10. DANYA

Life had been hard on Sutton. I saw him hold back, hiding behind his jokes. I felt the pain in his words. It wasn't something I wanted to think about for too long. We had different lives. His had been filled with misery and pain. Mine had been filled with a different type of pain.

I didn't push him to keep looking for answers that night. But it didn't stop him from spending hours on his laptop.

From the bottom drawer in my dresser, I grabbed him a pair of pajamas to put on for him to sleep in. They were clean, and too small for me now since I'd put on a lot of muscle.

I left him to change as I brushed my teeth and gave myself a deep staring at in the bathroom mirror. I tried a little pep talk, telling myself to stop being an ass. Sutton was my key to getting out of this situation, and keys sometimes snapped under pressure. I didn't want him snapping.

He was sleeping when I got back into the bedroom. He could've been faking it, but the day had drained me far too much to even want to test that theory.

My body clock was close to being perfect, giving me a solid seven and a half hours of sleep every single night.

When I woke, Sutton's arm was over my chest and his leg over my legs cuddling me.

I laid still. I'd never had a guy stay the night. I'd certainly never had one cuddle me like this.

Sighing, Sutton woke and freaked, pulling himself together off me. "Ugh, I didn't mean to do that."

"It's ok," I said, pushing my hands behind my head. "I get it, my body is naturally a warm pillow."

He pushed himself out of bed. "Well, I—I—" he rubbed at his eyes, blinking wildly back at me. "I'm not entirely sure you didn't put my arm over you yourself."

"Trust me, you did all that," I said. "I've got a good feeling about today."

The bedroom door opened.

Sutton jumped back into the bed, inching to me.

A cloud of smoke came in before my uncle Arkady. He puffed on a cigar. "I didn't want to interrupt you lovebirds," he said. "But Danya, we have business."

Sitting, I hated that my uncle thought it was ok for him to come into my apartment like he owned the place. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure my nephew wasn't getting into any trouble," he snickered. "Looks like you're not wasting any time. I thought after everything that happened; you'd start being more careful with the street boys you bring back."

"I'm not a—" Sutton began. I wrapped my hand around his head and mouth.

"I'm busy," I said. "I've got a lot on my plate today."

"Actually, your father asked me to drive you to the house," he said. "He called a meet."

"I'm bringing my friend then," I said, stroking Sutton's cheek with a finger. "His name is Zack."

"Zack," his voice mumbled under my hand.

"I don't care," Arkady said, taking a long drag on his cigar. "As long as your friend knows how to keep his mouth shut. And make sure he doesn't get in your father's way. You know he's not into your lifestyle like that." He snickered. "Get dressed."

As Arkady left the bedroom, closing the door, I peeled my hand away from Sutton's mouth.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, slapping me with an open palm against my chest. "I'm not walking into the fucking lion's den."

"What do you think will happen?" I asked.

"Um. How about a bullet to the brain?"

"Your name is Zack," I reminded him. "And I'll be the only one to hurt you, well, I will be if you don't get to the bottom of who stole from us. Oh, and another thing, you're gonna have to hold my hand, and kiss me in front of my family, they're gonna hate it." I was over playing. They were always going on about how I was gay, so I was ready to show them a little gay.

I dressed nice in a clean shirt, slacks, and polished black shoes. If my father had called a meeting and sent over my uncle, there had to have been a reason for that. I tried putting Sutton in a shirt too, but everything was too big for him, so I let him wear the clothes I'd snatched him in.

"You took your time," Arkady said as we walked out of my bedroom together.

I wrapped my arm around Sutton's waist and kissed him. "You didn't exactly give us any time to finish what we were doing," I said.

Sutton glared at me before giving me a small peck back. "It was my fault," he said. "I don't have clothes here. It's all new."

"So, it's not a serious relationship?" Arkady asked.

"It's serious," I said. "Very serious. I think I might even be in love. We may even get married."

"Married?" Sutton choked.

Arkady pushed himself from the stool at the kitchen counter. "Your father will love that," he snickered, grabbing a knife and stabbing it into the cutting board. "Does your—boyfriend know about the family?"

"No," he said, softly.

"Yes, he knows," I said. "It's why we're getting married. He's trying to save himself. You can understand his willing to lie to protect us. He's so adorable, isn't he?"

Arkady scoffed. "Are you fucking done?"

Sutton pinched at my back. I wouldn't let him try and wiggle his way out of being my captive boy. "He'll get along well with Evelina," I chuckled. "She's always been looking for a gay best friend."

"You are gay," Sutton grumbled.

I grabbed him by the neck with one hand, and by the chin with another, pinning him against the fridge door. "You're so lucky," I said, kissing his squished lips. "You get to have such a passionate lover in your life. It's a shame my uncle is here, otherwise breakfast would be a scramble—" I leaned my head to his ear. "Inside your fucking guts," I whispered. "You want that, huh?"

He cupped a hand around my cock and squeezed.

"Jeez," Arkady let out. "Please don't do this around people. It's unsettling. Keep your hands to yourselves. I get it. And I do not care to fucking see it."

