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Issac took another breath but he didn’t close his eyes again, instead maintaining eye contact as he kept going. “Dimitri’s tutoring helped fill the gaps but he was up to speed by that second semester and didn’t need me anymore, though he was still hanging around. By the time midterms came around, I was short on funds again and was starting to get a bit desperate figuring out how I was going to keep up with the bills. Then I heard a couple of guys complaining- bitching really- about how stressed out they were and that they needed relief while in one of the bathrooms.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I hadn’t meant it as a real offer. I was annoyed at their complaining and told them if it would shut them up, I’d get them off for fifty dollars each.”
Felinus raised an eyebrow. “And they took you up on that.”
Issac nodded and started to lean away but Felinus followed him.
“It’s okay,” he reassured him. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He looked at Felinus, wrinkling his brow in such confusion that Felinus couldn’t help but laugh.
“Issac,” he said, reaching up to smooth out that brow, “you saw what I had in the warehouse the other night. I know you know that I have killed people, and while I don’t exactly do it for money, the Family pays me to take care of problems. I’d be a hypocrite if I thought less of you because you gave head to a couple of guys and made money doing it.”
“It… didn’t stop with them,” Issac said, the wrinkle not quite leaving. “They told friends and they came back around. That bathroom… it kind of became an office for the next semester.”
Felinus shrugged, still unbothered with the information though it did explain how Issac was so good at giving head, and felt more of the tension leave Issac. “What does this have to do with what happened today?”
Issac went quiet again and his jaw tightened. “I thought I had everything under control,” he said after a few moments. “But someone… someone spread the word too far and one Friday five guys I had never seen before came in. I had a rule about only one person at a time but they didn’t care and there was no one to help me keep them out.” He fell silent again and Felinus pressed his hand back against his cheek as his eyes closed. “There’s probably still video of it somewhere,” he muttered and Felinus froze.
“They videoed themselves attacking you?” He asked quietly.
Issac let out a single, hollow laugh. “They said they’d pay extra for it,” he said, still not opening his eyes. “It got rough, I got hurt, but they all ran when someone came into the bathroom.” He took a deep breath. “That someone… was Dimitri. He had somehow not known what I was doing and had been looking for me to see if I wanted to go see a movie with him.”
“What did he say when he saw you,” Felinus asked, enraged but making himself hold it in. There would be time to punish people for this later. Unlimited time.
“Nothing,” Issac said, half opening his eyes and, to Felinus’s surprise, smiled a thin sad smile that almost seemed grateful. “He didn’t mention anything he saw. He just asked if I was okay and if I needed a ride to my dorm or to the hospital. Offered to stay with me but I told him I was fine. He didn’t make any fuss about it, just… pretended like nothing happened because I was acting like nothing happened.” He took another deep breath. “I needed that. Particularly after the video got around. I never went back into that bathroom but the rumors and whispers never died. I think one of the guys makes a point of recirculating it whenever possible around the same time every year-”
Felinus made a note to talk to Snake.
“-but I just ignored it. I’m good at ignoring what people say or think about me. I’ve had a lot of practice. But today… today they got a little more bold with their questions about all,” he gestured vaguely to himself and Felinus, “this. That was… different. But I was handling it until…” His shoulders dropped and what life that had been in his eyes seemed to flicker.
“Issac,” Felinus said softly.
“I don’t care if every person in that place thinks I’m screwing you for money or gifts or whatever,” he whispered. “I don’t. Their opinions of me were never particularly high to begin with, and honestly, them thinking I have one sugar daddy is better than them thinking that if they catch me in the bathroom, I’ll go on my knees for their money. I don’t value their opinions enough to even let it be a thing to consider. They’ll all get bored eventually and focus on something else when the novelty of it wears off.”
“Little Volkov,” Felinus breathed, “what did he do?”
“He had been acting normal all day,” Issac said and there was a quiver in his voice. “Maybe a bit more moody than he usually is, but the same overall. We just carried on like nothing was any different until he finally asked about you, wanted to know how I had met the Cat, what we did yesterday.” He shook his head as Felinus opened his mouth. “I didn’t tell him any details. I said that it was a one-night stand that happened by a random series of events, that I had no intention of there being a second meeting, and that you had taken me to dinner and shopping. I didn’t even tell him I knew Adrian had us followed. I wanted to see what he would admit to. I wanted to see if he was going to keep his own secrets or if he was going to tell me anything.” He stopped and swallowed, so hard that Felinus was sure that it hurt. “He, instead, lost his temper and all but called me a common whore. He thinks I went with you for money, just like everyone else.” A tear slid down Felinus’s fingers. “I didn’t think anything could hurt me anymore until he stopped himself from finishing that sentence. I didn’t think I had anything else that could be taken. But that? That broke one of the few bits of normalcy I’ve had in seven years.”
Felinus let out a slow sigh as he held Issac’s face in both of his hands. “I’m sorry, baby boy,” he whispered, kissing the top of Issac’s hair and wondering if there was a way he could punch Little Volkov in the face without sending the entire Russian mob after his skin. “Tell me what I can do?”
“Just…” He looked up and Felinus watched as his eyes became cold and calculating like he had seen over plates of ziti. “Tell me you aren’t doing all of this just to have sex with me.”
Felinus blinked then chuckled softly, reaching down to take both of Issac’s hands in his. “I promise you,” he said firmly, “I am not doing any of this for the sex. Don’t get me wrong,” he added when Issac narrowed his eyes. “I would very much like a repeat of the other night and you make it very hard at times to think of anything but putting my hands all over you. But that is not why I made our deal. I meant it when I said that you are going to be unstoppable with the right support. I mean to be that support until you can do it yourself. Sex or no sex, I am going to do what I promised.”
Issac stared at him, every bit the boss Felinus saw in him, and nodded. “Then that’s all I need,” he said, sitting up straighter than he had been. “I don’t need to prove anyone wrong,” he added when Felinus quirked an eyebrow. “I just need to know they are. That’s… That’s enough.” A smirk that made Felinus’s guts quiver formed on his lips. “Besides, I have enough on every single one of them that the right phone call to the right news station or federal agency would ruin their whole fucking lives. Dimitri included. I’ve already given one person a reminder today that I haven’t begun to play their stupid fucking games, so if they think you are a weakness to exploit, they are sorely mistaken.”
Felinus leaned forward, wanting to taste that passion, and felt the bed shift towards him as Issac started to lean forward as well.
A knock shattered the moment.
“What,” Felinus snapped, still staring into those eyes that hovered just above him; the intensity that belonged to men born to lead, to have power.
“Food is here,” Snake’s voice said through the door. “You said to get you when it arrived.”
Of all the rotten, Felinus thought, so close he could practically taste Issac. “We’ll be there in a minute,” he said, hearing Snake head back up the hall immediately.
Issac’s hand rested against Felinus’s chest and pushed him back, slowly, almost teasingly until he was out of reach. “I’ll eat with you,” he said, “but then I need to study. I’m already behind because of all this.”
“Fair enough,” Felinus sighed, reminding himself that he had promised that he wouldn’t interfere with Issac’s studying so long as he ate- and judging by the weight of the lunch bag, Issac had held up his end of the deal. “Your office should be ready for you, in any case.”
