Desmoterion, page 34
“You can’t just barge in here,” Trent said, pocketing the gun. “Even on a trial period. What if we were fucking?”
Katya turned with a raised eyebrow. “And still able to open the door? That’s quite a feat.”
“Never underestimate my talents.” Trent grinned. “It might just get you killed because of it.”
“So be it. We live under an oppressive regime, so what’s the difference?” Katya turned her attention to unloading the bags.
“You do?” Girish stared at her and then glanced at Trent. “I thought it was fairly free here.”
“Eh, when you don’t have much money, it feels oppressive, even if it’s not. Such is life in this village.”
“I assume you think you’ll be paid for this?” Trent’s eyebrow rose, and he had a smirk on his face.
“That would be nice.” Katya turned around. “but I’m not expecting it. It’s a good way to practice languages, and perhaps you men can help me if I help you.”
“Help you how?” Trent frowned.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Nothing specific right now, but you never know what will come up in the future. Being on good terms with foreign men who own a big house can only be good. Right?”
“Right.” Girish glanced over at Trent. “And languages. Isn’t it a diverse town here?”
“Yes, in the town. Many different people speak many languages. But here in this village, my family only speaks the local Ruskie dialect. I’m the only linguist.”
“I’ll have to learn your language then,” Girish sighed. He didn’t mind; it was a small price for a new life and freedom.
“You don’t have to worry about getting paid. I can afford to pay you. And you’ll have more people here to practice your language skills with soon.”
Katya cocked her head to the side. “Who else is coming?”
Trent smiled. “We’ve friends joining us. There will be a total of six people here.”
“Oh, I get to make enormous meals.” Katya clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait!”
Trent laughed at her enthusiasm. “You say that now, but you’ll grow tired of those guys in time. They can be pains in the ass if they want to.”
“That’s only Trent; the rest are down-to-earth guys. Well, three of them are at least. I don’t think Kipper likes me all that much.”
“He only hates you because you undermined his authority. Now that he’s not under pressure from our former leader, he’ll mellow out when it comes to you, or you’ll duke it out for supremacy. Either way, I get a show, and Mike has something to do while he relaxes.”
* * *
The vehicle stopped on the side of the road, and they all got out to watch the large fireball that was their former base.
“You know, I expected to feel more relieved seeing, but we still need to cross the border.” Mike sighed.
Emyr turned to Mike, grabbing his head to pull him into a kiss.
Ward gasped.
Kipper laughed at the display. “It’s about fucking time. They’ve been dancing around it for years.”
Arden chuckled. “They’ve done that before, but only on Emyr’s first missions. After they assigned Mike to training duty, it stopped cold because of the cameras. An advantage of going out in the transporters is no cameras inside it. It’s kind of odd when you think about where other cameras were inside that building.”
“They had cameras in the fucking bathrooms.” Ward shivered. “I happened to notice the pinprick of light while taking a shit one time. Never used that stall again.”
“And that asshole Samson watched every moment. Fucking creep.” Kipper raked his hand through his hair, enjoying the feeling of the sun and breeze on his face. “I still think Mike’s actions were over the top, but the idea of never having to deal with that man again is a good thing.”
Mike broke the kiss and gasped for a breath. “Shit, that’s been a long time.”
“Tell me about it.” Emyr held onto Mike. “Almost five fucking years.”
Arden motioned to the transporter. “We might as well keep going. By the way, Kipper, did you get the passports done before this happened?”
Kipper dug into his bag and pulled them out. “Yes, they were in the hidden bag Mike grabbed from my room. I have one for all of us. Since the records have now been obliterated, all that’s left is our original ones with a few tweaks.”
Ward took his passport and opened it to see his somber face looking back at him. “What kind of tweaks?”
“Our prison records, or in yours and Delgado’s case, juvenile records, have been scrubbed. All they have on file is that we lived in the last place of residence and maybe some work history, depending on the person. I also have one for Girish, who doesn’t have one at the moment.”
Delgado frowned. “But where are we going?”
Kipper headed back to the vehicle. “Ruska, specifically Karn. Mostly because that’s where Trent procured a house from a dead man.”
Delgado gaped. “A dead man?”
Mike laughed at Delgado. “Yes, a dead terrorist. Kind of odd place to hang out, but the house was in good shape when Trent grabbed it. And he’s there now fixing it up for us.”
