Howl (BW version)

Meet my boyfriend

Chapter 8:

A month into the job, Win came to two realizations. The first: that Bright's sex drive seemed to follow some pattern that escaped Win's understanding. The amount of people he brought back to his home differed each night (although he was now familiar with some of their faces) depending upon what day it just so happened to be in the cycle (what cycle, Win wasn't sure. He figured calling it a cycle was better than calling it whim.) The cycle was straightforward: the number of partners slowly increasing for a few days before it peaked (usually around six or seven) and began its slow descent downward until Win found Bright sleeping alone, without company of any kind. His surprise the first time he'd found Bright alone had been short lived, however, as the next day he'd walked into the room and discovered a friend trying to hide in the closet to escape his wrath.

The second realization: that although he loved his job, loved to excitement of it, loved the pay, he just so happened to dislike the period of time before all the fun started, where all he did was stand around waiting for someone to attack his client. Not that he wished his clients ill, exactly, just wished that someone would act on their threats and make his job slightly better than sitting behind a desk all day.

Bright was apparently thinking the same thing as they sat together in his apartment on one of his work-free days. Win was in the middle of reassembling his gun when the model spoke up.

"I want to go shopping."

Win looked up briefly, hands not pausing in their ministrations. The model was seated on the couch, eyes glued to the TV as he watched the latest episode of some drama he claimed was starring a lupin acquaintance of his. "Do you?"

It took Bright a moment to answer as the male character on the screen professed his love for the female lead. "Yeah. There's this place that I want to check out right after this guy finishes getting rejected." The character got to his knees, begging the girl to respond. The girl turned away, tears running down her face as she rejected him. The scene froze as the teaser for the next episode began playing. Finally emerging from his trance, Bright turned off the TV and looked at Win.

"I want to go shopping."

"You've already said that."

"I know, but you still haven't changed yet."

Win slid a cartridge into his gun as he surveyed his clothing. He was dressed like he always did for work—a black suit sans the tie. "What's wrong with my clothing, dare I ask?"

"You can't expect me to go shopping with you looking like that. It'll draw attention to us if one of us is dressed casually and the other looks ready to go to an interview."

Win slid his gun back into its holster, unwilling to admit to himself that Bright had a point. "Then let it draw attention to us. Attention is always a good thing when you're trying to protect a client. It makes it harder for someone to get in close and get away after killing you."

Bright stood and stretched. "Fine then. Wear the suit. But I'm driving today, in that case. I don't think I can take any more of your attempts to send both of us to the hospital."

"You already know that I drive because your enemies may attempt to kill you by attacking while we're driving somewhere. In a case like that, my evasive driving skills—"

"Yeah, yeah that's all fine and dandy but I highly doubt that the Council is going to decide to attack me today, on my day off, when I usually spend the day at home, especially after a month of no activity. For all we know, their members could still be fighting, trying to figure out who deserves the honor of being the one to kill an alpha."