure out you were in love with a Kalquorian? Or a clan?”
The other Earthers started at Joseph’s question. Silence reigned for a few minutes as they digested the abrupt query.
Gabriel, the second oldest of their group, answered. “The instant I saw them.” He reddened when they leaned in his direction, fascination on their faces. “Some of you have already heard this story.”
“It’s still wonderful. Tell it again,” Solomon urged.
Flushing even brighter red, Gabriel conceded. “For those of you who don’t know, back in the day, my sister and I operated a store on an Adraf station. It was kind of a grocery, offering packaged gourmet Earther food to soldiers and fleet personnel from home who had leave there. One day, a Kalquorian clan walked into our shop. I looked up at three unbelievable men, and that was pretty much it for me.”
“Love at first sight,” Brad sighed. “Just like a fairytale.”
“It wasn’t quite a case of unicorns farting rainbows. But yeah, love at first sight pretty much sums it up.”
“Well, don’t leave us hanging. Keep talking.”
“Okay, so these three gorgeous Kalquorians came in, and I had no idea they weren’t romantically interested in women. After all, the clan immediately began to chat up my sister, acting courteous and charming. I stayed close to make sure they weren’t too forward with her. At least, that’s what I told myself I was doing.”
“Jealous, much?” Tom teased.
“Hey, she could have landed in trouble with Earth gov just for talking to them. I had to protect her—even if she is a blackbelt in tae kwon do and can kick my ass in a heartbeat. But they didn’t realize that.”
The men chuckled. Mike said, “Smooth.”
“I wish. After a few minutes of me glaring at them over her shoulder, the Nobek gave me this knowing little smile and winked. Looked me up and down and left no question whatsoever as to what team he played for. I had the urge to knock my sister out of the way and kiss the naughty jerk.”
They erupted in laughter. “As they say, the rest is history,” Paul said.
“It was over for me in that second as far as he was concerned. It was maybe an additional five seconds for me to fall for the other two.”
Joseph was intrigued by Gabriel’s tale. “Did your clan approach your sister to get to you?”
“They weren’t even aware of my existence until they walked into our shop. They’d been sent by Kalquor to offer sanctuary to her, since the empire had found out the two species could breed. She was among the first of the Mataras who came here.”
“How did it feel to fall in love so quickly? How did you recognize it was love?”
Gabriel regarded him with astonishment. “Wow. I’ve never been asked that. Thank goodness, because it’s hard to put it into words.”
“Sorry.”
“No, don’t run from the question,” Brad insisted. “Tell us.”
“I remember thinking I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. My lips were numb, my body seemed to be floating—”
“Love? Or a stroke?” Tom mused with bright eyes.
Gabriel threw a snack cake at him. “Okay, wiseass, so how did it feel for you?”
It was Tom’s turn to consider the query with an air of surprise. “Hmm. It kind of grew on me over time. Maybe I was fighting it.”
Aaron snorted.
“Okay, I was totally fighting it. I didn’t want to fall in love, but eventually, I had to give up.”
Brad snickered. “Some guys don’t take no for an answer, huh?”
“Or locked doors. Or a blaster pointed at their faces.”
As that sent off another wave of laughter, Aaron cocked his head. “What about you, Joseph? Since you brought it up.”
Joseph blew out a breath. “I don’t know. There are days when I look at Almon and I think, this has to be love. But I wonder if I’m really getting it. It’s sort of the same issue I had with recognizing happiness. I struggled to realize I was happy because I’d never been that way before.”
His answer received some confused looks. Solomon shook his head. “My Imdiko always says writers are the worst at expressing themselves out loud. Funny how that works.”
“Okay, let me try again. I thought I was head over heels a few weeks ago. Then it got bigger, and I decided, okay, what I had before was infatuation leading up to the big event. I figured the new level of feeling was real, actual love. But it’s grown again. And it’s so huge, I think I’ll explode with it. So is this it? Or is it just a new level moving towards the ultimate emotion? Because if whatever this is expands again, I think it might kill me.”
The other men stared at him, until Joseph felt like an absolute idiot. Then Aaron grinned and gripped his shoulder. “It was always the real thing, my lucky friend. You’re just falling deeper and deeper into it.”
“And if it should kill you, can you think of a better way to go?” Brad added.
“I suppose not.”
“There’s that perfect article you were talking about writing. Discovering love for the first time and its potentially deadly nature,” Solomon declared.
