Shoot Your Shot

Chapter 10

He lost track of how much time had passed as they laid on the floor of his office. Pentious was wrapped around him and the pressure felt more like a weighted blanket than the body of a snake. His lover was also dragging his fingers through Arackniss' hair slowly and the combined feelings were making it hard to stay awake at all. He vaguely, in his satisfied and comfortable state, remembered that he had called the man in for a reason, and it wasn't mind bogglingly good sex. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and started trying to sit up. "No." The moment he moved, his snake tightened his grip and pouted.

"You know I didn't call you here just for that."

"No, you called me here for this too." The man leaned his head against Arackniss and he fought not to laugh.

"I didn't call you for sex and cuddles, Pen. I have an actual job for you."

"Being a snuggle buddy isn't part of my job description?" And that's when he laughed, squirming out of the snake's coiled grasp.

"No, it's not. That's more of a... personal occupation." Pulling himself up off the floor, he grabbed the file he'd thrown on the desk earlier and looked down at his lover. Pentious was still sprawled out on the floor, sitting up on his elbows and raking his gaze over Arackniss with appreciation. "Stop. We've already done more than enough damage, don't you think?"

"I didn't say anything. I haven't even moved." The tone in the other man's voice was enough to get him a glare. Pentious only sat up more when he shook his head and looked back down at the file. The way his lover rolled his body to lift himself and wrapped his tail around Arackniss' feet casually was fluid and impressive. The move confirmed what he'd already known, that the lower half (at least) of Pentious' body was nothing but muscle. The man came up behind him and wrapped his arms around him, resting his chin on Arackniss' shoulder. "So, besides the fun, what did you call me for?" Reaching a hand back, he lightly pet a finger over the man's cheek.

"I need you to find someone. And don't tell me you can't, you used to do much more than just find people before this." He watched the man as he read the file in his hands and marveled at the small, seemingly idle flick of his tongue.

"You're looking for whoever told the East side that the Family wouldn't be selling Codeine anymore." He nodded slowly and pursed his lips.

"I sent some guys to try and find something, but they're morons who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag, apparently. They lost the trail with these, so I figured I'd hand it over to someone competent." He flipped the page and showed the snake the flyer. They had been passed around the entire section and had helped spur on the riot. Pentious lifted the file out of Arackniss' hands and slid down to sit on the floor again.

"Where in Hell have I seen this style before?" To say he was shocked was an understatement. If Pentious already had a lead and he'd only had the file and information for mere seconds, while his own men had had the knowledge for weeks and couldn't figure it out; now that would truly be impressive. "Gregory, give me a list of the current most common events in the Pride Ring starting two months ago." It was a demand, but unless his lover was losing his mind, Arackniss was not named "Gregory".

"By section, or all over?" The deep rumble of a voice sounded from the other side of the desk by the chair and he was reaching into his desk for his gun.

"Section. Start with the North point and work clockwise. Only the most popular, please." There was a disgusting cracking sound that Arackniss would recognize anywhere as bones snapping, before the clear static sound of flesh tearing had him lifting the gun.

"Would have been nice if you'd actually thrown me in the chair, Thomas." From behind the chair, a man stood and stretched out, lifting his arms over his head to pop his back or shoulders, Arackniss couldn't tell. He was a light grey, with one large, rose colored eye, and a black band across his stomach. He slid around the chair, completely nude, and dropped his body into the seat. Pentious pulled himself up and threw a glare at the man, but was completely unfazed by his state or presence.