Under Lock and Key

by Silk

Part 5

Hillinger looked up at the young man looming over him. His expression suddenly serious, Jason Crawford looked like the last man on Earth to tangle with. His tone unexpectedly bitter, Jason said, "Never should have started this with you. You're...not who I thought you were."

Hillinger would sooner choke than ask, but he couldn't seem to prevent the words from coming out of his mouth. "Who did you think I was?"

Jason made an impolite noise. "I thought you were a match for me, but at the last moment, you turn into some kind of...human. How's that sposed to make me feel, huh? Like I'm using y'all? Like I got no personal interest in y'all at all?"

"You don't," Greg stated flatly. "Why pretend?"

Jason reached out with one hand and cupped the younger man's chin, lifting his tear-stained face. "I never saw anyone as complicated as *you* are, Greggie. To look at y'all, I'd expect sarcastic one-liners right up to the moment you come. You seem hard-wired for that kind of thing. I don't
believe you've ever given *anything* away before." Jason paused to reflect a moment. "And that makes you mad as Hell, doesn't it?"

Hillinger tried to jerk his head away from those warm, probing fingers, but Jason held him fast. "It does!" Hillinger made a sound then, screwing his face up as if he were struggling not to cry again.

"You don't like being on the receiving end of being fucked, do you, Greg?" Jason lowered his head until he could lick the side of Hillinger's face, his warm, wet tongue extended to its full length. Hillinger groaned, and his dark eyes abruptly opened, glittering like shiny black pieces of
volcanic glass.

"You're not one of those guys who thinks he has to be in love with everyone he fucks, are you?"

Hillinger shuddered. But whether it was with need or with trepidation was anyone's guess.

"I told you before. I'm all for *fucking* you. But I don't do *love* affairs. They get..." The Comm op smiled crookedly as he searched for the right word. "...messy."

"I could never *love* you," Greg spat. They were the first words he'd spoken in several minutes, and the venom that colored his voice made Jason's close-cropped hair stand on end.

Jason shrugged carelessly. "Good. Then we understand each other."

Hillinger smiled faintly. "I would never make the mistake of thinking I could read you, Jason. You think you know something about me that gives you control. But it doesn't. Let me tell *you* something. I never *fucked* your brother. But I did *love* him. How's that for a surprise?"

When Jason's fingers suddenly went nerveless, they stopped holding Hillinger's face within their grasp. Greg wrenched his head away from Jason, his midnight eyes clouded with remembered pain. "He was worth *ten* of you! You pathetic piece of crap!"

"Mmm..." Jason murmured. "I have to wonder what he did for you that got y'all hot and bothered."

"He existed."

"Ohhh, I see...must've been true love then."

Hillinger mumbled something under his breath. Something too low, too unintelligible to hear.

"What's that, Weasel Boy?"

"I said I *wouldn't* know. Never been in love before."

"Woohoo! I got me a real virgin here, don't I?"

Hillinger's nostrils flared with impatience and residual anger. "I didn't say I never fucked anyone before. Just that I've never been in love."

"You wanna be, though. I can see it in your eyes."

"So what? You just told me that you don't *do* that kind of thing! And I'm not in the market for a pity fuck! So buzz off, fly away, or set yourself on fire! I could give a fuck!"

Jason leaned down and captured the younger man's face with a vise-like grip. His fingers digging in, it quickly became obvious that he would leave marks. Maybe that was his intention. Or maybe he simply got carried away. But there was one more thing that was becoming evident.

Jason was starting to take this personally.

Greg began to sweat.

Part 6