He is poison, p.27
He is Poison, page 27
Seth took a deep breath. He thought Salieri was playing with fire? He was sleeping with Domenico Acerbi, sitting by the fireplace, where it was nice and warm, but soon enough he would freaking burn. It was bound to happen. “Order from another one then! Jeez.”
Domenico sighed, but paced through the living room, stretching his body enough for the back of his shirt to come up. “Maybe later. I need some rest.”
“Should I keep watch first?” Seth looked to the sturdy door of the cell.
Dom dropped into the chair, frowning at him. “Why? It’s not like she can push the door open.”
“Uhm… I don’t know… Are you sure it’s safe not to keep watch?” Seth looked to the glass coffee table, which was so clean it seemed sterile.
“Relax.” Domenico stretched his upper body and slid lower in the chair. “That door can’t be opened without the key or a professional who has the equipment to cut through steel.”
Seth nodded, playing with the signet on his ring finger and couldn’t help but notice the strange emptiness next to it. What if tomorrow they got an order to cut off her finger? What was he supposed to do? Learning to shoot was one thing, but this?
“What is it?” came from the semidarkness. They really needed to switch on the light because he was freaking out.
“I-I’m fine, I suppose.” He shrugged and got up from the couch. Nothing was fine. He was completely out of his depth.
“Getting hungry after all?”
“Nah, I’ll go take a shower. I can’t get enough of actually being able to wash properly.” Seth rubbed his forehead and walked off to the bedroom. Some alone time would do him good, because his hands were trembling again.
Everything was so fresh in this house. The bedroom had a soft carpet and a grand, king-size bed with fresh linen. Seth left his clothes there before going into the spacious bathroom, decorated in sandy colors. None of the luxuries helped him cool down though. He needed to think things through. Seth always considered himself a tough guy, but it was laughable when he compared himself to Domenico. The guy was a machine. How was Seth ever supposed to be the future Don, when he couldn’t handle something as simple as a kidnapping?
He turned on the water and leaned against the wall when a soft creak made his body turn into ice. But it was only Domenico, naked, with his hair down. He didn’t look all that frightening this way.
“What’s up?” Seth asked, trying to sound casual.
Dom shrugged and stepped closer to the rectangular, elongated shower stall without a door. “You seem uneasy.”
“I’m just… I don’t know.” Seth rubbed the sides of his head, watching Domenico enter the stall and walk up to him.
“I think you need someone to console you,” he said, entering the spray of water, which immediately flattened his hair.
“I suppose I’m a bit nervous.” Seth sighed. Hundreds of droplets were appearing on Domenico’s face, only to dribble south as he gently pushed Seth into the wall for a slow kiss. Even now, his mouth tasted of tobacco. And there Seth was, back in the eye of the cyclone. He melted into the kiss, closing his eyes and feeling as safe as nowhere else. He wrapped his arms around Dom’s neck and for once, the closeness wasn’t about sex. The warm body in his arms was rock solid, yet somehow soft and smooth. Gentle hands went up and down his back, loosening all the cramps.
“What it is?” whispered Domenico against the skin of Seth’s shoulder, shivering at the pleasure of warm droplets running over his body.
“I just don’t know if this is going in the right direction,” Seth answered just as quietly, hugging Dom tight. “What if someone finds out she’s here? Or if she doesn’t talk? I don’t know what will happen…”
“Are you scared?”
The question was so blunt yet didn’t sound like mocking. “N-no… I- It’s not that.” Partially it was.
“What is it then?” Domenico leaned back to look into his face, placing both of his hands on Seth’s shoulders. He kept squinting to protect his eyes from the water, but it didn’t make him look any less serious.
Seth rubbed the water off his face. “I’m lost in all of this. I have no control.”
