Forbidden

Chapter 2: Dark Thoughts

Riki knew his husband’s tempest moods. One minute everything was right in the Am household, the next…usually the gale was centered on him. His upper arm was bruised already and ached from the tight hold the Blondie had on him when Raoul dragged him out of the party. A party Riki didn’t want to attend anyway. What benefit could Raoul get of showing him off here? Still…Raoul blew into the apartment shedding his top coat and the rest of the uncomfortable festive gear leaving Riki to wander behind him picking up items off the floor. Still, if he hadn’t come to the party tonight, he wouldn’t have met Iason Mink again.

“Riki!”

Riki handed the clothes over to Yui and headed to the bar. Raoul still had a mad on. There was nothing the little black haired mongrel could do but weather another storm. “Wine, dearest?” He made his voice meek, despising himself for doing so. Once he would have ranted and railed. Once… Once, life was something to look forward to.

“You've embarrassed me again. Where the hell did you disappear to? Did you think no one would notice? Do you think I like to have my husband’s whereabouts’ pointed out to me by Lucius of all people.”

“You said I could get some air. I was on the balcony.” Riki held a glass of Ambrosia, Raoul's current favorite wine, in his hand crossing quickly to the Blondie’s side.

Raoul accepted the wine. Riki turned them bit his lips as the Blondie snagged his wrist and squeezed. The pain made the little mongrel drop to his knees. Raoul dragged his husband close and whispered in his ear, “Who else was out there...enjoying the fresh air?”

“No one, Master. There was no one out there when I went out. Raoul, I belong to you.” Raoul dropped Riki’s hand and shoved at him with his foot as he lounged back on the leather couch. Riki landed on top of the low oversize ottoman.

"You've been smoking again, I can smell it clinging to your clothes. Clothes that you only wear because I gave them to you and I know you weren't alone." He leaned forward and picked a strand of long blonde hair from Riki’s shoulder. "This isn't my shade and it’s rather long for me. Actually this is rather rare. I only know of one Blondie with hair this color, who likes to flaunt it by wearing it long."

Riki actually shivered with fear as Raoul settled his cold jade eyes on him. "You want to try again and tell me who was out on the balcony with you?"

“I was alone, then Iason Mink came out. He was smoking…”

“Aah, that’s your story and you’re sticking to it? Iason Mink made you smoke? He cornered you outside on the balcony, forced you to have a cigarette or two. His hair got on your shoulder how? You didn’t have a lighter and he bent over and let you light it from his?

“He only hugged in a formal way. I use to work for him…That's how his hair got on me, Master.”

Raoul leaned back and sipped at his wine. "So you openly defied me by smoking as well as embarrassing me among my peers by flaunting your Ceres ass in Mink’s face. You know what that means, Riki."

I'm sorry, Master. Please don’t.”

Raoul felt another spike of anger as the word Master fell from Riki’s lips. It was the younger man’s way of defying him. He knew how much Raoul hated him to call him by that title. “Do you have something else you wish to confess, you mongrel dog? I will not have you dragging the name of Am through the filth that you seem to like to wallow in. I should punish you but the thought of actually having to touch you is too repugnant. Get out of my sight. Take a shower, that stench leaves a trail. Burn those clothes. You won’t be needing them for a while. "

Raoul watched as the smaller dark hair man scampered away. He stared at the red liquid in the glass and swirled it, allowing his nose to identify all the tones. If life was only this easy. You purchase something, you end up with something else. He let his eyes follow after Riki Dark Am. Raoul knew his faults as a Blondie. He was emotional. Emotion ran away with him more often and than not. He could see himself doing things in the heat of the moment but he had no way of calling it back, breaking it off. It was just there. Bam, an explosion that ripped into everyone and everything. He lay back on the sofa. No, that wasn’t true. His explosion ripped into his small dark husband.

A fire burned inside him for his dark prize. His husband. His Riki.