* * *
They spent the next several days cleaning the house in time for the others to arrive. Trent had no idea when they would arrive, but he figured it might take a week to drive to a legal border crossing point and come through that way. Then, another day to drive to the house.
After a first day of lounging around, reading, sleeping, and healing, Trent helped with the cleaning, vacuuming up the dust bunnies the size of small dogs and removing the sheets over the furniture. He eyed the tacky furniture with distaste, but it was free and it was there, so he left it alone.
Girish and Katya were upstairs getting the rooms ready. He took the right side of the hallway, making sure she didn’t touch Trent and Girish’s rooms, while she did the opposite side. He emptied the closets of moldy or just plain ugly clothes and tossed them into a pile. They would donate them to someone or just toss them out.
Katya wandered into the room where Girish was cleaning and said, “What the hell is this for?”
Girish glanced up and gaped. He hurried over to her and took it out of her hands with care. “It’s a bomb, well, one without a detonator. That figures he’d have something like this still left. Trent told me it was a former terrorist who had owned this house before.”
“A terrorist?” Katya said, backing away from Girish. “Are you kidding me?”
“Sadly, I’m not. It was before I knew Trent, but he wouldn’t make up a story like that. At least the guy is dead now, so that’s a good thing.”
“My mother worked for a terrorist.” Katya shook her head. “I can’t believe this; he seemed like a nice man when I met him as a young kid.”
“Looks can deceive, especially with Trent and I.” Girish chuckled and set the bomb down on the nightstand. “We’re not terrorists, but we’ve done some things that we’re not proud of, not that we had a choice. Still, I don’t miss those times at all.”
“That would explain your jumpiness when I come around. You don’t trust anyone yet.”
Girish went back to stripping off the dirty blankets from the bed. “I’ve never trusted anyone. I mean, I guess I trust Trent to a point, but that’s about it. It was a matter of living or dying, and at one point, I didn’t care which happened.”
“I know that feeling very well,” Katya said in a quiet, gentle voice. “Though I believe you trust Trent with your life based on the way you look at him. I thought you two were lovers when I first met you.”
Girish turned bright red.
“Only in my dreams.“ A chuckle sounded from the doorway. “Come on, let’s have some lunch. We’ve been working for hours.”
“I’ll whip up some sandwiches and soup.” Katya moved out of the room to head downstairs.
Girish glanced up at Trent. “Do you really dream about us together?”
With a wink, Trent laughed and turned to follow Katya, leaving Girish to ponder alone.
* * *
That night, Trent stepped out of the shower and sighed. There were still some more rooms to clean, and then the basement. It was so much work just to clean it, never mind fixing up the painting and stonework.
Trent groaned and lay down on his bed to look up at the ceiling. At least his room was freshly cleaned, thanks to Girish’s hard work. He bit his lip, trying to avoid picturing Girish lying in bed.
He hadn’t planned on falling for Girish, he never expected the man to even come to the house. The only reason he had Girish in the plan was to prevent Trent from dying along the way. It had gone according to plan, and yet Trent couldn’t help realizing the more he was around Girish, the more he liked him.
It seemed mutual, as friends, but Trent doubted there’d ever be anything more. Sometimes, he almost saw lust in Girish’s eyes, given he’d been in prison for so long without normal interactions with women, that alone would explain away any inappropriate moments. And other times, it was annoyance; Girish had made it plain he was straight.
Trent got up from the bed to pad over to Girish’s room next door. He stood at the doorway, only to find it empty. He went for the bathroom down the hall, thinking maybe Girish was taking a shower. The bathroom was empty as well.
Trent headed downstairs. He couldn’t imagine Girish was still up cleaning.
Instead, he found Girish looking out a window and frowning.
Trent sat next to him on the couch. “You should sleep, Girish. We still have more to do tomorrow.”
“I can’t sleep. I don’t even know why I’m here at all in this place that’s so foreign. I should have just said no to your proposal and escaped.”
“You’re here because you decided to follow me. I said a long time ago that we could split up after crossing the border. Granted, if we had, I wouldn’t even be here right now. I’d be dead in some forest, bleeding to death.”
“I should have left you to die. Then it wouldn’t be this confusing.” Girish bit his lip, and his expression looked pained.
Trent winced at the cutting remark and touched Girish’s arm. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m glad you didn’t. It didn’t just mean me not getting here; it meant that they couldn’t get here either. You saved all of us.”
“If I were to leave tonight,” Girish turned to look into Trent’s eyes. “What would you do?”
