Neon is the Colour of Vengeance (Flappers and False Gods)

THE CHARLESTON

Hugo had a speck of blood on his cheek when he returned to the apartment. It was so small, he probably hadn’t even noticed, but Evan did. There was a strange calm about him, a peace that Evan only saw after Hugo had killed.

He stopped just inside and looked to Evan, indecision clouding his expression.

“You have blood on your face,” Evan said quietly, standing from his seat on the couch.

Hugo made no move to wipe the blood away, he just stood there like a sentinel. Cold and unyielding.

“You can’t scare me, if that’s what you are trying to do. You can’t frighten me away.” Evan had had several hours alone now to think about this moment and everything he planned to say seemed to slip from his mind as he looked at Hugo.

Again, Hugo said nothing, he just watched.

“Say something, you asshole,” Evan said as the silence stretched on.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said finally. “About you.”

There was something off about the way Hugo said the words that made the hairs on the back of Evan’s neck stand on end. “What d’you mean?”

“From the moment I met you I knew something was wrong, but I ignored it. Even last night, I wanted to fuck you so badly that I pretended I hadn’t noticed it. I’ve ignored my instincts time after time because I’m so drawn to you.”

Evan’s stomach filled with ice as he listened, afraid of what he was going to hear, afraid of being caught out.

“I refused to listen to my instincts, but I’m listening now.”

“What are they telling you?” Evan whispered. They were perched on a knife’s edge.

“You’re a liar.”

And it all came tumbling down.

The words filled the space between them, holding Evan in place.

“You’re a liar,” Hugo said again, his voice low. “It didn’t make sense. It never made sense. You, a civilian doing all those things. You kidnapped a hitman, and you didn’t even blink. It didn’t faze you. We have been looking in some very dark places for your uncle and you act as though it’s nothing. We were attacked in our beds, and you watched me kill someone and still nothing. You’ve watched me wash blood from my clothes and shrugged it off. Sure, you had that little blip when you realised your old life is gone, but really, you’ve taken it all in your stride. It’s been plain sailing. You are fine. You can’t see your friends, your family, you can’t go back to your job, and you don’t care.”

“I do care!” Evan said, anger rising like bile in his throat. “You have no right to police my emotions. I do care. The things you’ve done sicken me. I’m terrified, all the time.”

“You sure hide it well. You are either a psychopath, or you’re in the life.” Hugo looked Evan up and down but there was no desire in his gaze, no emotion, it was like he was sizing up a potential target. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. You knew I was a Conti; you knew I was a contract killer. None of this bothers you, because you’re like me. You’re used to it. You’re in the life, or you were.”

“It does bother me! I hate the things you do. I hate that you hurt people. It goes against everything I believe in.”

“So you have moral objections, big deal. It didn’t stop you sleeping with me.”

“Don’t make this something it isn’t.” Evan took a step forward then stopped.

“You lied to me. Are you from another family?” Hugo looked Evan up and down as if seeing him for the first time. “Am I being honey-trapped?” His voice was downright dangerous.

“I—”

“If another lie comes out of your mouth, I will kill you. I don’t like being played. I don’t like being used. Talk or die.” Hugo pulled his revolver from its holster and aimed it directly at Evan’s heart. His hands were steady, but his eyes were wild.

Evan sighed. “I’m not playing you, not really. I’m not a spy, I’m not from another family. I didn’t plan to meet you. But when I did, I saw an opportunity to get answers about my uncle.”

“That sob story you told me was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“No, parts of it were true.” Evan desperately wanted Hugo to understand. “My uncle was like a father to me, and he was murdered by the mob, but?—”

“But what?” Hugo, feeling betrayed and duped, was a terrifying thing to behold.

“My father was an abusive piece of shit. He beat my mom, he beat me, he was a son of a bitch, and I hope he’s dead. But none of that is why my mother left him. She left him because he was a Kelly. She didn’t want me raised in the life. She didn’t want me to turn out?—”

“Like me?” The look on Hugo’s face was crushing.

“Like him!” Evan implored. “She left him, but it broke her. He was all she knew. Washing blood out of his shirts, people threatening them, she couldn’t handle it anymore, but freedom did not come easy to her.”

“And your uncle?”

