“That’s kinda hot.”
Elliot bit back a smile, but a single glance at Beast, made his expression more serious again. “It is,” he whispered.
“Come on, Knight. He’s not made of glass. Get the headphones on him so we can talk.”
Knight sighed and pulled the MP3 player off the desk. He put the large headphones over Elliot’s ears and switched on the music. After adjusting the sound to be loud enough to mute any conversation yet not painful, he put the headphones on Elliot’s head.
Elliot’s smile widened. “He hates this too.”
At that even Beast smirked, and Knight leaned in for a small kiss to Elliot’s tempting lips.
“Good boy,” he said, even though Elliot could not have heard him anymore. Once it was done, he stretched and joined Beast by the desk, only now feeling nervous about the conversation to come. News about Knight losing his VP patch hadn’t spread yet, so maybe it was about that matter.
“Laurent will be here soon. We need to get that Fane fucker out of Elliot somehow.”
Knight exhaled with more relief than he’d expected. “Listen, that bastard keeps taunting him. He makes him hurt himself, and keeps food or drink away, just because. I’m trying to be positive here, but it’s goddamn hard.”
“And that’s only been since yesterday.” Beast watched Elliot with a stern expression. “What if he takes over his mind? What if you’re just trying to get your dick sucked, and chomp, it’s off.”
The last part made Knight pause, because despite it being a joke, not a muscle in Beast’s face twitched. Knight’s balls ached just thinking about it. “Jesus Christ! It’s not funny. And he’s not gonna take over his mind. That’s impossible.”
“You just said Fane’s been taking over his body. Laurent heard Fane speak through him.”
“Yeah, but he says he’s still in there. It’s not like they’ve merged or anything. Elliot is nothing like Fane.”
Beast gave Knight a concerned look. “I guess he’s not. How are you doing about the bloodline thing?”
The question caught Knight off guard, and he rubbed his forehead, instantly reminded of the deep stinging that he tried so hard to ignore. “It’s pretty damn shitty, all things considered. But at least I can teach Elliot about his heritage, so there’s that. He’s gonna change his name once this is all over. Three Merciers. Wouldn’t that be great?” he asked, trying to be positive despite all the dark thoughts clouding his head.
“Four, since Laurent is pushy about it, and I don’t care enough about my surname to deny him the pleasure. Joker will eat me alive with his comments once he finds out.”
Knight grinned. “Aww. Look who’s wearing the pants.”
“You’re such an ass, you know that?” Beast’s heavily tattooed arms tensed. “And you won’t even say what’s up with you two. You fight, you make up, he cuts you, he attacks Laurent, you treat him like glass. I can’t keep up anymore.”
The grin slid off Knight’s face, and he leaned against the wall, meeting Elliot’s eyes across the room. There was so much hope in them, so much trust it was cracking Knight’s calm facade already. “It’s... complicated. He’s fragile, and no one’s ever treated him right. No one’s offered their help, you know.”
Beast shook his head. “‘Fragile’? He’s always looking for a good ass whooping, if you ask me. So you’re gonna be his savior? His white knight?”
Knight supposed he deserved that last bit after his own comment earlier.
“So he grows spikes as soon as he feels attacked, and he’s got a fucked-up taste in men—or had so far—and he snaps at everyone because he doesn’t know what else to do. But when you show him kindness, he turns into the sweetest guy. I’m not gonna let him down.”
“By which you mean getting Fane out of him, housing him here forever, finding him a boyfriend, or making sure he doesn’t die?”
Knight scowled, turning away from Elliot, because he was too much of a distraction. Thoughts whispered against the inside of his skull, telling him so many conflicting things he didn’t know himself what to feel. “Look, Beast, I know this is a bit crazy, okay? But he’s different. He wants to listen to the stuff that I like, and he’s also into history. We can talk about it for ages.”
Beast sat behind the desk and tapped his fingers against it. “So you like him. That much I’ve figured out.” He squinted at Knight. “You’re not… angry I spend so much time with Laurent nowadays, right?”
“What? Why?” Knight asked, willing to rather focus on the second part of Beast’s comment.
“‘Cause you used to come to me with any new findings on your family. Come on, Knight. You’re dodging the point here. The boy clearly has a crush on you the size of an ocean, so if you don’t see it, I’ve gotta spell it out to you. Does he understand you don’t do boyfriends?”