Wild Horses (38 page)

“Larry.” The very vibrations of Attila’s voice filled Kai with the desire to please the man, and he fought the urge, recognizing the soothing, calming manipulation for what it was.

Not so with Larry, though, who hadn’t had the advantage of having seen Attila use that tone and demeanor with his horses and his dogs. “Alright,” he said and shrugged as though it didn’t matter. “She was here last night. Johnny offered her a job.”

“Tell me more about Johnny.” The slow, mellifluous words filled the space between them, charging it, and Larry leaned over the bar to be just that much closer to Attila.

“He’s…. If I tell you, he won’t like it.”

The displeased silence was palpable in its emptiness, and Larry wiggled in place, nearly suppressing an anxious whine. “I can’t tell you anything,” he reiterated and his words trailed off, swallowed by the void.

“But you want to, Larry,” Attila said, infusing life into the bartender and lighting his eyes with hope. “If you please me, I shall accept the consequences of your indiscretion.”

“You’d protect me?” Larry said and bowed his head. The gesture might have promised obedience, but it also hid most of his face from Attila.

“If I am pleased, then I will, and so will my partner,” Attila said. Kai’s eyebrows rose, and with a corner of his eyes, he saw a hand gesture Attila used to back up his horses. He made it under the level of the bar top, out of Larry’s line of sight, communicating his intent to Kai.

Kai nodded.

“The kid has milk running down his chin,” Larry barely spared a glance in Kai’s direction. “He’s useless to me.”

Attila nudged Kai’s foot with his own, waiting in expectant silence. If he came to Kai’s defense, it would only undermine what little authority Kai had. Kai’s quick mind connected Attila’s earlier words and his hand gesture together with that third, altogether surprising confession from the hayloft:

“Remember yesterday, when you worked with Cayenne? You backed him up, no fear, no hesitation. That was… very hot…. Make me feel like that, Kai.”

Larry’s downcast eyes were a barrier and a challenge, and Kai reflected that his effort was going to be, at the very least, awkward. He had no idea why horses trusted and obeyed him. Attila needed his help, though, and despite the earlier revelations of Attila’s disturbing past, he did trust the man. A sudden understanding dawned upon Kai: he trusted Attila because Attila had never treated him the way he treated the bartender, the woman at the diner, or his horses. Kai now possessed a sudden knowledge that he had never been manipulated, and it gave him the confidence he needed.

Larry’s blond hair reminded him of Bubbles’s coat.

Larry is a horse. A small, timid horse that needs to be bridled. He might try to bite.

“Now c’mon, Larry,” he said, keeping his eyes compassionate and kind. “You know it’s not as bad as that. You know I’d never hurt you. This is for your own good, Larry.”

Come greet me, little horsie. My hands smell of carrots and apples, and I don’t have a whip. I’m your safe zone—you can rub your nose against my chest and I won’t take advantage, trying to bridle you right that second.

Attila brushed his leg against Kai’s in a gesture of support and approval. Kai thought Attila might have felt it, and from the look of it, maybe Larry felt it too. The air grew thick between them, and the blond man rubbed the back of his neck in sudden confusion, as though he didn’t quite know what to think of the change that had come over the redheaded kid from Tennessee. “Uh….” Larry hesitated.

“If you help Attila, I’ll be real happy, Larry. Real grateful, too. I’ll protect you from any asshole that’ll try an’ hurt you.”

Like I’d protect a horse by picking his hooves or closing the doors of his stall.

“You will?” Larry whispered and let his eyes glance at the clock on the wall opposite the bar.

“Yeah. Tell us. We got your back.” Kai’s voice was but a soft murmur.

Larry leaned against the bar again. “After you retired, Master Attila, there was nobody like you ever again. There was just talk about how you used to be. People would come and look for their Attila the Hun, y’know? Then Johnny, he showed up two years back or so, hearing all the talk. He’s nothing like you, but he wants to be. He calls himself Master Hun—he even has a few followers.”

Kai stiffened and his face contorted into a snarl at the familiar name. Attila snaked his hand out and behind Kai’s back, stroking slow circles right above his waist. Kai relaxed a bit, schooling his expression into a mask of neutral attentiveness.

