With a slim sharp heel.
His fingers curled loose around the shaft of it. His thumb rested against the curve of the arch. The toe of the boot was tucked into the soft hollow of his throat.
He was holding Hiroko in the only way he had left.
My throat closed.
"He's been sleeping all day," Tsukiko whispered.
“I must admit that I’ve been a shitty master.”
"Do not worry about that. You have no training. Besides, we lost him during the orgy last night.”
“Oh no.” I looked at her. “What happened?”
“He slipped out somewhere in the middle of everything. We didn't realize he was gone until very late."
"Where did he go?"
"We think he came straight here." She nodded toward him. "When we found him this morning, he was in this cage with that boot, and he had on a fresh bodysuit. The one he'd been wearing must have become muddy. We couldn’t find it, but we think he crawled back to Hiroko's villa through the gardens. Got dirty. Found a clean suit in her things. Changed himself. Then climbed into the cage with her boot and went to sleep."
I exhaled. “I should have done better—”
“You don’t know how to be a master.”
“I just wanted to do right by Hiroko, but Kenji wasn’t having it last night.”
“We should have considered the fact that the Dragon would not share. Hiroko sure would have.” She sighed. “You will need to find a new master. Unfortunately, he will need someone new. We've been introduced to him as Hiroko's servants. He would never see us any other way. He’d been Hiroko’s slave for too long.”
Before I could speak, laughter came from the back of the villa.
I looked that way. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, come on. We’re having a little celebration with Zo and your friends.” She headed off.
“My friends?”
She nodded. “Deja and Nika.”
Oh shit.
I smirked at Deja’s name.
Time for some gossip.
I gave my slave one more look—his lashes dark against his cheek, the heel pressed under his jaw, the cage door not even locked—and turned away.
We went through a room.
More laughter hit me first as we approached the porch. Then the smell of weed, thick, sweet, and unapologetic in the afternoon air.
Oh, we really are celebrating.
Nika was sprawled on a lounge chair, wearing a Run-D.M.C. t-shirt and jeans. She had her bare feet up on a cushion and was holding a joint in her right hand.
Deja sat a few feet away from her dressed in all white and holding her own joint.
I actually blinked at the sight.
