Chapter Two

Lynton

Lynton's shift finished at eight but he didn't leave until nine that night. This was usual for him. Sometimes he got the time back if the hospital was quiet. A quiet day, though, was rarer than hen's teeth. The hospital owed him a mountain of time he would never see again and they certainly wouldn't pay him for staying late.

He changed into jeans and a T-shirt, threw his scrubs into a linen basket, and found his bag and car keys. His lunch sat uneaten in a Tupperware dish. He guessed he would eat it for dinner when he got home. His head ached. He hadn't drunk nearly enough water that day. The hospital was warm and he felt tired and grimy, ready for a shower.

Lynton couldn't help going back into the ICU to see Rupert again before he left. Now that the night team had come on, the lights had been dimmed to allow patients to rest, to try and mimic their home environment as much as possible, when their beloved owners turned out the lights and encouraged their pet to sleep. There were only three patients in residence on the dog side tonight. A French bulldog with a serious respiratory infection, a dachshund with a broken pelvis, and Rupert, in the biggest cage they had to offer.

Rupert lifted his head from his paws with interest as Lynton approached. "Hey, boy, how are you?" Lynton asked softly, opening the door of his cage. The dog was curled comfortably on a blanket. He looked drowsy from his painkillers and thankfully didn't appear to be in the sort of pain Lynton had witnessed on his arrival at the hospital.

He stroked Rupert and the dog managed to lick his hand. "Good boy," Lynton said with a smile. "We'll fix you right up tomorrow." Would they, though? Anxiety tugged at Lynton's throat, tightening his airway. Don't make promises you can't keep, he reminded himself again, not even to the dog.

If Austin wasn't going to come up with the money, it would be better to euthanize Rupert right here, right now, while he was comfortable and sleepy. The dog would quietly slip away, none the wiser. The thought broke Lynton's heart, but made him wonder if he should call Austin now, ask him if he had the money, then when he received an answer in the negative, ask him to come down here now to do the needful, rather than prolonging the dog's uncertain agony. He sighed. He'd given Austin the night to think about it. He couldn't now phone Rupert's owner suggesting they put him to sleep tonight. It would be all kinds of wrong. And maybe the idea was for Lynton's benefit rather than anyone else's, so he didn't have to go home and think all night about Rupert losing his life.

"Sleep well, big boy," he said with a final pat to Rupert's head and closed the door to the cage. He nodded at the night nurse and left the room without looking back.

Pushing through the outer doors of the hospital and into a chilly spring evening, he walked across the dark parking lot and unlocked his car with the remote. As he stowed his jacket and bag on the back seat before opening the driver's door, a sudden rustle behind him made him start.

He swung around to see a dark shape standing behind him. When the streetlight fell onto the man's face, he recognized him as Austin Bale.

"Jesus Christ, what are you doing?" His heart hammered. For a ridiculous moment he thought Austin was waiting to rob or assault him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Austin looked no less pale and red-eyed than he had twelve hours previously. He held his hands up as though reassuring Lynton of his harmless intentions.

Lynton huffed. "What can I do for you?"

"I've thought of the only way I can do this."

Lynton felt both relieved and wary. "Go on." He fixed his gaze on Austin.

Austin shifted from side to side, twisting his hands together. "If you do it for free, you can…have me. For one night."

Lynton's eyes must have bulged. He almost laughed with nerves. "I'm sorry?" He had to have misheard. Austin couldn't have meant what Lynton thought he had. Some sort of indecent proposal. He should be so lucky.

Austin went on undeterred. "Come on, I know you like me. That much is obvious. I'll do whatever you want. Anything, and I mean anything. I'll sleep with you every night for a week if you want. A month. A year. The rest of your life. I'll do anything. Only please…" Austin's voice broke. "Please save my dog. Please. I'm begging you. If you need me to go down on my knees I will. Please." Austin's eyes were filled with tears, hanging suspended, his nose glistening with snot. He clasped his hands in front of him as though praying.

Lynton stared at him with the breath caught in his chest and a lump in his throat. Here was a new one. Never yet had someone offered their body as payment. Lynton's mind whirled with X-rated scenarios. Austin wasn't stupid. He offered the only thing Lynton would be interested in. But the whole thing was ridiculous. This wasn't a movie and he wasn't going to take sex as payment. He laughed. "Come on, behave yourself."

"I'm serious!"

"Yeah, and so am I. You can't offer yourself to me like this. It's not just a case of me doing the surgery for free. That isn't a figure I made up out of thin air, you know—it's the cost of all the equipment, of the pin from the animal surgery company that I'd have to buy myself. And besides, I don't need to pay for sex. Why exactly do you think you'd be worth twenty-seven hundred dollars?"

Liar, liar, liar, liar. Of course you need to pay for it. How else are you ever going to get laid again? He's offering it to you for free. You should take it, just to feel a little less lonely for one night, even if he comes at an asking price way higher than any escort.

He hadn't meant to be so cruel, but Austin recoiled, the tears still standing in his eyes, his face flushed with shame. "Please," he said again, hopeless, looking defeated now.

Lynton regarded him stonily. "Go home." When Austin merely stood there staring with those tears hanging suspended from his eyes but refusing to fall, Lynton raised his voice. "I mean it. Go home."

Austin whirled away. He stumbled across the dark parking lot towards a battered, boxy Korean car that had to be at least fifteen years old and jumped into it. It didn't immediately start when he turned the key and Lynton watched him pound on the steering wheel and yell something before the engine caught and Austin roared away on squealing tires.

Lynton sighed. Only when he climbed into his car did he realize he was shaking.

Reaching home, he kicked off his shoes and locked the door. He stuck his uneaten lunch in the microwave while he poured a glass of wine. The alcohol wouldn't help his dehydration but he needed it. He gulped half a glass, then leaned on the kitchen island with his head in his hands.

What the actual fuck had just happened?

He still couldn't believe his ears. Had that whole scenario actually been real? Rupert's owner had offered Lynton his ass any way he wanted it, for as long as he wanted it. Never had Lynton had such an offer in his life.

He sat down in the living room flicking through his watch list on Netflix as he ate his delayed lunch and drank wine, trying not to dwell on Austin's offer, his mind consumed with nothing else.

In bed later, his ears rang with Austin's words as he tossed and turned beneath the covers. He alternately laughed and moaned lasciviously. Jesus Christ, the hottest man in forever had offered his body on a plate. Anything, he'd said. Anything and I mean anything. If he'd met Austin in a club, he wouldn't have thought twice about accepting his offer. Austin wouldn't have got as far as offering, because Lynton would have done all the chasing. All of it.

His dick stiffened and he pushed a hand down his pajama pants, touching himself as he thought of giving Austin instructions. Making him get on all fours, ass presented, everything on offer for Lynton to do just what he wanted, his own personal fantasy come true.

Oh God, it was too much. Just the idea of venting all his sexual frustrations on Austin was too much to bear. He tightened his fingers, jerking himself hard. Only six or seven times and he came, spurting over his belly, imagining those grey eyes behind his tightly closed lids.

In the afterglow, with his breathing slowing and his heartbeat returning to normal, he felt ashamed. Austin had offered to prostitute himself because he loved his dog so much and instead of feeling appalled that it would come to that, Lynton had merely fantasized about taking advantage of him in the worst possible way.

He turned onto his side, staring unseeingly through the dark. He was the lowest of the low.

But he was only a man, after all. It was inevitable he would accept Austin's offer.