“Not particularly.” Cason walked out of the kitchen and into the living room; on his way through, avoiding looking into the dining room where they’d had that last meal. If he was really lucky, Brandon would get sick of him refusing to answer his questions and being an ass, and leave.
Nope. Not that lucky.
Brandon flopped down on the couch beside him. “I know what Vince has told Page, which isn’t a whole lot, but he’s pretty surly too. Page is being driven crazy ’cause apparently Vince is bouncing around like a bunny on crack. You’re depressed and not talking to anyone. I’ve never seen you like this. What is going on?”
Cason let his head fall back against the couch, tossing the energy bar on the end table. “You’re really not going to go away?”
“Nope.” Brandon’s rumbling negative was firm.
What could Cason really expect from the man he knew would have the patience to deal with a brat like Page?
“Life goes on, okay? Nothing unusual. I found a sub. I showed him how a scene with a Dom that cares about his sub should be. He went home. The end. Drama not included.”
Brandon snorted. “Liar.”
Cason jerked to his feet. “What do you want me to say, Brandon? That I felt something for Vince? That being friends with him, without getting to touch him again, is more than I can deal with right now? Even worse, what if he finds someone new? I couldn’t handle that.
“Every time I try to sleep in my bed I remember having him in it, spread out for me. My room feels empty when the man only slept over three times. That’s all it took, Brandon, and I’m hooked.” Cason paced in front of the fire, running his hand along the smooth wood of the mantle. “I’m giving myself time to get over the dream of the future I wanted with him so I can face reality.”
He glared at his best friend. “There, happy now? Is telling you how much of a mess I am going to make this better in any way?”
“It might,” Brandon said placidly. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Why do you automatically assume that he doesn’t want the same thing with you?”
Cason exhaled noisily. “I just know, all right?” He gripped the mantle, needing it to keep him upright as he said, “Vince was never going to be mine, I knew that from the beginning.”
“You don’t know shit!”
Cason froze, then turned around slowly. Vince was standing in the entry to the dining room. His hands were clenched into fists against his thighs, thumping against his legs as he glared at Cason.
“No one makes my decisions for me, Cason. Not even you!”
Cason looked from Vince to Brandon. His best friend was standing up. “Page and I decided you guys should talk, even if neither one of you thinks so. He’s waiting at my house and I’ve wasted enough time on you stubborn asses. I’m going to leave, but if after I go, you guys don’t find some way to work this out, we’ll make you pay.”
Brandon’s size and the threatening rumble of his voice had never bothered Cason before, but he’d never seen his friend look quite so intimidating. He knew, and had seen first-hand, how creative he could be with his punishments too.
His shoulders slumped. “We’ll talk.” He didn’t promise they’d work it out, though.
“You’ll listen. This time I’m going to talk first.” Vince’s hands were still drumming.
Brandon clapped Cason on the shoulder as he walked by. “Good luck.”
Meeting Vince’s angry gaze was more than Cason could do. His chest hurt and every breath was a struggle he tried to hide in vain.
“Why don’t you sit down?” he asked.
“Why don’t you?” countered Vince.
Cason gave a short laugh. “I don’t think either of us can stand to be still for this.”
“What is this? Can you tell me that, huh?” Vince stepped inside the living room, coming up behind the sofa. He gripped the thick leather cushion, his knuckles white. Cason stared at his hands. “Why did you want me to leave on Sunday?”
“I didn’t want you to go, I just knew that you would.”
“Bullshit!” The spat out word made Cason look up. He’d never heard Vince speak or seen him glare at him like that; not even when Cason had pissed him off at the munch the first time they spoke. “I never once thought of leaving. I thought that we were building something. You said in the beginning that you wanted to do those scenes to show me what a true Dom was really like. But it was more than that from the start. You may have tried to deny that to yourself, but it was never just about doing scenes. All those conversations? Dinners? Damn it, we’re good together.” He shoved his hair out of his face. “Why wouldn’t you give us a chance?”
“There are things about me you don’t know. Things that have meant every man I’ve ever been with has walked away without looking back.” Cason stopped talking. He couldn’t believe he was about to tell Vince about his ability. He’d never believe Cason; not in a million years.
“Would you stop being so damn cryptic? Something about you. What? That you snore? I know that already. Do you floss your teeth in the kitchen? Drink milk out of the carton? Seriously, Cason, you’re the single most desired man around. All the subs I know either rave about how amazing you are or want you and all the Doms respect you. No one has any horror stories, so whatever you seem to think is so awful can’t be that bad.”
Vince looked down at the couch. “This is about me, isn’t it?” When he looked up some of his anger had drained away and he was left looking sad and vulnerable. “No matter who I pick, I always choose the wrong guy. No one ever wants me like I want them.”
Cason couldn’t stand that look on Vince’s face. He’d have to tell him. “You’ll want to sit down for this.”
Vince hesitated. “Cason, I think—”
“Please.” That one word stopped Vince’s objections. He stared at Cason for a minute, then moved around the couch and sat down. His hand stroked the arm of the couch nervously in short strokes.
“Okay, I’m sitting. Talk.”
Telling people about their abilities wasn’t something done outside the family, so Cason had no idea how to start. Finally, he decided to begin where his grandpa had, back when he first told Cason about what was happening to him.
“I need you to listen, from start to finish. No matter how unbelievable it sounds. Do you understand?” Cason asked.
“A long time ago a woman captured the interest of a man, but he wasn’t really a man. He was a daimon, not a red skinned devil from hell, but a magical being with very special abilities. Greek daimons have the ability to see inside the center of a human, to the very essence of their psyche. How they use it depends on them. It can be used to help or hurt men.