“He was a Kelly too, but if he was up to the things my father was, he hid it well.”

“You already knew that Dill Kelly killed him, didn’t you? And that little show you put on, crying over his death, having me comfort you?—”

“I didn’t know how he died. It wasn’t a show. I wasn’t faking it—I really did think he was shot.” Evan took several deep calming breaths before he added, “You tried to kill me—I didn’t owe you the truth.”

Hugo rubbed his free hand over his eyes. “You let me lie to Sam. You let me threaten a protected man, knowing I was risking my life when you already knew the outcome. Do you know how dangerous meddling in Kelly business is? They are our enemies! What was the end game? I mean why the hell did you sleep with me? We’d already made the deal.”

“I wanted to use you to get close to the Kellys. I know Dill killed him, but I don’t know why. I want justice.”

“No such thing in our world. You want revenge.” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “You used me.”

“I slept with you because I wanted to. That part isn’t a lie.” Evan needed him to know that.

Hugo gave a humourless, disbelieving laugh.

“I saw you in Trade,” Evan said quickly. “The night we met. Before the club. I pegged you for a made man, but I also couldn’t ignore how gorgeous you were. Are.”

“Spare me,” Hugo hissed.

“It’s true. But then I got to know you and I realised my life could have been the same as yours. I think that’s why I’m so drawn to you too. I understand you.”

“That must be a dark mirror to look into.” Hugo laughed again, but this time it was tinged with cruelty. “But I think I can do without any more pity fucks.”

“It’s not like that.” Evan was desperate to convince Hugo. “You can be so much more than someone who comes home with blood on their face.”

“You don’t know me.” The entire time they were talking, he hadn’t dropped the gun. It hadn’t moved, Hugo hadn’t flinched.

“I think I do. I didn’t mean to, but I care about you. I like you.” Evan closed the gap between them just a little.

“Well, they do say you always fall for someone like your dad.”

“You are nothing like him.” Evan refused to even entertain that thought. It made him feel sick.

“I killed two people less than an hour ago. One was half dead, the other was desperately trying to save him. I think they loved each other. It took less than a minute to end them. I am who I’ve always been and always will be.” The darkness Evan tried so hard to ignore was in full view.

“It’s not like you’ve never lied.”

“When?” Hugo demanded in clear outrage. “When did I lie to you? I’ve told you the truth, the good the bad and the ugly from the start. You called me a monster, got on your high horse about being a family man, about the things I do to survive and protect those I care about, all the while hiding the fact that you were a mob kid too. You got out, well, congratulations. Not many people can say that, but don’t you dare judge me.” When he finished, he was breathing heavily.

“I envy you.”

“What?” Hugo blinked, his anger fading for a moment.

“You scare me. The thought I could have been like you scares me, but you know who you are for better or worse. I have no idea who I am. I want to help people, but I think I’m selfish at my core. I need to know what happened to my uncle, I want justice or maybe revenge and I want it more than my old life, and I want you more than my morals. What kind of person does that make me?” He was really asking. It was a question that haunted him.

“A made man in the making.” Hugo didn’t sneer. He didn’t have to.

“I don’t owe you anything. You owe me, remember? We made a deal. I kept you breathing, now it’s your turn to pay up.”

“And there it is.” Shutters closed behind his eyes.

“Hugo, no, I didn’t mean that.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re leaving the city. Get ready, we’re going out.” Finally, Hugo let his gun fall to his side.

“You have no right to be this angry—we just met.” Evan was almost pleading. He wasn’t ready to lose the connection they had only just found.

“I would have died for you yesterday.” Hugo’s voice was flat, lifeless.

“And that’s the problem, isn’t it? You like me as much as I like you and it scares you.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re leaving.”

With that, Hugo left the room heading for his bedroom. Evan cursed aloud. He couldn’t really feel guilty about lying because they didn’t owe each other anything. Hugo had tried to kill him, and he had seen it as an opportunity, and yet he did feel guilty. He liked Hugo more than he wanted to and leaving him was going to hurt. Hugo was right, the sooner the better before either of them fell any deeper, but he didn’t want it to end like this.