Trent sat back on the couch and swallowed hard. “I’d rather you didn’t, but I can’t stop you from finding your own path. If you want to leave, then you don’t need my permission to do it. I can give you some money and help set you up.”
Girish stared forward into the room. “Yet I can’t because I’m tied to you. I saved your life; hell, I carried you for hours to get to the hotel. I bribed some caretaker to let us stay the night.”
“Yes, you did, and I’m thankful, but that still doesn’t mean you owe me anything for it. It means that I owe you. I’d give you anything, help you to have the life you want after all you’ve done.”
Girish played with his hands. “I hated you for so long, so much so that it drove me on for the chance to beat you in every way. It was all I could think of for months.”
Trent relished in Girish thinking about him but didn’t interrupt Girish’s stream of words.
“But then I was tasked with spying on you. I couldn’t wait to dig up some dirt on you and use it against you later. Except all I found was someone grappling with their life and losing their grip on everything. I wanted to kick your smug ass, and yet I couldn’t after knowing that.”
Trent chuckled. “I’m sure I deserved it for the things I pulled with you. It was only to gain some of your trust, enough that you didn’t end up stabbing me in the back later.”
“And then we started talking, it made it even worse. We’re so much alike that it’s uncanny, but we’re also very different. Like opposites, we make a great team. Both grew up with only one parent, both killed our remaining parent for something they did to us, and both served prison time and were abused in the prison system. The only difference is you became almost a robot, and I failed to push my emotions to the side.”
“It’s the reason I chose you. Having someone who was similar to me, I could bond with that person and have them help me get out. I didn’t know about your father until after the first mission when you reacted to my comment about not learning how to do ties from your father. Once I learned that, I knew I’d chosen correctly.”
Girish leaned back on the couch. “I need to get away from you, Trent. All it leads to is confusion and hesitation.”
Trent’s eyes drifted shut at the idea of Girish leaving him. He half wondered if it would happen, just not this soon. With all his might, he tried to cover over the emotions pouring through his voice. “I see. If that’s what you want, then you’re free to leave.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Girish looked at Trent’s closed eyes.
Eyes that suddenly snapped open with the sound of tapping on the window.
“Good fucking god, Kannan, just kiss him so we’re not left freezing outside!”
Trent opened his eyes and stared at Girish for a moment before laughing and getting up from the couch. On his way to the door, he pulled his dark shades from a pocket and placed them on before opening the front door. “How long have you been standing there, Kipper?”
Kipper shuffled in. “Long enough to see him fucking about, looking at you like as if your God’s gift to man and not moving in on his heart’s desire. If hardheaded Mike can get together with no-nonsense Emyr, anything’s possible.”
The rest followed Kipper inside the house to stand in the doorway.
Trent pointed at Ward and Delgado. “Explain to me why there’s two of your crew with you?”
Mike laughed behind them. “Kipper’s bleeding heart. He also got Burkis out as well, but he took off in another vehicle.”
Trent rolled his eyes at Kipper. “Why the hell did you choose these two, anyway? I mean, yes, you worked with them for a year, but still. Why these two?”
“A soft spot for teenage hackers, I guess.” Kipper smiled and patted them both on the shoulders. “Plus, they’re totally into each other, so there’s some free entertainment for you.”
Ward turned to gape at Kipper. “You knew?”
Kipper scoffed. “Of course I did. It’s all those same little looks that Emyr and Mike do to each other. You can’t hide fondness.”
Delgado turned bright red.
“Yeah, you can’t hide it.” Kipper glanced over at frowning Girish. “Anyway, we’re going to head to bed. It’s been a hell of a long trip here.”
Trent winced. “About that. We didn’t get all the rooms cleaned, so two of you will have to bunk together.”
Ward grinned wide. “I don’t mind that. I’m just pleased to be included in this.”
* * *
Trent waited until they’d all gone upstairs before going over to stand in front of Girish. “Look, if you want to leave, then I can’t stop you. Personally, I’d rather you stayed, but those are my selfish reasons.”
Girish got up off the couch. “Maybe I should just sleep on it.”
“Probably a good idea.” Trent nodded but didn’t move out of the way.
“Good night, Trent,” Girish pushed past without making eye contact.
Trent bit his lip as Girish walked away. “Night.”
