“So, you brought along a young man you thought Dacre would like in the hope he’d do a swap, and you’d get a night alone with Alex?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t about sex. I needed to see Alex, to speak with him.”
“He said you tried to persuade him to run away with you?”
“I was trying to rescue him! I had it all planned. My duck was outside ready, and then it was a quick ride to the coast to a boat I’d hired. I’d have had him out of the country before morning, and then we could have started our life together, the way it was always supposed to be.”
“That’s technically speaking stealing, given you don’t own Alex’s contract.”
“Oh, and what are you doing with him then? Borrowing him? Like a library book?” Neil asked scornfully. “Don’t you dare judge me when you couldn’t wait to get your filthy hands on him.”
Josiah decided to back off a little. “He was going to stay with you, then, once you got him out of the country?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure he wouldn’t have run off at the first opportunity?”
“Absolutely not. Alex and I have a complicated relationship, but we’re connected. Soulmates. You wouldn’t understand.” Neil shot him a look of unmitigated contempt.
“Try me.”
“I’ve loved him since the day I first saw him, and I’ll love him until the day I die.”
“But he doesn’t love you back,” Josiah pointed out.
Neil glared at him, his eyes dark and furious. “He does! He’s been traumatised by his years as an IS, but the minute we were alone together, I could see the passion was still there. Nobody will ever love him the way I do. I’ve always told him that. Nobody. He needs me to look out for him, to look after him. I understand him.”
“So, why didn’t he run away with you when he had the chance? Why did he decide that staying with Elliot Dacre was preferable to escaping with you?”
A look of smug disdain spread over Neil’s features. “He wasprotectingme. He was scared that the men in the black SUAVs would intercept us, and I’d be hurt. He told me that Solange had tried to help him escape once, and she’d been killed because of it. He was terrified that would happen to me.”
“I see.”
“You’ve known him for five minutes,” Neil flared. “Don’t imagine you understand him better than me. If he cuddles up to you on the sofa at night, if he whispers in your ear and kisses you as if you’re the only man he’s ever wanted, it’s because he has to, to survive. He doesn’t mean it.”
“Is that what you think he does?” Josiah sank back on his heels, gazing at Neil coolly. “Or is it what you’ve witnessed? Have you been spying on us, Neil? Standing in my garden, looking in through the windows?”
Neil became flushed and defensive, and Josiah knew he’d hit a nerve.
“You have no evidence of that.” Neil was like a tightly wound spring, ready to snap at any moment, fuelled by a mixture of resentment and rage. “I know Alex, and I love him in a way you’d never understand.”
“Is that why you hurt him at the show?”
Neil’s face became pinched. “He hurt me, too. We were both upset and took it out on each other.” A sly smile spread across his plain features. “The passion is still there, you see. We still want each other, need each other,craveeach other – that’s never changed.”
“Alex said you made a bid for his contract. What was the plan, Neil? Were you going to buy him and set him free?”
“Not exactly.” Neil gave an evasive smile.
Josiah rocked back on his heels. “Oh, I see. You were going to keep him as your IS – forcing him to stay with you forever because you owned his contract.”
“I’d have looked after him. All I ever wanted was to keep him safe and happy. He’s always had this self-destructive streak, and he needs me to protect him from himself. I wish that idiot Dacre had accepted my offer to buy him.”
“Hmm,” Josiah grunted. He was relieved that it hadn’t been in Elliot’s power to sell Alex to a man such as this. He had no doubt that Alex’s life would have been just as miserable as it’d been with Tyler if Neil had got his hands on him.
He glanced around the apartment. “Which begs the question, how the hell does a man living in a matchbox afford the most expensive IS in the land? What were you going to use to pay for him? Magic beans?”
“I live here like this to save,” Neil spat. “I’ve been saving for years to be able to afford Alex.”