The guys laughed and applauded the idea. As Joseph joined in, an
other petal of warmth unfolded in his heart. After a moment, he identified what it might be—an experience as new as happiness and love. It was friendship.
* * * *
Joseph exited the hired shuttle, which dropped him off within sight of his own door. As soon as he reached it and it opened for him, he waved to the pilot. His escort waved in return and flew off.
Joseph entered the greeting room. It was growing close to the dinner hour, and he was surprised to not spot Almon in the kitchen. Typically, the Nobek would be deciding on what prepackaged meal to have for himself and trying to guess what Joseph would choose. It was a new game for them, anticipating what the other would be in the mood to eat. So far, Joseph was in the lead, twelve correct meal predictions to Almon’s nine.
“Almon? Where are you?”
No answer. Worry spiked. Joseph had returned home a few minutes later than he should have because he and the guys had been so involved in their conversation. His com to alert Almon that he was running behind had gone unanswered.
Great. He’s probably pissed off with me.
“Hey! No fair with the silent treatment, okay? I tried to com you.” He hurried across the space and through the kitchen, moving toward the common room. His nose picked up the familiar scent of a male’s musk tinged with a hint of antiseptic cleanser. He identified who that smell belonged to at the same moment Nesof stepped into the doorway before him.
Joseph froze. “Nesof! What the hell are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you from an intolerable situation. What the hell is this, you coming home to an empty apartment? Where is that Nobek who’s supposed to be taking care of you?” Nesof’s concern was that of a disappointed father catching his kids up to no good.
It did not disarm Joseph. “That’s a good question. Where is Almon?” What have you done with my Nobek?
“It doesn’t matter. I’m here. And I’m not letting you go.”
Joseph’s instincts shouted at him to run—either from Nesof or past him to find Almon. Surely, Nesof expected him to do the same; the leer of a hunter scenting prey was already crawling across his face, bunching his muscles, readying him to chase.
Joseph discarded the notion of flight before it was fully formed. He charged at Nesof instead, attacking the larger man with a fury that shocked even him.
Nesof was more than startled. His head rocked from the punches Joseph threw, staggering him backward a few steps. For an instant, he teetered as if he would fall, his expression dazed. Joseph lunged for him again.
Nesof’s roar shook the air. Joseph’s vision filled with the Nobek’s fist. A burst of pain blasted through his skull, then he fell into a bottomless pit of nothingness.
Chapter Sixteen
Almon’s eyes felt full of sand as he opened them. Where the fuck was he? This wasn’t his sleeping room. He could tell from the soft blue ceiling he stared at that he was not at home. And more telling still, the delicious warmth of Joseph wasn’t next to him either.
His skull felt weighted, packed with lead. It took all his strength to peel it off the pillow beneath it to search his surroundings. He was corralled by machines and monitors. A computer panel spanned across his torso, stretching from one side of the bed to the other.
Fuck. He was in his least favorite place, a hospital. He didn’t have a clue why.
A dim shape in the corner moved. It stood up from a chair and began to advance his way. “Joseph?” he called, despite recognizing the approaching man was too tall and wide to be his lover.
“Welcome back, Nobek. That was a close shave for you.” Investigator Kavug bent over him, studying him with a grim expression.
“Close—close what?” Almon craned his uncooperative neck, trying to find his sweetheart. Joseph had to be here at his side, because he loved Almon.
Every motion made the scenery rock, and the Nobek’s stomach rocked with it. He swallowed past the nausea. Was that another figure in the corner near the door? “Joseph? Where are you?”
“He’s not here. Listen to me, Almon. You’ve been poisoned. You damned near died from it.”
Almon blinked at him, sifting through the bizarre phrases the officer sprayed him with. “Where’s Joseph? Where—wait. Poisoned?”
“We suspect your Earther companion is behind it.”
Almon stared at Kavug. He fought the fog in his brain and the sickening weakness of his body. Finally, understanding clicked in. With it came fury. “Have you lost your fucking mind, asshole? My Joseph wouldn’t hurt me.” His voice rose in a pathetic attempt to roar at the bastard. “Where is my companion, gurluck?”
Kavug jerked at the insult, his face darkening and fists clenching. Almon thought the Dramok might take advantage of him being pinned to the medi-bed and pound him where he laid. Instead, Kavug took a step back.
The other shadowy figure detached itself from its corner and came close. Enforcer Trib, Kavug’s usually silent partner. “Nobek Almon, we can’t locate Joseph Walker. He wasn’t at your apartment when we checked. We’ve got a surveillance team waiting there in hopes of picking him up.”