He flopped his golden head back on the couch. Three years and Riki was farther away from him than when he spied that dark haired wonder working at the front desk outside of Hatori’s office. Everything was fine in the beginning. Raoul let a sad smile cross his lips. Riki tolerated him. He went into the marriage with the goal of saving his father’s company. The market turned on them. Raoul didn’t want to let Hatori’ fail but…it was the survival of the fittest. If he had kept all ties. They both would have went down. Hatori knew this. His business or his son. He made Raoul chose Riki. The business floundered and crashed. Hundreds lost their jobs. Hatori lost everything. Even in poverty, Hatori wore a smile. His son’s future was secure. Then Hatori did the unthinkable. He died.

Riki had no reason to stay. He had made it clear that he didn’t want to stay in the luxury that Raoul and his father had arranged for him. The boy was smart. He wanted to resurrect the company. The debts left in the Dark name would crush him. So…Riki would be kept in a gilded cage of Eos just as Raoul had promised.

If he had gone to Jupiter for a divorce, she would have granted it. It wasn’t just pride that kept him from giving Riki his freedom. He loved the boy. A blondie loved a mongrel and didn’t have the courage to tell him.

Now that love had grown dark and he knew he hurt the black haired man more often than naught. The truly sad thing was…he wanted to wrap him in finery, feed him from golden bowls delicacies from across the galaxy. He wanted Riki to look at him and light up…like he did for Iason Mink tonight.

Raoul sat up and leaned his forearms on his knees. Lucien York didn’t have to tell him the whereabouts of his husband. It was like radar. He knew exactly were his Riki was at any given time. He drank his glass and set it gently on the floor. He wanted to whip it across the room and let it shatter. Three years he tried to at least make Riki like him.

Failure of any kind did not sit well with any of Jupiter’s blondies, much less her most emotional creation.

Raoul got up and headed down the hall toward the bathing area. He could hear the shower running. He leaned against the wall beside the door. Riki was using the special shampoo he had formulated for him. Wild Cherry blossoms with a hint of vanilla and a darker spice of ginger. He breathed the scent he had made for his Riki. Now, Riki wore it for…

Iason Mink.

Raoul turned and looked into the shower. His husband was unaware that he was no longer alone. Water ran down from his black hair, caressing that flawless body. His skin tone was dark and rich. The muscularity of his frame was just right, not overly developed showing too much time on his hands but yet not under developed. Raoul felt his arousal sweep over him. Riki was too tempting.

He spied the darkened bruise on his small husband’s wrist. Going to Riki now would only end up in another fight that would result in Riki being forced into the marriage bed. Call it legal right but in the end it was still rape.

Raoul retreated to his bedroom, shedding his skinsuit and donning a pale gold dressing gown. He poured himself another glass of wine and stared out the window not really seeing the streets below. Platinum. That hair was Iason's. Why was Jupiter’s chosen golden boy sniffing around his husband? What could Mink be after? The pets were selling well. The experiments were proceeding as expected. Costs were actually down and profits were up…so why was…

The wine glass shattered in his hand. He opened his hand and saw the cuts and his own blood seeping on his flesh.

Riki had ensnared another Blondie. Iason was a pillar. Riki must had tempted him, tempted him with those mongrel ways that he just couldn't force out of him.

“RIKI!”

The small mongrel stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a sheer black robe rubbing a towel at his hair. “Master? You’re hurt!”

Riki ran up and pressed the wet towel into Raoul’s hand trying to stop the blood. “What did you do?”

The words came out unbidden, “Do for me what you did for Iason.”

Riki lookd up from his first aid ministrations. True puzzlement was on his face. “You want me to hug you?”

Raoul pulled his hand away and walked into the bathroom. It was steamy and filled with all the exotic scents that reminded him of Riki Dark Am. He knew the little mongrel had followed him to the bathroom but ignored him as he tended to his wounds. How stupid to have cut his hand like this. Over a mongrel that everyone thought he couldn’t wait to shake off. He raised his green eyes and looked at Riki’s reflection. The boy’s face was easy to read. He was the furthest thing from his husband’s mind right now.

Riki thought of Mink. One didn’t need two degrees to see that.

“If Iason was interested in you, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Actually that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. You shake your mongrel ass in front of him and I could get funding approval for my latest experiments.”