Larry is a horse, a scared little horse….

“So Johnny, Master Hun or whatever he goes by, he has a few people and tries to recruit more. He’s into both guys and chicks,” Larry said. “Sometimes, he helps them find a job.”

Kai saw Attila nod, his expression grave.

“This girl, the blonde, she came to look for anyone who used to be a friend of Kai’s. She figured she could find a sofa to sleep on, y’see, figurin’ she’d be safe with a bunch of gay guys.” He shrugged. “Naïve, that.”

Attila hummed in satisfaction. “I am very happy right now.”

Larry’s watery eyes brightened. “You are? Good!” He looked at their drinks. “Is that daiquiri what you were after?” he asked Attila with a frown.

Attila did not reply. He stirred the straw in the thick pink slush, toying with the untouched drink. “Tell me what happened to Lindsey,” he said.

“I don’t really know,” Larry said. “They talked, then the joint got busy and I had work to do.”

They digested the news in relative silence. One of the patrons came up with a drink request, breaking the silence, and Larry shook his head as though he’d had cobwebs stuck in his ears.

“Can’t believe I told you all that shit,” he said when he came back. He glanced at the clock again, and his manner was nowhere as compliant as before. “You better drink up and go down to talk to Johnny now.”

“Sure.” Kai nodded.

Larry shrugged and turned toward Attila. “Nelby never liked Johnny, especially not after he hooked up with Kai here. He did his asshole-best to mess up business for him, and Johnny didn’t exactly appreciate that. It was bad.”

“How bad?” Attila asked.

“Nelby got messed up some. I hear his nose got broken, but he broke some ribs in return. Haven’t seen him lately.” He eyed Kai. “But you and Johnny—didn’t you have some fun….”

“Shut up!” Kai was in Larry’s face now and he didn’t even know how he got there. Usually his fuse was pretty long, but now his hands grasped the collar of Larry’s button-down shirt. “Just… don’t.” Kai twisted his grip, cutting off Larry’s air. “Never with that asshole.”

Larry softened under Kai’s clenched fists. “Alright, alright!” he wheezed. “Sheesh… no big deal, man. No big deal. I don’t care how many guys you fucked.”

Kai let go and clenched his fist. His muscles felt loose and warm in anticipation of that delicious tightening at the end of the punch. Larry’s ugly bones would crunch under his fist, and…. Kai stopped, not understanding what came over him. He never started fights, although he tended to finish them. Larry was just a hemorrhoid. They were here because, because… his mind grew a bit fuzzy, and he fought to recall the original purpose of their excursion.

“Kai. We better go talk to this man.”

Attila’s smooth, cajoling voice had Kai realize his position and he flushed, let go of Larry’s shirt, and dropped his fist. He took a step away from the bar, and shook as though a chill came over him. “Sorry,” he said to Attila as he watched the bartender straighten his shirt. Kai focused on opening and closing his hand into fists in an effort to relax.

“You may stay here, if you wish,” Attila offered. “I can go investigate by myself.”

Kai shook his head. The damage was done—Attila now knew most of it. No matter how painful it might be for him, he’d never let his partner feel like he didn’t have his back. He pushed the empty glass away. “I’m coming. If Lindsey got a job lead here, we better follow up.”

K
AI
felt the eyes of not just Larry but also the rest of the patrons on his back as they walked toward the door to the basement. It was painted black and decorated with numerous locks that fulfilled no practical function whatsoever. The door, once a promise of secrets untold, was now a foreboding presence, and if Kai hated anything at all, he absolutely hated being scared. The apprehension that stirred in his heart angered him. Kai hated feeling scared, and that alone was impetus enough to reach for the door handle first, even before Attila caught up with him.

“Kai, wait. We need a plan.”

Attila’s smooth baritone halted Kai’s hand right before he ripped the door open. He stopped and turned to face Attila. “What do you have in mind?”

“You’ll probably hate this, but… don’t let them know we’re together. I’ll need to tap my old reputation, and it will work only if I get my way.”

Kai clenched his jaw and hesitated, then gave a brief nod and beckoned toward the door. “Okay.”

“You finger this Johnny character, and I will take it from there,” Attila said.