Domenico’s hands slid to Seth’s chest, for a moment pushing his attention to the contrast in the color of their skin. Dom’s cool, light olive complexion against Seth’s slightly darker, warmer hue. Somehow, thinking about such details made him feel even closer to the man in front of him. He slid his hands to the ones on his chest and finally looked back up into Dom’s eyes. Silence stretched but never became uncomfortable as they gazed at each other in the steam. When Domenico eventually broke the silence, it was a shock to Seth’s senses, somehow too loud, too crisp in the blur of their steamed up interaction.
“It’ll be all right.”
All Seth managed was a whisper. “Do you promise?”
“Yeah.” Domenico started scooting down, but held on to Seth’s hands, urging him to do the same. Seth followed without question. This was exactly the assurance he needed, even if it was just a lie.
“It’s all on me. You’re still in training, remember?” Domenico leaned back against the wall, sitting in the shallow water. Seth nodded and made Dom part his legs, so he could sit closer and hug his neck again. He even wrapped his legs around Dom’s hips, in hope that he could completely hide in the embrace. He wished being in training would never end so he would never have to take back any control over his life.
Domenico watched Seth eat. It was taking Seth so long because he kept talking. About the new movie he thought they absolutely needed to see, about the book Domenico got him, about the broken socket he knew how to repair because, as he said, he took a DIY class at university. Sun shone through their juice glasses, casting a bright light on the table like in some fucking cornflake advert, and life became perfect as soon as Domenico bit into the chocolate muffin he got at the bakery along with fresh buns for their breakfast.
It was odd.
Somehow, being with that tweeting coward was making Domenico’s chest pounds lighter, but the situation was making him increasingly worried. Seth was not cut out for this. Too soft to make difficult decisions, too frightened to really fight for his life, and easily losing his temper over silly things. He should have been left where he was, among civilians. You couldn’t teach a kitten to be a wolf.
He also had the memory of a goldfish. Yesterday, Seth was so distressed he couldn’t handle ordering a pizza, yet now, he chattered as if Salieri wasn’t locked in a cell next door. He was so convincing, Dom almost forgot about the kidnapping himself. Almost.
“We need to talk to her.”
Seth stopped midsentence and blinked at Dom, with his fork buried in a pancake. He looked like a chicken that knew it was about to get plucked.
Domenico chomped down a huge chunk of the muffin and shrugged, grabbing his fork and poking Seth’s hand with it.
“Don’t.” Seth frowned in surprise. “I like the silverware though. Everything’s really nice in this apartment. Some of the pots look brand-new.”
Changing the topic again. Domenico pinched the base of his nose with a sigh. “I want you to watch what I do, but you can’t just be a fucking Care Bear in there.”
“Hey. What the hell? I’m no Care Bear. I could even do it myself,” came a far-fetched declaration as Seth stabbed the pancake in front of him again.
“All right, but you need to change,” said Domenico, looking at Seth’s T-shirt, gray, with a white cartoon of a rhino and a speech bubble that read, “I’m a fat unicorn”. As if in an attempt to look the part, the T-shirt was clearly too small for Seth, although it wasn’t because of fat, but muscle. Domenico bit his lip. “Into something more intimidating.”
Seth opened his lips and looked down at his T-shirt, but he must have understood because he actually shut up for once, already getting that pouty, brooding face. Dom had no idea how Seth was supposed to deal with family politics, if his face was like a window into his brain.
“Hey, show me you’re not someone to mess with. That’s something we need to practice.”
Seth squinted and pushed away his plate. “You think that because we mess around I give you leeway.”
“‘Mess around’?” Domenico frowned at him. “The last time I ‘messed around’ was in elementary school.”
“Okay, okay, ‘fuck’. I let you do it ‘cause I want to, not because I’m a Care Bear.”
Domenico leaned back in the chair, finishing his juice. “Where did that even come from? I want you to scare her, and that outfit just won’t do.”
“That I get, sure.” Seth leaned back as well, as if it were a contest in who looked more leisurely, and Seth certainly did when he took off his T-shirt. He crossed his beefy arms, and Dom was sure he was showing off on purpose.
Domenico crooked his head and leaned forward. “That might actually do.”
“Oh yeah? Am I intimidating like this?” Seth spread his arms to the sides and raised his eyebrows.