Several groans sounded upstairs, with Mike chastising Girish for not kissing Trent when he had the chance. Girish didn’t offer a response that Trent heard, but it didn’t matter. There wasn’t any point in getting emotionally entangled and brokenhearted over a straight guy, at least no more than it already hurt.
Girish needed to move on with his life, and that didn’t mean getting tied down in a house full of gay ex-convicts.
* * *
Trent groaned when a hand shook him awake and mumbled, “Leave me alone, Girish.”
“Kannan is gone.”
Trent opened his eyes to look up at Mike. “Gone?”
“Yes, he probably left earlier this morning. We need to find him before he does something stupid to jeopardize our freedom.”
Trent sat up in bed, letting the blankets pool at his waist. “No, we don’t. He wanted to leave, and I said he could. I had a feeling he’d go last night, and I guess he proved me right.”
Mike sat on the side of the bed. “I don’t give a damn about that, Trent. I care about our freedom and not having to go back to prison, or worse, under our former leader’s thumb again.”
“He won’t do that, as it would jeopardize his freedom. I want to just let him be and work out what he needs to work out.” Trent’s face scrunched up. “Though I could do without the unbearable pain in my chest. I foolishly hoped he might feel the same way I felt for him.”
Mike was about to protest further until he saw the tears in Trent’s eyes. Instead, he pulled Trent into his arms and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Being concerned about your life? I would be, too, if I were in your position. All I can hope is that he'll come back. I mean, it’s not like he has a ton of money on him. And he doesn’t speak the local language. I just hope nothing terrible happens to him.”
A snort came from the doorway. “What the hell is this?”
Trent wiggled out of Mike’s arms, brushing away the tears that were rolling down his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Relax, I have no designs on your man. Mike is too brutish for me.”
Mike got up from the bed to approach Emyr. “Trent says to not search for Girish, that he knew Girish would leave.”
“Fine, but answer me this: who the hell is the young woman standing in our kitchen cooking breakfast?”
Trent smiled and got up from the bed. “That would be our housekeeper, Katya. She, um, well, forced her services on us. I checked her out, and she’s clean. Apparently, she liked the original owner of this house despite not knowing he was a terrorist. Either way, her trial period is up today, so we can all decide if we want to keep her or not. I haven’t paid her yet.”
“What kind of food does she make?” Mike’s stomach grumbled.
“Pretty much anything you want. I believe today is pancake day.”
Katya turned with a raised eyebrow. “And still able to open the door? That’s quite a feat.”
“Never underestimate my talents.” Trent grinned. “It might just get you killed because of it.”
“So be it. We live under an oppressive regime, so what’s the difference?” Katya turned her attention to unloading the bags.
“You do?” Girish stared at her and then glanced at Trent. “I thought it was fairly free here.”
“Eh, when you don’t have much money, it feels oppressive, even if it’s not. Such is life in this village.”
“I assume you think you’ll be paid for this?” Trent’s eyebrow rose, and he had a smirk on his face.
“That would be nice.” Katya turned around. “but I’m not expecting it. It’s a good way to practice languages, and perhaps you men can help me if I help you.”
“Help you how?” Trent frowned.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Nothing specific right now, but you never know what will come up in the future. Being on good terms with foreign men who own a big house can only be good. Right?”
“Right.” Girish glanced over at Trent. “And languages. Isn’t it a diverse town here?”
“Yes, in the town. Many different people speak many languages. But here in this village, my family only speaks the local Ruskie dialect. I’m the only linguist.”
“I’ll have to learn your language then,” Girish sighed. He didn’t mind; it was a small price for a new life and freedom.
“You don’t have to worry about getting paid. I can afford to pay you. And you’ll have more people here to practice your language skills with soon.”
Katya cocked her head to the side. “Who else is coming?”
Trent smiled. “We’ve friends joining us. There will be a total of six people here.”
“Oh, I get to make enormous meals.” Katya clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait!”
Trent laughed at her enthusiasm. “You say that now, but you’ll grow tired of those guys in time. They can be pains in the ass if they want to.”
“That’s only Trent; the rest are down-to-earth guys. Well, three of them are at least. I don’t think Kipper likes me all that much.”
“He only hates you because you undermined his authority. Now that he’s not under pressure from our former leader, he’ll mellow out when it comes to you, or you’ll duke it out for supremacy. Either way, I get a show, and Mike has something to do while he relaxes.”
* * *
The vehicle stopped on the side of the road, and they all got out to watch the large fireball that was their former base.