Less than twenty minutes later, they were walking through the commercial area of Tenebrium Proper. It was home to more casual restaurants and bars than the likes of which would be found in the Pleasure Quarter. Evan had missed the feeling of being free in the city during the day. The yellow smog was almost comforting. Hugo walked close beside him, but always a step in front. Outwardly, he seemed unconcerned, but Evan caught him from time to time glancing around.

“Are you worried someone will recognise me?”

“Yes.” He elaborated no further.

“If I’m leaving, I don’t want to do it like this.” Evan stopped walking. Hugo stopped too.

“What?”

“I lied. Get over it. You tried to kill me, and I got over that pretty quick.”

“Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be,” Hugo said, taking him by the arm and leading them on.

He took them to a small bar called ‘Nectar’. It was located at the end of a narrow street, jammed between two much taller buildings. The outside was covered with hundreds of glimmering ivy leaves made from different, bronze, gold, and silver metals. The sign was tiny, only noticeable because it glowed a bright pink against the fronds.

Evan stopped and Hugo turned to look at him quizzically.

“Is this a…mafia place?” Evan all but mouthed the second-last word.

“Sort of.” And he turned to enter the bar. Evan quickly followed behind him.

The interior of Nectar was like walking into a cozy living room and had it not been for the long wooden bar, it could have been confused for such. There were velvet couches and thick throw rugs surrounded by small tables and numerous waxy plants. The sight of it surprised Evan, who was starting to relax until a large man, of Pakistani descent, in a dark waistcoat, with slicked back hair and a thin moustache stepped directly in front of Hugo a hand raised to stop him in his tracks.

“You packing?”

“Fuck off,” Hugo said on a laugh.

“Answer the question,” the man growled as he reached for the gun at his hip.

“Of course I am. Now, get out of my way.”

“Who do you think you are, punk?”

“Hugo Ford.”

The change in the man was so fast it was like someone had doused him in cold water.

“I didn’t recognise you, Mr Ford.”

“Unsurprising seeing as we’ve never met. Is she in?”

“Upstairs in the office.”

Hugo nodded his thanks and started towards a spiral metal staircase off to the lefthand side. Evan made to follow but the man stepped in front of him.

“Don’t,” was all Hugo said. The man nodded and went back to his perch on the bar.

Evan waited until they were halfway up the stairs before whispering to Hugo, “Why was he so afraid of you?”

“I have a reputation.” His words were toneless. They were a fact, spoken with no pride or shame.

It was that sort of thing that Evan found so difficult to wrap his mind around. His Hugo was very different from everyone else’s, and he wasn’t going to be able to keep them separate forever. His morals and his desires were at war, but one would win eventually. Both possible outcomes scared him equally. Either way he was set to lose something.

They crested the top of the spiral staircase onto a minuscule landing. It was barely big enough for them to stand side by side. It was home only to a threadbare carpet and a wrought iron door that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a ship.

Hugo knocked once then entered.

The office held within was much the same as the bar below but on a smaller scale. Sitting on the squashy couch, reading a book, was Genevieve Harris, though Evan didn’t know it yet. She was White and slender with glossy brown hair and dark eyes. She had a perfect cupids bow and a sharp jawline. There was nothing about her outwardly that screamed mobster and yet, she had an air of danger about her that Evan couldn’t quite explain.

“Ford!” Her face split into a wide smile when she saw Hugo. She jumped to her feet and crossed to meet them, pulling Hugo into a warm hug. “And who is this?” she asked spotting Evan. “Did baby finally bring a boyfriend home?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then why are you blushing?” She pushed Hugo aside and held out a hand to Evan. “I’m Genevieve.”

“Evan.” He took the proffered hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet you.” She turned back to Hugo. “It’s been a while, Ford. Is this business or pleasure?”

“A little of both.”

“What do you need? You look worried. I don’t like it.”

She motioned to them both to sit and once they had, Hugo told her everything about Evan and Bobby. It felt strange to hear their brief history told aloud: they met, they fought, they made a deal, they made a connection.

When Hugo finished the tale, Genevieve gave Evan an appraising look. “What’s so special about you?” There was nothing malicious about her words, just genuine curiosity.

“Nothing,” Evan said quietly.

“I doubt that.” Her eyes twinkled as she turned back to Hugo. “You need a Passport, Colonial ID, and papers, right?”

“Off the books.”

