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He decided to make another circuit of the bar before becoming visible, just to
check out his options.
The three men in the booth had gone, replaced by two couples. All the pool tables
were full, but none of the players looked like the type interested in his kind of fling. The
stools along the bar didn t supply anything interesting either. Then Kyon turned
toward the front tables.
A group of eight squeezed into a table meant for six. Most of them didn t look like
his type, but one man on the end drew Kyon s attention immediately in the dim bar
lighting. He looked to be in his mid twenties, with startlingly large eyes that enticed
him to appreciate the rest of the package. The man had shaggy hair hanging into his
face, and the lines of his back were fluid as he bent forward in animated conversation.
For the first time all night, Kyon didn t want to run out into the darkness in search of
the young man he d left bleeding on the floor nearly seven years before.
Falling Out of Fate 31
Kyon felt a familiarity seep into him as he watched the man move. He decided
that the poor light caused his eyes to play tricks on him, letting him see Patrick in the
lithe body and shadowed face. His cock wasn t convinced, filling rapidly enough to
become more than a little uncomfortable.
His target s hands flitted about as he talked, like caged birds that hadn t quite
accepted their imprisonment. One darted up to push the unruly hair back, revealing
freckled cheeks and an ear decked with a row of tiny silver hoops. Kyon had an
uncontrollable urge to tug on each one with his teeth. He groaned and tried to talk his
erection into behaving, but his cock was beyond reasoning.
The man stood up, empty drink in hand, and wove through the crowd to the bar.
He was lithe, supple, and he moved with innate surety. Kyon unconsciously tried to
follow the enticing movements, though tables and people got in his way. After a few
minutes, the man slowly made his way back toward the table with another pint of
something dark. His gaze drifted over the bar occupants as he walked. Kyon thought,
for the briefest moment, that those eyes had met his own.
Disquiet shot through Kyon at the intense flash of green. He knew the man. There
was no mistake, no trick of the light. He d dreamed of his polos s eyes for years. Death
must have known, must have orchestrated the whole thing. No wonder the urge to
leave in search of Patrick had faded.
Patrick was here.
32 Madeleine Ribbon
Chapter Four
Kyon forced himself to move off to the men s room, confusion, anger, and fear
shrinking his cock like a leaky balloon.
He stared at his reflection in silence, hoping desperately that his shock was caused
by a coincidence of similar appearances and that this entire evening was not a betrayal
of trust by his boss. The boy he d left on the floor of the stately manor had been a timid,
scrawny creature who hadn t spoken his mind to anyone but the wild man outside his
bedroom window. The man at the table had been confident and outgoing, elegant, and
very vocal. If the man really was Patrick, then Death and Fate had set him up.
He closed his eyes and tried to spirit his consciousness back to the Gray Realm. He
tried, and tried, and tried harder, but something held him firmly in place. Something
inside him wasn t willing to move. He couldn t get distance between himself and the
man he wanted so desperately to grab hold of and never let go. He needed to run, to
escape the insistent pull of his soul, before he ruined Patrick s life. Again.
Kyon didn t have much time to plan his getaway. Seconds after he made his
decision to run, the door swung open. Patrick entered and stood next to Kyon at the
row of sinks, rinsing his long-fingered hands for a few seconds before grabbing a paper
towel with a flick of the wrist. He turned off the tap and began to dab at the sleeve of
his white- and cream-striped button-up, a faint brown mark evidencing spilled beer.
Kyon stared. He couldn t help it. The nose was the same, pert and freckled and
begging for a kiss right on the tip of it. Those wide, green eyes had haunted his dreams.
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