Bloodbath

by K. A. Merikan

  “What are you saying?” Seth asked. “That you’ll put in a good word for us?”

  Nero showed his palms and crooked his mouth in a pug-like grimace. “I don’t know. Maybe? Maybe I want to be part of that sweet, sweet sandwich of yours.”

  “Oh, cut the crap,” Domenico said, pulling Seth even closer and resting his hands on Seth’s hips. “And talk like a normal person.”

  Nero exhaled and pressed his back against the wall. “Fine. I won’t let them kill you.”

  “That is helpful,” Domenico said, still wondering if anything that came out of Nero’s mouth could be trusted.

  Seth exhaled so heavily he bent over and put his hands against his thighs. It left him in a compromising position in front of Dom that had Nero laughing out loud. “Fuck. Off,” Seth whined.

  “Do you smuggle boys too?” asked Nero, slowly sliding down the wall until he was sitting on his haunches and watched them both with his lively, inquisitive eyes.

  Domenico wondered what the catch was. Nero Moreno behaved like someone who got a kick out of seducing men, not keeping sex slaves shipped from God-knew-where and who couldn’t fight. Was there a catch? “It’s business,” he said in the end. “Someone’s gotta do it if there’s a need for that kind of merchandise.”

  Nero considered this for a few seconds. “The girl though. She is pretty. Right up my father’s street.”

  Domenico’s chest exploded with heat so intense he could already feel his shirt sticking to his back. Crap. If Nero had seen the girl, he must had also met the actual smugglers. Was this why he took notice of Seth? Or was he testing them?

  Seth lit himself a cigarette once he straightened up, and offered one to Nero. “Right now we wanna wrap this shit up here, because not everyone’s last name is Moreno, so not everyone can flaunt their sexuality like you do.”

  Nero took the cigarette, placed it in his full, sensuous lips and gave Seth a bedroom glance as he waited for it being lit. Domenico chose to ignore this for now and watched Seth light the cigarettes and the cloud of smoke slowly dancing between Seth and Nero.

  “That’s cute,” Nero said in the end. “You’re right. You’ve been here how long? Three weeks? Longer? You lied all this time. Now they are all gonna wonder: what else are those two hiding?”

  Seth shook his head. “No. They’re gonna wonder who takes whose dick.”

  Nero watched Seth for two seconds before glancing at Dom with the cigarette moving in his mouth as he spoke. “How new is he to this exactly?”

  “Quite new,” said Domenico grimly. Nero was right. No one would care about trivial things like their sex life when more important issues could be at stake.

  Seth looked away and inhaled more smoke in silence. He didn’t seem happy, but maybe him not speaking would be for the better.

  “How about you?” asked Nero, sounding serious for once. “Were you born into this life?”

  Domenico shook his head. “Happened.”

  “Lucky,” said Nero, looking away for the briefest moment before he caught himself. He might have seemed like the silliest person on the property, but he was as guarded as anyone here.

  Seth squinted. “Less lucky now that you put a target on our backs.”

  Nero showed his palms with a grin back on his face. “I didn’t do that. I had no idea you were available. It’s your sweet boyfriend who outed you.”

  Domenico exhaled. “You wouldn’t take a hint. What was that about? No one’s gonna say yes to you in public.”

  Nero shrugged. “I know. It’s just too much fun to see how horrified they get.”

  Seth shook his head without looking at Nero. “Too bad your father will now hate our guts.”

  Nero breathed in a massive cloud of smoke and exhaled it when he spoke again. “My father hates everyone. I doubt there really is anything he enjoys.”

  Domenico nodded, putting this piece of information at the back of his head, for future use.

  “Unless it’s teenage girls,” Seth said and rolled his eyes in a way that Domenico wanted to smack him for. It was high time to stop talking to Nero, because Seth’s guard was dropping too low.

  Nero sighed. “Enjoys but gets bored quickly. She’s not gonna stay with him for long.”

  Domenico kept calm and pulled on Seth’s shoulder. “That’s not our business anymore. She belongs to your brother.”

  Nero cocked his head to the side. “Has he paid yet?”

  Domenico’s brain went aflame. Was this a test? They didn’t know if Samuel had paid yet or not.

