Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
He comes close and helps me wash. We find lotions and oils and soaps and we make liberal use of all of them. First I am cleaned carefully and gently, and then I wrap myself in a towel and I watch Thor wash.
Drako calls him Golden Boy. I think he is closer to a golden god. He has the most incredible physique of anybody I have ever seen. He is built broad-shouldered and narrow-hipped, and his torso is absolutely trammeled with the musculature of survival. His legs are long, his thighs are powerful, and his golden hair is a lot like mine, and at a time like this, that makes a difference.
He flashes a smile at me from the water’s embrace. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” I say. “And I actually mean that. I feel like I’ve been saved by the shower.”
“I know what you mean,” he says. “This has been an ordeal. For you, more than for me. I am sorry I could not prevent that absolute travesty. You deserved more dignity than that.”
Drako isn’t one for allowing dignity. “That’s not really a Vikar thing,” I say.
“No,” Thor agrees. “It isn’t. Are you…” he pauses. “Okay is too bland a word, and I know you are not. But are you…”
“I am going to be okay,” I tell him. “It’s not the first time I’ve been made a spectacle of, remember?”
“Oh?”
“Yes. When you turned me over to the captain, remember?”
“That was not the same thing,” Thor snorts. “He paddled you. Drako just ravaged you in front of his entire crew.”
“I know. Same same.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Are you serious?”
“No,” I grin. I know I am supposed to be traumatized, and I am, probably. But I am also warm, dry, and physically not likely to be eaten by an animal for the first time in ages. We’re safe, and we know it.
Thor gets out of the shower and I watch him dry himself off. I am going to make a habit of showering with him, I think. The sight is enough to restore faith in all sorts of things.
“I’m sorry,” I tell Thor. “I feel like I got you into this. And now you’re captive too. And I’m not the only one who had sex in front of everyone.”
“It’s different,” he says. “Fucking versus being fucked.”
“Is it? Have you tried both?”
He shakes his head at me. “Regardless. Don’t be sorry. I signed up for the adventure too,” Thor says. “And though this is not the outcome I planned for, it suits me as well as any other, because it means I have you, and our baby. And not all is lost. Drako is on top for now, but he won’t always be. Fortune favors the patient.”
“Is that how it works? I thought it favored the bold.”
“I think we’ve seen that’s not true,” he says. He wraps a towel around his waist and picks me up again. There’s not really any need, but I think he wants his hands on me. The worst thing that could happen would be for us to be separated now.
Drako’s made some promises, sure, and I think I trust him, but we both know circumstances could change. Thor is counting on it, I think.
When we emerge from the bathroom, we find Drako in the room. But he’s not the most interesting thing. What is interesting is the fact that there’s all kinds of food laid out on the table. He’s got meats and cheeses and fruits.
“Don’t eat too much, or too fast,” he says. “You’ll be ill. You might even die, if you’ve been hungry enough. Start with some nibbles…”
I have shoved half an orange into my mouth. It’s delicious. The sticky juice runs over my tongue and the rich citrus reminds me of sunny days on better planets.
“Yes. Anyway,” he says. “You’ll be fed in your captivity, and looked after as well as any two pets might be.”
He’s needling Thor on purpose, and Thor knows it. I watch him ignore Drako studiously as he picks through the offerings. He must be working so hard to not react, and instead to eat some cheese.
We eat while Drako watches, and there’s a kind of contented silence from Thor and me. Drako has all the cards and all the power, but we’ve had orgasms and showers and now cheese, so I’d say we are doing pretty well.
“Do you not have questions?”
“Do you want us to freak out?” I speak up. “Are you here to gloat?”
“No,” he says. “I was just hoping for some conversation.”
“Fine,” I sigh, knowing this will not go well. “Am I really never going to see home again?”
“Maybe, in a few years, if you prove your loyalty, and you show that you are manageable…”
“Fuck it. Forget it,” I say, throwing my arms up in the air. “Never going to happen. I guess I’m getting gang banged in front of the guys every Tuesday from now until eternity.”