Bad Things (52 page)
Authors: Varian Krylov
“
Can you be naked for me? Always?” Xavier asked.
Terrifying euphoria cascading down on him, rising over him. Like drowning.
He’d asked himself this question, over and over. For weeks. He’d asked so much of Xavier. He couldn’t demand so much from him, if he wasn’t ready to push himself just as hard.
“
Yes.”
God, fuck yes.
“
That means you have to be naked to yourself.”
“
I know.”
His voice low, serious, Xavier said, “Take off your clothes.”
Then this was it. Because he would never be so cruel, would never have arranged for him to come here, this time, asked him for that, unless he meant they could be together. But God, Carson wanted to hear it. Wanted to be held and whispered to, kissed and comforted after a month of suffering. But the way his heart was thumping, adrenaline coursing into his body, this was perfectly, deliciously, cruelly Xavier. Them.
He stripped.
“But you have to be naked, too, Xavi.”
The way Xavier smiled, a little surprised, like he’d been caught cheating in a game, made Carson smile, too. But his smile slowly eroded under the weight of Xavier’s gaze as he undressed. Xavier had never, never looked at him like that. So vulnerable.
When they were both standing there, naked to each other, Xavier quietly asked, “What tattoo do you want?”
It would be the tree. So different from all the other designs in Xavier’s book. So distinct from Xavier’s own tattoos. The only one he’d reworked, again and again, evolving it to its dark but hopeful perfection.
“The one you want to give me.”
“
Where do you want it?”
“
I want you to put it where you want to see it when you look at me.”
Carson’s breath caught, his heart started thumping fast as Xavier came close. For a second, he thought Xavier was about to embrace him. Instead, he reached both hands around behind Carson, making no contact at all, until his fingertips all touched down in one small, dense cluster at the small of Carson’s back, a few inches to the left of his spine. Then Xavier drew his fingertips upward, tracing the erratic undulations of a twisted trunk rising from a seed stranded in the barren hollow of a low, flat stone, fingertips spreading open as his hands slid up, and Carson felt the lengthening growth of thriving branches that would bear healthy fruit, encroaching on his shoulders, the nape of his neck.
“What will it mean?” Xavier whispered against his ear.
“
Growing up, I was stranded. Starved. To grow, to thrive, to become myself, I have to stretch and reach and dig for fertile soil. Feed myself. And…you…you nourish me, Xavi.”
“
You want to live with that? Every day?”
“
Yes.”
“
Even though what I’ll give you will be more than ink under your skin?”
“
Yes.”
“
It’s going to be big.”
“
Good.”
“
It’s going to hurt.”
“
I know.”
Xavier tried to give him a taunting grin, but maybe he was too scared, too happy, and it bent into an irrepressible smile, his dark gaze so full of dangerous, vulnerable love, Carson could hardly make himself move when Xavier gestured and said,
“Lie down for me,
cariño
.”
THE END
Thank you for reading
Bad Things
.
If you enjoyed it, please consider taking a moment to
leave a review with your favorite ebook retailer.
Thank you!
Varian Krylov
Aidan has always played it safe. Instead of pursuing his dream of creating innovative music that makes his soul sing, he settled for a degree in software, a job in a cubicle, and a spot in a generic band with his buddies.
And he’s always been straight. But when he’s seduced by magnetic local literary luminary Dario, Aidan must decide whether to keep playing it safe, or succumb to a ravenous passion and a nourishing love unlike anything he’s experienced before. Will he find the courage to go after real happiness if it means admitting he’s in love with a man?
Their journey together isn’t easy. Sometimes it isn’t safe. Even if Aidan has the courage to admit he’s in love with Dario, can he endure the repercussions of the traumatic event in Dario’s past?
We all have fantasies. Some of us have dark fantasies. Devan wrote hers down and published them online, never guessing one man would trace them back to her, then transgress all boundaries to make them come true. When she escapes, she thinks she has found safety with Vaughn, a gentle but volatile man haunted by his own dark past. But when Conrad tracks them down, Devan may have more to fear than ever before.
THE APOCALYPSE: A chimera devastates the human population. Technology fails and infrastructure crumbles. Civilization collapses.
AFTER: A generation apart, two women and the men who love them make incredible sacrifices to survive, and to destroy a brutal system of sexual slavery in a world where men outnumber women ten-to-one.
After two years roaming the devastated South alone, eighteen-year-old Eva is captured and held prisoner by the few surviving soldiers at a military base, who haven’t seen a woman since The Dying. In Eva, Major Smith sees only the future of the human race, and he’ll exceed all moral boundaries to ensure she gives birth to the next generation. But Eva and John—the man she is paired with—are determined to fight for freedom and a better future.
Willful Vanka thinks she is dying. Galen, a famous actor, feels his life has become a superficial mirage. And beautiful Khalid can only love people who hurt him. When these three find themselves caught up in each other’s lives, will their risky games of domination and submission destroy them? Or will they find solace from a lifetime of hurt?
Long ago and far away, Lord Melchior ruled over his lands and his serfs with an iron hand. Taken from their homes at the cusp of adolescence and brought up in strict segregation, the boys and girls of his realm learned total obedience and rigid chastity. But when naïve Zaccheus and Rasha were chosen to serve their master in his castle, they soon discovered that one of Lord Melchior’s greatest pleasures was forcing his innocent young servants to violate the very laws he himself has imposed on them all their lives.
When a typhoon destroys their boat, three scientists are stranded on an unpopulated island off the coast of Madagascar. As months, then years pass, will they transgress every taboo of the civilized society they left behind?
Paul calls the shots. His friends know it. His son knows it. And his women know it—all of them, except Lena. With the return of the delicate Russian waif he’d used up and cast off years before, Paul’s control and his sanity begin slipping away. Even when friends start to disappear and die, Paul can’t possibly imagine the dark power the wraith Lena wields, or the horrifying revenge she has in store for him.
Where you can find more books by Varian Krylov
Contact Varian Krylov
on Facebook
or write to her at
[email protected]
Growing up near Los Angeles, I spent much of my time frolicking in the Pacific Ocean and penning angst-twisted poetry. Now I’m living in sunny Spain writing pathos-riddled fiction.
I’ve always loved the music and substance of words, always loved writing in well-worn notebooks by hand, tapping at the keys of the computer, and, of course, conjuring up stories.
And from my earliest memories, I’ve always been fascinated—maybe obsessed?—with sex and sexuality.
In my writing, I poke at social issues, but more than anything, I dig into the psyches of my characters. Sex is the medium, the expression, and the tool of discovery for their insecurities, the needs that drive them, the comfort they can’t live without, the joy and relish of life that makes each of them intense, strange, and alluring.
Like most writers, I love hearing what you think of the stories I’ve written. All honest feedback is truly appreciated.