Seeing is Believing (24 page)

*~*~*

"Kaij!"

Kaij coughed, choking on his Ikarnian ale. Turning in his seat with a scowl, he paused, letting the expression slide from his face. Staring unabashedly at the young man standing next to Berdric, he wondered idly if he'd had a little too much to drink already.

Berdric smirked, giving the pretty young man next to him a shove towards Kaij. Kaij smirked, catching the poor thing before he could fall over. He looked human, but Kaij knew better, could
feel
the young man in his head, a pleasant, warm-gold sensation that matched the pretty eyes.

How had another Caletian ended up here? Especially one this pretty. Kaij let his fingers twist around one of the trailing white curls that fell free from the knot at the back of the young man's head.

 "He was lookin' for you." Berdric announced, waggling his eyebrows. Kaij raised his eyebrows, pulling the young man up roughly, so that he could sit properly on the bench next to him. Berdric disappeared back into the bar's crowd, probably to go spread the word that Kaij had a pretty new friend.

 "What's your name?" Kaij demanded. Likely another of his mother's agents, seeking the security codes for the manor's safe.

 "Lin," was the quiet reply, and Kaij smirked. He wouldn't give up the code—he'd never give it up. His mother had left him here; she could deal with the aftermath. Though he wouldn't mind enjoying the pretty young thing she'd sent him. So nice of her.

 "Have a drink, Lin." Kaij shoved the ale at Lin, who stared at it apprehensively. "Drink," Kaij ordered, less nicely, and he earned a startled look from those pretty gold eyes before Lin tentatively took the glass from him.

Ordering another two, Kaij sat back and continued to listen to the blathering around him. For a bunch of shipyard men, his coworkers could be gossipy. He ignored Lin for now—best to get a bit more alcohol into the pretty thing before he tried anything. He settled an arm around Lin's shoulders, earning another startled look as Lin sipped at the ale carefully.

 "Um." Lin spoke up after a moment, when it became clear that Kaij wasn't going to attempt to talk to him.

 "Drink your ale," Kaij ordered, not bothering to look at Lin as he watched Kensii get friendly with Berdric near the bar. She'd ignored him for most of the evening, and Kaij was perfectly alright with that.

 "But—" Lin tried, and Kaij smiled at him, knowing it was a little condescending but not caring.

 "Drink the ale. Then we'll talk." Kaij told him, letting his eyes linger on Lin's mouth before he turned away disinterestedly. He wondered if Lin blushed, but didn't look, watching one of the new workers—a Fornarian who had already slept through half the workers and a few of the supervisors—start a drinking contest with a lifer who had only lost one drinking contest in the three terms that Kaij had worked here.

 "There." Lin set down the third empty glass on the table, next to two others. Kaij laughed, reaching out and wiping a bit of the foam from Lin's upper lip.

 "Alright, Lin." Kaij licked his thumb clean, and stood up, his arm falling away from where it had been wrapped around Lin's shoulders. "Let's go somewhere quieter."

 "I—" Lin looked nervous for a moment but he stood. Probably he'd realized Kaij's motives and was wary. Kaij smothered a smirk, taking Lin by the elbow and leading him through the crowd. They got a few whistles, but for the most part they were ignored, and Kaij steered Lin out into the street.

 "You have a place to stay here?" Kaij asked as they started walking. There were one or two hotels on the planet, usually used by the merchants who felt the need to oversee work personally or by the inspectors sent by the shipyards owners when things went wrong.

 "Yeah." Lin muttered, stumbling a little, and Kaij smirked. A lightweight, like he'd thought. This would be easy.

 "A quiet place to talk?" Kaij suggested, letting his hand dip to rest against Lin's lower back. Lin hesitated, but a pair of rowdy workers burst out of a bar directly behind them, laughing uproariously.

 "Okay." He decided, and Kaij would've been lying if he said he wasn't pleased when Lin's fingers gripped at his shirt for balance.

*~*~*

Lin was staying in one of the hotels. The cheapest one, and Kaij was a little amused, wondering if his mother was getting cheaper or if this was Lin's idea of keeping a low profile. Lin let them into the tiny room that was still bigger than Kaij's, and Kaij kicked the door shut behind them.

