Manna Francis

“So why are you telling me?""Well, for one thing, because I expect that Carnac will try to find some way to mention it, and if I hadn't told you first, you'd be thoroughly pissed off about it when he did."Warrick said nothing. Well, it had been a fifty-fifty bet which way round would prove more hassle in the end."Warrick, if there'd been another way—""No, no. I understand. I was merely contemplating the fact that informing me that you had sex with someone else last night—after drugging him—falls under the heading of your being unusually considerate.”

“But it isn’t you, is it?Then he winced inwardly, because that sounded far more…meaningful than he’d intended”

“The world is so beautiful, when you look at it.So detailed. So sharp. Everything’s just there--so much more than we need. Light we can’t see, sounds we can’t hear. Sometimes I wonder if that’s what it takes to make it real.”

“He watched Warrick walk away across the café, and started sentences in his mind. Don't go yet. I want five minutes, that's all. One minute. I want you. This could be the last time I see you. This really could be the last time. I want you to—”

“Whatever it was, it was entirely Warrick's fucking fault.”

“Toreth?" Warrick asked softly.He kept still, breathing slightly irregularly, until finally Warrick climbed into bed beside him. Then it was simply a question of timing the movement right so that they met in the middle, accidentally, and Warrick's arm slipped accidentally round him.Why, he wondered sleepily, did he still bother pretending?”

“However much you wanted someone to want you, there was nothing you could do to make it happen. Whatever you did for them, whatever you gave them, whatever you let them take, it could never be enough. Never enough to be sure. Never enough to satisfy them. Never enough to stop them walking away.Never enough to make them love you.”

“To Sara's practised eye, this latest episode looked something like a broken heart, even if she'd never seen the look on him before. Or even imagined it happening. She wondered if he'd noticed yet.”

“I was dreaming about this—except it feels even better than I thought it would. Fucking fantastic. Clean sheets. You"Warrick moved across and kissed him gently, exactly as he’d imagined. Soft cotton and warm skin against him, soothing and luxurious. Hand on his back, touching carefully. He had a moment of fear that this was the dream, that soon he would wake up in the cell. Then a noise distracted him: distant firing in the city. He tensed, and Warrick’s hand stroked a circle over his shoulder-blade. More firing, but it was nothing to do with him. Nothing to worry about, even if he could manage it. Safe, here.He recaptured the tail end of a thought, before it disappeared into sleep. "Just you. ‘S enough."If Warrick said anything in reply, Toreth didn’t hear it.”

“Did you really think I didn't see that watch?”

“She's Warrick's sister," he said, aiming to sound disapproving and very nearly managing it. "Yeah, and that's why you want to screw her. Because they have that weird identical twin thing going on, even though they aren't." Her eyes narrowed. "In fact, I bet you've thought about doing both of them at the same time. Side-by-side comparison. Or top-and-bottom comparison.""That's disgusting." Toreth said, grinning hugely.”

“Could you get off like that without it? Without the chains?"Without the absolute surrender. "No. And not without you. You more than any of it.”

“The idea makes a lot of people uncomfortable. [...] It's hurt a great many people and been responsible for a great deal of misery. But, to my mind at least, that doesn't mean it can't now bring pleasure to someone.”