Authors: Morgan Hawke
In Arrears (2 page)
Apparently, he was the only one in the baths.
The girls brought him into the partitioned room and their deft fingers removed his coat and shoes. Without even the slightest of hesitations, the gun belt around his waist was unfastened, neatly rolled around the pistol, and set it aside. They made no effort to hide their actions, or the gun.
Roth eyed the gun. It was a little out of reach, but a long stretch would put it back in his hands. Truthfully though, he didn’t feel all that threatened by its loss. The girls were less than a threat. A flick of the hand would take both down at once.
Continuing in their work, the girls folded his clothes neatly and set them on a stool by the entrance with his shoes tucked under it. On the very top, they set his neatly folded gun belt, the pistol gleaming under the light.
He was pushed to sit bare-assed naked on a low wooden stool.
Both girls dipped low buckets into the steaming bath water and returned. Facing him and smiling brightly, they unfastened the ties to their tunics, revealing that neither one wore a stitch of clothing underneath.
Roth smiled.
Welcome to Heaven...!
Grinning, the two girls launched themselves at him armed with soft brushes, nubby cloths, and lots of soap.
Roth submitted to their ministrations with good grace, allowing them to scrub him from his individual fingers and toes to the full breadth of his chest and back. He even stood when asked.
To his immense pleasure, one knelt before him and began to hand-cleanse his privates, while the other knelt behind him to clean his buttocks. Gentle fingers massaging his cock and balls while behind him, a slippery set of fingers slid between his butt-cheeks and slid down to brush the back of his balls.
The slow burn of excitement spiraled through him to settle deep and low, bringing his cock to attention. He parted his thighs to give them better access. A soft groan escaped him.
The finger behind him slid up and pressed against the bud of his anus.
Roth stiffened.
What the...?
Before him, fingers closed snugly around his cock and began to stroke.
Behind him, the finger against his anus didn’t move, but other fingers closed around his balls and gently squeezed.
Pleasure spiked. Roth gasped, his attention divided.
The girl kneeling before him smiled widely, tightened her grip on his cock, and pumped with enthusiasm.
The urgent filling of his cock forced his attention to the girl kneeling before him. Roth sucked in a gasping breath. It appeared that he was going to be jacked off before he even entered the bath.
Abruptly, a slippery finger slid deep into his ass, twisted then curled up to press something fiercely, electrically, pleasurable.
He choked in shock, the sheer intensity of the sensation blanking his mind for an entire heartbeat. His cock swelled violently fast, pulsed, and spat out a small amount of cum. “Shit!” His knees wobbled. He grabbed onto the shoulders of the girl in front of him to keep from falling over. He turned to look over his shoulder at the girl behind him. Whatever she had done had triggered a small orgasm.
She looked at him with wide eyes, her head tilted slightly to the side, then smiled.
Roth stepped to the side, away from both of them, and put up his hands. “That’s enough cleaning for now!” He grabbed one of the water buckets and upended it over himself to rinse off the last of the soap.
The girls rushed to their feet, cooing anxiously.
Roth bolted for the tub and heaved himself over the edge and into the waist-deep steaming water. It wasn’t hot enough to scald, but the heat penetrated deep into his sore thigh and lower back muscles.
His head went light from raw animal pleasure. He stumbled backward to the far side of the tub and the back of his knees knocked against the underwater bench. He collapsed down onto the seat, submerging to his neck. Heat burrowed into the muscles of his belly, back, and chest, scattering his thoughts even further. He groaned deep and long, his head falling back against the rounded edge of the tub.
He blinked to find himself looking up into the upside-down face of one of his smiling attendants. He was still in the tub, but his head was tilted back and resting on her folded knees while her fingers gently washed his hair.
He frowned up at her, slightly confused. He couldn’t remember when she’d begun washing his hair at all. Had he passed out briefly? He shifted his arms under him to push away and found that he didn’t quite have the strength. His muscles were so relaxed, that it was almost too difficult to lift his hand from the water. “Crap...”
A shadow fell over him and a deep, masculine voice spoke softly. “Are you enjoying your bath, Jaeger?”
~ * ~
Two
What...?
Alarmed, Roth looked further up, beyond the girl’s shoulder.
His gaze was met by the pitch-black eyes of a starkly handsome man with high cheekbones, a strong, clean-shaven jawline, and full, mobile lips. Long, pin-straight, black hair fell loose over the shoulders of his voluminous black robe to drape at his waist.
Roth frowned.
How does this guy know me?
He’d never seen him before in his life. “Who...?”
The man smiled, his black brows winging up. “I am Fox, your trainer.”
Roth’s frown deepened. “What?” He had no idea what the hell was going on, but he was not sticking around to find out! He shoved against the bench to tip forward and get up, but his arms held no strength; nor did his neck. He couldn’t even lift his head from the girl’s lap. His muscles wouldn’t obey him. He tried again, and again...
Ignoring his efforts, the girl chuckled softly, lifted the bucket by her side, and began gently rinsing the soap from his hair.
Fox knelt beside her and smiled down at Roth. “I’m afraid the muscle relaxants are well into your bloodstream. The heat of the bath made the drug even more effective.”
Roth’s eyes widened. “Drugged...? When...? How...?”
Fox reached out to brush his hand over the head of the other girl. “The drug was in the suppository this little angel shoved into your ass.”
So that was it...!
Roth clenched his jaw. “What do you want from me?”
Fox’s smile broadened, showing white teeth with slightly overlong incisors. “Only what you owe, Jaeger, which should take about five days of your time.”
Roth’s eyes widened. “Five days?”
Fox nodded. “Once you’ve been properly trained, it should take you that long, more or less, to earn back every sovereign you owe.”
Roth bared his teeth. “Owe to who? Just who the hell are you?”
