by Lissa Kasey
“This weekend I’m going to take you back to the basics. I will program a schedule into your phone as well as a tracking device. I will know when you deviate from the schedule. And if you don’t tell me before a change, I’ll be angry and we’ll have to do this again. Do you understand, Misaki?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good.” The sound of something liquid squirted from a bottle, and a few seconds later the touch of cooling lotion eased across Aki’s aching bottom. “We will also be talking about opening up your services at the Gem.”
Aki gasped, his heart suddenly in his throat. But what if someone touched him?
Paris’s hand rested on the middle of his back, a gentle bit of pressure reminding him who was in charge. Aki sighed and let the fear go. The gentle caress of rain filled his mind. Paris would take care of him. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen and would never require Aki to touch anyone in a way that would hurt him.
“Now I think I need to hear about everything you’ve been doing lately. Something has instilled a lot of fearful emotion in you. I haven’t seen you this scattered since your initial training. Don’t leave anything out. I’ll know.”
“Yes, Sir,” Aki whispered and began with the night McNaughton came in with Jackson Taylor for the first time.
THIRTEEN
THE PINK panties had been a bust. Not enough usable DNA on them to make any sort of comparison. That left Shane one option. As he walked up to the Gem, he wondered what exactly he’d have to say to get in. Technically he hadn’t been banned, only told—in not so many words—to stay away from Aki. But the blond wouldn’t be there tonight.
The noise and the smell of food hit him when he opened the door just as always: some of the best food in town, lobster, steak, the finest and rarest of vegetables, and top-notch alcohol. It certainly wasn’t a family place, as the clothing most of the companions wore left little to the imagination, but it did have more to offer than just sex. Shane spotted Bart before the man saw him and made a beeline.
“Aki is not here tonight, Detective. Perhaps Jade or Scarlet would be acceptable?” Bart said as Shane approached him.
“Actually I’m wondering if I could have Candy for a half an hour.” It was late enough that any rush or evening parties would be over.
Surprise flashed across Bart’s face for just a moment. “Have a seat. Candy does all his own negotiation. I’ll send him over.”
Shane frowned but chose a small two-seater table and sat. None of the companions he’d worked with before did their own negotiations. Jade, Scarlet, Aki, all went through Bart. To give any companion that kind of power meant either he was that good, or he made that much money. Maybe both.
Candy appeared with a glass and a bottle of whiskey several minutes later. “Will you be eating here this evening, Detective?” He sat down in the opposite chair. Shane recognized the dress as Aki’s, which irritated him more than it should have, but the kid just didn’t look as good in it as the psi did. “Detective?” Candy asked again. The young man actually seemed to be angry with him.
“No. No food.” He took the two fingers of whiskey Candy poured for him and gulped it down. “I just need a half an hour of your time.”
“Depends on for what. My prices vary, as I’m very flexible with my services.”
“I really just want to talk.”
Candy scowled. “I’m not a psychologist. I’m a whore.”
“Why are you mad at me?”
“You’re sitting at a table negotiating services with me and have to ask that?”
“Yeah. I didn’t do anything with Aki that he didn’t want, and I made sure that you guys knew where he was when I found him in my house. I’ve never done anything to hurt your friend. I even walked him home from the diner last night though it should have been security that was with him. Bart really needs to step up.” Shane didn’t know why he’d said all that. Like he was guilty or something.
Candy let out a deep breath, some of his anger fading. “Most people don’t care if a companion is hurt or if their security walks them home or if no one knows where they are. I’d say that makes you pretty interested in Aki, Detective. Yet here you are, negotiating sex with me.”
Shane frowned. “I said nothing about sex. I said I wanted to talk. I’m working on a case that has to do with the murders of children of high-ranking officials. What I need is information, Cameron, and your DNA. Now I could have lied, taken you up stairs for a little spit and polish, used a bit of your saliva to test my theory, or we could just talk like civilized people.” Candy paled when Shane mentioned his real name, but now he was seething. “I have a victim in the morgue that comes up with your DNA. Any idea why that might be?”
