10
"How long is this going to take, Ren? Your pimp isn't going to like you leaving, especially after last night."
"Yea an' he can go suck a donkey cock."
"Really! The mouth on you today."
"This mouth is on me every day, big boy. Wait til you see what I can do with it."
The banter had been going on between the two of them since they'd left the mansion. Reno's medicine had kicked in and he seemed to be in good spirits and in nearly full health, completely surprising Rude with the complete turn around the five little pills had made. Keeping to his word, he understood Reno didn't want to talk about the condition or why he wouldn't take his medicine when it made him feel so much better and so he'd left it alone. Curiosity was chewing at him, though, and the nagging feeling he should find out soon lead him to pack solid plans at talking to Max upon his return to the mansion.
As soon as he could get away from Reno, that is. That would be the difficult part. The now chipper kid had been nearly attached to his hip after breakfast. While Rude hadn't minded his fashion advice as he was selecting clothing to wear, he could have done with a spare bit of privacy. It did keep him from wearing what he wore every day: white shirt, black suit, black tie. He didn't even hate the blue and black tribal pattered shirt Reno had dropped over an A-line shirt and the black jeans, joking all the while he looked like somebody's pimp. Reno had just laughed and slipped into a pair of jeans and a black button front shirt, only three buttons done along the front and the sleeves rolled up at his elbows. When he'd laughed at the similarity between the two redheads, Reno had grabbed him by the shirt front and threatened him with tongue torture if he didn't stop sniggering and not relating the joke to him.
They had come back to Reno's apartment so he could tear apart his room in the slums, collect the stashed cash and meager belongings and move into his room at the mansion again. Ferreting around the room, he'd collected several boxes containing large sums of cash from inside hidden compartments in drawers and from hollowed floorboards. He'd even stashed cash in his mattress and pillows and each bill was retrieved and either stashed into one of the boxes and chucked into a duffel bag or tucked into various pockets on Rude's person. As time went on, he noticed more and more was being stuffed into his pockets than into the bag. He wasn't complaining. He thought it was a better idea, too.
Once everything had been collected, including books, and had been loaded securely in the trunk of the car, they'd returned and dropped into the comfort leather seats for the return ride home.
"Wait! Shit, I forgot somethin'… Gotta go back for it. Take me just a second. Wait here."
"I'm going with you." Rude unfastened the safety belt and dropped a leg out of the car, only to have the wiry weasel slip out around him and pat him on the leg.
"Just wait here, Tiny. It'll only take a minute. Be right back."
Grumbling, Rude had stayed as requested, tucking himself back into the car and closing the door, watching the retreating form as it reentered the apartment.
The area Reno lived in was really a terrible place, most of the buildings dilapidated renditions of their former glory, the staccato fronts showing homage to their glory days as expensive condominiums now crumbling ruins. Many of the top floors had simply been roofed off, and poorly at that, leaving only the bottom floors good for anything more than makeshift storage areas. Rude was certain many of the people living here were people just like Reno who were down and couldn't get a leg to stand on if their lives depended on it. He was sure many of their lives did.
Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned toward a dark haired little girl in a bright blue dress dancing with her doll along the side of the street, a single stick in her hand keeping time with their movements. The corner of his lip turned up in a smile as he watched the simple play with the rag toy, reminiscent of earlier days when he'd watched the kids playing outside the family car when they'd gone on trips. He'd always wanted to play stick ball with the other kids, go outside, get dirty. His mother, on the other hand, had expressly said no and explained why they didn't play with 'those people'.
Rude had thought it was bull the first time he'd heard it. None of the other times held any more weight as far as he was concerned.
Turning his attention back to the apartment, he blinked, taking in the scene. Something was different. Hadn't Reno closed the door behind him when he'd gone in? The door was now standing wide open and swinging back and forth in the breeze with an eerie dance that set the hair on the back of Rude's neck on end. Whipping the car door open, he stalked back toward the apartment.
Stepping back inside the room, the scene unfolded before him as the sweaty pig of a man held Reno by the throat against the wall, the startled redhead scrambling against his hand and holding a box in his off hand he was trying desperately to protect against the waving hand grasping clumsily for it. Had he not been trying to protect his possession he could have defended himself but Rude stepped in, rushing in on nimble feet. Wrapping a hand around the meaty shoulder, he brought his full weight down against the outside of the grotesque man's knee and pulled back hard against his arm. He tumbled back like a felled tree with a grunt of exertion followed by a yelp of pain as Rude scooped Reno's arm into his and they ran the distance back to the car, clambering inside and hammering on the window for the driver to leave.
