There was a thud against the door and Orlando ran in, beautiful face pale, almost tripping over Dom in his haste. "Sblomie, are you okay? Are you hurt?" He crouched beside Dom and looked for signs of injury. And stilled when he noticed Dom's jeans were still down around his thighs. "What happened? What did he do to you?" "He didn't do anything," Dom replied tiredly. Of course, that was the problem -- he'd wanted Karl to do something. Somehow Karl had taken notions of right and wrong and choice and free will away, leaving Dom with nothing except want. "So what happened? Why are you half-naked?" Dom didn't want to answer any questions. He just wanted to sleep. "Nothing happened," he repeated. "We argued. He left. End of story." And it was mostly the truth. "And your pants?" "I'm drunk," Dom lied. "I fell over taking a piss." Orlando leaned in, sniffed Dom's breath. "You don't smell drunk." "Jesus, just stop it, okay? I know what I am." The small outburst left him exhausted. "Fine. You're drunk." Orlando didn't sound convinced. Dom didn't blame him. "You need some help up?" "That would be great." He still felt a little shaky, but he was able to stand on his own and pull his jeans up. Orlando didn't say anything, just leaned against the counter. "What?" Dom asked, recognizing the look of concern on his friend's face. Orlando shook his head. "Nothing, forget it. Just be more careful, okay?" Dom ignored him. He'd passed the point of careful about a half-hour ago. "I think I'm gonna go ahead and head back to the house." "I'll walk you." "We're two blocks away, love," Dom replied. "I'll be fine." Orlando didn't look too sure of that, but let it pass. "I'll be along in awhile, then." Great. Just what he needed -- Orlando playing mum and checking up on him. "I don't want you leaving early. Lij's had at least three shots of tequila and you know how affectionate he gets when he's been drinking." He leaned in, kissed Orlando's cheek. "You said you wanted a repeat. Take advantage." Orlando smiled, but didn't budge. "I don't like the idea of you alone." God, the bastard was stubborn. It was one of his more endearing traits most of the time, but now Dom was just annoyed. "I'll get Billy to walk me home, alright?" Dear, dear Billy...who would keep his mouth shut and not ask questions. "Alright." Dom looked at his friend -- all graceful, fluid lines, beautiful skin and barely suppressed energy -- and he wondered if Orlando'd ever had that kind of an experience with Karl. They'd agreed to share their exploits and compare whenever possible, but if Dom didn't want to talk about it now, then Orlando might not have either. "Orli, did Karl ever..." How did he put this without giving anything away? "...react in any way when you flirted with him?" Orlando wrinkled his perfect nose, brown eyes thoughtful. "After that first night? No, not really. He never responded to me at all -- which was odd." The last part was said without ego. He was impossible to resist, and everyone knew it. "The more I tried to get a response, the less he said. So I figured we'd read him wrong and I stopped trying." So, Dom thought, it was just him. And felt a perverse sort of thrill -- Karl wasn't for the both of them. Karl was his. Immediately, he buried the thought. Karl was not his. Karl wasn't anybody's and Dom sure as fuck wasn't going near him again. "Why do you ask?" "No real reason," Dom lied. "I think I might have read him wrong as well." "Guess we'll have to find another tie-breaker, then." "I could still fuck Hugo." "It's possible. And I could fuck Bean." There was another knock on the door and Billy and Elijah tumbled in. "Hey, there you are!" Elijah was one happy, cheap drunk. He launched himself forward, and Orlando found himself with an armload of very enthusiastic male. Dom smirked over Elijah's head at Orlando. "Told you so," he said. "Yeah, you did." Orlando shifted to better balance Elijah's weight and allowed feverish kisses to be rained on his chest and neck. "You'd better get out of here before this gets obscene." "I could stay and watch that," Billy commented, grinning. Dom grabbed Billy's arm and pulled him toward the door. "Oh no, you don't. You've got to walk me home. Night Lij, night Orli." Orlando waved and Elijah muttered something incoherent, but never lifted his mouth from Orlando's neck. "I'm guessing we'll not be missed," Billy stated, as they walked down the stairs. "No, I'm guessing not either." It took far too long to get out the door. Dom was practically dead on his feet; the simple act of saying goodbye to his friends took too much energy. He needed to get home. He needed to crawl under his own familiar sheets and just rest. And forget. Onto Part Four
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