Sutton had a wicked smile on his lips as I moved my hand. His lingered on my crotch for a moment. "You have bad follow through," he whispered at me. "But what will you do about it?"

"It doesn't matter what you say now, because later, I'll make sure to give it back to you," I said, taking hold of his hand by the wrist and squeezing. I kissed his cheek, lingering to whisper. "Because you know, until that money is back in the account, you're mine."

He bit my ear, not enough to break the skin, but enough for me to step back. "I'm glad you're letting me stay here while my place is being fumigated," he said, louder. "I'm also so glad you promised to buy me new clothes. I can't be walking around dressed like this next to you."

Arkady nodded. "I agree with him," he said. "Unless you want your father to mention how you've picked a boy up from the street, I'd get him dressed properly."

"Do we have—"

"We have time," Arkady said looking to his watch.

"Great, great," I said. "Let's go buy you some new clothes."

Arkady nodded. "Usually, I'd have said no, but since the two of you seem to actually be in love, I don't want your father to have one more thing to be in everyone's ear about."

"Thank you," Sutton said. "Danya is so sweet to me. Sometimes, I forget what his hands have done before because they are so tender."

Arkady turned his head and walked off. "Come on," he shouted.

I couldn't help but smile at Sutton for how he'd played this entire situation. "You're paying me back for everything I buy," I told him.

"But I thought you wanted to marry me," he said, pouting. "That's no way to speak to your future husband. You must treat me right, otherwise, I might find someone else who can do me better." He sucked on his bottom lip.

With a thumb on his chin, I pulled his mouth open. "You're never gonna find someone who can do you better," I told him. "There's a recovery center out there for guys I've fucked, and you're about to find yourself joining it."

"Surely, if you so desperately want to marry me, then I'll become the president of the club," he said, sticking his tongue out at me.

There was something in the way he spoke back to me that made me feral. "Shush," I said. "Grab your bag, and let's go."

He let out a snicker. "You know, I'm rethinking the whole, I want you to add me to that collection on your phone thing," he said, grabbing his laptop. "In fact, I think I'd prefer it if you deleted them all. I don't want to start out our marriage with all that baggage."

I gritted my teeth. "We're not getting married."

He shrugged. "Depends on how long you have to keep the lie," he said. "And FYI, I'm good at lying."

"You want me to pin you against the wall right now, don't you?"

Visibly excited, Sutton looked away as he smiled.

"When we get to my parents' house, I don't want to hear a word out of you, understood?" The last thing I needed was for him to accidentally blab. "And your name is Zack. Ok?"

"I don't even look like a Zack," he grumbled. "But fine. And I want access to your Wi-Fi when I'm there. You know, maybe there's an answer somewhere buried on the network."

He had a good point, and we weren't ruling out that this was an inside job done by someone in the family.

We headed to my parents' house, stopping on the way at a department store for Sutton to get something smart. A nice shirt, some slacks, a pair of shoes. He seemed uncomfortable in all it, and that brought a smile to my face.

According to Arkady, we were now running late. He raced the car, skirting the speed limit. In the back of the car, Sutton grabbed hold of my hand. He was adorable.

"Aw, little kotik," I snickered. The way he acted was like a kitten, pushing at my side scared of the speed.

"He's gonna kill us," he said, squeezing my hand tighter. "I don't wanna die."

"Relax," Arkady laughed from the driver seat. "I've been driving since I was eleven."

"Yes, but you only got your license five years ago," I added. And it was mostly true, he'd been driving for a long time, but he only got his American driving license a couple years ago.

We parked at the large gate outside the family home. The gates opened as Arkady chuckled.

Sutton had started to hurt my hand, making it cramp from the way he'd been squeezing. "Ok," I told him. "We're here. And you remember what I said, right?"

He nodded, staring directly at Arkady in the rear-view mirror. "Stay out of everyone's way," he whispered.

"You've got your boy trained," Arkady noted. "I'm impressed. I wonder what else your boy is good at." He winked.

I spat at him. "Don't you dare. He listens to me, not you. Understood."

"Ah, Danya, I was joking," he said. "But if he tries anything funny, it will not be a joke anymore."

Sutton looked from me and back to Arkady. "I'm not gonna say anything. What would I tell people?" he raised his brows. "You're a reckless driver. I don't think that's news to anyone."

There was an intense, heated stare off between the two of them. "You're a clever little fucker, aren't you," Arkady said, slapping his leg and laughing. "Get out. I need to park."

Immediately, Sutton grabbed at the door handle. He hooked his arm around his bag and almost threw himself out of the car like it was getting ready to speed off again.

"Relax," I said, climbing out and standing beside him.

We were on the pebble driveway, staring at the doors to the house. My mother stood at the open door, a big smile on her face.

"Remember to play it cool," I told him. "You're the first person I've brought here, and we need to keep this up. I won't let them hurt you, but if you bring it on yourself, I don't think I'll be able to help you."

He hooked his arm around mine. His chest dipping and raising with increased panic. "Ok."