“You know, I expected to feel more relieved seeing, but we still need to cross the border.” Mike sighed.
Emyr turned to Mike, grabbing his head to pull him into a kiss.
Ward gasped.
Kipper laughed at the display. “It’s about fucking time. They’ve been dancing around it for years.”
Arden chuckled. “They’ve done that before, but only on Emyr’s first missions. After they assigned Mike to training duty, it stopped cold because of the cameras. An advantage of going out in the transporters is no cameras inside it. It’s kind of odd when you think about where other cameras were inside that building.”
“They had cameras in the fucking bathrooms.” Ward shivered. “I happened to notice the pinprick of light while taking a shit one time. Never used that stall again.”
“And that asshole Samson watched every moment. Fucking creep.” Kipper raked his hand through his hair, enjoying the feeling of the sun and breeze on his face. “I still think Mike’s actions were over the top, but the idea of never having to deal with that man again is a good thing.”
Mike broke the kiss and gasped for a breath. “Shit, that’s been a long time.”
“Tell me about it.” Emyr held onto Mike. “Almost five fucking years.”
Arden motioned to the transporter. “We might as well keep going. By the way, Kipper, did you get the passports done before this happened?”
Kipper dug into his bag and pulled them out. “Yes, they were in the hidden bag Mike grabbed from my room. I have one for all of us. Since the records have now been obliterated, all that’s left is our original ones with a few tweaks.”
Ward took his passport and opened it to see his somber face looking back at him. “What kind of tweaks?”
“Our prison records, or in yours and Delgado’s case, juvenile records, have been scrubbed. All they have on file is that we lived in the last place of residence and maybe some work history, depending on the person. I also have one for Girish, who doesn’t have one at the moment.”
Delgado frowned. “But where are we going?”
Kipper headed back to the vehicle. “Ruska, specifically Karn. Mostly because that’s where Trent procured a house from a dead man.”
Delgado gaped. “A dead man?”
Mike laughed at Delgado. “Yes, a dead terrorist. Kind of odd place to hang out, but the house was in good shape when Trent grabbed it. And he’s there now fixing it up for us.”
* * *
They spent the next several days cleaning the house in time for the others to arrive. Trent had no idea when they would arrive, but he figured it might take a week to drive to a legal border crossing point and come through that way. Then, another day to drive to the house.
After a first day of lounging around, reading, sleeping, and healing, Trent helped with the cleaning, vacuuming up the dust bunnies the size of small dogs and removing the sheets over the furniture. He eyed the tacky furniture with distaste, but it was free and it was there, so he left it alone.
Girish and Katya were upstairs getting the rooms ready. He took the right side of the hallway, making sure she didn’t touch Trent and Girish’s rooms, while she did the opposite side. He emptied the closets of moldy or just plain ugly clothes and tossed them into a pile. They would donate them to someone or just toss them out.
Katya wandered into the room where Girish was cleaning and said, “What the hell is this for?”
Girish glanced up and gaped. He hurried over to her and took it out of her hands with care. “It’s a bomb, well, one without a detonator. That figures he’d have something like this still left. Trent told me it was a former terrorist who had owned this house before.”
“A terrorist?” Katya said, backing away from Girish. “Are you kidding me?”
“Sadly, I’m not. It was before I knew Trent, but he wouldn’t make up a story like that. At least the guy is dead now, so that’s a good thing.”
“My mother worked for a terrorist.” Katya shook her head. “I can’t believe this; he seemed like a nice man when I met him as a young kid.”
“Looks can deceive, especially with Trent and I.” Girish chuckled and set the bomb down on the nightstand. “We’re not terrorists, but we’ve done some things that we’re not proud of, not that we had a choice. Still, I don’t miss those times at all.”
“That would explain your jumpiness when I come around. You don’t trust anyone yet.”
Girish went back to stripping off the dirty blankets from the bed. “I’ve never trusted anyone. I mean, I guess I trust Trent to a point, but that’s about it. It was a matter of living or dying, and at one point, I didn’t care which happened.”
“I know that feeling very well,” Katya said in a quiet, gentle voice. “Though I believe you trust Trent with your life based on the way you look at him. I thought you two were lovers when I first met you.”
Girish turned bright red.
“Only in my dreams.“ A chuckle sounded from the doorway. “Come on, let’s have some lunch. We’ve been working for hours.”
“I’ll whip up some sandwiches and soup.” Katya moved out of the room to head downstairs.
