35. Kyle

CHAPTER 35

Kyle

F eeling nauseous whenever he let himself dwell on how the other men were being terrorised because of him, Kyle had made it his mission to ensure the staff of House Epsilon never had a moment of peace in which to worry. He organised events to occupy their lunchtimes, from yoga classes – in which Misha delighted in pulling off ridiculously flexible poses in the skimpiest of lingerie and successfully distracting everyone from their Downward Dogs – to a blindfolded cooking competition in which Kyle had them attempt to make a sandwich wearing scarves wrapped over their eyes. He wasn't quite sure how Adam had interpreted that as requiring only a scarf to be worn, or how he'd managed to slather as much butter down his bare chest and legs as he had, but Sanjay and Eric's prompt dedication to cleaning up the mischievous twink with their tongues had saved the floor.

From the butter, at least.

"Kyle, I thought I left you in charge?" Master Epsilon demanded as he swept into the office where Kyle was leaning over Adam's shoulder – who was both regrettably and thankfully now fully dressed – and watching him construct an elaborate spreadsheet full of complicated formulae. "Why is Adam doing your rostering work?"

Kyle gave Akira a lazy smile. "A quality of a good leader is knowing what he's not good at, and utilising the team's strengths to fill those tiny weeny-"

"Huge," Akira said. "And innumerable."

"- tiny weeny gaps in his vast array of skills," Kyle finished. He straightened from where he'd been leaning on the back of Adam's chair.

"I knew I'd made the right decision," said Akira. There was more than a hint of smugness on that usually reserved face of his.

"Nuh-uh," admonished Kyle. "You don't get to claim credit for Adam."

"I was claiming it for you. But I don't see why I can't. Adam is my employee, after all."

"I'll fight you for him."

Adam chuckled and their Master raised a disdainful eyebrow at Kyle. "With how ill-advised such a challenge would be, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

A shame. Ill-advised or not, Kyle would have enjoyed being wrestled to the floor by him.

"Done," Adam declared, getting up from his chair and stretching.

"Thank you." The spreadsheet looked...well, it looked like a spreadsheet, and that was more than Kyle had been able to achieve in twice the time.

"Happy to help, Kyle."

"Kyle?" Akira repeated, glancing sceptically between him and Adam. "You don't have them calling you Master? For a man who fucks as ruthlessly as you do, you sure are shy about throwing your weight around."

Kyle grinned. "Adam, what did I say about that?"

Adam muttered something and Akira's mouth thinned.

"What?"

The man paled.

"No, I want to hear it," Akira insisted, his voice now unmistakably chilly.

"Um, Kyle said that anyone who feels the need to have other men call them Master is clearly compensating for something," Adam blurted out quickly, and then fled the room.

"Damn it, you were supposed to stay and protect me!" Kyle called out after him. "Now there are no witnesses to my gruesome execution!"

Akira gave him an unimpressed glare. "Done undermining me in my own House?"

"Never," Kyle said cheerfully. "Done being a brooding bastard who is so incredibly fun to tease?"

The glare deepened.

"I'll take that as an ‘also, no' . Don't worry, your fearsome reputation remains intact." Kyle recalled the look on Akira's face when House Epsilon had been attacked, a threatening expression that he returned to each time Miles Mackenroth's fixation on Kyle led to further damage or injury. "You enjoy being a scary son-of-a-bitch, don't you?"

The sadistic, satisfied gleam in the other man's eyes was answer enough.

"Adam said you were already at the House when he arrived early last night," Kyle accused, throwing himself down into the recently vacated desk chair. Akira hung up his coat on the back of the door and began to busy himself with fixing his shirt cuffs. "He said he didn't think you'd even gone home."

"Adam needs to learn to watch his mouth before someone does it for him," Akira replied irritably, not looking up.

"I believe a couple of someones did exactly that earlier. Did you know he could blow two men at once?" Kyle brought his hands up to his mouth to demonstrate. The sight of Adam's pouty lips bulging around the two fat cocks fucking his mouth as he knelt on the staffroom floor was something that had happily imprinted itself in Kyle's memory.

Then he shook his head as the Master simply raised an eyebrow. "Of course you did."

Why did the thought of Adam on his knees for Akira – as he had been so enthusiastically for Eric and Sanjay earlier – not fill Kyle with the same rage and jealousy as the memory of Akira at House Theta did?

Theta had clearly inflicted abuse on him, consensual or not, so that explained the anger, but...

"Perhaps we can try Adam's mouth out together some time," Akira commented idly, having moved to smoothing out his elegant waistcoat where it rested across his taut stomach. The sight of the black silk giving way to those clever fingers distracted Kyle from properly comprehending the man's words.

Wait, what?

Had that been...an invitation ?

This past week, the two of them had been working together as effortlessly as they ever had, but it hadn't gone any further. Kyle had given the Master every chance to do so – stars, he was sleeping in the House each night. All Akira had to do was open the unlocked door to room thirteen...or even knock on it, and Kyle would drag the man back to his bed in a heartbeat. An addict such as him couldn't refuse the temptation – nor wanted to – but when the source of his addiction remained as coldly distant as ever?

No, that wasn't true. Akira was…thawing. Sharing his given name with Kyle was proof that he was more than the emotionless rock he pretended to be, as was the tiny smile that twitched his mouth whenever Kyle spoke that name. Akira was gradually learning to open up to him, to admit vulnerabilities and feelings, and even if Kyle didn't get to touch him, their growing connection on an emotional level had been enough to temporarily soothe the ache in his heart.

But Akira had pushed him away the last time they were together, in Kyle's old apartment, so Akira had to be the one to make the move back towards him now. Kyle wasn't going to be the asshole who continued to pursue a man who didn't want him.

Pine over him? Sure. But the consequences of attempting to force oneself onto someone else was what had them hiding in House Epsilon behind the runed wards and locked doors.

The small, sly smile on Akira's face now ignited a spark of hope Kyle didn't dare indulge, and he held his breath as the other man dragged his eyes up to meet his.

"Are you saying-"

A familiar chime danced around the office. Annoyed, Akira retrieved his runepad from his pocket and brought it up to his ear, turning away from Kyle to give himself the semblance of privacy.

" What? "

And then, after a pause that seemed to last an eternity, "noted." The word was clipped and precise, spoken with a calmness Kyle suspected was false.

The Master lowered his hand with saying anything further, and ended the call.

"Akira?"

He cocked his head without turning around. "We're at work, Kyle."

Stars' sake. "Epsilon. Is everything alright?"

"I need you to go to House Theta to pick up an important document for me."

"I'm just asking if you're alright-"

" Now, Kyle."

"Do you practice being a prick or is it just when you're not getting any?" Kyle accused before he could think better of it.

Cool, staunch eyes turned his way. "I'm getting plenty. And you better be getting going ."

Kyle faltered. Was that true? Was that where...was that where he was disappearing to each night? To beds that weren't Kyle's?

He stood up on shaky legs.

"I said now ," snapped Akira, waving an impatient hand to shoo him from the room with unwarranted haste. "Move your ass before I demote you back to putting out each night."

Kyle stared at him.

"Just when I thought you were capable of being nice…" he began, but something hot and bitter rose in his throat and prevented him from finishing the accusation.

"That was your mistake," Epsilon said coldly and Kyle left the room, and then the House, feeling miserable and alone.