  Seth stubbed his cigarette against a column. “We have to go talk to our cousin.”

  Good, avoid the question, Seth.

  “See you soon. Unless Toro decides he needs us out by nightfall,” said Domenico, forcing a smile to his face.

  Nero smirked. “Well, good luck with that.”

  “Good luck finding a fuck in this hetero-hellpit,” Seth snarled, but Dom was already pulling him away.

  “Come, Bastian. We need to talk to the kid,” he said, pulling him through the door and into the bright sunlight. They had to make sure Mark wasn’t in trouble already. Get to the girl before Samuel does.

  Chapter 12 - Seth

  Seth’s brain was boiling. His whole body was so hot he could barely stand it. How could Domenico be so reckless and so blatantly lay a claim on him with all those men watching on? There were done for now. Who’d trust them after finding out that Domenico and Seth had been lying to them all along?

  And yet here he was. Silent, following Domenico and not voicing his rage since there could be bugs around, and if he spoke out of turn, Domenico would surely act as if Seth was the reckless one, when it was Dom who got them into this mess in the first place.

  Domenico took long strides as they walked along the house, watched by a group of women who gathered on a blanket in the grass and ate some kind of snack. Sara waved at Seth, hungry for his attention, but he couldn’t bring himself to interact with her and just waved back. Domenico was looking ahead, as if he had tunnel vision, and Seth followed his example, not wanting to give anyone the idea that it was fine to follow them.

  The sun was warm on the back of his neck, even though it was slowly descending toward the horizon, but with Seth’s mind so scattered with fury, he focused all his attention on the grass beneath his feet. Like a woven carpet, it made complicated patterns that he couldn’t appreciate at the speed he was walking, but with Domenico’s heels being a constant presence in Seth’s field of vision, he just followed.

  The sweet scent of flowers grew in intensity when they left the grass and walked across a stone-paved path.

  “We need to talk,” Seth half hissed, half whispered, unable to stand the silence anymore, and unsure if Domenico even understood that Seth had an opinion he wanted to voice. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dom was so caught up in his own thoughts that he disregarded the necessity of showering Seth with his wonderful opinions.

  “I know,” said Domenico, jumping up the three steps leading to the rose garden, which at this time was quiet and empty.

  Seth clenched his fists, and he was ready to talk with them if Domenico provoked him.

  They rushed past two classical-style figures and through a corridor made up of climbing roses that grew over a set of arches, but Domenico only stopped once they were out in the open, in an area occupied by the most expensive kinds of flowers. He turned around, cutting through Seth with a sharp gaze.

  “Fuck,” he said pointedly.

  Seth took that as a green light for talking and stepped in front of Dom. “Your ‘woman’? Are you for fucking real? Do you have any idea what I’ve done in the past weeks to gain the respect of all those fucks? All so that you could shatter it in two sentences!”

  Domenico blinked, his whole body stiffening. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re gay, and they know it. I never said that you’re my woman.”

  “It’s what you implied by telling Samuel to think of it as a male-female kind of situ
ation. And don’t you even try to twist that around. I could have dealt with Nero. And now you’ve outed us to all those people!” Seth was heaving with anger as he waved his arm in the general direction of the house. Domenico rolling his eyes had him so agitated he wanted to shake all that empty confidence out of him.

  “Get over yourself. How else was I supposed to appeal to their cunt juice-soaked brains?”

  Seth shoved at Dom’s chest in fury. “I bet you wouldn’t be saying that if it was me who outed us! Now you’ll be pretending you’ve got it all under control when you clearly don’t!”

  Domenico’s mouth stretched into an ugly sneer. “Oh, I see you’re so fucking dedicated to the plan that you’d have given Moreno your cock to suck.”

  Seth bared his teeth. “Whatever does the job my dear Domenico tells me to accomplish.”

  Redness bloomed on Domenico’s cheeks, as if his blood vessels exploded, and he stepped forward, grabbing Seth’s shirt and twisting it in his hands. “Fuck you. I’m not letting that dirty fuck touch you. You are not bringing gonorrhea into this relationship!”