Candy got up from the table and waved to one of the guards, who came and took the whiskey. “Upstairs, DM, now.”
“DM?” Shane muttered but followed the bright-haired man up the stairs. Instead of turning right toward all the guestrooms, he turned left into the private area.
They passed a guard who glared at McNaughton.
“He’s with me. Wants a couple pairs of my underwear. Cops are so weird,” Candy told the guard. The man laughed but let them go. At the end of the hall, Candy opened a door to a small room with two beds and an open door that led to a really large closet. “Sit,” Candy said, pointing to one of the beds.
“You’re really bossy,” Shane complained, eyeing the two small beds. Had he ever had a bed that small?
Candy disappeared into the closet, where Shane heard a zipper move, and then returned a minute later in nothing but a jock. “I do nothing for you, eh? No hard-on from the big DM for sweet little Candy?”
Shane shrugged. Candy was attractive, but not the sort of delicate, submissive blond that he’d come to crave. The light in the closet illuminated a wall of shoes, endless rows of sparkling heels, a handful of which he’d bought, including a new pair of sapphire heels that sat in the middle. This was Aki’s room. He grinned. The kid really did have a shoe fetish.
“If you’re not going to sit, then talk. And don’t call me Cameron again. I’ve always hated that name.” Candy sat down on one of the beds and pulled a blanket into his lap.
“You don’t seem shocked that someone was found dead that we identify as you.”
“Why would I be? Daddy created a synthetic hybrid of me when he realized there was no way to cure the gay out of me. It’s all the rage in the South. Hate your kid? Create a reprogrammable clone exactly to your specifications. Never mind that the shelf life is only a fraction of what a normal person is. Their technology is shit.” Candy brushed the gelled spikes out of his hair.
McNaughton sat down on the opposite bed. “Say again?”
“What part? Clones? Hybrids? Cure the gay?”
“Clones? Like human clones?” There were rumors that psis had begun that way, clones who came out with advanced abilities, then bred with the population at large, but no one had been able to confirm. It sounded like fear mongering to Shane. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“I’m talking to a man who changes into a big dog and you ask me if clones are real. Nothing is a fairytale anymore, DM. It’s all fucking science. The next world war is going to be about whatever hybrid is better from whatever government, ’cause I assure you, they are all working on changing DNA to make the stronger soldier. My daddy used to talk about it all the time.” Candy set his brush down. “Just like that eye-dyeing surgery was invented just for the sake of hiding powerful psis in plain sight.”
Shane blinked a few times, letting the words digest. “You know about A-Ms?”
“I know a lot of crap about everything. I’m an excellent hacker. And the ISS records really aren’t as secure as they think they are. Used to dig up dirt my dad could use. He was pissed I ran after he recreated me in his image. I knew it was only a matter of time before he just got rid of me. All those years of secret meetings and showing me how the insides of the government and the most elite companies worked and then bam, thrown to the cu
rb for being gay. Must have really pissed him off. So my dupe is dead, probably by my dad’s hand. Even the perfect me was not good enough.”
Wow. Just wow. Shane shook his head. Who was this kid? Holy fuck. “Maybe I should take you into police custody, then, for your protection.”
“Gah!” Candy laughed. “Not a chance. I trust the security at the Gem more than I trust anyone paid by the government. They don’t exactly inspire loyalty.”
“There’s a detective here looking for you.”
“Not me. My dupe, probably. I left home more than a year ago. Knew where I was going, who to look for, where to hide.”
“At a brothel?”
Candy shrugged. “In plain sight is the best place. No one looks at Candy and thinks of the Southern senator known for creating concentration camps, supersoldiers, and genetic programming.”
“Some might think you’re here spying for the South.”