“To a woman? Definitely, especially after being captured and spending a night with BDSM accessories.” Domenico allowed himself a half smile.
“Why would I not look intimidating to a guy? I’m tall and stuff.”
“I’m just talking about you being half-naked.” Domenico got up and walked over to Seth, to mess up his perfectly arranged hair.
“So what should I do? Tell her I’ll tie her to that cross thing? Would that work?” Seth seemed to treat the task at hand like a videogame, where he could get points for saying the right line.
“You might start by saying you’ll spank her if she doesn’t co-operate.”
Seth gave the door to the cell a thoughtful look. “What if she likes that?”
“Really...” Domenico shook his head and dragged his hands down his face. It was a hopeless case when his trainee didn’t understand the difference between a consensual and non-consensual spanking, and what it implied. “Right, I’ll start and you watch me work, okay?”
“Okay… But…” Seth got up slowly, looking like a piece of confused beef. “What if she says something to me?”
“Just tell her to shut it.” Domenico rolled up his sleeves and lit a cigarette, slowly making his way to the cell.
He could hear Seth follow. “Can I have one as well?”
Dom looked at his tense and unnecessarily rigid shoulders, but gave him the pack before unlocking the cell.
Vera looked up at them with reddened, but attentive eyes. She didn’t say a thing, just watched them in complete silence. Seth stood in the corner and lit a cigarette.
With the door closed, they could be certain no one would hear a thing.
“It’s nice to have a woman in our all-male flat, isn’t it, Seth?” asked Domenico. He stopped close to her, pushing his hands down his front pockets.
“Yep,” Seth muttered from his corner, smoking lazily, but the slight tremble in his fingers wasn’t a good sign. He doubted Salieri would notice though. She was just a greedy woman.
Domenico shrugged and looked into her big, dark eyes. “So darling, do you know why we invited you over?”
She swallowed, inhaling deeply. “I— You must have mistaken me for someone…”
“No, I’m sure I haven’t.” Domenico gave her a smile and shook his head. “You’ve been a very naughty girl, Vera.”
She looked around the room nervously, but froze when her gaze settled behind Dom. She must have finally recognized Seth. “I only got a few simple tasks over e-mail.”
“So you’re not the one to blame?” asked Domenico, slowly moving behind her. He smiled when her teeth started to clatter.
Seth watched both of them, glued to the wall and halfway through the cigarette already.
“No, I don’t even know what happened, I know nothing,” her voice got a higher pitch to it.
“Tell you what.” Domenico dropped his cigarette to the floor, looking at the top of her head, where her hair was slowly getting oily from the stress. “Tell us who is to blame, and we’ll let you go with a slap on the wrist.”
“I don’t know my contact. I can give you his e-mail.” Her fingers trembled.
Seth started losing his focus and looked all around instead of paying attention.
“Show that bitch your left hand,” said Domenico, eager to pull him back into the here and now.
Seth walked up slowly and raised his hand in front of her face. “And we’ll cut yours off if you don’t talk to us,” he rasped with his eyes completely focused on her face.
The worst thing was that at this point Dom couldn’t really predict what Seth would do, even if that improvised threat made him proud.
“And then all the other ones,” Dom whispered, cupping the top of her head and feeling her tremble. “And then your ears and nose.”
Salieri tensed up, but Seth took a step back, the chicken in him spreading its wings despite the beefy exterior.
“I never wanted this to happen! I was blackmailed.” She raised her voice, jerking in the chair. There she was. Panicking and changing her story.
“Someone needs to die for what happened.” Domenico faced her again, slowly squeezing his hands on her knees.
“If you let me go, I can find out for you, I would dig,” she babbled, looking up at him with eyes wide open.
Domenico shook his head. “No, darling. It’s either that person or you.” He patted her on the cheek and backed off. “I will let you think about it.”
She swallowed and slouched in the chair, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Domenico snorted. “I hope you enjoyed your Louboutins.” And with that, he turned toward the door. Seth was there first though, out before they could even make eye contact. Domenico wanted to bang his head into the wall, but he had to lock the cell first.
