Capture - Volume 1 Chapter 11 If Only A Little

Kaoru knew that something was wrong the moment he saw Keigo.

The other man let him in wordlessly. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air. He walked to the bar in the suite and downed a glass of whiskey.

Kaoru put down his bag, more worried for Keigo than anything else. He was still impeccably dressed in his suit although his tie was loosened. The loose strands in his hair only seemed to draw one’s attention to his chiseled features.

In short, he looked close to perfection but Kaoru could see the warning signs. The tightness around the corners of his mouth. A grim expression instead of the usual shuttered charm.

“Keigo,” Kaoru said softly.

Keigo placed the glass back on the bar counter almost too carefully and picked up an ice pick.

He turned around and said flatly, “Take this.”

“What’s wrong?” Kaoru asked in confusion.

“Just take it,” Keigo demanded. Steel in his voice.

Kaoru walked over to him and took the item from his hand. He remembered the first time they met. Felt his heartbeat increased.

“Get on the couch,” Keigo ordered. A certain coldness that Kaoru had not heard before.

He went over to the sofa and sat down. The next moment, Keigo had him pinned down forcefully. He clasped a hand over Kaoru’s still holding the ice pick.

“What happened?” Kaoru asked in alarm.

He could feel the anger and frustration in Keigo’s flexed muscles. The tightness of the body hovering above him, as if it could explode any moment. Those eyes glaring at him with a warning and a need.

“Don’t ask,” Keigo threatened in a low voice. “Just let me f.u.c.k you.”

Kaoru said gently, “Okay.”

Keigo was not placated. He hardened his tone and let go of his hand gripping Kaoru’s.

“Use that if you want to stop me. Otherwise, I am going to f.u.c.k you tonight. Do you understand?”

Kaoru did understand.

He had seen this before. When he looked at himself in the mirror in the days after his parents’ death. When surly youngsters in his neighborhood loitered downstairs, as if waiting for something or someone who never came. In a picture he had come across once of a dying lion. A wounded animal.

Above him now, a wounded man.

“I understand,” he whispered.

Keigo stilled for a moment and stared at him.

Despite every rational thought and self-preservation instinct, Kaoru dropped the ice pick and encircled his arms around Keigo’s neck.

It was all the permission that Keigo needed because he started to literally rip off Kaoru’s clothes.

The s.e.x which followed was pure brutal desire. Keigo f.u.c.k.i.e.d him hard, invading him with enraged l.u.s.t. There seemed no end to his need tonight.

Kaoru was too caught up in pain and pleasure to form a coherent thought. There would be marks and bruises on his body. Immense soreness after this.

Yet he saw an even greater pain in Keigo’s eyes. Something had hurt him deeply. Something he couldn’t find a way to express. Driven him to seek an outlet with a stranger.

And Kaoru wanted to tell him as he pulled Keigo closer that even if he needed Kaoru only a little, if only in this manner, as long as he could wash away some of the agony.

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Keigo almost smiled bitterly as he got out of bed to shower and dress. The sounds of water hitting his body, of pants zipped up and the snap of his cufflinks only served to remind him that this was his doing.

Kaoru was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window. His back to Keigo.

“Stay here tonight,” he said more abruptly than he meant to before pulling out a new suit from the wardrobe. He had an office to go back to, another call to attend, more people to please.

Kaoru didn’t protest but winced as he stood up to walk over to the dressing table. Keigo felt a sickening twist in his gut.

“Are you going back to work?” the quiet voice cut through the silence.

No accusation. No anger. Just a simple question which Keigo did not deserve.

“Yes,” he replied.

“It’s late.”

Surely he had imagined the note of concern. Keigo swung around and found that Kaoru had been watching him.

The other man averted his face quickly but not before Keigo had seen the look in those eyes, the sadness and forgiveness in them.

He wanted to yell at Kaoru that he had just abused him. F.u.c.k.i.e.d him so hard he should have been jailed for assault. Used him so much that Kaoru had every right to hate him.

“Kaoru, I-”

“Don’t say sorry,” Kaoru stopped him quickly. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I-I am fine.”

Keigo lost it. Nevermind that it seemed to have been his operating model the whole evening.

“How are you FINE? You shouldn’t let me, anyone, treat you like this! Damn it, Kaoru. You don’t deserve this and -”

It was the softness in Kaoru’s whisper and the tenderness in his manner which halted Keigo.

“You were so angry and hurt. And I thought that..if-if I could make you feel better. Even if a little.”

Keigo couldn’t even begin to fathom the effect of those words on him. The foreign sensation of the tightness in his chest which was not fury. The dryness in his throat which was not thirst.

“My mother tried to remove me from my position in the company,” he found himself explaining and each syllable became colder as he went on. “She and one of my shareholders joined up and together they had enough shareholdings to put a vote to the board.”

He didn’t add that said shareholder, Yamato, was one of his family’s oldest friends who had watched him grow up.

Kaoru’s expression was one of shock. “Why would she do that?”

Keigo smiled twistedly. “She had ample reasons. In fact, I should have seen it coming. It was a moment of weakness.”

Incomprehension clouded Kaoru’s face as he asked, “I don’t understand but were you…?”

Keigo laughed harshly. “No. I survived. A helpful informant who I paid a lot of money for gave me a tip. The shareholder is no longer with the company.”

He didn’t want to elaborate what he did.

The fact that he held in his arsenal every bit of information (preferably harmful) on all of his fellow shareholders because he didn’t trust any of them. Or that he had leaked negative news to the banks financing Yamato’s own company, who he knew had over-leveraged on a construction project. When the banks came calling to question or pull Yamato’s credit lines, Keigo forced him to sell his shares in Wada Corporation to the other shareholders or risk bankruptcy.

Clearly, Yamato had underestimated how ruthless and underhanded Keigo could be.

Then there was the worst of it all.

“What about your mother?” Kaoru asked, as if echoing his thoughts.

Keigo answered him flatly, “I bought out her shares and told her never to show her face to me again.”

She had merely looked at him, vacant and withdrawn. When Keigo had demanded for an explanation, she had replied so calmly and factually.

“You remind me so much of your father. I could never hurt him because I loved him. I just want to ruin something of his and win, for once.”

“I am your son,” Keigo had reminded her icily.

“Yes, I suppose,” his mother murmured.

He hadn’t allowed her to see his fury. To see how her actions had caused him pain he didn’t know could exist. They were never close as a family, dysfunctional as they were, but nothing had prepared Keigo for this betrayal.

It must have shown on his face now because Kaoru had walked over and hugged him from behind.

Keigo was stunned.

“It’s okay to be hurt,” Kaoru said quietly. “It will get better. Not now but someday.”

Words which seemed to have an inexplicable ability to soothe Keigo’s wounds.

“This won’t happen again,” Keigo vowed fiercely.

Kaoru nodded. “I know.” Then he added, “Next time, I’ll really stab you.”

Despite himself, Keigo smiled.

“Your body,” he asked hesitantly. “How bad is it?”

“I think I’m going to use the hot tub,” Kaoru replied lightly. “And sleep in tomorrow.”

“Order room service,” Keigo said. “I can’t face myself if you are starving as well.”

“I’ll order half the menu. Promise.”

Keigo let out a chuckle and they lapsed into silence. When was the last time anyone simply held him? Keigo couldn’t remember.

“I need to go,” he finally said.

Kaoru released his hold.

“Will you see me next week?” Keigo asked and turned around to face Kaoru directly, urgently.

That delicate face curved into a smile that was entirely his.

“Yes.”