Eight: Going in Style
When the front desk clerk at the Monarch Hotel (Los Angeles) swiped the card Kaz gave him, his eyes went wide and he practically drooled. "Mr. Kazminsky, it's an honor to have you here, sir--our Regency suite is occupied at the moment, may I offer you the Palatial Suite?"
Kaz pretended to consider the offer, then nodded. "That will be adequate," he acknowledged. "My friends, the Betancourt-Braddocks will be my guests."
If he'd strolled in with a couple of coatimundis on a leash, it was clear that the Monarch staff would have googled to find out what to add to their room service menu. Two humans, no matter how scruffily dressed, were of incidental concern. The flustered attendant didn't even check their identification. Note to self, send Gruber at the Vegas Monarch a fat bonus. Whatever he noted on my account, it's worth a mint.
When they got up to the suite, Roi and Riddick stared around at the luxurious quarters, to Kaz's private amusement. When the Monarch said palatial, they meant it. He'd had the Regency penthouse in Vegas, which was bigger than the Palatial, but less ornate. They hadn't kicked that he'd slowly converted it into a clinic--as he watched Riddick appraise a gilt-framed oil painting---probably wondering how much he could get for it---Kaz thought about his "practice", and wondered if he really had the nerve to go off-world.
During one of the long nights tending Roy, he'd told Riddick about his plans to go to Oasis--from what he'd heard, it was like Vegas on a grand scale, without the riff-raff. Riddick had a familiarity with the system--one of the planets, Gehenna was a penal colony--and they talked about his familiarity with it. Stygia was a domed mining colony. Eden was as pastoral as its name, it had a primarily agriculture-based economy, and Oasis was the major resort destination in the Twelve Systems. If there was an off-world market for what he did best, Oasis was the place.
Did he really have the guts? Kaz agonized. Sure, some of his memories of Vegas weren't all happy-fuzzy, but he'd made a name for himself there. So? He was damn good at what he did, he could make a name for himself anywhere, couldn't he?
"I've never seen anything like this," Roi breathed. Although she was wearing a pair of Riddick's coveralls (which strained to contain her voluptuous breasts), her voice was a soft alto with its charming accent, and Kaz had noticed her flirting with the bellhop on the way up. With a decent haircut and the right clothes, she'd be a knockout.
"I guess they're hoping I'll bring in the same volume of business here as I did in Vegas," Kaz shrugged. "Hello, room service?" He gave specific orders for their dinner; Roi was working her way back to solid food, he was starving for anything that wasn't noodles or tortillas... "--You want anything?" he asked Riddick, who grinned.
"The biggest steak they've got, rare, smothered in onions. Home fries. Beer."
"They're your arteries."
Full and relaxed, Kaz napped briefly in one of the bedrooms, but between the recent rejuv and the habits of the sickroom, after a couple hours he was alert and ready for action. Roi was in the main room, seated primly on the sofa as she watched the Style channel intently. No sign of Riddick. Kaz walked quietly around her to the other bedroom, opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.
The room was completely dark, the drapes drawn shut. Kaz took a couple hesitant steps, trying to get a sense of where the bed was.
"Are you gonna stand there all night?" asked Riddick. "Come to bed, sweetheart."
Sweetheart? Kaz felt his heart plummet. Great. He thinks it's Roi. Retreating before he made a complete fool of himself might be a good idea.
"KazMINsky! Will you get your cute little ass over here?"
Kaz grinned, moving cautiously to his left until he bumped into the bed, then climbed in. Riddick welcomed him warmly, stripping away the loose pants he'd worn to sleep in and rubbing against him, full-length.
"Cute enough for you?" Kaz asked cheerfully. I forgot, he can see in the dark. Sweetheart! Yeah, and I'm about to get lucky...
Even in the dark, Riddick was a pleasure to explore. Kaz allowed his hands to quest along the broad plains of his chest, down the ridges of his abs and the thick columns of his thighs. Firm muscles flexed beneath his fingers, then Riddick, with a swift surge of motion, toppled Kaz to the mattress and pinned him on his back like a helpless tortoise. "Damn cute," groweled Riddick. His hard cock pressed against the other man's, and Kaz quivered, but not with fear. Not this time.
As his hands returned to Riddick's chest, the bigger man seized Kaz's wrists and held them down so that he was spread-eagled. "Not scared?" Riddick asked thoughtfully. "You weren't so calm about it in the locker room the other night."
"That was then," Kaz answered simply. Only the faint glitter of Riddick's eyes was discernable. "I trust you."
A sigh. "You are so---" A kiss on his forehead. "Damned." A kiss on the tip of his nose. "Innocent." A real kiss, that wanted to inhale air from the depths of his lungs... "I've fucked people to death, remember? People, plural."
"On purpose?"
A bitter chuckle. "The first time, no. We were the same age, fooling around...hell, I was fifteen, I didn't know lube from orange juice in those days. I had a great time...a couple days later, my friend died of peritonitis. A few times, I did it to punish people. Some dealers, a cop...that's the one I got in trouble for. Take out the trash, and nobody notices, but fuck one cop up the ass and they never let you live it down."
