What does it mean?
Will Carter come back to him now?
It takes the door of his office opening and closing for Nathan to pull himself together. He quickly jerks away from Carter’s lifeless body on the desk, whipping around to face whoever dared enter the room without gaining his permission. He can’t decide if seeing Benny is a relief, or the worst thing that could happen at this moment.
Benny’s eyes fall to the boy on the desk. Then his gaze returns to Nathan, studying him. Lingering on his bruising cheek. His cut lip. Benny's expression does something complicated. “So he didn’t just yell, huh? He hit you?
“Yes.”
“Mmm.” Benny shoves his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and walks forward, not stopping until he’s right in front of Nathan. His eyes are full of concern. “You good?”
Nathan ignores the question, focusing on what’s important. “How many heard?”
“Only a few, but word spread. You had a decent crowd listening at the door just now.”
“Could you hear anything… inappropriate?”
Benny arches a brow, seeming confused. It’s a good sign. “No. Why – was it not straightforward?”
“No. He let me make him feel good while doing it. Most of the sobbing and begging was out of pleasure and being overwhelmed, not pain.”
“Well, fuck. Okay then. Yeah, no, that didn’t translate. They think you whooped him pretty good.” Benny’s eyes fall to Carter’s backside. He winces. Nathan doesn’t have to look to know that’s a reasonable reaction to what it looks like. “Which I see that you still did.”
“He was fine. I took care of him.” Nathan is surprisingly sure of those words. He doesn’t doubt that what happened between them was good. It’s what’s going to happen when Carter comes back to himself that will be the problem. “Can you clean up the mess in here for me? I want to get him back to the room before reality hits. Not sure how he’s going to react.”
“Sure. Of course. Go ahead.” Benny glances at the door, wincing. “But be warned that there are probably a few guys lingering. Probably hoping to get a glimpse of the naughty slave.”
Nathan takes a breath. He’s so fucking sick of these monsters.Wasn’t what just happened a show enough for them? Do they really have to bask in the aftermath of the boy’s misery?
“If anyone asks, he didn't hit me." Nathan looks at his friend, eyes pleading. It'll be a stretch to spin it, but they have to. This was an adequate punishment for a slave who yelled at his owner, but it wasnothingfor a slave who dared raise their hand against their master. Slaves have been killed for that offense. If not killed, punished so harshly they begged for death. Carter wouldn't survive a punishment like that.Nathanwouldn't. "The slave got a little wild during his punishment. We bumped heads."
Benny eyes Nathan's face, clearly trying to decide if the story is believable with the injuries. He sighs after a few seconds and shrugs. "Fine. But you need to have a serious fucking talk with him when he comes to. You do, or I will. He's going to get us all fucking killed."
“I know. I’ll handle it.”
“And while you're at it, the two of you should figure out what your dynamic will be like moving forward. You're not fucking him enough in front of the men, and you're not making him suffer enough. They're talking, and after today, we really can't fucking afford them talking."
Instead of acknowledging Benny’s words, Nathan reaches down to his ankle and pulls out his knife. He smoothly cuts away the ropes, careful not to nick Carter, before returning it to his holster and heaving Carter up in his arms.
“Travis,” Benny growls, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Tell me you'll talk to him. About all of it."
“Fine. Yes. I’ll talk to him. We’ll figure it out.”
He shrugs Benny off before walking towards the door, Carter slung mostly over his shoulder, his hips turned so his legs are being supported by one of Nathan’s arms.
“Oh, Benny?” Nathan says just as he gets to the door, remembering what caused all of this in the first place.
Benny looks over at him, raising a brow. “Yeah?”
Nathan sighs in defeat. He can't let Casey die. If there's a chance in hell Carter will ever forgive him, he knows now that it rides on this decision. He'll figure out a way to make it work. He has to.
“Casey. Buy him.”
A few different emotions flicker across Benny’s face. Then his eyes settle on Carter and understanding blooms in his expression. He nods. “I’ll make the call.”