Evenfall

Held

Six months ago

Ken was having another lavish party. This time, they were in a hotel. A whole conference room normally used for weddings and conferences had been rented out. There were cocktail tables and cocktail dresses. A string quartet sawed away in one corner, and chandeliers twinkled overhead. A few elegantly dressed Christmas trees were scattered about.

"You look nice tonight, sweetheart," Ken whispered against the column of Theo's throat. They were matching. Ken wore a crimson silk tie, the same color as Theo's skin-tight slacks. The waistband sat low on his lips, showing off the tiger that curled around his side and growled just above his navel. Above it, several gold chains were draped across Theo's belly, visible below the trim hem of his cropped white sweater.

Theo sipped his sparkly, highly alcoholic party punch and gazed around the room. Ken's hand curved possessively around his bare waist, fingers pressing into his skin. He kissed the side of Theo's neck, leaving a wet splotch. Every muscle in Theo's body strained to break away and wipe off the saliva in disgust. He took another sip of his drink.

People's eyes lingered on them as though Theo was in a slutty mini-dress, and Ken had his hand up the skirt. They were either disgusted or wanted to be the ones licking Theo, which had more to do with them wanting to stand in Ken's shoes. It was Ken's party. He had the money and the power and could take Theo right in the middle of the floor, and the string quartet would not even stop playing because he could do whatever the fuck he wanted.

He had come a long way over the years from selling dime bags at college frat parties. Climbed the ladder, if you will. Everybody wanted to be him. To have his cars, his mansion, his whores. To have Theo. It did not matter that he was a boy. If anything, it made their daydreamed conquest all the more thrilling. Their eyes were filled with heat as they looked at him, but it was the same look they gave his Battista.

Theo gazed about impassively, doing his very best to dissociate himself from the entire situation. But the sight of one familiar man snapped his eyes right back as soon as they passed him by. Boldly tattooed knuckles wrapped around a hard plastic crystalline cup filled with bubbly pink punch, lifting it to a mouth that made Theo forget about the fingers pressing into his side. He was already looking at Theo when their eyes met, and he held his gaze as he sipped his drink.

It had been months since he actually saw Abel. After they had pho together and he declined to give Abel his number, the man did not approach him again. Every time Theo got out of yoga and passed the bar where he knew Abel worked, his attention was drawn to the establishment by some freaky magnetic force that he did not understand, and he found himself wondering if Abel was currently behind the reflective glass windows. But he never went in to see.

He looked odd among the other guests. Not that he did not fit in with his buzzed hair, snarling viper neck tattoo, and confident set to his shoulders. But he was not mingling, not trying to get into the good graces of this or that person, nor gossiping about Ken while sneaking glances at him. No, he stood there like a goddamn mountain rising above the rest and stared straight at Theo.

Theo, who tried not to react upon spotting him, was the first to break eye contact. He blinked down at the ground and tried to get his thundering pulse back under control. For a moment, it had felt like he rose out of his body in pure shock, and climbing back down was difficult.

He had not thought too much about why Abel was at the gathering in the bar where he had created a scene all those months ago. But seeing him here reminded Theo that his identity put him on Ken's VIP guest list. This meant he was not a nice person, despite having an issue with rape and buying Theo a nice lunch the last time they saw each other.