13. Kyle

CHAPTER 13

Kyle

I f sex workers didn't have favourite clients then they didn't have least favourite clients either, but it was a close thing.

Kyle's second appointment on Wednesday night had been the dreaded monthly booking who wanted to be ordered into a corner and kept on his hands and knees while Kyle read in an armchair nearby. While it might have sounded restful, he rarely ever got past the first page. The brat liked to test him, and if Kyle hadn't identified and punished any slouching within seconds of it happening, he became extremely pissed off. Kyle had once offered to punish him for the outbursts as well, but the suggestion had been quickly and forcibly declined: the man had a set way of doing things and hated deviation.

Kyle sent him away at the end of the hour with the kind of stern talking to that the client loved, instructions on when and how he could get himself off – another thing that had become part of the routine, and one that required some degree of creativity four years into their arrangement – and a silent breath of relief that he had another month before he had to go through it again.

That reprieve turned to confusion when he caught sight of another unpleasantly familiar face. One which had been banned from all the Houses just last night, so why was it entering one of the ground floor rooms of House Epsilon, smirking and smug?

The door closed between them. Kyle strode towards it, intent on dragging Miles back out before he could force himself on another of the staff, but Adam darted neatly in front of him.

"Master Epsilon says you're not allowed in there."

Kyle eyed the door over the smaller man's head. "Master is with him?"

A hesitant nod, like Adam wasn't sure if the answer would soothe or incense. Kyle wasn't sure himself.

He reached for the handle and Adam shifted to block it.

"Move aside."

The submissive trembled – Kyle had handled several of his training sessions and knew exactly the tone to take with him – but to his credit, didn't shift even an inch out of his way.

"I have orders to keep you out, Sir," Adam whispered.

Kyle looked at the tiny slip of a thing and wondered how exactly he was supposed to do that.

And then he realised Epsilon's clever mind had been at work here. If it had been Sanjay or Deacon in the way, Kyle might have been tempted to push past, but he would never risk hurting someone as small and delicate as Adam.

He gave a short, rueful laugh. "Very well."

Adam peered up at him hopefully. "Really, Sir?"

"Really," Kyle said, backing away so Adam didn't have to worry about whether he was trying to trick him. He headed up the stairs, the sub trailing anxiously at his heels and making it even more apparent that Kyle had been the only one barred from entrance, and Misha looked up as they entered the camera room.

"You both alright?" he asked, rising from his chair. More sexy lingerie – sky-blue panties, this time – peeked out from beneath the loose singlet and low-slung shorts he wore.

"Room one," Kyle said. Everyone's heads snapped to the screen that displayed that camera. "Can you turn the sound on?"

"Kyle..."

"I know," said Kyle, anticipating his friend's protests about privacy. "It's important. Please ." The word consumed his entire breath.

Mish studied him for a long moment, and then nodded. He reached for the controls and fiddled with a few dials, the screens flickering in time with the spluttering runes carved into their edges like they'd been doing more frequently lately.

A voice filled the room, one that belonged to neither Epsilon nor Kyle's ex-client. Someone's shoulder blocked most of the screen.

"Hang on," said Misha. "I'll get a better angle."

When the view switched to the second camera in the room, Kyle could make out three men all dressed in suits. Even with the grainy quality, it was clear that Miles lacked the sophistication and poise of the other two, for he was half-slouching against one of the bed posts and looking irritable. Master Epsilon's straight-backed pose was mirrored by the third man, but when Kyle glanced at the stranger's face, he found it blurred by a mass of static.

He reached for the screen to rub at it with his thumb, thinking it was just dirt on the glass.

"No use," Adam muttered at his side. "He's wearing a deflector."

"It stops him being recorded or surveilled," he explained when Kyle and Mish glanced at him in surprise. "Rare, expensive equipment, even for an Upper. I've heard the runes on those things can take weeks to draw."