  Seth pushed on Dom’s stomach, but the fucker wouldn’t give up and only held on to his shirt harder. “I never said I wanted him to. I’d have diffused it. And now because of you we don’t know where we stand with the men we considered allies. What if they decide it’s a great idea to feed us to the caimans, or skin our dicks or whatever fucked up shit they do?” And Seth had heard enough stories in Toro’s mansion to have his blood frozen forever.

  That made Domenico stop for two seconds. His shoulders slumped, his hands still squeezing the fabric of Seth’s clothes as he stood closer, with his forearms resting against Seth’s front. His breathing was heavy, eyes not entirely focused. Even Dom’s hair was slightly out of order, with several strands having slipped out of the ponytail at the back of his head.

  “No. No, it’s gonna be fine. We just need to be firm about this.”

  Seth laughed bitterly and slid his hands to Dom’s shoulders only to shake them. “There is no firm way to go about it. I don’t trust for shit that Nero Moreno will protect us in any way. If anything, I’m now freaked out that he will mess with us even more.”

  Domenico’s nostrils flared, and he slowly opened his hands, simply resting them against Seth’s chest. “What would you have done in my place? Let another man feel me up?”

  Even imagining something like it had angry ants crawling up Seth’s arms. Domenico was his. All that beautiful body, the face that was so handsome even the scar on it couldn’t make it ugly. The way Domenico kissed, the way he touched was Seth’s, and Seth’s only. He squeezed his hands tighter on Dom’s shoulders.

  “I’d have done whatever you told me to,” he lied. In reality he’d likely have bitten the fucker’s hands off.

  Domenico smirked. “Of course you would. I can tell you this, if that had been any other guy, he’d be collecting his teeth off the floor by now. There, you can be in awe of my fucking self-control,” Dom hissed, pulling on the fabric at Seth’s sides so hard it brought their bodies far too close.

  The touch Seth had been missing for so many weeks, short circuited the decision-making part of the brain, and he slid his hands to Dom’s neck, much more in awe of how it felt to the touch than Domenico’s self-control. His gaze focused on Dom’s dark stubble, on his lips, then moved up, all the way to the bright amber eyes. But he wouldn’t give in to this temptation. There were much more pressing matters than licking every inch of Domenico’s skin. Or were there?

  There were. He needed to tell himself that.

  Seth pulled away from Dom’s touch and took one step back. “Stop hitting on me. This is some serious shit.”

  Domenico groaned and crossed his arms on his chest, looking at the fat flowers growing on flimsy stalks all around them. “I’m not. I agree that this is serious, but there is no reason to panic. They all know Mark’s gay, and nobody even notices him. I would be fine with the same treatment for now.”

  Seth froze, but his heart only started pounding faster. “Dom, we need to go. Just like... now. This place is a hellpit full of demons, and Mark is… it’s not a place for him. They’re gonna hate us, and it might transfer to him, and… Dom, let’s just leave. Start over somewhere else.”

  Domenico watched him for the longest moment, no longer pretending he was interested in the landscape of roses. “What are you talking about? You want to break a promise we made to your own cousin?”

  Seth bit his lips. What he didn’t want to do was break a promise he’d made to Mark, and yet, the little fucker still hadn’t gathered the courage to tell Dom what he’d done, conveniently pushing it back indefinitely. “No, but… we could surely get closer to Moreno from another angle. The promise to Santo wasn’t about Toro. We don’t need to be here…” The scent of flowers was making him sick.

  “We just met Moreno’s sons, and he’ll be coming over soon. Why would we change our plans? Let’s face it Seth, if we leave here, we fail. And that means I can never see my mother again,” Dom said, somewhat sharply. Even his neck seemed to go tense at those last words.

  Seth swallowed before he dared to speak again. There was no way around it. Domenico needed to have all the pieces of the puzzle to make his decision. “Mark’s sleeping with the girl,” he blurted out and covered his lips. Mark would forever hate him, but at least he’d be alive.

  Domenico stepped back, swiping his gaze over Seth as if he was seeing him for the first time. “The hell? Why would he do that? My decision to stay is final. Don’t push this on Mark.”