Raoul watched in the mirror at Riki’s reaction. His dark eyes widened and his shoulders stiffened. This wouldn’t been the first time. No. Raoul broke contact with the reflection and looked down at his bloody hand. This wouldn’t be the first time that Riki would rather go to a stranger as a bargaining chip than to stay with him. The initial shock of Raoul’s words wore off and his face had lit up.

Riki turned around. This wasn't the first time Raoul had sold him for a night; sometimes, very rarely though, Raoul offered Riki's gorgeous little body in exchange for something he desired; he wouldn't mind it if was Iason though; Iason treated him like a delicate treasure love above anything else; he bowed his head as he felt a flush of excitement on his cheeks.

“I can tell you like that, you little slut. Look at your body. Just thinking of him betrays you.” Raoul inwardly winced as he heard the venom in his voice.

“Shall I get the bed ready, Master?”

“Don’t bother. You’re sleeping in the pet room. I don’t want you any where near me tonight.”

Riki stilled for a moment then lowered his head in a bow and headed out of the room. Raoul didn’t kid himself that Riki was disappointed. He was relieved. The blondie waited until the door closed and he was alone in the bedroom. Raoul was bleeding for the smaller man, literally. A blondie had fallen hard for the little slip of a mongrel the first time he had seen him. Marriage should have cemented their relationship. It just drove a wedge between then widening the gap.

The bleeding was sluggish. Raoul reached into the cabinet and pulled out healing accelerator. He gritted his teeth and sprayed his wound with stinging antispectic and healing. The pain was intense but then it faded to numbness. Raoul looked down at his palm. Everything was healed. There wasn’t even a scar.

It was time to do something about this.

He flexed his hand. He was a scientist. It was time to introduce a new element to the culture and step back to observe the reaction.

The music from the piano wafted through the apartment. It had been a shock to discover that the dark haired youth could play. Not only could be play, he had a rare talent with the keys. Pair that with a beautiful, if not soft singing voice, Riki could probably had made a living as musician. Raoul listened silently enjoying the music until he heard the softly whispered name, ”Iason.”

The bitterness he had conquered came back with a vengeance. “So Mink’s got you all hot and bothered. You're crushing on him like a high school girl. Isn't that just precious.”

Riki jumped up from the piano and bowed in his direction. That just made Raoul’s disappointment ramp up even more. Raoul crosses the room to stand behind Riki at the piano bench. “Or are you going to lie to me and tell me you were playing for my benefit? Is that for me, wife?

The smaller man tensed. Raoul reached out and laid his hands on Riki’s shoulders, pulling the slightly resisting back to his chest. He leaned over and whispered through the short dark hair. “Such longing...such wanting. Your music conveys your feelings that you hide from me with your forced smiles and words of Master. That music just now, that's not for me. You wish me dead, little Riki. Too bad your father's contract is so damned binding for both of us. So..." Riki tried to take a step away. Raoul reached out and closed his hand around Riki's throat pulling him back to his torso. "I think it would be to our advantage to work together to reach our goals."

"You can be a little Ceres slut in Mink's bed, and I can have the Head of Tanagura in my back pocket. What do you think of that?"

“Raoul, I’m tired.”

“Your music has stirred my soul.” Raoul pushed his hips forward rubbing his growing erection against the swell of Riki’s ass. “I have an organ you can play.”

Riki said nothing as he was dragged off behind his husband. He glanced once at the piano that he had played for Iason. He should have known that Raoul would have guessed. He should have known. Now he would have to perform his husbandly duties. The way Raoul was grinding the bones in his wrist together it wasn’t going to be easy.

Iason Mink sat in the sunlight of a new morning drinking his morning coffee. It was a new import and it took a bit to get used to but once you did, it was addictive. He looked up from the report he was scanning as his furniture approached. Daryl carried a silver tray with a single envelope on it.

Iason ripped it open and read the brief note. He took another sip of his coffee and looked out at the sunlit balcony. A little black haired mongrel would look perfect draped out there.

“Are you going to accept Lord Am's invitation for dinner tomorrow, if you don't mind me asking, Master?”

“Send my acceptance. You can have the evening off tomorrow, Daryl.”

Iason waited until the furniture had turned and left. He climbed to his feet, sipped again at the hot dark liquid. Just like Riki Am. Addictive. What are you up to, Raoul?