T
HE
rhythmic beat of trance music permeated the air, the walls, and vibrated through their bodies. Attila floated to the center of the room, allowing the spotlight there to land on his pale countenance. He was unfazed by the attention turned toward him, because the light almost blinded him and the people surrounding him were in the shadows.

As he slowly looked around, some of them started to come out and Attila noted some old faces, but the place seemed to have changed since he was a regular. Still, several guys greeted him with excited cries of welcome. Attila tapped into his former persona as he stroked the braided leather of his whip with his finger. He could do this—he had done it countless times before—because this place was pretty safe, and because the guests understood he was not to be approached without invitation. That’s what the whip had always been about.

He took a deep breath and surveyed the room as though he belonged there. He had to hold out only long enough for Kai to identify Johnny.

T
HE
music felt too loud and the lights were irritating. Kai leaned his back against a wall in an effort to steady himself as he scanned the room before his eyes. He didn’t like having to lean against the wall, but there was a weakness in his legs and he felt off-kilter and didn’t know why. He used to love the lights, and he used to soak up the music.

Kai took a deep breath to steady himself, fuzzy and confused. He watched the way people were being drawn to Attila. Kai narrowed his eyes in an effort to focus, trying to find a shorter man with a shaved head and crooked nose. Never mind the sycophants who didn’t quite dare to crowd Attila and capture his attention—he squashed a spike of jealousy and bit his tongue. Just this once, for Lindsey’s sake. Attila’s job was to draw them out, and Kai was set with the task of identifying the man who had, most likely, spoken to Lindsey just yesterday and didn’t know the meaning of the word
no
.

“Back up.” Attila’s voice brimmed with displeasure, and a thin man relinquished his position too close to Attila’s side immediately. Yet, surrounded by a circle of curious hopefuls, Attila unwound the coils of his braided whip and then coiled it again with the familiarity of a man who considered the weapon a natural extension of his arm.

Kai was fascinated by their looks of rapt attention, and he wished he were close enough to hear the words that Attila exchanged with some of them. The sight of Attila steadied him somewhat.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, punk,” a voice growled to his left.

Kai’s nerve endings were at full alert. He knew that voice, and the association was far from pleasant. He tore his eyes away from Attila and turned his head as the words Attila told him so long ago rang in his head.

“You backed him up, no fear, no hesitation.”

Kai turned, facing Johnny as though he were just another gelding that bullied his pasture mates. Kai fought back the sudden wave of dizziness and reached within himself for that very special feeling of being centered. Except it eluded him. Usually, he would have felt bigger, somehow, grounded in the space around him so no force exerted upon him could dislodge him from either his position or his goal. It took all he had, but Kai detached his back from the wall to face the man. He was barely standing straight. His foe was leaning on a cane. He was shorter than Kai, but Kai knew his stocky, muscled body could pack a punch. He wore generic black leather pants and vest. Kai smirked, not bothering to hide his disdain at the uninspiring sight.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, punk!” Johnny raised his voice, and that cost him points already.

“And you are…?”

“I’m Master Hun. Everyone knows who I am.”

Kai suppressed his desire to shrug and pointed his chin toward Attila instead. “I see only one Master here, and that would be Master Attila the Hun, right over there.”

Another man got too close to Attila, and this time Kai heard his words, as sharp as the sting of the whip itself: “You shall maintain your distance or bear the consequences.” Kai barely recognized Attila’s tone of voice, and he was glad its glacial spearpoint was not aimed in his direction. “I am here to ask questions. A young woman came here yesterday—Lindsey was her name. I need to know where she is right now.”

The man who was told to back up got a hungry look in his eyes. “And if I tell you?” he asked, the eager edge in his voice barely suppressed.

Two beats of silence elapsed. Kai felt Attila’s indecision: there was a time, long ago, when he could have promised something and actually delivered it, but Attila did not throw empty words into the wind.

That odd, woozy feeling provoked by the flashing lights and rhythmic music came over him again. He yearned for a bit more stability. Before giving their situation a second thought, he turned his back on Johnny, drawn by the magnet of Attila’s solid presence. It was his job to back Attila up, and he had to tell him where Johnny was without shouting, and….