  Seth spread his arms, suddenly realizing Dom thought he was being lied to. This was just beyond! “If you weren’t such a woman-hater, he would have told you he’s bisexual! He told me he’s in love with her! I don’t even know where to start on this. He made me promise not to tell you, because he was afraid of your reaction. This is a mess, Dom. If someone finds out, we’re all fucked!”

  Domenico stood quiet as the freaking statues at the entrance to the rose garden. Only his chest moved, faster and shallower with each passing moment. Seth’s blood rushed faster, pooling in his lower body in preparation for making a run for it as he watched the cogwheels in Domenico’s brain process all this.

  “What? When?” Dom hissed so sharply Seth flinched, retreating the moment Domenico took a rapid step toward him.

  “A few days ago? But he’s been fucking her longer than that. Dom, he’s told her he’s an undercover cop.” Saying it out loud had Seth’s stomach clenching in panic. Combined with today’s fiasco, the whole situation was a shit stew.

  Domenico’s skin became a fiery red. When he spoke, each word was pushed from between clenched teeth. “Several days? You knew for days, and you didn’t tell me of this?”

  Just when Seth was about to talk back, Domenico grabbed him by the back of the neck and painfully twisted his other hand around Seth’s ear.

  Seth yelped and pushed at Dom’s chest, which only made his ear hurt more when Dom pulled on it. “He said he’d tell you!”

  Domenico pushed Seth back with his whole strength, straight into the rose bush that sank its claws into Seth’s flesh even through the clothes. “Are you an idiot? You hide something like this from me while we’re in this fucking hornet nest?”

  Seth hissed, because pulling himself up meant getting his hand further scratched by the thorns. He would not be taking this bullshit after doing everything Domenico had asked him to. As soon as he was back on his feet, he shoved at Domenico’s chest, only to do it again. “Me? I’m not the one telling the girl I’ll help her out, I’m not the one fucking her, and I’m not the one who’s been hiding it from you! I didn’t even want to be the messenger!”

  Domenico pushed Seth back harder, once again throwing him into the thorny arms of the bush. He looked as if his skin became too tight for his flesh, about to rip apart and show sizzling meat underneath. “And you dare tell me I put us in danger? You fucking lied to me. You should have known better,” hissed Dom, p
ulling on Seth’s arm so hard it felt as if the tall plant tore some of the flesh of Seth’s back.

  “Don’t!” Seth punched Dom’s arm as the thorns prickled his back. “I didn’t lie. I just didn’t know what to do!” And he still didn’t, trapped between Dom’s fury, and the bloodthirsty roses, and the necessity of betraying Mark’s trust. There was nowhere where he could turn for safety.

  Domenico showed his firm teeth, growling like a rabid dog, but when a punch from him came, it sent Seth staggering to the side. Dom pulled on Seth’s shirt in an attempt to keep him up, but the heavens chose that moment to curse them with the sprinkler erupting with cold water.

  Seth yelped. Dom slipped. It was a lost cause.

  In slow motion, they fell into the unforgiving flowers, and Seth could swear he felt each thorn and each broken branchlet that dug into his skin under their combined weight.

  Domenico cried out, as if he was the one in most pain, but when he picked up his hand, there were bleeding thorn bites in the middle of his palm. The same palm he used to grab Seth’s jaw a split second later. “You’re a liar. How could you hide this from me? I swore my life to you, and you repay me like this?”

  Seth curled up in the fucking thorns and flowers which wept cold water all around him. “I’m sorry! I thought there was still time for him to tell you!” He pushed on Dom’s shoulder, but Dom’s grasp on him was unforgiving, and it reminded him how the many times they’d practiced fighting had been just playtime for Domenico.

  Dom squeezed his bloodstained fingers on Seth’s neck next and lowered his head, radiating infernal heat that was likely only a fraction of the fire that had to be raging inside him. “I wish I could just fucking punch you in the face right now,” he said and pressed Seth’s head down, into flowers and thorns.

  If only Seth could roll them over, get on top, his weight would help him in the fight, but Dom pressed his leg against Seth’s knee, locking him in the dark, shadowy coffin made of fear and discomfort. “You hide things from me all the time,” he choked out.