 "I don't—" Lin started, his eyes wide as he turned to face Kaij. Kaij didn't let him finish, hooking his fingers in Lin's shirt and dragging him close for a kiss. Lin tensed in shock, but Kaij pushed it, his fingers sliding under Lin's trying-to-be-rugged-but-failing-completely shirt.

 "Come on," Kaij muttered roughly against Lin's lips, kissing him again. Lin hiccupped but finally kissed him back, tasting of ale and something sweet beneath the alcohol. Kaij fought a grin, pleased as Lin's mind touched his gently, confused and excited and a little guilty—probably for playing on the job.

Kaij didn't let him think about it though, quickly divesting Lin of his shirt and leading him back towards the bed. Lin's pretty gold eyes blinked rapidly, and he let out a soft, enticing noise as Kaij pressed him to the bedspread, careful to keep touching because he didn't want Lin to have time for second thoughts.

Kaij grinned as he ducked his head to taste more of that pretty pale skin. He'd have to thank his mother for this, if only because it would piss her off something terrible.

*~*~*

Kaij woke up with a groan. His head hurt a little, but that was standard fare. At least today was a better day, hangover wise. It would only take an hour or two to dissipate, or a mild painkiller if he could find one.

He wasn't in his bed, Kaij noted. Wondering what time it was, he smirked as last night came back to him. Lin was as pliant and flexible as he was pretty, and Kaij was more than willing to be late reporting for work if it meant another round.

If Lin would sleep with him when he was sober. Kaij smirked, drinking in his fill of the slender body, curled slightly towards him. There wasn't a mark on him, no scars or birthmarks, just smooth, pale skin that begged to be touched. Kaij wondered briefly how his mother had managed to get Lin to agree to come here.

Soft, delicate features—Lin probably had been hit on dozens of times before he found Kaij. Kaij snickered at himself because he wasn't so thrilled about that idea. Giving into the urge, he slid his hand along the soft skin of Lin's side, down along his hip.

Lin stirred, groaning softly, and Kaij smirked, leaning closer so that he could get a quick grope of Lin's ass in before the man woke up completely. Lin blinked rapidly, wincing—he probably had a much worse hangover than Kaij, for all that he'd drunk half of what Kaij had—and then froze. His eyes widened past the point that Kaij thought was possible, and he shook his head.

 "No." He muttered, his eyes shutting as though blocking out the sight of Kaij would erase the previous night's events. "No, no, no, no—"

Kaij snorted, sitting up. So much for morning sex.

Lin peeked at him, and his face crumpled. Kaij shook his head, amused by the theatrics.

 "I can take a hint." Kaij grinned, standing up and rooting around the floor for his discarded clothes. "I'll go—"

 "You don't understand!" Lin protested, his voice loud but the last word wobbled in a way that made Kaij's heart ache even though it shouldn't have.

 "I don't understand what?" Kaij smirked. "It was just a bit of sex—"

 "No." Lin shook his head, and Kaij turned back. Lin was staring at his lap, the sheet pooled in his lap, covering him from the waist down. "My name isn't Lin."

 "So?" Kaij shrugged. Whatever lies he'd told to get near Kaij didn't really interest him.

 "It's Draelin."

Kaij froze in the act of buckling his pants. "What?" The word slipped out, and he stared at Lin—
Drae
lin—incredulously.

Draelin wrapped his arms around his bare chest. "Draelin." He repeated, and Kaij shook his head.

 "You can't be." Kaij snapped, suddenly angry. "Draelin's dead."

 "Dead?" Lin—Kaij refused to think of him as Draelin—repeated faintly. "No—"

 "Yes." Kaij finished buckling his pants, scooping up his shirt and boots. "Thanks for the lay."

 "Kaij—" Lin tried, but Kaij was already out the door, stalking towards the exit of the motel because his brother was dead. He'd been dead for six terms and Kaij had not just slept with him.

*~*~*

Kaij had been half an hour late for his shift. Thoughts of Lin's smooth skin and pretty eyes kept tormenting him, and he'd managed to botch three different projects before the supervisor had finally snapped and sent him to one of the refining factories to work on melting down the incoming shipwreck scraps from across the quadrants.

