Pursuing the Egoist by Nero Seal
PROLOGUE
HEART DRUMMING,YUGO stared at the phone, dead in his hand. Tobias’ words looping in his head with exaggerated amusement, “Oh, by the way, your puppy is back. He looks rather lost. Oh, wait… I’m wrong. Someone just found him.”
“What?” Yugo thumbed the return call icon, but Tobias’ phone was already unavailable. Pushing out a breath, he put the phone away, then grabbed a cigarette pack and lighter from the nightstand. Stroking the spark wheel, he took a long drag on a cigarette, and warm smoke filled his lungs.
“My puppy…” As soon as he blew the words out, an elusive memory tugged at his chest, impossible to ignore.
“Kuon?” His lips breathed without him registering doing it. The name tasted bitter on his tongue, sounding foreign yet painfully familiar to his ears.
Staring at the glowing tip of the unfinished cigarette, he wasn’t sure how the news made him feel.
He’d moved on long ago. There had been many lovers since, and the time when he had watched the security footage of Kuon with maniacal obsession had long passed. He even had a lover that he’d been seeing on a regular basis. Yet, the snake of curiosity shifted in his chest, making him wonder why Kuon had returned after all this time.
Did you lose your fear, or did you want me to come and find you?
Not finding the answers, he reached to the nightstand, crushed the cigarette in the ashtray, then rested himself against the pillows, arms folded behind his head.
Lips curling in a smile, he remembered the bold, challenging look in those dark, soulful eyes. “Hmm…”
His gaze, grazing the ceiling, fixed on the bed pillar and the chains attached to it. In the darkness, they glinted with the reflected blue light, beckoning him. Succumbing to the silent call, Yugo reached up, wrapped his hand around the metal, then yanked the chain, trying its strength. The familiar clanging filled the room, reminding him how much fun he used to have with them when Kuon was around.
He didn’t use them as often anymore. In fact, he hadn’t touched them for seven months. The urge to use them stirred in the depth of his chest.
Pushing the chain away, he watched it sway and clang against the wooden pillar.
KA-TANG…
The small vibrations, running through the bed, reanimated the memory of bleeding wrists. The flashback so bright, he could taste the electric saltiness in the air that had always charged his room whenever sex became violent. His body warmed, and a sweet tingling of arousal tightened his stomach, once again reminding him of his empty bed.
Giving a scornful glare to the crumpled sheet at his side, he frowned. Noah had been missing for a week. Grabbing his phone, he stared at the screen. No missed calls, no messages. A slight irritation rolled under his skin, tightening his muscles. Where the fuck are you, Slut?
His finger slid over the screen, speed-dialing Greg, then thumbed the loudspeaker icon. As soon as the call connected, he ordered, “Find Noah. Bring him here.”
Terminating the call, he tossed the phone on the bed. The thoughts of Kuon evaporated, pushed away by the image of the nacre-blue irises, liquid with pain and desire. He already anticipated the muffled groans of pain and pleasure Noah would generously spill as he tried to stop himself from falling apart.
Yugo smiled in anticipation, rolled to the side, and closed his eyes.