“Then those some would be idiots. Now really, why do you need my DNA? I told you who your body is, just pretend it’s the real me and let Cameron Jr. go on to the great never-never.”
“I need Aki’s DNA too.”
“You found another body?”
“I’ve already given you too much information, Candy. There are just some files that I’m pulling up, and this new case makes me think that somehow you and Aki are linked to it.”
“Me because I’m a senator’s son? And Aki, why? He’s an orphan, doesn’t remember his family at all. Probably had none. You have any idea how they treat psis in the South? Or even worse, psis with slanted eyes? I’m shocked that he lived as long as he did. Seven is the average age in the camps. Most don’t live to see ten, and any older than that are usually captures from the North. So tell me, does that mean Aki came from the North even though he thinks he’s from the South?” Candy tapped his head. “It’s been running in circles through my head since I met him. And he has no idea.”
But Ino’s little brother had been taken by the North. What if he’d somehow escaped and the South had then assumed he’d come from the North and put him in the camps? That still didn’t explain why the North would have taken the kid to begin with. And all the records of the kid stated he died from some sort of cancer. What he needed was Aki’s DNA. He glanced at the hairbrush Candy had been using. “Does Aki have a brush?”
Candy glanced at his brush. “A comb since he’s got natural curls, but yeah, in the bathroom.”
Shane got up and headed to the farthest closed door, assuming it was the bathroom. It was. Aki’s comb sat on the counter. Thankfully there were a handful of blond hairs in it. He grabbed a bunch and put them in a bag, then in his pocket. He turned to find Candy behind him, holding out his own brush.
Shane took it. “Thank you.”
“You know, if you’d actually tried to fuck me, I wouldn’t let you near Aki ever again.”
Shane frowned at the companion.
“He likes you. We’re not supposed to have favorites, but he likes you. After he services you, he spends the rest of the night buzzing around, humming like it’s the best day ever. Just don’t pull his hair. He hates that.”
“I offered to buy his contract, and he said no,” Shane said.
“Of course not. Neither of you are ready for that yet. However”—he gestured to the bags of hair—“for the DNA you’ll have to pay.” Candy pulled a slip of paper out of the drawer and filled something out, then handed it to Shane. “Pay on your way out, or I will have you banned.”
Shane glanced at the number on the page. “Shit, I should have fucked you for this.”
Candy shrugged. “Sort of feels like you did, you knowing about my dad and all. But since I’m guessing you don’t want Aki to know about your A-M genes just yet, you’ll be keeping my secrets near and dear as well, correct?”
The kid had balls. “For now. If I need to tell him to protect him, I will.”
“Same here, McNaughton. Now get out, it’s time for bed, and because Aki didn’t call home, I’m sleeping alone.” Candy shoved Shane out of the room and shut the door before the detective could think of a reply.
“Well, fuck,” he said to himself. He put his hand in his pocket to touch the two bags of hair. At least he’d have more answers soon. But fuck, clones! Who would have thought?
AKI CHANGED his mind about the primping. Paris had him try on over a dozen outfits before finally finding one that he deemed suitable. They all sort of blurred as Aki spent his time focusing on the frown line creasing Paris’s brow. Only when the skin fell smooth did Aki finally let out a sigh of relief and stop worrying. He hadn’t slept well. Wasn’t meant to really since his ass still burned and he’d been relegated to a spot on the floor at the foot of Paris’s bed with nothing but a thin blanket. But he’d dreamed of being in a hospital. Everyone was polite. A mass of faces. There had been an undertone of sadness, like they had something they weren’t willing to say to him.
He remembered his head hurting and that no matter how he tried, his vision wouldn’t clear. They’d put needles in his arms, a large machine whirring around him, but it was all just noise. Even their words faded into unintelligible sound. When the darkness had taken him, Aki had woken up. Was it a dream or a memory? Even with the odd defocus, it felt so real. Not like he had anyone to ask.
