Disclaimers and crap: See previous posts.
A/N Yeah, it's short. The chapter had to be cut there, though. Hopefully the next will come soon.
"What are you doing here?" The drow frowned at him, but there was that hunger again behind they eyes, the hunger that had been growing all "day" as they traveled. They had found a tiny waterfall and decided to rest for a while and clean the stench of blood off. By unspoken agreement, they had been taking turns in the slight privacy afforded by the last bend in the tunnel before the dead end that held the water source. Entreri had clearly violated that agreement by following Drizzt here.
"I've seen your eyes," Entreri said, not an actual answer to the question. "I've seen your eyes and I know what you need."
Drizzt shook his head and took another step back towards the wall. He had taken off his armor, but not yet his clothing. Damp and crumpled silk clung to his graceful legs, his slender hips, the muscular chest. Entreri wondered if he had been gathering his courage to be naked again for the first time since the torture chamber.
"I don't. I can't, I won't." Lavender eyes refused to meet the steel-colored ones.
The assassin exhaled in a sharp breath. "You do, you can, and you will, sooner or later." He felt like he was bartering himself away for safe passage, like he was selling what he had never willingly given.
I'd whore you out if you weren't so ugly...Esom's words whispered in the back of his mind. You could make me some money if you weren't so bad at it. The feeling of disconnection was growing, and he felt almost as surprised at the words he spoke as the drow must have.
"You hurt." It was not a question, and Entreri unbuckled his sword belt, laying the weapons close at hand. "You need to be free, if even for a little while." Drizzt looked away, turning his head from the sight of the man shrugging the chain shirt off of his shoulders.
I'll be damned if I'll do that again with my armor riding up the back of my neck, Entreri thought. He was amused by the idea, but the smile never made it to his face. His body felt cold to himself, distant. He could feel a vague tingle in his fingertips.
If Drizzt had not touched him first, he would never do this, but he had. Now he could see the pressure building. He remembered that look in Esom's eyes, sometimes when life became too hectic for him touch Useless. That hunger, building, until it finally broke through all other considerations and Esom took him, hurt him more than usual. Better now than later...
"You can wait," his voice was flat and cold. Step by step he walked, still dressed, towards where Drizzt huddled in on himself against the wall. "Let it build, the pain, the anger..." He was close enough to smell the drow's sweat, mixed with the blood of them both and countless of their enemies.
"Do you want to wait until you lose the last of your control? Til you cannot stop yourself from taking me, hurting me?" The ranger shivered yet still would not raise his eyes.
Feeling numb, he turned his back on his enemy and sank slowly to his knees. His mind could not focus on the past, the future, or even the present. He felt blank, empty.
He waited, jaw clenched, back tense. He had said all that he could say. Any more words and he would lose his nerve. A soft sound was behind him. He held his breath, and waited.