Fox tilted his head and folded his arms across his chest. “I work for a collection agency. My clients are...” He listed five major gambling houses in five different cites, including the one that once occupied the building he was in. “And this is the combined amount we intend to gain from you...”
Roth tried to shake his head, but his body still wasn’t obeying him. “There’s no way in hell I can pay all that back in five days!”
Fox’s smile didn’t waver. “Did you know that the peony flower symbolizes shame?”
Roth stared. “What?”
Fox pulled a chord from within each of his sleeves. “Now then...” With practiced ease, he crossed the ends behind him, pulling both long sleeves up to his armpits. He then looped the ends over his shoulders, pulled them behind him, and tied the ends together. “Let’s get you out of that bath and properly shaved.”
“Shaved! I
like
my goatee, thank you very much!”
Fox crouched down, grabbed Roth under the arms, and hauled the soaking wet man out of the water with disgusting ease. “I was not referring to your face.” He turned away from the bath holding the dripping wet Roth suspended by the upper arms. “Ladies?”
Both girls came forward dressed in their short tunics and carrying towels. They ruthlessly scrubbed Roth dry.
Roth struggled to stand, but his legs refused to work. “Damn it!” Dangling like a rag doll in Fox’s hands, he suddenly realized that Fox was a full head taller than he was, and very strong—too strong for his slender build. However, Roth didn’t sense anything dark or twisted about Fox. He seemed almost...elegant. He didn’t have the aggressive sharpness of movement that would have marked him as military, as a trained killer. There was no trace of steel or gunpowder in his scent either. He smelled of sandalwood soap and simple sweat. He smelled
civilian
.
Roth groaned in self-disgust. He, one of the most deadly Lieutenant Colonels in the Black Rose Company, a man who led companies of men capable of leveling whole cities, had been captured and subdued by ordinary
civilians
.
And the man intended to
shave
him? “If not my face, then what the hell
are
you shaving?”
Fox leaned close to Roth’s ear. “Your body hair, of course; your legs, underarms, pubic hair...”
“My
what
...?” Roth was able to twist his head just enough to aim a sideways glare at the smug bastard holding him up by the arms like a toddler. “Damn it, Fox, I’m not a girl!”
The two girls giggled and began working a simple white terry-cloth bathrobe onto Roth’s limp body. They didn’t tie it closed.
“Thank you, ladies.” Fox turned Roth to face him then crouched to grab Roth about the waist.
Roth couldn’t stop himself from falling forward over Fox’s shoulder like a limp rag. He couldn’t even lift a hand to brush his long hair from his eyes. “Damn it...”
Fox closed his arms around Roth’s thighs and stood. “No, you are not female.” He strode out of the partitioned bath area with the man draped over his shoulder. “But this does not change the fact that for the next five days, you will be an extremely expensive courtesan.”
Roth’s mouth fell open. “A...
WHAT
!? No fucking way! I am not gonna be some damned whore!”
Fox snorted, but there was no humor in the sound. “You are not being given a choice.” His steps were steady and sure, as though the sleekly muscled Black Rose Company Lieutenant Colonel weighed nothing. “This time, you
will
pay back your debts, Jaeger.”
Grinding his teeth, Roth stared at the gun, still on its stool getting further and further away. The bastard had a point about not having a choice. He couldn’t move a goddamned finger, at least until the drug wore off. “Isn’t there
anything
else I can do?”
“Courtesan work is the most effective and the least time-consuming.”
The two girls dashed past him. Somewhere in front of them, a door opened.
Roth tried to struggle but his body simply refused to cooperate. “Bastard! You can’t do this to me!”
Fox sighed. “You did this to yourself, Jaeger.”
Roth struggled to regain control over his body, to escape, with all his will, but his muscles refused to obey. The doors closed behind him, shutting away the last glimpse of his beloved pistol sitting innocently on its stool along with his clothes.
He was so fucked.
* * * * * *
In a small upstairs room with plain unpainted wooden walls, one door, and no windows, Fox crouched to lay Roth out on a white cotton sheet spread out on the polished plank floor.
Roth blinked up at Fox’s face, his first chance to see it straight on, and had to forcibly close his mouth. The man was fucking gorgeous.
For a guy.
He had very fine features with up-slanted black eyes under dark winging brows, strongly defined cheekbones, and a jaw line that wasn’t too square or too broad. Even his nose was well made. His lips however, belonged on a woman. They were entirely too full, especially that bottom one.
Fox leaned over Roth and spread Roth’s bathrobe wide. His black gaze focused on Roth’s face then traveled down his displayed body clearly assessing what he saw. He brushed a finger along one of the jagged scars that decorated Roth’s chest and belly.
Roth shoved his pride aside and cleared his throat. “I’m all scarred up. No one is going to want to pay for a body like mine.”
Fox looked into Roth’s eyes and smiled. “On the contrary, the scars prove how powerful and deadly you truly are.”
Roth felt the oddest coiling of...gratification from Fox’s words.
Fox’s smile broadened to reveal his slightly overlong incisors. “Do you have any idea how many men would love to fuck a man they know is capable of killing them?”
“What?” Roth’s eyes widened. “M—men...?”
Fox’s black brow lifted. “You didn’t honestly think you’d be servicing women?”
Roth slid his gaze to the side. “I have before.” A number of wealthy widowers and more than a few married women whose husbands were...otherwise occupied, had showered him with money, in trade for his bedroom skills.
Fox snorted. “Privately, I’m sure.” He walked around to Roth’s feet. “Women do not frequent brothels, unless they are looking for work.” He casually pushed Roth’s legs apart then stepped over his leg to stand between them. His gaze focused quite obviously on Roth’s genital area. “A natural redhead. Nice.”
