Elliot put his cheek on Knight’s shoulder and the way he handed himself over into Knight’s care made annoyance disperse faster than Knight logically knew it should. “I am so dumb. I thought he’d cooled off. That he could like me again. I was having a bad day and remembered all the things we used to do together. I forgot all the shit he put me through.”
Knight gently pulled him back so that they could look at one another. His swollen throat was pulsing with pain, but he didn’t care. Poor Elliot likely felt so much worse with not much muscle or fat to diffuse any blows that came his way. And that pink eye... “He’s not good for you. You don’t have to beg for such... scraps,” he said, increasingly agitated.
“I’ve only got so much to offer, and then I get blinded by what my dick wants.”
Knight exhaled and looked at the mess they’d made. Blood was heavily staining the rough wood, there was a hole in the floor where a plank had broken under Knight’s weight, and the tools and nails scattered all around the body only added to the miserable sight. “I can’t always stop you from getting in trouble.”
Elliot rubbed his forehead but then leaned in to steal another kiss, and Knight couldn’t say no to that. It was as if the floodgates had been opened and there was now no way to close them.
“Lesson learned. If I get blinded again, I’ll try to think of you instead, and how I don’t want you to get your brains bashed in when you come to save me.”
Knight looked away, embarrassed for no reason, and fished out his cell phone. “Shit. We need to deal with this mess. Someone’s gonna find him, even if it doesn’t happen tomorrow,” he said and quickly chose Gray’s number. When it came to waste disposal, he was the best man to approach. As expected, Gray was not participating in the orgy, so he picked up the call without delay.
Knight briefly described the situation in a code they used and then took Elliot to the pink Corvette, which they parked by the main road so that it could be easily found. Knight did everything on autopilot, still in pain and shocked by how events had unfolded. He hadn’t left the clubhouse expecting this.
They sat in silence, and with the car turned off, the freezing cold seemed to be slipping inside at an alarming rate. In the light coming from the cabin, fresh snowflakes settled on the windshield.
“I’d give you my jacket, but it wouldn’t fit,” Elliot said in the end with a small smile, despite vapor coming out of his mouth.
Knight smirked and pushed back his hair, wiping his lips with a wet tissue to get rid of the red stain that made him look as if he’d eaten someone’s organs raw. “That’s okay. I never get ill.” It wasn’t entirely true, but he’d rather be ill himself for two days than see Elliot in bed for a week straight. The guy had been malnourished for a long time, so his immune system probably wasn’t in best shape.
Elliot stared out into the forest with a small nod. The weak glow of the moon reflected off the damp asphalt ahead, reminding them that they weren’t entirely disconnected from civilization, even if it felt so far away now. “Have you ever killed anyone before?” It was only a whisper, as if Elliot was afraid to ask the question out loud.
Knight exhaled and glanced at him. Inside the steel frame of the car, on the pale leather seats that complemented the pink coating outside, the conversation felt so intimate, and he looked over at Elliot, playing with the car key.
Knight wasn’t a born killer. After so many years in the club, he’d got used to blood, guts, and violence, but that didn’t mean he ever became fine with death. And yet, Elliot had already seen him kill, just like he’d seen Martin kill his own father. Back then, he’d kept his mouth shut about it.
It felt wrong to lie.
“I have.”
“Did you like it?”
Knight swallowed and looked straight at Elliot, whose eyes drilled into him with dark fascination.
“No. Why would I like it?”
“It’s a show of force, isn’t it?” And despite the morbid topic, Elliot only seemed more innocent as he leaned in, wide-eyed and biting his lip. He squeezed his hands into fists. “I often fantasize about hurting people. But I can never go through with it. I actually think what I did today, with the screwdriver, was the most violent thing I’ve ever done.”
Knight licked his lips, struck by that pathetic admission that at the same time was so sad. “Why would you want to hurt others?”
Elliot let out a shivery exhale that made Knight wish he had a blanket to put around his shoulders. “Because some people are so cruel, or just plain nasty, and sometimes I wish I could show them that they can’t say shit to me. That I deserve respect.”