Laurent and the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 1)

That was until one word stuck out to him, and he looked into her eyes again, shocked by what he was hearing.

“It’s a routine surgery. I can refer you to a specialist who could qualify you for the operation.”

“Surgery? On the eyes?” Overcome by panic, Laurent searched for Beast’s forearm to grab onto something. He imagined someone cutting into his eye sockets and blood guzzling all over, like when poor Samson Smith lost his eye due to an accident in his father’s shop.

The doctor gave him a polite smile. “Oh, don’t worry. You wouldn’t feel a thing. Millions of such procedures are carried out every year.”

Laurent bit his tongue before he repeated the word ‘millions’ in mindless amazement of a peasant looking at the doors to a cathedral. What if this was part of the freedom the devil promised him? It made so much sense now. He’d been taken to a world where he would be free to make a life for himself. Free of the illness that in 1805 would have reduced his life to that of a beggar.

He took deep breaths to force away the sting of tears in his eyes. His life-long problem would be taken away in a ‘routine surgery’. He hadn’t even noticed when Beast’s rough fingers entwined with his, but he squeezed tightly as soon as he realized it.

“I would like that very much,” he uttered to the lady doctor.

She then took him to a special chair that was facing away from Beast and had Laurent look through various lenses that had his heart pounding, because they actually worked. Not all were perfect, but they did improve his vision immensely. In the end, they made a choice between two that were closest to the ideal, and the lady doctor told them to wait for fifteen minutes for the glasses. That was it. Quarter of an hour.

Laurent didn’t even want to go anywhere, so they sat down on a bench—a plastic one of course—outside the shop, and he was working hard on staying calm despite the hot and cold flushes raging through his body.

“How much could an operation like that cost?” Laurent looked at Beast, rubbing his hands together nervously. Despite everything being so strange here, if these new times could offer a cure for his eyes, he was set to do everything in his power to stay here and fit in by making himself useful.

Beast shrugged and slowly shifted closer to Laurent. “I don’t know. The other doctor will probably tell us.”

“I would even work in the mines to gather the funds, if that is needed. You don’t understand how long I’ve struggled with this. And I love reading books so much.” He smiled when Beast put his large hand on his knee and squeezed gently, sending unexpected sparks of warmth to his chest and fluttering heart.

“So... weren’t you allowed to have glasses before? Why were you so scared of telling me?” asked Beast in his warm, rough voice.

“I don’t want to seem useless. I don’t want to end up in the streets, blind and destitute. No one would employ me if they knew I am an invalid, and I have no family to support me.”

“You do if Knight really is your cousin,” said Beast with a soft laugh.

“I doubt that, but I guess it’s a notion worth investigating.”

“You will not go blind, so it doesn’t matter, does it?” asked Beast, keeping his hand on Laurent’s leg and gently trailing his thumb over the naked skin on the knee.

The touch made Laurent pay more attention, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it. But then again, if ladies walked around with their naked legs on show, should he question the comforting touch? If Beast was doing it in a place so public, then it couldn’t be out of the ordinary, even if to him such touch had been illicit and forbidden. Morals and the meaning behind gestures have really changed, and so he needed to make himself stop seeing the touch as a caress, even if it felt so good to be touched by a man in a way that showered his back with imaginary droplets of warm oil.

“I guess it doesn’t. Once my eyesight gets better, I will be able to do a great many things. And I learn very fast, so I can surely find a use for myself.”

“I’m sure you will. You’re very bright, even if strange,” Beast said, sounding amused. People stared at them as they passed, and it was making Laurent somewhat uncomfortable, but there was nothing to be done about Beast standing out so much.

The compliment made Laurent glow with joy. If even Beast, who this morning was set on feeding him to his dog, noticed that Laurent had positive qualities, then his prospects for a good life weren’t doomed. “I will learn not to be strange.”