“You did well.” Or rather, better than expected.
“I did shit! It was shit.” Seth roamed around the living room and quickly put his T-shirt back on.
“You scared her. It wasn’t bad for a first time.” Domenico followed him and dropped onto the couch. “I don’t know about you, but I can tell you about my several first times, and all were a disaster.”
“I didn’t like… myself in there.” Seth was breathing hard and walking around somewhere in the corridor.
Dom scratched his head, at loss. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, do you like it? You… you scared me.” That last bit was barely audible.
Domenico looked at the door. He knew he should call Seth over to join him, but he got up anyway. “Why did I scare you? I wasn’t doing anything to you.”
“I don’t know. You were freaking intimidating. And I was abducted a month ago, and I don’t want to hear about cutting off fingers, and noses, and shit.” Seth was speaking quickly and it was hard not to notice his heavy breathing resonating through the corridor. When Dom got a sight of him, it was painful to watch. Seth was crouched in the corridor with his back to the door, arms hugging his knees.
“Thanks.” Domenico smiled, even though he knew it wasn’t meant as a compliment. Slowly, he approached Seth. “You know I’m here to protect you, not cut anything off you.”
“But you’d do it, wouldn’t you? You like this shit!” Seth got up and slipped away to the other corner of the corridor, hiding close to the bathroom. A big mound of meat hiding from his own fear.
“No.”
“Yeah, right. You were in your element.” Seth’s dark eyes watched Dom’s every move. “You loved it.”
Domenico frowned. “I’m neutral to it. I do what I need to do.”
Seth laughed outloud, but it didn’t promise anything good. “Why am I supposed to do it then? Why don’t you just take the fucking job from me? You could do it. What do you care?”
Domenico’s body tensed, his fingers spreading, ready for attack before he even thought about it. He had to breathe deeply to stifle the urge to show Seth just how much he had wanted that since he realized who his father was. “We both know that won’t happen.”
“You could still do it. No one would be able to stop you,” Seth muttered, flinching farther away along the corridor. Were the words a test of Dom’s patience or an actual death wish? He was about to find out.
Domenico moved toward Seth without a word, just to see his eyes widen. Seth backed away with so much haste he almost tripped over the carpet. No death wish then.
Domenico didn’t even flinch and pushed the larger body against the wall, digging his fingers into Seth’s cheeks. The stubble was still tangible under the skin, even so soon after he had shaved. “I don’t want to, even though I believe my mother would approve.”
Seth’s Adam’s apple bobbed by Dom’s hand, his dark eyes never leaving Dom’s face. “Would she want you to climb up like that?”
Domenico swallowed, moving his thumb over the horizontal ridge in the Adam’s apple. It would be too easy to kill Seth now. “I think she would be on the fence about it.” He exhaled, looking up into Seth’s wide eyes. “Back then, I attacked you because I thought that was what she wanted.”
“And she didn’t? Was that why you never tried again?” He slowly put his hands on Dom’s chest.
Domenico leaned into the touch, massaging Seth’s throat. He enjoyed how thick and masculine it was, but it would be easy to choke him nevertheless. “Your father would kill me if I did. Those lonely weeks in captivity were the most grueling period of my life,” he whispered, already feeling a chill run down his spine.
Cold floor with nothing but a meager blanket to sleep on, food rations that left him thin and bony, the pain of repeated beatings and a bullet wound that wasn’t healing well. He wouldn’t dare to try. Luigi was his only salvation back then, he was the one to suggest he could train Dom from a young age. That Dom showed promise. He took him to the vineyard and gave him a Snickers bar. It was the most delicious thing Domenico had ever eaten, and he would never forget the sweetness that could melt your teeth, and how good it felt in his mouth.
But instead of fleeing like before, Seth slowly wrapped his arms around Dom’s neck, pulling him into an embrace instead of pushing Dom away as he expected. “I’m sorry.”