"Then who the stars is he?" Misha breathed, already invested in the mystery. He flicked the volume up another couple of notches.

"…should have taken my calls," the stranger was saying. His tone was completely flat, inflectionless beyond what mere lack of personality could wreak, and Kyle realised the deflector must mask his voice too. "I don't take well to being ignored, Epsilon, and I enjoy having to come down here even less."

The Master's smile was brittle. "You may have convinced the other House Masters to revoke my ban, but your brother remains unwelcome here. I would say there is nothing to discuss, only I'm humouring a colleague in hearing you out."

"There's plenty to discuss ," Miles spat, folding his arms and glaring at him. Even through the camera lens, the gel in his hair gleamed. "Like how you're going to sell me that whore of yours. Randall ," he clarified, as if remembering that he was standing in a building filled with them.

Epsilon gave a short, humourless laugh. "I don't know where you've gotten the idea otherwise, but my employees are all here voluntarily. Such a transfer of employment would require their consent."

"Of course," the mystery third man, Miles' brother, interjected smoothly. "But that would be when such a contract was offered at market price. Not at ten times that cost."

Adam sucked in a breath. "Fucking hell, Kyle. How well did you blow that guy's mind for him to want to spend that much on you?"

"I didn't touch him," Kyle said shortly. "And apparently that's the problem."

He felt Mish's chin come to rest on his shoulder in comfort, the warmth of his slender body pressed to Kyle's back as he teetered up on his toes.

"Naturally, that would be with all of the purchase price going to your House, not the...uh, employee ," said the faceless man.

"Naturally," Miles agreed, his voice cold. "That bitch isn't getting anything but my cock. And maybe a few others', too."

Misha's hand fell to his and gave it a protective squeeze. "Kyle..."

Kyle didn't say anything. He didn't need to.

"I do not traffick in slaves," Epsilon snapped, uncharacteristically close to losing his composure. "I'll thank you to not insult me or my House further, and insist you both leave."

"You can't turn down the may-"

"This is a generous offer," the stranger said in his emotionless voice. "One that I could even be persuaded to negotiate on."

"The door is that way, gentlemen."

"Also one that will not be offered a second time," the man continued, as if the Master had not spoken. "Think of what that kind of money could buy for a businessman like you. Another House, perhaps? A relocation of this one to a higher level? There are so many opportunities here: do not be blind to them." He paused. "Or the consequences of failing to seize them at all. I trust you understand me?"

Epsilon began to adjust his cufflinks in contemptuous, wordless dismissal.

The faceless man stepped towards him; beyond the limit of propriety, close enough that Kyle expected him to proposition Epsilon for a fuck right then and there. "Then I'll explain it as the simple choice it is. Give my brother the petulant slut he's asking for, or I'll take all of them from you, your House, and the very clothes from your back. You'll be ruined." He paused. "I always did enjoy watching you crawl in the dirt, Epsilon ."

Stars. Who was this man?

The Master regarded him coolly and then tipped his head to Miles. "Obsession is a dangerous thing. I suggest you find another outlet for it than fixating on a man who didn't want you." He raised his voice. "Gentlemen, I said we were done and threats will not make me change my mind."

"You dumb fucker-"

Kyle's ex-client, as impulsive and angry as the first time they'd met, moved towards Epsilon with his fist raised.

Adam let out a little squeak of distress and Misha's fingers tightened painfully around Kyle's.

" No ," Kyle hissed, not prepared to watch their Master be smacked around as Kyle himself had been last night. He should have gone in there, orders be damned.

But Epsilon stepped to the side with effortless, lithe grace, catching the man's wrist and twisting it. Miles' hissed insults rapidly turned to whimpers as his arm was pinned behind his back and his face shoved roughly into the bedpost he'd been leaning against earlier.

The third man hadn't even flinched. "You'll unhand him."

The deflector made it sound as though he was commenting on nothing more interesting than the time of day.

