Page 103 of Too Many Beds

“There are worse hazards,” I scoff, anger prickling up my spine. “Conveyor belts, for example.”

Fuck. My blood runs cold as the air freezes in my chest. I’ve gone too far. I’ve ruined the delicate peace we’d built here.

But who is he to judge Tarrant? To judge our relationship? He condemns our arrangement but does nothing to free me from it.

But neither does he assault you.

I brace myself for violent denial, but Kim just gives a little snort and lets a smirk play on his lips. There’s no declaration of innocence or accusations of misinterpretation. He just … stares at me. Waiting formeto react.

I take the bait. “Well? Why’d you do it?”

He twirls his piercing. “What have you heard about Nikolai Reid?”

Nothing.I’ve never heard that name before. No—wait. Reid.Reid’s old cell.

“I … sleep in his old room,” I say at last.

Kim’s face darkens. “Seems fitting,” he mumbles to himself. “Nikolai was a previous inmate. A beautiful,beautifulboy. Much like yourself, truth be told. O’Connor must have a type. Blond, blue-eyed,young.”

I don’t like where this is going.

“He was dedicated to O’Connor. Followed him everywhere. Did everything he was told. Even fucked an inmate or two. Sound familiar?”

My throat tightens. I try to swallow, but there’s nothing there; my mouth is just too dry.

“About six weeks before you joined us, O’Connor needed someone to deliver new synth material to the outside. His previous mule got busted and wound up in the Plunge. So O’Connor asked Nikolai. He really needed to get this product into the hands of his runners, but couldn’t risk the raw materials being discovered in the cavity search on the way to visitation. So he made sure to bury them deep.”

Bend over, grab your ankles and cough three times.

“Toodeep; Nikolai couldn’t retrieve them. Instead, they dissolved. Flooded his system with unrefined phets. And he died.”

“S-stop,” I choke, defiant tears in my eyes.

“They presented it as an accidental overdose,” Kim continues. “Bad batch, O’Connor insisted, naming Kon as the one responsible for bringing it in. As top dog, I punished him and got myself sent to the Plunge in result. When I was in there, I heard the truth of it. About the little mutiny O’Connor was planning and his arrangement with the guards.”

I can’t listen to this. I stand and make to leave, but Kim grabs my wrist as I rush past. It’s the first time he’s ever touched me and my skin burns hot as he pulls me close, my cheek pressing against the heron on his chest. He massages the nape of my neck. I don’t pull away.

“Don’t move drugs for him,” Kim whispers, his voice earnest. “Sooner or later, he will ask. Say no. Please. Just … say no.”

I stay encircled in Kim’s embrace. It’s warm. Intimate.Safe. My skin tingles where the pads of his fingertips press into my skin, heat spreading down my spine. I want to stay here forever. Just … breathing him in. He smells like sweat and gear grease, but I don’t care. It’s intoxicating.

I push back from his chest to look at his face. His embrace slackens but doesn’t fall away. He’s looking at me so intensely I might vaporise, his dark eyes endlessly deep.

“Why do you …” I moisten my dry throat. “Why do you care what happens to a drug runner’s whore?”

Kim smooths his thumb across my cheek, across my lip. For a second, I think he might kiss me. Fuck, I wish he would.

“Because I can’t bear any more beauty being stolen from this world.”

I grip his face and drag him down, our mouths crushing together. A moan rumbles in his throat as tongues dive deep. I’m breathless as my back hits the wall, light-headed and giddy. Kim’s lips are on my neck, sucking and licking. Oh fuck, myneck. When was the last time someone kissed myneck?

When was the last time someone kissedme?

I grind against him. God, I want him. I actuallyfuckingwant him. Arousal tightens my balls, stiffens my cock, and I slip my hands inside his open jumpsuit to trace the lines of his tattoo with my fingertips, with my tongue. I’m on my knees now and my face is in his crotch. I bury myself in it, breathing deep, nuzzling against the rock-hard heat of him.

He pulls away. Repels like a magnet. And I’m left kneeling there, panting like a dog, as he stares at me from across the room. Kim pushes his hair back off his face as he starts to pace, as if walking back and forth will take the sting out of his arousal. It’s the first time I’ve seen him rattled, uncomposed.

And I did this to him.