Kaz blinked. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously. See, at first, they didn't get me for that one. I'd been in and out of Rehab once, I was parroting all the right pshrink-speak and I managed to get into a vocational program, training to be a shuttle pilot. I was just about ready to graduate when somebody cross-checked the DNA sample for my passport ID with a list of unsolved crime specimens. Boom, the career is fubar and I'm off-world alright---to Gehenna for a 24-month vacation."
"Why'd you do it? I mean, why a cop?"
Riddick settled down against Kaz, letting go his wrists and taking his weight on his elbows so their chests just touched. "Ah, he was an asshole. He was pimping some broads I knew, and one time when one of them didn't come across with her tribute, he beat the hell out of her. The reason she didn't have it was because she'd already been rolled by one of her tricks, and he just made it worse. So I decided to teach him a lesson."
By his tone, the lesson had come at a high cost. Kaz understood that; it was a little like his experience as Kazi...bad judgement could really mess up your life. "I'm sorry."
"There was one other...accident. I had a girlfriend. I knew she was having female troubles, but I didn't know she'd had some kind of minor surgery for it. She wasn't supposed to have sex, but we did anyway...not rough or anything...that's one of the reasons I don't do a lot of women. They're too easy to break."
No wonder he's been a little freaked out about Roi. "You didn't break me," hinted Kaz. "Like you said, all that was a few years ago."
"Is that your way of saying you want to fuck?" Riddick asked playfully, stretching.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Yes or no: do you want to fuck?"
"Yes." A pause. "I want you to fuck me." Kaz heard the sentence emerge from his mouth and was amazed by how easily it had come out.
"We'll have to do something about that. Roll over." Riddick patted him on the ass as he got comfortable on his stomach. Where the hell did that bottle of lube come from? Like I care? As long as he--oh God, that's-- Kaz moaned happily.
It was even better than the first time, for quality, not necessarily quantity. This time, Riddick seemed more relaxed, too, less tense. He had Kaz lie on his left side, his right leg angled forward, and entered him gradually...Kaz wallowed in pleasure. When Riddick finally brought them both off, they fell asleep that way, back to front, and Kaz laced the fingers of his right hand through Riddick's as it dangled around his waist. "Good night, sweetheart," he muttered as Riddick began to snore.
Although Riddick was still snoring, the room was brighter when Kaz awoke. He realized, groggily, that Riddick was at his back, but something was ticking his shoulder. "Roi? What are you doing here?" In the diffused light spilling in from the main room, he could see the gilt sparkle of her hair. After seeing her for so long under the harsh lights of the SunRG1250s, it was interesting to see the planes and angles of her face with shadows, animated by consciousness...
"I was lonely," the replicant stated, and burrowed closer to him. The jealousy he'd been struggling with popped like a soap bubble. Lonely. Geez, of course she's lonely. Everybody she knew from before is dead. She doesn't really remember Riddick, but she's dependant on him...on both of us.
"You don't have to be lonely," he consoled her. "You've got us."
For a long moment, Roi was silent. "I never thought I'd hear that," she said after a quiet pause. "from an Earth citizen, a natural-born human, to include someone like me...or is it because you find me desirable?"
Y'know, I can see why Riddick was attracted to Roy. They've got the same kind of straight-out, no bullshit personality. "You're a beautiful woman, Roi," he answered honestly. "Just like you were a good-looking man---but that's not why I'm including you."
"Why, then?"
"Because my conscience won't square with saving your life and just walking away. Keeping you alive physically wasn't easy, but you've still got a lot to adjust to. That includes being human, regardless of how you started out."
"What he said," Riddick added, and Kaz started. He hadn't noticed the ceasation of snoring.
It turned into a group hug; Kaz was a little relieved that Riddick wasn't ready for action again so soon. Roi didn't seem to be in any hurry to try out her newest attributes, either. They settled in comfortably with the blonde cuddled between them. Somehow, having Roi in bed with them didn't seem unusual--although interaction was still a novelty--and Kaz had the feeling his plans were about to change again. Roi confirmed his suspicions.
"Tell me about Oasis. What's it like? The pictures made it look lovely."
"Oh? Something you saw on the Style Channel?"
"No, when Riddick was making our reservations."
Riddick hissed, his silver eyes glinting in the dim room. "That was going to be a surprise."
"What?" Kaz looked at his partner in the half-light. "What reservations?"
"Well, we're going off-world, right? And you're coming with us, aren't you? Oasis is as good a place as any."
Kazminsky hugged Riddick as hard as he could, and kissed him with gusto. "Thanks, Riddick."
"Don't thank me yet. That's our final destination..."
"Where...?"
"We're going by way of Kessel. I have some unfinished business there."
I don't know if I want to know...but I know it's not going to be dull... "If you say so, big guy. You're still the boss."
The End.
If this was a TV show, it would've been canceled for lousy ratings four chapters ago. Big thanks to my two loyal reviewers!