“Some daimons fall in love with humans from time to time and they have children. Their abilities pass down the same gender lineage from that original daimon. Those descendants have abilities that they can harness in much the same ways as the original daimon, though to a lesser extent.”
Cason cleared his throat. “I’m descended from a daimon.”
Vince shook his head. “Really? This is your big secret? You expect me to believe that you have some magical power that makes men leave you after you fuck them?”
Of course he didn’t believe him. Cason sighed and said, “No, that’s not what happens. I can see the spirits’ influences on men. I see their touches like stains of color, each spirit has their own shade. I can tell who has touched a man, and how that touch has changed them. Using that knowledge, I can help them reach their center. I know who they are inside and my ability to give them what they need leads them to discovering that for themselves. I don’t have to plan a scene and hope it’s what the sub needs. I know.”
Vince’s eyes widened.
“But when the scenes end, not a single sub has ever needed me.”
“The subs I talked to,” Vince said slowly, “all those men who said you were the perfect Dom.”
Cason held his breath as he watched the wheels spin in Vince’s mind, from zero to a hundred just like that.
“Is that how you seemed to know exactly what I needed? Were you doing that to me?” He sounded strangely disappointed. His eyes widened. “Did you make me want you somehow?”
“No!” Cason shook his head. “No! With you, my ability doesn’t work at all. I wanted you before I knew that, though. I saw you, night after night, with the wrong men. Those wannabe Doms were ruining you.”
“Swear it. Look me in the eyes and swear,” Vince said intensely.
Cason went over to the couch, sitting down on the coffee table in front of Vince so they were face to face, just a foot apart. “I would never try to influence you against your will, even if I could. That’s not how my ability works. I can’t make men do things, only help them to see the truth of what they need to be truly happy. I wouldn’t want that. I want a partner, not a slave.”
Vince took a deep breath. “Okay.” He reached forward and laced his fingers together with Cason’s. “So, if I believe you, that means you expect me to leave because what? We slept together and I was supposed to miraculously figure out that some Joe Blow down at the club was my Prince Charming? Even though you couldn’t see inside me like the other men you’ve… guided?”
Cason felt heat spread across his cheeks as he blushed. “It sounds stupid when you say it like that.”
Snorting, Vince said, “It is stupid. It’s all insane. But,” he shook his head, “and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I believe you. You know, we never talked about the subject but I have a ton of books on the different ancient religions. They’ve always fascinated me, and I wondered how so many different geographical regions could have similar stories if there wasn’t some basic truth to them. I guess I was right.”
“You really believe me?” Cason stared at him with his mouth open.
“What? You didn’t expect me to? Why tell me if you didn’t think I would?”
“I hoped you wouldn’t run out of here, but I didn’t believe this shit when my grandpa first sat me down and explained what was happening to me when I hit puberty. I was raised with a pretty strong Greek belief in the mysteries of the world beyond what we can understand. By the way, don’t be upset if my Grandma spits in your hair when you meet her. Gigia always did things traditional.”
A smirk spread across Vince’s face, lighting up his eyes. “And what is spitting on me supposed to accomplish? Wash away the dirty non-Greek germs?”
Cason laughed. “No. Nothing like that. It wards away bad spirits.”
That reminded him. His amusement faded and his smile disappeared. “There is something you should know. I can’t see any spirits influencing you which is very unusual. For some reason I can’t use my ability on you at all but I have a theory on why that is.” This was something Cason wished he didn’t have to admit. “Daimons are not solely good.
“There are some that, for whatever reason, choose to use their ability to misdirect humans. They lead them down paths that create internal conflict and confusion. In the end, their victims are completely lost and unable to find a moment of happiness ever again. Many kill themselves.”
Cason took a breath. “I asked my grandpa about you. I’ve never met anyone that I couldn’t help before, until you, and I wanted so badly to help you be happy, even if it meant that you wouldn’t be with me. He told me that you had probably been with a daimon that works to destroy humanity.”
“Derrik.” Vince scowled. “That son of a bitch. He was a daimon?”
“I think so. I don’t know for certain, though.”
Vince stood up and started pacing. “That sorry son of a bitch. I just thought he was a sadistic asshole, but you’re telling me that he actually was trying to make me crazy? I can’t believe this!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? It’s not your fault. You didn’t treat me like that, even though you’re a daimon too.” Vince’s laugh was bitter this time, harsh and short. “And in the end, it was my choice to be with him.” He hunched his shoulders, wrapping his arms around his chest.
Cason stood up and turned Vince around to face him. He said softly, “It was your choice to leave him too, remember? You kept trying; you didn’t give up. He didn’t manage to break you.”
Vince looked up at him through his hair. “But you still wanted to put me back together.”
“I wanted you, broken, whole it didn’t matter. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I did.” Cason reached up and pushed the hair back out of Vince’s eyes. “For me, not just for you.”
“You have me, though. I’m not walking away from you. You’re my choice too; I need you just as much as you need me” Vince said in a fierce voice.
Something tight inside Cason unclenched when Vince said that. That was the one thing he’d always wanted to hear from a man, but never had.
“So if I asked you to come to dinner tonight and meet my family, you’d come?”
Vince bit his full bottom lip. “As what? Your sub? Friend? Boyfriend?”
“As mine.”
He was asking for commitment from Vince, and Cason held his breath as Vince stared deep in his eyes. Then he had a slim body on top of him and a very demanding man kissing him. Cason kissed back, tongue thrusting, his arms surrounding Vince and pulling him as close as possible. The heat of Vince’s body was like a sun burning him from the merest brush of skin on skin. But none of the intensity he was feeling touched the joy that flashed through him when Vince pulled away and gasped out one word.
“Yes.”
THE END