“I don’t run to Sam. I’m not you.” It sounded like a playful jibe between siblings, but there was something beneath the surface sentiment.

“I think I might just have grown out of that.”

“All right. Let’s do this.” Genevieve pointed Evan to a blank portion of the wall. He looked at her expectantly. She smiled and when he looked back, there was a slim sliding door.

“I guess I should have expected that.”

“Guests first.”

Evan gave Hugo a quick glance. He looked relaxed. There was a tiny part of him that thought this might be the moment that Hugo turned on him and gunned him down, but then he saw the large bruise on Hugo’s cheek, and he banished the idea with a fleck of guilt.

He pulled on the door and let out a gasp of amazement. It opened into a massive warehouse, clearly linked to the much taller buildings either side. Many different workstations took up space on the concrete floor, manned by easily a hundred people. There were people working at datastream consoles, people maintaining weapons, there were even people developing old fashioned photographs.

“What are they doing?” Evan whispered to Hugo.

“Everything,” Genevieve said, not troubling to keep her voice down. “We have people tracking the police, following targets, forging papers, keeping tabs on enemy families and so much more.”

Evan noticed Bobby pouring over a map hovering in the air in front of them, near the bank of consoles. They spotted Evan, Genevieve, and Hugo before Evan could alert either of his companions.

“You’ve got some big fucking balls, Hugo,” Bobby snarled as they made their way to meet the group. They had all but shouted, yet no one else in the room looked up. “You brought him here? Have you lost your goddamned mind?”

“See no evil,” Hugo said, stepping gently in front of Evan. “No one here will talk because no one here is watching. That’s the rules.”

“You think these folks are more scared of Gen than they are of Sam?”

“Aren’t you?” Genevieve interjected, a subtle malevolence to her voice. She and Hugo might be as close as brother and sister, but Evan could tell she and Bobby were not.

“Is his dick made of gold?” Bobby ignored Genevieve and continued to address Hugo. “Because I have never seen you act like this.”

“I care about him. That should be enough.”

“Why? Why should it? And you—” they turned to Genevieve, “—you’re the smart one. You are the brains. Why are you even entertaining this?”

Genevieve stood so close to Bobby that for a moment Evan thought she was going to kiss them, but instead, she simply uttered a single word. “Hassan.”

Bobby’s face fell. “You will never forgive me, will you?”

“Not in this life.” The words carried a weight with them that seemed to bare down on the room.

“This will get us all killed,” Bobby said matter-of-factly.

“You want him gone, this is how we do it,” Hugo said quietly.

Bobby shook their head but said nothing, then they turned and walked back to the station they had been working at.

“Follow me,” Genevieve said brightly, as if nothing had happened. She set off at a smart pace, Hugo and Evan following behind.

“Who’s Hassan?” Evan whispered so only Hugo could hear him. Hugo’s response was a gentle squeeze of the hand and an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

“I told you Bobby wouldn’t hurt you,” Hugo said in a low voice.

“What about you?”

“They won’t hurt me.”

“Not Bobby. Your boss. Your friends are scared for you, really scared for you. I don’t think I got it until now. Your father really would destroy you, wouldn’t he?”

“Let’s not talk about this here.” His lips barely moved.

“I don’t want to do this. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

“Too late for that. We made a deal,” Hugo said as if that was the end of it.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I tried to kill you. I dragged you into this. No matter what happens, it isn’t on you.”

“I’m serious. Let’s not do this.”

Hugo stopped walking and pulled Evan in close. “There is no getting out of this. Not now. We passed the point of no return the day we met. This is happening whether you like it or not.”

Unease burdened Evan as he went through the process of forging papers. He couldn’t help but worry about what would happen to Hugo if their lies were ever discovered, and yet the prospect of leaving him left a pit coiling in his stomach. He was getting attached. It was a terrible idea, but he was powerless to stop it. They shared a strange connection, an electricity that seemed to pull them together and now that he had it, he didn’t want to lose it.

“I’ll have the papers delivered to your apartment tomorrow night,” Genevieve said when they were finished.

“I owe you,” Hugo said, getting to his feet and stretching. He had been very quiet through the whole process.

“Oh, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily. It’s been way too long since we had any fun together.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Charleston.”

