“Question?” Kota asked, distracted, as he watched another line of gems explode.
Walker chuckled. “Did you sleep okay?”
Kota frowned, looking up as he cleared the level. “I don’t know? What time is it?” Before Walker could answer, Kota’s gaze fell to the time in the corner of the phone. “Three-thirty! In theafternoon?” Kota cried. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Walker shrugged, expression sheepish for a stone-cold killer. “‘Cause I liked being able to sneak peeks at your naked ass while I was driving.”
Kota opened his mouth then shut it again, his brain short-circuiting. His skin grew hot. Nobody had ever said things like that to him so casually. Like it was obvious. Like, of course, Walker would want to look at him.
“Don’t say that.”
“I can say whatever I want,” Walker said, moving to Early’s other foot. “Especially if it’s true.”
The saw roared to life and the blades chewed through the frozen flesh surrounding Early’s ankle bone. Kota took in the neatly severed veins, tendons, and nerves. It was all so…tidy.
Why didn’t more people freeze bodies before they took them apart? The fact that this was now a genuine question he had should probably concern him more than it did. But he only cared about Walker. He seemed different, more relaxed.
Was this just Walker in his element? Kota watched intently as Walker finished dismembering Early, jumping down to follow when he took the parts back to the truck. The older man pressed a button on a panel on the side of the truck that engaged a door.
The hidden freezer compartment. Walker stacked the parts inside the massive compartment, then closed it up. It disappeared seamlessly back into place.
Kota continued to follow him around like a lost puppy as Walker did a thorough once-over to ensure they’d left nothing suspicious behind. Once satisfied, they returned to the rig. Inside, Walker grabbed an indentation on what looked like a standard wall panel, then pulled, revealing the bathroom he’d mentioned the night before.
It was more like a wet room than a bathroom. There was a sink and a toilet as well as a shower stall, but it was a tight fit. The entire space was probably the size of a modest-sized closet.
Walker turned the water on, then stripped down right in front of Kota. He swallowed the knot in his throat, unable to stop staring. It wasn’t fair that a man who spent his mornings dismembering corpses looked like that.
Walker must have taken his gawking as an invitation because he started pulling and tugging at Kota’s clothes.
“What are you doing?” Kota whined. “There’s not enough room.”
“You saying no to me, squirrel?” Walker asked, voice purring directly into his ear.
Heat licked through him. “N-No. I guess not.”
Walker made a low rumble of approval. “That’s what I thought. Be good for me.” Kota hated how his words affected him, all the fight leaving him immediately. He wanted to make Walker happy. “Fuck, I love how obedient you are.”
“I’m not always obedient,” Kota sulked.
Walker bit the shell of his ear. “Even better.”
He let Walker strip him, then drag him into the shower room. There was barely enough room for them to turn around, but that didn’t bother Kota at all. If anything, he liked it. There was nowhere for Walker to go that didn’t bring them intocontact. This was what he’d hoped would happen in the shower yesterday.
He let Walker wash him thoroughly before taking the shower head and returning the favor, using the spicy scented body wash to touch every inch of him he could reach. The scent lingered in the steam, warm and familiar now. Dangerously familiar.
When they were clean, Walker picked him up off his feet and pinned him to the wall, rutting against him until they both came. For a little while, Kota forgot about dead bodies, serial killers, kidnappings, and everything else waiting outside the bathroom door.
Kota wanted this every day. The thought hit him like a meteor, almost taking him off his feet and ruining his orgasm. While there was something to be said for post-nut clarity, knowing this could all be over in just two days made him want to cry.
Because that was the problem, wasn’t it? Two days ago, Walker had been a stranger. Now, the idea of losing him made Kota’s chest ache. And that felt far more dangerous than anything hidden in the back of the truck.
Kota was quiet beside him, suspiciously so. Walker wasn’t sure why he was so upset. Was he regretting getting involved with Walker? He hoped not—for both their sakes. Walker had decided he would keep Kota; he’d take care of him. He would do all the things that good partners did. He could do that for Kota.
He had a list now. Not a written one, because that seemed excessive even for him, but a mental one. Feed him. Let him sleep. Reassure him. Keep him safe. Don’t make him feel like a burden. So, if Kota didn’t want this, didn’t want Walker, things were going to get awkward really fast.
Kota sat in the passenger seat, legs criss-crossed, Cake comfy in the cradle of his lap. He wore Walker’s gray sweatpants and a hoodie, one of Walker’s hats on his head. He had Walker’s phone so he could control the music, but he was just staring out the window, stroking Cake’s soft fur and watching the world fly by.
He looked swallowed up by Walker’s clothes, small and soft and far too quiet.
