Aian left the Ecliprises office building in a daze.
He couldn’t wrap his head around the magnitude of the information he had just learned. It was late morning and Aian had a friend’s birthday party to go to that evening so he wouldn’t see Kalvin until late tonight or tomorrow at the earliest.
Although he probably needed the entire afternoon to get his head around it all. It was like something you would see on the news or read in the paper.
Something you knew could happen but never in a million years think it would happen to someone close to you.
He walked out into the city streets aimlessly. He needed to think, and he always found it easier to think while moving.
The motion seemed to help him process things. He couldn’t imagine the pain Kalvin must have felt. His youngest cousin, a well loved little girl, had been murdered right in front of him and he blamed himself.
He remembered what Blake had said just
Aianended up having an afternoon nap after he made himself lunch and felt very refreshed and ready for the party tonight. It was Shane’s birthday and the happy go lucky blonde man wanted to go out clubbing. The last time they met up,everyone agreed to go before Brentpointed out that a club is probably a security nightmare and Aianshould check in with Kalvinbefore agreeing. What had followed was an argument over whether Aiancould look after himself and make his own decisions and how that wasn’t what Brentmeant. “I’m not about to risk one of my friends because they feel like they are bulletproof. You admitted that politician had a hit out on you only a few weeks ago! Worst case scenario,we go back to Auntie’s place like we did for New Year's,”Brent had argued.
Nevileaned back in his chair with a huff of annoyance. He hadn’t really been holding his breath that this particular plan would work but it would have been such a perfect thing if it did. The little tramp had tighter security than he planned for and even then, they were far more vigilant than expected. He was used to tight security that had cracks to sneak through. This team only had the barest of discernible cracks. He watched the security feed from Dynamighton his laptop and listened to the chatter over their radio. Nothing came up about the woman over the club’s radio. It must all be going through Ecliprises’s channels directly. He clicked his tongue in irritation. It had been such a good plan too. Get the little hussy while he was all defenceless with the alcohol, slip him a little liquid ecstasy and watch as he did the one thing Kalvinhatedthemost. Betray him. Not only that,but&n
Aianwas rather drunk. In fact, nearly the entire group was drunk. Brentsighed and looked over the table with fond amusement. A few were still off dancing while Samand Shanechatted up a pair of girls. Another conversation was taking place on the other side of their booth and he was, of course, stuck being sober with a drunk Aian, who had devolved into talking only about his twin flameand a few slips of the tongue that provided Brentwith far more information than he ever wanted to know. He really, really didn’t want to know that his cute, adorable cinnamon roll of a friend was learning how to deep throat successfully. Nope, he didn’t need that mental image. Hopefully he didn’t get any more information about Kalvin’s dick before actually meetingthe man. Even better if he got no more R rated oversharing from his drunk friend at all. Thankfully,Aiannow sat with his head pressed aga
Aianfinally decided it was time to drag himself out of bed. He had woken up a few hours ago to find himself in Kalvin’s bed with a water bottle and painkillers on the bedside table. He had gratefully downed them before curling back up to sleep off his hangover. Thankfully it wasn’t so bad, especially since he barely remembered the later part of last night. He must have been pretty drunk but someone probably forced water on him. He was incredibly thankful now. He was a little sore below the waist as well so Kalvinmust have gotten his hands on him at some point last night. Presumably that was how he ended up in his bed. He reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his phone to check the time. It was just before lunch and there was an unread message from Brent. He opened it curiously, noting that it was sent last night. Brent : Hey, man, I know you won’t get this until tomorrow but I thought you mi
Kalvinslowly came to. He felt groggy and far too tired. There was also a strange emptiness in his chest, a weird hollow feeling. He struggled to regain his bearings and was startled when he felt something shift against him. He opened his eyes and blinked at the black strands obscuring his view. Kalvinmoved his head back a little and realizedthat he had been sleeping with his face buried in his twin flame's nape. Aianlay with his back pressed against Kalvin’s chestwhileplaying a game on his phone. Kalvinsqueezed the arms wrapped around his twin flame's waist and burrowed his face back into the crook at the back of his neck. It was warm and comforting. And he was just so TIRED. He had no ideathattalking about something could be so damn draining. It felt like he had run a marathon. Like he had been the one chasing Aianacross rooftops and not
Aiansmiled softly down at the man napping on his lap. Kalvin’s head rested on Aian’s thighswith his cheek pressed against his stomach. His arms looked a little awkward with the way they were angled, so he waited until the man had fallen asleep then moved one of the pillows he had placed on the couch earlier onto his chest and Kalvinautomatically curled his arms around it. Seeing Kalvinsleeping so peacefully while cuddling the pillow had Aianhard pressed to resist the urge to grab his phone and take a picture. If it had been any other time, he probably would have snapped off a photo. But not today. No, this one’s owned by the moment alone. This one’s for the memories. His memories. It had been an interesting challenge to look after a potentially fragile Kalvinwithout making it obvious that he was doing so. Or at least so obvious as to get a comment from the man about it. Kalvin didn’t like being babie
It had been a surprisingly pleasant few days. Aianendeavoredto get as much of the week off as possible so they could spend their time together. There were only a few shoots that couldn’t be canceledbut Kalvinused those times to work from home, making calls and sorting through the most urgent things that needed his attention. Although honestly,there wasn’t much that Blakecouldn’t handle on his own. He was exceedingly competent but disliked being a leader. There was that added bit of pressure being the one to make the final decisions, he supposed. Also dealing with people who were often demanding and irritating, Blakealways had preferred paperwork over people. Kalvindidn’t blame him. He had more or less viewed people as things before Aian. After he closed off that part of himself, people were only tools to be used. He saw his empire in his mind’s eye as a puzzle. A giant, intricate
Aianreached a hand out to gently ran his fingers through Kalvin’s hair. He had been trying to get up to make breakfast for a good ten minutes so far but his twin flame’s arms were wrapped around his waist in a death grip. He wiggled into a sitting position but Kalvincurled up around him even more and sleepily refused to let go. Aianwould have found it cute if it hadn’t been for the fact that he wanted to eat something before he headed off for work. He opened his mouth to say something but his stomach beat him to it and emitted a loud rumble. A sleepy red eye opened and cast a rather ineffectual glare at the photographer’s stomach. Aiancouldn’t hold back a giggle at the sight. Over the last week,Kalvinhad pretty much gone back to his usual self except for a few extra touchy-feely moments. Aianquickly worked out that the man seemed to take a lot of reassurance from physical touch and reciprocated