Charleston was an underground drag club with a masquerade theme. They were handed intricate black masks as they entered, and Evan didn’t hesitate to don his. Hugo followed suit only at the urging of Genevieve.

Charleston was pure opulence inside. Everything was red velvet, gold metals, and black feathers. It had a gothic Art Deco vibe that Evan loved. Stunning drag queens and kings served drinks table side, while others worked the bar and others still performed on the various stages in the large space all under the light of glimmering neon chandeliers.

Everyone in the place seemed to be having the time of their lives, except Hugo. His face was set in a seemingly permanent frown. Not the bubbling atmosphere, the lively jazz, the hilarious drag performers nor the excellent alcohol seemed to shake him out of the funk he had been in since he’d gotten that call from Samuel. It was like the past six weeks were a dream and Hugo had finally seen reality and hated it. Evan hated it too.

Genevieve on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely. She laughed, she danced, she struck up conversations with complete strangers as if they were close friends and she flirted with anyone who caught her eye. She was alive, really alive, and Evan could see why Hugo adored her.

“What’s going on with you two?” she asked, catching Evan by surprise as he stood at the bar waiting for service.

Evan glanced over at Hugo who was sitting motionless in their booth, his eyes never leaving his untouched drink. “What do you mean?”

She all but rolled her eyes. “Why does he look like someone just kicked his puppy?”

“He’s already told you everything.” That wasn’t strictly true, Hugo had withheld the fact Evan was the son of a mobster and had lied about it. He had made their arrangement seem far more formal than it was now, too.

“Uh-huh. And what about the parts he left out?” She’s good, Evan thought. “You didn’t really care for your old life, huh?” she said, changing tack at lightning speed. She was yelling slightly over the hubbub, but no one around them paid the pair any mind.

“What do you mean?” Evan asked, immediately on the defensive.

“The way I understand it, you’re going to have to leave, your job, your friends, your family and your city, yet you seem to care more about Hugo right now.”

It was a shrewd and accurate observation. “I’ll miss my mom,” Evan admitted sadly. “The thought of never seeing her again is killing me.”

“What about the friends and the job?”

“There are parts of my past that I can’t tell them about. I have to lie every time they ask a personal question, it’s like I can never really let them in and that’s not friendship. And my job…” He tailed off trying to think of how best to explain. “I really want to help people, and I think I have, but there comes a point where it starts to feel like patching people up to send them home broke is just as bad as the other shit that goes on in this city.”

Genevieve quirked her head to the side in a silent question.

“Do you know how many people commit suicide after receiving their med bill?”

“I don’t, but I’m guessing a lot.” She raised her hand to call for service. The bartender nodded their acknowledgment.

“Too many and I don’t even work at one of the big Medical Services, I’m just at a med centre. We are supposed to be the affordable option.” He paused. “Do people always tell you their life stories?”

“Pretty much. I’ve got one of those faces, I guess.” Her smile was breathtaking.

“You are very beautiful.”

“All the better to trick you, my dear,” she replied with a wink. “Want some advice from a complete stranger?”

Evan nodded emphatically.

“Hugo doesn’t want things. He never has. He has never wanted anything for himself in the entire time I’ve known him, but he wants you. That makes you pretty special. That sort of connection doesn’t happen every day. It’s a once in a lifetime sorta deal. If you really want him, more than you want safety, more than you want your morality and your old life—find a way to make it work. If you don’t, let him go before you break him.”

“I want him,” Evan stated firmly, surprising even himself.

“Then, I’ll let you in on a secret.” Genevieve leaned in conspiratorially as the bartender placed a drink in front of her. Clearly, she was a regular as she hadn’t needed to order. “Hugo plays it cool, but the truth is he’s a daddy’s boy with a stick up his ass. So go dance. Have some fun. Try to pull it out.” She smiled, drained her drink, then slunk onto the dance floor insinuating herself into a group within seconds.

Evan watched her go with a smile before turning his attentions back to Hugo. He took a deep breath then cut a line across the dance floor back to the booth.

“Dance with me,” he demanded as soon as he reached Hugo.

“No,” Hugo said still staring at his drink.

“Why not?” Evan’s resolve was deflating slightly.

Hugo ignored him.

“Are you still mad?”