He'd nearly burned his hand when he'd come across a particularly shimmering scrap of gold-flaked side-paneling.

To top it all off, fifteen minutes before the end of his shift he'd been summoned up to the supervisor's office. Except not quite, because then he'd been shunted off to the supervisor's boss, and then up to highest ranking company official on the planet—a minor executive named Wira who made sure that everything ran smoothly.

He was led inside the posh, overdone office by a sour-faced secretary who kept a good distance from him. He couldn't blame her, since he'd been working all day and had acquired quite the smell. Reflective glass walls showed brightly tinted views of the large construction bays around the office building, and Lin, dressed in
silk
, was sitting quietly in one of three chairs facing the executive's desk.

 "Have a seat," the man ordered blankly. Lin glanced at him nervously before returning his eyes to the papers that were sitting in his lap. Kaij frowned, wondering if he was about to be thoroughly dressed down—Lin was important, it seemed. He'd never heard of any important Caletian slumming through a shipyard before though. Unless he really
had
been hired by Kaij's mother.

That made sense—why he'd sleep with Kaij last night, pretend to be Kaij's dead brother, pulling him before the top boss. The man was persistent, Kaij would give him that.

 "We're selling your contract." Wira announced, and Kaij frowned, glaring at Lin for a moment. What was the man
doing
? Contracts like his were expensive—his mother wouldn't waste the money, why would Lin?

 "You have one hour to pack your things and leave the barracks." Wira announced, and Kaij tried to remember if there was a clause in his contract that allowed it to be sold without his permission. Probably. There was a clause for just about everything in there.

 "Will there be anything else, Master Draelin?" Wira asked, returning to ignoring Kaij. Kaij scowled. Who did Lin think he was, using Kaij's brother's name?

 "No. Thank you," Lin murmured softly, standing up. Kaij waited a long moment before standing himself. Leaving the room without a word to Lin, he walked swiftly, half-hoping to lose the bastard before he reached the barracks.

Lin followed easily though, his slightly longer legs making up for Kaij's swift walk. The barracks were near the offices, and Kaij wasted no time—Wira wasn't kidding when he said that Kaij had an hour to clear out his things. After an hour the room would be reassigned to one of the poor idiots who had to share currently.

Lin didn't say a word as he followed Kaij, and Kaij had no desire to speak up. He'd probably end up shouting at the man something fierce, and that could wait until after he figured out why Lin had bought his contract.

Kaij wasn't going to fall for Lin's attempt at subterfuge. He hadn't seen his brother since he'd been a child—three, actually, and Draelin had been just born. Then their parents had split and split them, Kaij with their mother, Draelin with their father. He'd kept in touch with his father, the man had even sent him letters once his mother had left him here, right up until he'd died when he'd gotten caught in between two feuding Soul drug dealers and been hit with an illegal stunner.

His mother had informed him of Draelin's death not long after, simply sending along an article describing the light gate accident that had reduced the ship he'd been on to atoms. Kaij scowled - Lin probably wasn't even his real name—just an attempt to be clever and shorten 'Draelin.'

Kaij snorted, entering the key code quickly—the barracks had the most rudimentary security—and shouldered into his room. He hadn't acquired a lot in his stay, so it took him moments to stuff his things into a bag. Lin waited in the doorway, his gold eyes dimmed, and Kaij fought not to remember those pretty gold eyes burning with passion because then he might do something stupid.

 "What now?" Kaij asked sharply, and Lin actually flinched.

 "I have a ship waiting for us." Lin replied quietly, and Kaij scoffed, pushing past Lin, a little amused when Lin stepped back instead of letting Kaij brush against him.

 "Lovely," he muttered under his breath, leading the way from the barracks. At least he didn't have anyone he wanted to say goodbye to.

*~*~*

Lin's ship wasn't anything special, a simple transport ship that anyone with the points could've rented. He'd shown Kaij to one of the tiny passenger rooms, before disappearing to 'speak with the captain,' which translated to 'get away from Kaij.'