We Can Explain...
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We Can Explain… Chapter Thirty-Two (NC-17)
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Emma eyed
the guest warily. It was not often she
was put off by another human being but this time, she had to admit some
nervousness to herself. He watched her watching him, neither of them moving as
they faced each other across the conference table. He would exhale noisily every once in a while but otherwise made
no sound as he stared steadily at her.
She knew he was aware of her attempts to scan him and had a strong
feeling he was smirking at her mentally, goading her almost.
oddly compelled to break the silence, “is with a student at the moment.
her, eyeing his own heavy arms crossed on the wood across from her.
He spoke
then, his voice a rasp that shattered the peace of the room.
movement of his mouth. “I stay pure.”
Emma found
this highly amusing. “Right.
so. More warm than odifer as as if he
had been out in the sun for a long time, in a field redolent of dry grass and
summertime. She caught the direction of
her thoughts and gave herself a mental slap on the wrist.
He quirked
a brow, finally expressing something other than bland anger.
thought.
His voice sounded little used and for some reason, this bothered
Emma. She frowned and tried to scan him
again, this time finding only the slightest hint of annoyance.
let this emotion seep out to placate her before she resorted to more drastic
measures. “You can expedite matters by
telling me why you’re here…”
The guest became a mask of boredom
yet again. "> “It’s none of your business.”
“I’m second in command here, as it
were.”
He snorted.
Emma felt her brows shoot up
somewhere near the vicinity of her hairline.
“I’m second in command in terms of the school,” she said smoothly.
“Either way,” he said quietly, “it’s
none of your fucking business.”
She clucked her tongue.
beast.” She was goading him and he knew
it.
The massive man leaned across the
table and captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger.
with me.”
Emma smiled.
She felt him try to close the mental doors but she was too fast.
“You are a sorry excuse for a
minion,” the woman, Phobos, sighed. She
stirred her drink idly, making the ice cubes clink.
Her companion, a lithe, dark haired
man who was more than a little androgynous, laughed lightly.
brute you keep in your bed. Bringing
you a drink does not a minion make.”
“He,” she said smoothly, sipping
the scotch without a hint of pleasure, “is not a minion.
smile. “A very serviceable plaything.”
her. He hated that.
her bones were bare and gleaming.
Instead, he lay on his back and pretended to sleep.
she said suddenly, “is the upper room prepared for tomorrow?”
“What kind of question is that?” he
brother, for that is who the eerily feminine man was, demanded.
concoction with a paper umbrella vying for a spot in the ice and fruit
chunks. “Have you done your part?”
Phobos sighed and finished her
drink with a steady gulp. “I’ll pretend
you did not just deign to question my readiness. I tire of the preparations.
Where is your little plaything anyway?”
Demos shrugged eloquently.
and he sighed contentedly. “Just think…in
a handful of days, we’ll be done and can move on with life.”
“Roulette,” she said dryly, “is
power hungry and devious. Credits to
her disposition but an irritant to mine.
In a handful of days, she may remain behind with the others if you
cannot bring her to heel.”
Demos pursed his lips and glanced
at the man in his sister’s bed. “What
of him?” he asked, not really concerned about his paramour’s fate.
either gender and of any of the thousands of aesthetic possibilities the world
offered. In fact, he rather liked the
notion of moving on from Roulette. With
the near infinite variety available to one such as himself, he felt it was
unfair to limit his libido and proclivities to one sexual deviant.
Phobos shifted in her chair and
glanced at her lover. “I like him. He’s
useful. I shall keep him a while
longer. Do you hear me?” she said
loudly. “You’re going to be in mod
od
graces for a while…”
“Thank you, Mistress,” he rumbled,
rolling his eyes because he knew she could not see him.
Phobos’ lilting laugh grated on his
ears as she turned back to her brother.
“They’re approaching. I think we’d
best ready the others.”
Demos set his half find drd drink
down with a regretful sigh. “If we must…”
Emma felt herself forcibly ejected
from his mind. She knew without being
told that he had let her linger, he had showed that scene er
er
intentionally. Behind her, the study
door opened and she exhaled. “Professor
Xavier will see you now,” she breathed.
The massive man simply stood and
smiled, inclining his head in vague amusement.
“Good.”