Almon gathered the shredded pieces of his memory, stitching together the last events he could recall. “He went to group therapy. With other Earther men.”
“Their meeting broke up hours ago. His friends said they escorted him to his hired shuttle and he left. The shuttle pilot confirmed he dropped Joseph off and saw him go into your apartment. There’s been no sign of him since.”
Almon’s heart froze. A rush of terror shattered the remaining confusion. “Nesof took him.”
“Impossible.” Kavug caught Trib’s eye and shook his head.
“No. I saw that bastard at the restaurant before I collapsed. He was there. He must have poisoned me.”
Trib narrowed his gaze. “You’re sure you spotted him? Absolutely certain?”
“I left the table to confront him. But he slipped away.”
“Naturally, you were the only person who witnessed his presence.” Kavug’s disbelief would have gotten him slammed through the wall if Almon could have moved.
“Maybe they did. My drink—it tasted strange. If he lured me from my table and impersonated a server, Dramok Guherf and the rest who were there might be able to verify my suspicions.” When Trib’s jaw tightened and he gave Kavug a pointed look, Almon caught it. “Someone did see him.”
Kavug’s condescension made Almon silently promise himself he’d beat the fuck out of him when he was able, and damn the criminal charges. “No one identified Nobek Nesof as being in that restaurant. Listen, I’ll give you a pass on the foul language because of what’s happened, but you need to face facts: Joseph Walker is probably responsible for the poisoning. By now, he may have fled Kalquor.”
“That makes no sense! Where the fuck are these asinine ideas of yours coming from?”
“For a change, why don’t you consider the man’s history? Two years ago, the Kalquorian fleet caught Walker attempting to transport you and others to Bi’is. With no hope of escape, he played the part of an emotionally wounded homosexual in exchange for a lenient sentence. He befriended an orderly in the hopes Nesof would help him escape. That failed to happen, leaving him stuck with you instead, due to terms of his release. So he planned a scheme to use you, then rid himself of you as soon as he saw his way clear.”
“You are out of your fucking mind!”
“Am I? Doesn’t he have access to your funds? A free hand to clean out your accounts?”
“And has he done that?” Almon already knew the answer was no. Knew it in his heart and soul.
“Not yet. We’re monitoring them so we know the instant he does.”
“And while you fuck around waiting, who knows what Nesof is doing to him? You pathetic piece of shit gurluck!” Almon beat on the bed’s diagnostic arm that was locked over him, keeping him trapped. “Stop making up bullshit stories to serve your need for vengeance. Take your sorry, incompetent ass over to Nesof’s place and search it top to bottom for Joseph! That sic
k freak has my companion!”
Trib grabbed his wrists and pinned them on either side of his head. Some small part of Almon’s mind recognized the enforcer was keeping him from hurting himself. “Almon, Nesof doesn’t have Joseph Walker. We went there already, after we got the com you’d nearly been killed, and after we checked your apartment in hopes of finding him. Nobek Nesof was home and invited us to look around, and we did. There was no sign of Walker there or that he’d ever been there.”
Almon stared at him. Nesof had to have taken Joseph. There was no other explanation. “He’s not there? You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. I searched every inch of that place myself. Walker is gone.”
* * * *
Joseph woke to find himself in the psychiatric center. In his old bed, surrounded by the undeniable scents of antiseptic cleansers. For a moment, he thought his life with Almon had been a happy dream. It was enough to make him weep.
Then the pain asserted itself, as well as the realization he wasn’t in his old ward at all. It smelled like it on the surface, but there was an underlying mustiness too. The illumination was lower than his former quarters’ lighting had been set for. It was enough to see that corner he occupied was set up in the familiar way, but the rest of the space was different. The walls had an aged, dingy look. Old hover chairs and stasis stretchers leaned against the surfaces farthest from him, forgotten denizens of the past.
Worse still, Nesof was there. He stood smiling expectantly as Joseph gathered his thoughts despite the headache that throbbed through his skull. “Awake at last. I’m glad you’re okay. You forced me to really ring your bell when you attacked me like that.”
Memory returned, along with terror mixed with anger. Joseph noted he was not restrained, and the urge to attack had to be refused with effort. Assess the situation. “Where are we?”
“A nice, private place where I can keep you safe. We won’t be bothered here, at least until things calm down and I can take you home.”
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