Girish glanced up at Trent. “Do you really dream about us together?”
With a wink, Trent laughed and turned to follow Katya, leaving Girish to ponder alone.
* * *
That night, Trent stepped out of the shower and sighed. There were still some more rooms to clean, and then the basement. It was so much work just to clean it, never mind fixing up the painting and stonework.
Trent groaned and lay down on his bed to look up at the ceiling. At least his room was freshly cleaned, thanks to Girish’s hard work. He bit his lip, trying to avoid picturing Girish lying in bed.
He hadn’t planned on falling for Girish, he never expected the man to even come to the house. The only reason he had Girish in the plan was to prevent Trent from dying along the way. It had gone according to plan, and yet Trent couldn’t help realizing the more he was around Girish, the more he liked him.
It seemed mutual, as friends, but Trent doubted there’d ever be anything more. Sometimes, he almost saw lust in Girish’s eyes, given he’d been in prison for so long without normal interactions with women, that alone would explain away any inappropriate moments. And other times, it was annoyance; Girish had made it plain he was straight.
Trent got up from the bed to pad over to Girish’s room next door. He stood at the doorway, only to find it empty. He went for the bathroom down the hall, thinking maybe Girish was taking a shower. The bathroom was empty as well.
Trent headed downstairs. He couldn’t imagine Girish was still up cleaning.
Instead, he found Girish looking out a window and frowning.
Trent sat next to him on the couch. “You should sleep, Girish. We still have more to do tomorrow.”
“I can’t sleep. I don’t even know why I’m here at all in this place that’s so foreign. I should have just said no to your proposal and escaped.”
“You’re here because you decided to follow me. I said a long time ago that we could split up after crossing the border. Granted, if we had, I wouldn’t even be here right now. I’d be dead in some forest, bleeding to death.”
“I should have left you to die. Then it wouldn’t be this confusing.” Girish bit his lip, and his expression looked pained.
Trent winced at the cutting remark and touched Girish’s arm. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m glad you didn’t. It didn’t just mean me not getting here; it meant that they couldn’t get here either. You saved all of us.”
“If I were to leave tonight,” Girish turned to look into Trent’s eyes. “What would you do?”
Trent sat back on the couch and swallowed hard. “I’d rather you didn’t, but I can’t stop you from finding your own path. If you want to leave, then you don’t need my permission to do it. I can give you some money and help set you up.”
Girish stared forward into the room. “Yet I can’t because I’m tied to you. I saved your life; hell, I carried you for hours to get to the hotel. I bribed some caretaker to let us stay the night.”
“Yes, you did, and I’m thankful, but that still doesn’t mean you owe me anything for it. It means that I owe you. I’d give you anything, help you to have the life you want after all you’ve done.”
Girish played with his hands. “I hated you for so long, so much so that it drove me on for the chance to beat you in every way. It was all I could think of for months.”
Trent relished in Girish thinking about him but didn’t interrupt Girish’s stream of words.
“But then I was tasked with spying on you. I couldn’t wait to dig up some dirt on you and use it against you later. Except all I found was someone grappling with their life and losing their grip on everything. I wanted to kick your smug ass, and yet I couldn’t after knowing that.”
Trent chuckled. “I’m sure I deserved it for the things I pulled with you. It was only to gain some of your trust, enough that you didn’t end up stabbing me in the back later.”
“And then we started talking, it made it even worse. We’re so much alike that it’s uncanny, but we’re also very different. Like opposites, we make a great team. Both grew up with only one parent, both killed our remaining parent for something they did to us, and both served prison time and were abused in the prison system. The only difference is you became almost a robot, and I failed to push my emotions to the side.”
“It’s the reason I chose you. Having someone who was similar to me, I could bond with that person and have them help me get out. I didn’t know about your father until after the first mission when you reacted to my comment about not learning how to do ties from your father. Once I learned that, I knew I’d chosen correctly.”
Girish leaned back on the couch. “I need to get away from you, Trent. All it leads to is confusion and hesitation.”
Trent’s eyes drifted shut at the idea of Girish leaving him. He half wondered if it would happen, just not this soon. With all his might, he tried to cover over the emotions pouring through his voice. “I see. If that’s what you want, then you’re free to leave.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Girish looked at Trent’s closed eyes.
Eyes that suddenly snapped open with the sound of tapping on the window.
“Good fucking god, Kannan, just kiss him so we’re not left freezing outside!”