"I will," Epsilon conceded. "And in turn, you will leave my property."

"Your property? You're on my fucking city, boy, and that makes it mine."

Kyle forgot how to breathe.

"Wait," Mish said slowly, pointing an accusing finger at the screen and the fuzzy blur over the stranger's face. "Is that...don't tell me that's the fucking mayor of Xerxes himself!?"

Adam let out a string of curses but Kyle was too busy staring at Epsilon as he faced off against the most powerful man alive, his boss' expression portraying only mild annoyance. Certainly not the fear he felt in his own gut, or that he heard in his friends' voices as they began to share the rumours they'd heard about Mayor Benedict Mackenroth.

"...they say he had his wife's throat slit as she lay with her lover..."

"...he was the one who ordered all those sectors on Level G to be sealed after the riots..."

"...my uncle ended up mutilated because of him..."

"...when they opened them up again six months later, everyone was dead. Thousands of people..."

"But by all means, Epsilon, continue to antagonise me," said the mayor. Despite his brother's evident anger, he did not seem perturbed at the way the conversation had gone. Or perhaps the deflector was concealing all the emotion, and Kyle again wished he was with them in the room even if it meant attracting this monster's attention. "I look forward to the moment you realise what a grave mistake you have made here today. Come, Miles."

Miles tore himself out of the Master's grip, which could only mean he'd been allowed to do so. He turned and spat at Epsilon, whose only response was to raise one disdainful eyebrow when the spittle failed to reach him and instead splattered on the floor at his feet.

"Delightful," Epsilon said scathingly.

The two Uppers disappeared through the door. And he turned that unimpressed look up at the camera as though he knew that Kyle and the others were watching. Epsilon fixed up the sleeves of his suit jacket, tweaked his tie, and strode purposefully out of the frame.

"Oh, shit," Adam muttered, scurrying out of the camera room so fast that Kyle barely saw the door open and close. Misha hurriedly tapped at the controls to return the surveillance to its default setting, but the runes chose that moment to die and the room fell dark and quiet.

"Kyle," he began, and Kyle had never heard the other Dominant sound so unsure of himself. "We're not gonna let those bastards get their hands on you, you hear me?"

Kyle's sigh echoed around the pitch-black space, mocking and strange. "They weren't just some street thugs, Mish. If the mayor of Xerxes and his brother want to ruin House Epsilon, it would be easy for them. Master was an idiot to refuse them like that."

The screens flickered back to life, making them both flinch away from the sudden bright light. He saw Misha's eyes widen at the same time a hand wrapped around Kyle's neck from behind.

"Want to make any more stupid comments?" Epsilon hissed in his ear, tightening his fingers until Kyle's air was completely cut off. He yanked him backwards so Kyle's back was pressed against his chest. "Call me an idiot for protecting my staff again, and you'll earn yourself a session with the nastiest fucking whip I can find."

Kyle didn't bother finding the breath to respond to the empty threat. If Epsilon felt the need to be mean after the sheer audacity of what he'd just done, then let him. Kyle was enjoying the feeling of his solid warmth at his back far too much.

"Master," Mish said, half imploringly and half in admonishment, and Kyle scowled at his friend when it made Epsilon let go of him. There was a heavy exhale from behind.

"Do not speak of what you heard to any of the others," Epsilon ordered. "They do not need to fret. Everything is fine."

Kyle turned on him, disbelief pouring from his words even as the surety in Epsilon's began to ease the tension in his shoulders. " Fine ? That was Mayor Mackenroth! Who-"

"Who has a lot more important things to worry about than his little brother's tantrums. I can deal with the mayor's posturing."

"If you say so, Master," muttered Misha, settling himself back in his chair with a final concerned glance at Kyle. "Just keep him safe."

"Yes, sir," Epsilon said, and he sounded so sincere and secure in that promise that for a moment, Kyle let himself unequivocally, foolishly, believe that everything was truly fine .