Roses Wilt, Bites Scar [boyxboy]

Chapter XVI

~Saturday 4th June 2011~

"Where's Arlo?" Rourke asked as he wandered into Emeri's bedroom with little more than a knock. There was no point really, if he hadn't heard anything, or the maids hadn't informed him that Emeri was busy, then he could enter as he pleased. Emeri didn't have the energy to argue with such an action, nor protest when the boy settled himself next to him on the bed and began plaiting his damp hair.

"With the boy," Emeri shifted his head ever so slightly, resting it in his brother's lap, making it easier for Rourke to continue with his braid rather than tugging on his hair.

"You let him spend the night with him?"

"No, he's sleeping outside the room. I tried to stop him, offered for him to sleep in here with me. He wouldn't even listen to Inya," Rourke stared, wide-eyed, at Emeri, as though he had just grown another head. Emeri replayed what he had said in his mind, looking for what might have shocked his brother, yet he couldn't seem to find anything. He waited then, until Rourke finally spoke up about what had stunned him so.

"You offered for Arlo to sleep in your bed with you?" Emeri nodded, still unsure of why that was so bizarre, "do you do that often? Sleep with him?" Was it so strange? Maybe so, Emeri couldn't remember ever offering his bed to another of his toys. Then again, he didn't even think of Arlo as a toy anymore. He was something more, something different.

"I haven't fucked him, if that's what you're concerned about. He sucks me off, but I don't think he wants to have sex with me yet," Rourke giggled briefly, reaching over to collect one of the black ribbons that Emeri kept on his bedside table. So far, Arlo was the only person who he spent time with that hadn't taken to his hair. Emeri wondered if he ever would, he did plait it once. Back when Emeri was drunk out of his mind... When they kissed.

"I beg to differ," Rourke murmured, smoothing out a few of the stray strands that he hadn't been able to tame into the long plait, "do you like to sleep with Arlo? Don't you find it strange to have another in your bed? What do you even do all night whilst he's asleep?"

"Just watch him," Emeri smiled absently, able to see his boy so easily in his mind, peaceful as he slept curled up against the man's thigh. Emeri had yet to lie with him fully. He tended to sit on the bed with him whilst he worked, or sometimes stand by the window. Either way, he would never leave Arlo, not even for a moment. Somehow, it didn't please him to think of the boy waking fearful at his absence.

"Why did you buy another boy, brother? You haven't even broken him in yet, I know you're refraining from doing so. You usually spend the first night with them, why bother with him when you're clearly not interested?" Emeri let out a sigh, staring up at the ceiling above, his smile having bled away entirely. He knew the questions would come some time, he should have prepared the answers really. Sadly, he still didn't have any. He thought, maybe in time, he could have understood why he had chosen to buy another boy. That time hadn't passed yet.

"Insurance, maybe?" Emeri mused, "in case Arlo wasn't available? In case I needed something more?"

"In case you felt the urge to take a life?" Rourke's offer seemed more likely, more plausible. Emeri hadn't killed in a while, hadn't felt the pleasure of a life lost at his hands. That was a different type of lust, a craving that Arlo couldn't provide for. Emeri didn't want to kill Arlo, he was too precious to him. His life had value, unlike the others that Emeri had kept around. He wasn't just a play thing anymore.

"Have you talked to Arlo about any of this?" Emeri sat up, since Rourke was no longer playing with his hair, there was no point in laying there anymore. He pulled the plait over his left shoulder, fidgeting with the end of it for a moment before letting it drop behind his back once again. It was more comfortable that way.