Trent opened his eyes and stared at Girish for a moment before laughing and getting up from the couch. On his way to the door, he pulled his dark shades from a pocket and placed them on before opening the front door. “How long have you been standing there, Kipper?”
Kipper shuffled in. “Long enough to see him fucking about, looking at you like as if your God’s gift to man and not moving in on his heart’s desire. If hardheaded Mike can get together with no-nonsense Emyr, anything’s possible.”
The rest followed Kipper inside the house to stand in the doorway.
Trent pointed at Ward and Delgado. “Explain to me why there’s two of your crew with you?”
Mike laughed behind them. “Kipper’s bleeding heart. He also got Burkis out as well, but he took off in another vehicle.”
Trent rolled his eyes at Kipper. “Why the hell did you choose these two, anyway? I mean, yes, you worked with them for a year, but still. Why these two?”
“A soft spot for teenage hackers, I guess.” Kipper smiled and patted them both on the shoulders. “Plus, they’re totally into each other, so there’s some free entertainment for you.”
Ward turned to gape at Kipper. “You knew?”
Kipper scoffed. “Of course I did. It’s all those same little looks that Emyr and Mike do to each other. You can’t hide fondness.”
Delgado turned bright red.
“Yeah, you can’t hide it.” Kipper glanced over at frowning Girish. “Anyway, we’re going to head to bed. It’s been a hell of a long trip here.”
Trent winced. “About that. We didn’t get all the rooms cleaned, so two of you will have to bunk together.”
Ward grinned wide. “I don’t mind that. I’m just pleased to be included in this.”
* * *
Trent waited until they’d all gone upstairs before going over to stand in front of Girish. “Look, if you want to leave, then I can’t stop you. Personally, I’d rather you stayed, but those are my selfish reasons.”
Girish got up off the couch. “Maybe I should just sleep on it.”
“Probably a good idea.” Trent nodded but didn’t move out of the way.
“Good night, Trent,” Girish pushed past without making eye contact.
Trent bit his lip as Girish walked away. “Night.”
Several groans sounded upstairs, with Mike chastising Girish for not kissing Trent when he had the chance. Girish didn’t offer a response that Trent heard, but it didn’t matter. There wasn’t any point in getting emotionally entangled and brokenhearted over a straight guy, at least no more than it already hurt.
Girish needed to move on with his life, and that didn’t mean getting tied down in a house full of gay ex-convicts.
* * *
Trent groaned when a hand shook him awake and mumbled, “Leave me alone, Girish.”
“Kannan is gone.”
Trent opened his eyes to look up at Mike. “Gone?”
“Yes, he probably left earlier this morning. We need to find him before he does something stupid to jeopardize our freedom.”
Trent sat up in bed, letting the blankets pool at his waist. “No, we don’t. He wanted to leave, and I said he could. I had a feeling he’d go last night, and I guess he proved me right.”
Mike sat on the side of the bed. “I don’t give a damn about that, Trent. I care about our freedom and not having to go back to prison, or worse, under our former leader’s thumb again.”
“He won’t do that, as it would jeopardize his freedom. I want to just let him be and work out what he needs to work out.” Trent’s face scrunched up. “Though I could do without the unbearable pain in my chest. I foolishly hoped he might feel the same way I felt for him.”
Mike was about to protest further until he saw the tears in Trent’s eyes. Instead, he pulled Trent into his arms and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Being concerned about your life? I would be, too, if I were in your position. All I can hope is that he'll come back. I mean, it’s not like he has a ton of money on him. And he doesn’t speak the local language. I just hope nothing terrible happens to him.”
A snort came from the doorway. “What the hell is this?”
Trent wiggled out of Mike’s arms, brushing away the tears that were rolling down his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Relax, I have no designs on your man. Mike is too brutish for me.”
Mike got up from the bed to approach Emyr. “Trent says to not search for Girish, that he knew Girish would leave.”
“Fine, but answer me this: who the hell is the young woman standing in our kitchen cooking breakfast?”
Trent smiled and got up from the bed. “That would be our housekeeper, Katya. She, um, well, forced her services on us. I checked her out, and she’s clean. Apparently, she liked the original owner of this house despite not knowing he was a terrorist. Either way, her trial period is up today, so we can all decide if we want to keep her or not. I haven’t paid her yet.”
“What kind of food does she make?” Mike’s stomach grumbled.
“Pretty much anything you want. I believe today is pancake day.”