As soon as he'd caught his breath, Reno's eyes were bright and alive, endorphins firing through his system as the deep red finger marks edged with puffy white raised patches showed against the lily white skin. Rude fussed with checking his neck and throat as Reno babbled excitedly.
"I can't believe you did that! You just ran in an' WHAM! Down! An' then we ran outta there like… Damn, Rude, that was intense! Holy shit! I can't believe that!"
"Reno, stop fidgeting, I need to look at this. I want to make sure there's no damage."
He slapped at the probing fingers. "M'fine, Rude! That was fuckin' hardcore! All you Turks like that, yo? Know how t'take somebody out like that? Man, you think I could learn that? That'd be fuckin' awesome, yo!"
"I could have snapped his neck if I wanted to. Now hold still."
"Seriously? Fuckin' sweet, Rude! Man, I'd LOVE t'see that just once, Rude! Just t'see it in real life. Like… like not all on TV an' shit. That'd be friggin' awesome, yo! Man, I gotta learn that! Sweet!"
"Do I have to hold you down? Hold. Still."
"Can't! You were all like my savior! You saved me all knight in shining armor style! Came in, saw it and you just flew, Rude! I don't think your feet ever hit the floor, yo! Come on, that was pretty fuckin' cool!"
With an exasperated sigh, Rude shifted in the seat, straddling Reno's lap and pressed his forearm against the slightly heaving chest. He lifted the delicately pointed chin with his off hand and inspected his neck, pressing gently against the skin. With a single swift movement, Reno jerked his head free, coming nose to nose with Rude. Their eyes locked and the tension raced, adrenaline adding fuel to the passion that thrummed between them. Reno lunged forward, grabbing Rude's face and pulling him in for a kiss, lips meeting roughly before softening into a deep kiss.
Rude bandied between giving in to the spur of the moment and putting a halt on the whole thing, his body backing the prior rather than the latter. The indecision came through even in the kiss, going between deep hungering want and completely cold. Reno was spot on the entire time, coaxing the desired response with the pull of his fingertips and the cooperation in his own; pressing in gluttonously when Rude waxed and pulled back with gently probing kisses as he waned. Infinitely patient, the ardent man took his time, fingers working the flesh along the back of the thick neck, passing along his shoulders and down his back before working up again, each movement made in deliberate purpose. Although he was enjoying every moment, he was also attuned to each movement and made sure he was at the ready for each subtle change. Never completely caught up in his own desire, he kept true to his word and gave Rude the patience "his" Reno could never afford.
It made the choice all the more difficult.
The delicate push and pull continued between the two of them, each giving tit for tat as Reno's hands roved slowly lower, resting on Rude's hips for a moment before making the slow path upward again as he tested his boundaries. Rude was aware of the shift but was finding it harder and harder to care. This was Reno, regardless of what version of him it was. The same scent, the same taste, the same clever street rat with the eyes of an angel and the sexual history of a devil and every bit of that deviant was his, regardless of the story behind it. Remarkably the same yet terribly different and all around just damned confusing, the bald Turk wanted so badly just to hold him, touch him, soothe all the pain he knew the more sensitive version of his lover had to be feeling.
Therein lay the problem: this was a different version of his lover.
"Wait," Rude voiced breathlessly, "let me ask you a question."
"Okay." Big blue eyes looked up at him with a mixture of love and lust.
"If you were in my Reno's place, would you forgive me?"
"Forgive ya?" He smoothed his hands up and down Rude's arms, that drunken expression still playing over his features. "Forgive y'for what?"
"For being with you."
He gave a light chuckle, shaking his head as his eyes dropped to their laps. "Rude, if you were mine, I wouldn't have anythin' t'forgive you for. You'd be mine and that's all that matters. Once y'came back t'me I'd just be happy you were mine again. I couldn't hold you responsible for loving another me. How could y'really tell the difference? That's just… ludicrous."
"But I can tell the difference."
"Can you really, Rude?"
"Yes."
"Will he hold it against you?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell with him."
Reno shrugged, leaning back into the seat of the car. "It's your call, Big Man. Who'm I t'tell y'what t'do?"
Rude deposited himself heavily back into the seat beside Reno, adjusting himself accordingly as he was still quite aroused. Taking a look over at Reno he found he wasn't the only one. Reno seemed nonplussed, however, merely shifting in the seat and leaning in against Rude's arm until they arrived back at the mansion.