Todd snickered and lowered his head, amusement plastered all over his face. Shaney took a moment to scowl in his direction, and then turned back to Caleb.
Ignoring the snipe, Shaney pulled the sheet higher up his chest. Maximus was eyeing Shaney as if he was a big hotdog and the man hadn’t eaten for a week. Creeped Shaney out, straight down to his toes. “Can I get some clothes? Ever heard of the Geneva Convention?”
Caleb blinked and then exhaled noisily, pursing his lips. Shaney was testing sissy boy’s patience. “You’re neither a prisoner nor a civilian in a time of armed conflict.”
Of course, he would be a friggin’ smarty-pants, sissy boy. “Yeah, well, there’s a war going on somewhere in the world,” Shaney mumbled. He just wanted clothes and a shower. Shaney sniffed at his armpit. Yeah, a shower would be awesome.
“Clothes will be made available. I’m sure Maximus can scare some up for you…at some point,” Caleb said.
Glancing down, Shaney puzzled the missing gash. “What happened to the hole you carved into my chest?” Shaney sneered, visions of revenge in mind.
Caleb straightened with a smugness that validated his over-active ego. “Healed in an accelerated process harnessing the energy of creation. I gave you a twofer and took care of that nasty bulge on your head.”
Shaney raised his hand and, indeed, his second head was gone. Was it weird to miss his other head? And what about that crazy-as-fuck healing? Definitely a handy skill to have.
“Let’s move on. We’re running out of time.” Caleb snapped, and then turned a pointed stare on Shaney. “Or I should say, you’re running out of time.”
Every muscle in Todd’s body jumped at the same time. Since Shaney had woken, Todd had yet to look him in the eye. Todd’s circumvent body language and Caleb’s confusing declaration raised the hairs on Shaney’s skin. Flight was topping his to-do list right about now.
“Yeah, mind explaining that? Or should I just guess what you mean?”
Caleb annoyingly adjusted his glasses. “Your negative attitude leaves a lot to be desired, given that I have traveled quite far to make my expertise available to you.”
“In other words, you’re being a dickhead,” Maximus said economically, his sneer anything but.
“You’re not the first sack of shit to call me that,” Shaney snarled and rubbed at the back of his neck. Tiny shocks ran through his hand that was now slick with the sweat coating his upper body.
Todd tore his gaze from the floor to regarded Shaney with a startled wariness. Maximus cracked a fist against his palm and growled. Twelve hours ago, that would have shaken every submissive, weeny bone in Shaney’s body. Now, the threat ignited something deep in Shaney’s gut, something hot and flammable and growing fast. Shaney narrowed his eyes at the living tank, itching for a reason to attack. Even the ingrained knowledge that Maximus was higher on the food chain than Shaney didn’t penetrate the haze clouding his mind.
“Apparently, the ward I painstakingly fashioned is losing its effectiveness more rapidly than I’d hoped. Removal of the redundant energy is the only solution at this point. Regrettably, extraction will be highly uncomfortable.”
Shaney struggled to comprehend the word-soup pouring out of Caleb. “W-what?” he managed to utter. The atoms that made up his very being tingled and pulsated as an unbearable heat consumed his insides.
An almost jovial smile split Maximus’ face, his dark eyes brightening with an eerie light as he leaned forward, baring his teeth. “He’s gonna yank it out and it’s gonna hurt like a mother fucker.”
Chapter Fourteen
Now that Shaney actually had clothes on, they were the last thing he wanted. He wore his bloodstained pants and wanted to rip the soft, aged denim to shreds as the fabric grated like twenty-grit sandpaper against his thighs. Even the air irritated his over-sensitized flesh. Sweat ran in rivulets down his bare chest. Spontaneous human combustion was a high possibility with the surface-of-the-sun heat burning inside of him. His teeth clenched so tight, a crowbar couldn’t pry them apart. Dizziness whirled through his head. He lost brief periods of time, like single frames removed from a movie. In place of those stolen frames, Hudson appeared in all of his heart-stealing glory. And he had stolen Shane’s heart with that first tender gaze. God, he had fallen hard for the possibly-in-the-closet man.
Hudson, I wish you were here. I need you.
Barefoot and shirtless, Shaney leaned heavily against Todd, who half-carried, half-dragged him into a second bedroom. The room was a little larger than Shaney’s cell, but empty of any furnishings. Every surface—walls, ceiling, floor, even the single window—had been painted black. A single bulb in the ceiling illuminated complex symbols and sigils and shapes in white. Shaney’s awe ended when a pain shot straight to his core and crumpled his legs. Todd’s arms wrapped tight around him, pulling their chests together. Shaney let his head drop onto Todd’s shoulder.