The Arrangement

“Oh please,” Jay laughed. “Now you’re going to get all prude and righteous?” He pointed to the couch again. “You’ve already been with all three of them. What’s the difference between three and four…”

I jerked again, but he was still holding me fast. My free hand balled into a fist. My brain began spinning through a thousand different options, and none of them were very good.

Jay pulled me into him, until his face was inches from mine. I could smell his breath. It reeked like liquor, with an underlying hint of garlic.

“I can’t imagine you wouldn’t actually—”

BOOM!

The door to the office crashed open so hard it nearly exploded off its own hinges! It shattered the glass. Punched a hole in the wall, directly behind it.

There was a rush of movement… a blur of motion.

And then suddenly Jay wasn’t holding my wrist anymore.

“WHAT THE—”

I screamed — more out of surprise than anything else — and fell backward out of the way. I regained my balance just in time to see Jay sprawled back against his desk… taking punch after punch across his smug, sneering little face.

BURKE!

My lover was there, pounding away. Pulling his fist all the way back, only to send it again and again into the publisher’s head.

“Burke, wait!”

Jay had his hands up defensively. Not that it mattered. Burke was punching him across the jaw, his nose, the side of his head. Over and over he did it, his big arm coiling tight, until Jay was screaming for him to stop. And so was I.

“BURKE!”

I don’t know that he would’ve stopped if I hadn’t shouted. The look in Burke’s eyes was absolutely murderous. I wasn’t sure how much he’d seen of our interaction, or when he’d arrived, or how he’d even gotten there in the first place. But I did know one thing:

I was very, very happy to see him.

Burke eventually let go, and Jay dropped to the floor like the bag of blood-spattered shit he actually was. His face was a mess. His nose didn’t look straight anymore…

My lover shifted his gaze to me. I didn’t know whether to be turned on or terrified.

“Out,” he ordered, pointing at the door. “Now.”

I left, backing up down the nearest row of cubicles. I saw Burke grab Jay one more time by the collar and shake him. He shouted a few things into the publisher’s ruined face that I couldn’t hear, but he didn’t strike him again.

Then he turned, took my hand, and dragged me straight back to the elevator.

We stood in silence during the descent, the both of us still processing what happened. I was shaking all over. Burke was wiping his hand on his blood-splattered shirt, cursing under his breath.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I managed to say, just as the doors to the elevator opened. “I never should have—”

Burke’s arm shot out, blocking me from leaving. “Don’t,” he said sternly. “Don’t you dare fucking apologize.”

I blinked in surprise. I was still cold, still shaking. Our eyes met, and I saw the warmth there. The compassion. The love.

I flew into his arms. He hugged me tightly against his body, and I could feel every worry in the world just melting away.

“We should’ve never even have dealt with that guy,” Burke said, rubbing my back. “I knew he was a scumbag from the very beginning.”

He held me for a full minute, just rocking me in his arms before pulling me from the elevator. I felt even safer as the doors closed behind us.

“I knew this was happening, too,” he cursed himself. “Or rather, I suspected it.”