“Jake would have snapped his head off before Fane could even touch him,” Knight said casually, watching Jake quickly put on his hoodie before rushing out into the snow.
“He’d have to know what was coming first,” Fane whispered into Elliot’s ear.
Gray shook his head and rearranged his silvery ponytail. “He’s been so twitchy lately. I kinda gave in and was spending some time with him, but I don’t know what’s up.”
Knight exhaled and looked back at Jake, who was only halfway through the courtyard, no doubt freezing after leaving a room so hot without cooling off. “Maybe he can’t wait to be patched in?”
Gray nodded slowly. “It has been what? Two years at least. Maybe he’s just cranky he hasn’t been getting any from you for months.” Gray shrugged with a small smile. “You know he only wants to do patches, so his pool of dicks is shrinking.”
It took Elliot a few seconds to catch up with what Gray was saying, and his gaze darted to Jake disappearing from sight. So Knight hasn’t been fucking Jake. A surge of energy added to the pleasantly drunk feeling in his veins.
2:0 for Elliot.
Knight glanced at the wall. “Maybe he should widen his repertoire then. I only have so much steam in my balls. How about you give him some?”
Gray chewed on that for a while, but Elliot was so happy by his new discovery that he couldn’t help a smile.
“I did,” Gray said in the end. “But he’s too needy. We’re not really… compatible.”
Knight shifted his weight, still keeping his eyes at the wall. He seemed almost relieved when his phone beeped and he frantically picked it up. The conversation was extremely short and ended with Knight saying he’d get somewhere ASAP.
Elliot’s eyes grew wide at the thought of having to stay with Gray, who possibly held a secret grudge against him, and whose facial expression was usually unreadable.
He approached Knight. “Are we going?”
Knight pushed the phone back into his pocket and called Elliot over with a gesture. “Yeah. Sorry, Gray. I think we need to do the training another time.”
“As you wish,” Gray said, following Elliot with his inquisitive gaze all the way to the door.
They briefly stopped at the kitchen, where Knight picked up two large bottles of water, before heading for the staircase leading to his apartment. King’s ghost and his phantom blood didn’t faze Elliot anymore. He became yet another element of the interior, especially that no ghost apart from Fane had ever managed to touch him.
He flinched away from King’s fingers even when they went straight through him, but stood still when Knight walked past the gargoyle and opened the door to the cellar.
Elliot glanced at Knight, suddenly unsure of what was going on, and Fane instantly became more attentive.
“What’s this?” Fane demanded. “Ask him.”
“Is there something you want to show me?” Elliot licked his lips, not nearly as eager to walk into the darkness as he used to be. In the days he had spent alone with Fane, the shadows down there were his solace. For hours on end he would talk to Fane about things that now seemed a wrong turn in his life. Back then, Fane had been so charming, so sweet, so full of enticing words that Elliot never wanted to leave the dark cellar.
Knight held his breath, a sure sign that something was off, but he soon cleared his throat and reached his hand out to Elliot. “Trust me, okay?”
Fane crossed his arms and stood between Elliot and the open door. “I don’t trust him one bit.”
Elliot curled his shoulders. “Okay, but he’s standing in the way. I don’t think he wants to go back down there.”
Fane bared his teeth. “You think?”
King’s laughter echoed through the hall. “They’re getting you back into your prison, Will! Your stink won’t be clogging up the air anymore!”
Fane hissed something back at him, but all of Elliot’s attention was on Knight, who walked through Fane, as if he were a hologram, and put his arm around Elliot’s shoulders. “He’s not relevant anymore. I’m the one calling the shots.”
Elliot gave a slow nod, but as soon as he stepped forward, Fane pushed at his chest so hard he stumbled back.
“I don’t think so,” Fane said in that cool voice that was a promise of torment.
Knight blinked when Elliot’s body slipped from under his arm, but he didn’t seem displeased and just leaned down, picking Elliot up as if Elliot were a princess in need of saving.
“Better?”
A silly smile pushed at Elliot’s lips and he wrapped his arms around Knight’s neck, cuddling up to his chest. “Much better,” he whispered, yet again blown away by Knight’s strength.
Every time Fane put pressure on him, Elliot needed to remind himself that the influence was only there because Fane was inside of him, not because the ghost had any physical power. But that also meant Fane could force Elliot’s fingers to hurt Knight. To curl in Knight’s hair and pull so hard Knight winced.