“You’re thinking very hard, Misaki. You’re supposed to be focused on what right now?” Paris asked. They’d driven into the city early in the evening the next day and already rushed through a handful of Paris’s favorite shops.
“You, Sir. Sorry.” Aki sucked in a deep breath. “I had a horrible dream last night. Not sure if it’s a memory or just a dream. It’s distracting me.”
“You have far too much noise in your head. Focus on my voice, the pace of my breath, the sound of my footsteps. Center yourself. We will be going to dinner tonight. I want you to be the jewel that the world rarely sees. No short skirts or see-through tops like at the Gem. We will be meeting important officials, but you are serving only me. You will not even answer them if they ask you a question unless I give permission. Honestly, you could use the rest. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I think hose with garters. Cool tones, as they make your eyes stand out. Hair up. But we’ll have Elana fix that.” Paris stepped in close, fiddling with Aki’s hair. “Tell me about the dream.”
“It’s very vague, Sir. Like I couldn’t see well and my head hurt, but I was in a hospital. Everyone was nice but sad. Like I was really sick. It just felt so real.”
“You see just fine. Some of the companions have had vision corrective surgery. You came to me with perfect sight.” Paris brushed Aki’s spine, making him straighten. He hadn’t realized he’d been slouching.
“I see way too much.”
“Except with me. I find that interesting. Candy, too, you get colors from him but no shapes? No way to tell by looking at us that we’d be so undefined to you. Does that mean we think differently? Or perhaps our circuits simply don’t match up.” A sales clerk brought out another stack of clothing, making Aki swallow back a sigh as Paris motioned it forward. “Mix and match tonight or dress, Misaki? I’m thinking dress. Something very feminine, soft, with lace and ruffles.”
Aki groaned inwardly. He hated ruffles.
“Are you focusing on my voice or my words, Misaki?”
“Words, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”
“Mhmm. Discipline. We have the weekend, but I can call Bart and extend your time with me indefinitely. Would certainly be hard for you to see your detective while living out at the estate.”
“If that’s what you wish, Sir.” Aki closed his eyes and focused just on Paris’s movement. The man was always a flurry of activity. Not that he did anything in a rush. More that he simply was in constant motion, shifting through clothes, tapping his feet, moving around the room. Breathing evenly paced. The noise had always focused Aki before. He could tell where Paris was by listening for the sound of his step or his breathing. If they were in the dungeon
, Aki could often hear the other man’s heartbeat.
When Paris finally decided on the outfit, Aki stumbled out of a daze. He’d been so focused on the other man he’d put himself in a trance. While waking was a bit startling, he did feel like he’d had a nap. Maybe not a physical one, but something where his mind had finally shut off all the internal noise for a while. A nice break from all the troubles that had been plaguing him.
“What are the rules for dinner, Aki?”
“No one touches or speaks to me without your permission, Sir.”
“Normally I’d have you sit at my feet, but this restaurant is rather picky about that. No eye contact with any of the men we’re going to dinner with. There will be four senators and a handful of acquaintances. This is what they call schmoozing. I don’t particularly like any of the men, but I work with them.”
“Do you enjoy being a senator, Sir?”
“Truthfully? Some days, no. It’s boring, filled with lots of backstabbing and one-upmanship. But there is still a chance to help people, affect change, and make the world a better place. And that is what I’m doing it for.”
Aki nodded.
“Let’s get you to Elana to fix your hair.”
FOURTEEN
SHANE GLARED at the test results. Billion-dollar labs and called-in IOUs, he had the results to the DNA. Candy’s was a match to the victim, which meant the clone was dead. Or at least he hoped it was the clone that was dead. Shane shook his head, still trying to wrap himself around the idea. They’d cloned people before with really bad results. Often the clones died quickly of failed organs or some kind of disease that suddenly appeared. Nothing had proven to last more than a handful of weeks, and certainly not a year or more. And human clones never actually functioned as humans.