Hugo shook his head.

“Then what is it? Is it because I lied? Because I’m leaving? Did you not enjoy last night as much as I did?”

“It’s because I know how to skin a man alive.” Hugo finally looked at Evan, his eyes blazing. “Slowly, so they feel it all. It’s because I know just where to hit someone to cause the most pain. I know how to bleed someone out slow, to draw out their death. I have done it all before and I’ll do it again.”

Evan’s breath hitched in his throat, but he pushed the gruesome imagery aside. “What if I don’t care?” He leaned forward resting his palms on the table, so he was looking down at Hugo.

“But you do.”

“What if I don’t?”

“You will.”

“Dance with me anyway.”

“Bobby is right; you’re gonna get me killed.”

It was with a look of sorrow that Hugo took the hand Evan held out, like a man walking with open eyes into a tragedy.

They danced together in complete silence, letting the music wash over them as they pressed their bodies together. There wasn’t a second where they weren’t touching. Their hands roamed each other as they swayed in time with whatever music the club played. Evan had long since lost track of Genevieve, but he didn’t care entranced as he was with Hugo.

“I know I have to go,” he said eventually, wrapping his arms around Hugo’s neck so he could speak into his ear. “And I will, but does it have to be tomorrow? I need answers and I’m not ready to stop what we’ve started.”

“That’s only gonna make it so much harder for us both when you do leave.” Hugo wrapped his arms tightly around Evan’s waist, holding them chest to chest.

“It will be worth the pain, I promise,” Evan whispered. He pulled back just enough so that he could crush Hugo’s lips with this own.

It had taken every ounce of Evan’s self-control not to touch Hugo on the Jonk ride back to the apartment. He was eager to finish what they had started on the dancefloor, but getting caught on the Jonk’s surveillance wasn’t exactly a romantic prospect.

He all but tackled Hugo as soon as they set foot inside the living room. To his surprise, Hugo went with it, and they both fell into a heap on the fluffy rug where the coffee table used to be. Evan sprawled across Hugo’s chest and kissed him with a ferocity that bordered on brutality. Hugo gave as good as he got.

“You’ve been quiet since we left the club, are you sure you want this?” Evan asked, pulling away. He was desperate to be with Hugo again, but Hugo seemed more subdued, and he was afraid that he was having second thoughts.

“I didn’t think this was a talking moment,” Hugo murmured, lifting his head to try and reclaim Evan’s lips in a kiss.

Evan sat up and moved so he was kneeling in front of Hugo, who groaned frustratedly and sat up as well, putting his hands behind himself for support.

“What do you want me to say?” Irritation and arousal threaded Hugo’s words.

“That you actually want this.”

Hugo grabbed Evan’s hand and pressed it to his growing erection, clearly visible through his suit trousers.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I wanted you since the moment we met.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

Hugo exhaled through his teeth. “I’m scared, all right? I’m afraid.” The admission was given begrudgingly and a little belligerently.

“Of what?”

“Having this.” He stroked his thumb across Evan’s cheek. “Losing it. Having it taken. Ruining it. Crossing a line I can’t uncross. Take your pick.”

“I won’t hurt you,” Evan said softly, leaning into Hugo’s touch.

“Yeah, you will, but I’m doing it anyway.”

Hugo lunged forward, taking Evan by the shoulders and pushing him to the ground. He was on top of him in seconds. “Finally,” Evan muttered against his lips. Any further remarks were silenced by a slew of hungry kisses.

Hugo took Evan’s bottom lip between his teeth, grazing it gently before letting it go to entwine their tongues over and over again. Their lips were puffy and raw by the time they parted.

Evan had known that Hugo had only allowed him the illusion of control when they’d had sex before. He had played along because it had been what Evan wanted, now it was Hugo’s turn and Evan was thrilled at the prospect.

Hugo reared up to roughly pull the thin cream sweatshirt Evan had been wearing over his head before he dropped back down to lavish his chest with bites, sucks, and kisses.

“Is this what you wanted?” he snarled.

“Yes,” Evan panted. He felt like he was about to be ravaged and couldn’t be happier about it.

Hugo slid gently down Evan’s body, the contact bringing a moan to both their lips. He knelt between Evan’s legs. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Evan said again.

