The Beast Within

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gary woke with a start and for a moment he wondered where he was. Then he remembered. He had been watching a heron by the edge of the river and dozed off. Except, he realized, he’d more than dozed off. The sun had already come up. He glanced at his watch and winced, it was seven in the morning and he was due at work in two hours. He stood, stretched, and wished he had some water handy, both to drink because his mouth tasted awful, and to wash the dirt off his hands. Hell, to wash it off of everything. He looked down at his clothes. Sleeping by the riverbank is not conducive to staying clean.

He stretched again and massaged his shoulders, which ached from how he’d been sleeping. Then he hurried back to his car to head home.

Fifteen minutes later he had stripped off his clothes, tossed them in the hamper, and stepped into a steaming hot shower. He turned his face up under the water to take a mouthful, rinsed, spit it out, and felt better now that his mouth didn’t taste like the bottom of a birdcage. When he began to wash, his thoughts went immediately to Devin and the times they’d shared showers together, back when things had been good between them. From there his thoughts spun off to how his lover, well now ex-lover, had changed so drastically in the last month.

“If you’d only talked to me about what’s going on with you,” he murmured disconsolately. But that apparently had not been an option as far as Devin was concerned. Instead he had seemed, in his own way, to have done all he could to push Gary away.

With a sigh Gary picked up the shampoo and lathered his hair. When he rinsed the soap out he frowned. The water that ran down the drain had a slightly red tinge to it. He felt his scalp to see if he’d cut it somehow, perhaps on a sharp rock while he’d slept on the riverbank. He winced when his fingers touched a sore spot. Guess I did. He ran his hand over a bruise he’d discovered on his upper arm as well. Next time, no dozing off, he admonished himself. Those stones play hell when you sleep on them.

With that thought he finished rinsing off, stepped out of the shower, and dried himself. After he’d brushed his teeth and shaved, he went to get dressed. One look at the time told him that he’d better pick up something to eat on his way into work, not fix something here. Not that he was terribly hungry he realized, but he knew better than to skip breakfast if he wanted to put in a productive day at the office.

With that in mind he grabbed his jacket, checked his pockets to make certain he had everything, and left the apartment.

* * * *

Devin looked down at the bruises on his chest and tried to remember how the hell he’d gotten them. He recalled storming out of the club rather than remain there while he wished Vanni was Gary. Or on the other hand, wished that he had enough nerve to take Vanni up on what he was obviously offering, despite the fact that he knew it would be wrong. Besides, he knew how Vanni made extra spending money. Vanni always claimed that he practiced safe s*x but Devin was not willing to take his words as gospel.

After he’d left the club he’d just walked for a long time while he tried to dispel the need he felt. When that hadn’t worked he’d stopped at several bars where he’d drunk enough that he should have gotten wasted. All it did was make him sadder and angry.

That where they came from, he decided. He’d been so angry that he’d tried to pick a fight with a man outside of one of the bars. At least that’s how he remembered it. It was all sort of hazy. I hope I won. He looked at his hands and had to wonder. They didn’t look as if he’d used them in a fight except for a couple of scratches across the back.

He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment longer, taking in his lean body, short brown hair, and light blue eyes that had a tendency to darken when he was upset. At six-one he had been able to look directly into Gary’s hazel eyes and read the emotions that played in them; emotions that for the last month had often verged on disappointment or outright dislike.

What did I do to deserve it? Devin wondered once again. Yeah, I was a bit up and down emotionally and with good reason, but Gary thought it was because of the job. He knew with the economy I was holding on to it by the skin of my teeth. So I got a bit grumpy; he could have been more supportive.

Although he knew he’d been more than grumpy if the truth be told. He’d sometimes flown into rages and stormed away, whether they were at his place or Gary’s. Stormed off to get so drunk he’d woken up the next morning wondering how the hell he’d managed to get home.

On top of that there were the times when he’d called Gary after a fight or argument to apologize for what he’d said or done only to have Gary completely ignore the call and let it got to voicemail.

It’s better this way. Maybe we really weren’t meant to be together for the long haul.

With that thought he finished dressing, collected what he needed, and took off for work.

* * * *

Vanni woke with a blinding headache and peered around through barely opened eyes. “Now where the hell did I end up,” he growled under his breath.

Apparently, from what he could see, in someone else’s bed in an apartment he didn’t recognize. He sat up carefully then clutched his head in both hands. “f**k, f**k, f**k,” he spat out. His head felt like it would explode. He took a few deep breaths, lifted his head, and zeroed in on a door he hoped led to a bathroom and aspirin or something stronger.

Once he staggered into it and relieved his bursting bladder he opened the medicine cabinet. “Bingo,” he said when he saw a row of pill bottles on the middle shelf. He checked them out and took two pills from the one with a label that claimed it would cure any pain. He swallowed them, cupped a hand under the tap to get water to wash them down, then waited for them to kick in.

As he leaned against the sink he tried to piece together how he’d ended up where he was and who the hell the apartment belonged to. He remembered going to the small out-of-the-way bar outside of the city. He often went there because the guys who hung out there had money and desire to keep their s****l proclivities hidden from the rest of the world. It wasn’t a true b**m place but there was a playroom in the basement for those who got off on the sub/Dom scene.

After smoking the blunt to relax he’d gone inside. He was known there as someone willing to sub for a price. He remembered one man, who stood well shy of Vanni’s six-foot-two inches, coming on to him. The guy had the funds and Vanni had the time. When they went downstairs the man had proved he knew what was what despite, or perhaps because of, his small stature. Once they were finished the man had suggested they go outside with their beers and have a smoke. That was when things got blurry. In point of fact, from the time they both lit up Vanni couldn’t remember a thing.

“He drugged me,” Vanni growled angrily. That would explain the headache, and these as well, he thought as he looked in the mirror and saw the bruises on his torso. “Drugged me and got me to come here with him. But who is he?”

He splashed water on his face, found some toothpaste and finger-brushed his teeth, then went in search of his clothes and any information he could find on who owned the apartment. His clothes were in a pile on the floor by the bed so he dressed first then started looking around. Whoever the place belonged to apparently didn’t keep personal information out where it could be found. There was a desk with locked drawers. Though he was tempted to pry them open, Vanni decided it wasn’t worth the hassle or the chance that the man knew who he was and would call the cops when he found out he’d done that.

That brought up the fact that the man was nowhere around. Might be another reason things are locked up, so I wouldn’t steal anything.

He decided it was time to leave at that point, after checking to be sure his wallet and keys were still in his pocket. When he got outside the building it suddenly occurred to him that the last he’d seen of his car it was at the bar. He cursed then smiled slightly when he spotted it parked at the side of the building. Guess that’s how we got here, he thought as he walked down to it. He unlocked the door then slid into the driver’s seat, adjusted it back to where it should be, put the key in the ignition and took off.