Hugo nodded once then undid the button on Evan’s slacks and then the fly. He grabbed both his underwear and the top of his trousers and dragged them down his body. Evan helped kick them off and realised he was completely naked, sprawled on the floor while Hugo hadn’t even taken off his suit jacket. He tried to sit up to remedy this, but Hugo pushed him roughly back down. He laid on his stomach between Evans legs, gave him a wicked grin then dipped his head down to take the entirety of Evan in his mouth in a movement that brought a yell to Evan’s lips.

Hugo was efficient in his torture, knowing just how far he could push Evan towards the edge before reigning him in. It was exquisite, but Evan needed more. He whimpered a plea that extracted a growl from Hugo.

He released Evan with a final slow suck and got abruptly to his feet. “Get up,” Hugo demanded. “If I’m going to hell, we better do it right.”

Evan scrambled to his feet in a blissed-out haze.

“Against the window,” Hugo ordered.

Evan took a step towards the wide windows before the implication of what was said sank in, causing him to falter.

Hugo let out a low and sexy laugh. “The windows are made from reciprocal glass. You can see out, but the world can’t see in.”

Still slightly unsure, Evan took some tentative steps towards the glass. He stopped a few feet from it to stare out at the city self-consciously. The metropolis was awash with a mass of lights and colour. Hugely tall buildings were crammed together forming a labyrinth of streets as Jonks soared through the air tracing the lines of the Slipstream Highway. He pondered Hugo’s proposition for a moment, the thought was as tantalising as it was terrifying.

“What are you waiting for? Don’t like the view?” Hugo said gently, moving behind Evan and placing a kiss on his shoulder.

“They really can’t see in?”

“Mmhhmm,” Hugo murmured, kissing his way along Evan’s back.

After a final moment of indecision, Evan took the remaining steps forward and placed his hands on the glass. He leaned forward slightly, an obvious and open invitation.

“You sure?”

Evan looked over his shoulder locking eyes with Hugo, then nodded with a shy smile.

Hugo was right behind him a moment later. Evan heard the soft scuffling of a shirt being untucked and then a zip being worked. Hugo’s hands found his hips, gently tilting them upwards.

“Ready?”

Evan nodded, the anticipation furling in his gut.

Hugo was gentle at first as he moved in slow, long strokes that had them both moaning in unison, but soon his pace quickened. After a few moments, Evan was struggling to stay upright as his hands, now damp with sweat, slid across the glass of the window. It felt amazing. There was something almost transcendent about watching the city below as Hugo moved inside him. He could just see their reflection in the window, further adding to the beautiful tableau.

Every snap and grind of Hugo’s hips had Evan crying out. The pleasure was almost too much to bear and yet, he never wanted it to end.

Hugo’s breath was coming in short sharp bursts now. His thrusts were hard and deep, and his rhythm disjointed. Evan could tell he was close. As if he had willed it, Hugo shuddered behind him, Evan’s name falling from his lips in a strangled cry as he found his release. As the waves ebbed, he rested his chest against Evan’s back breathing heavily, but he didn’t stay there long.

He quickly withdrew and Evan gasped a little as Hugo turned him around and dropped to his knees in front of him. Evan’s skin was on fire, desperate for his own release. Hugo pushed him against the glass as if he knew he’d enjoy the cold sensation.

Before he was ready, Hugo’s lips found their way around Evan’s cock. Evan entangled his fingers in Hugo’s hair, twisting and pulling. He moved his hips roughly back and forward, but Hugo didn’t seem to mind. He reached around behind him to hold Evan’s thighs, urging Evan to continue.

Evan wasn’t gentle, but Hugo’s groans of pleasure matched his own as he started to feel the familiar build. Sensing he was close, Hugo took over. He wrapped his hand around the base of Evan’s cock and moved his fist in unison with his mouth. Just when Evan thought he couldn’t take it any longer his release found him, almost taking him by surprise. He cried out and crumpled forward, catching himself on Hugo’s shoulders. When the shaking subsided, Hugo released him and looked up with a self-satisfied smile.

“You were holding out on me before,” Evan said as he dropped to the ground next to him, his legs no longer able to hold his weight.

“I was afraid I’d spook you.”

“And now?”

“I’m not afraid anymore.”