Under the Skin (7 page)

"This is not going to happen,” he said, speaking to Minoru directly. “I'm leaving, and we are not doing this."

"Then we call the police and tell them that you're leaving the country with Inoue corporation secrets,” Jenner said.

Padraic turned to Jenner slowly. He expected that Jenner, who had just casually revealed something breathtakingly violating to him, would look different, but no. Jenner looked just the same. The same smiling friendliness, the same casual slouch.

He turned to Minoru, who refused to meet his eyes.

For the first time, Minoru wasn't as straight as a soldier. Instead, he looked like his strings had been cut. The betrayal was so sharp that at first it didn't seem to hurt.

"Is he telling me the truth?” Padraic asked, and flinched when Minoru nodded once.

"When Yuuka Whatshername did the transfer,” Jenner supplied helpfully. “Good luck finding it. Good luck getting it off."

"This is a nightmare,” Padraic said softly. “This is a complete and utter nightmare..."

"No,” said Minoru, turning to face him. “It's only necessary."

Padraic laughed with disbelief. There was a sharp edge of hysteria in it that was noticeable even to him, and he cut it off. “You absolute bastards,” he said wonderingly. “You put stolen information in my head and God knows what else on me—don't touch me."

Minoru drew back his hand, looking unhappy about it but obeying Padraic's wishes.

Well, not the ones that really mattered, Padraic thought savagely. Just the ones that will keep Padraic in line.

"Take me back to the Inoue Corporation,” he said, as evenly as he could. “Let's get this over with."

"There's no need to go to the presentation,” Minoru pointed out. “I canceled it."

"That's not what we're going to be doing,” Padraic said. “I'm not doing any more presentations. I'm just going to do what you tell me to do, and then I want you to take this software and cram it up your ass."

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It hurt more than Padraic had thought it would. Despite all of his mental preparations, despite every way that he had tried to keep Minoru from getting inside his head, it had happened anyway.

Why was it always the same? It looked as though he could change names, change jobs, reorganize the tech inside him, leave the damn country, and it was all the same.

Padraic felt hot, as if he had a fever, and he couldn't tell if it was pain or humiliation. Then again, it might have been the malfunctioning tech that he was wearing, so add failure to the list. He didn't know if he was actually angrier with Minoru's betrayal or more angry with himself for never knowing better.

Other guys he knew could bounce back from a bad deal with a shrug and go right back to work. It always sent Padraic for a tailspin, and after the shock came rage. It didn't matter whether he had just realized that his name had been “forgotten” on list of codewriters, or if he'd found out that the great new guy he was screwing was very married with a wife in Greenfield.

At least I'm consistent
, he thought furiously.
It's like I can't throw a rock without hitting an asshole.

The image of lobbing a rock, or at least the box of tissues in the back seat, at Minoru was such a tempting one that Padraic clenched his hands in his lap.

The thought that this was all his fault drifted up in his mind. He stamped it down so hard that it died without a whimper.

Minoru was holding the car door open for him with completely misplaced courtesy, and Padraic looked at Minoru for a long moment.

No, I know whose fault this is
.

The ride back to the corporation was made in stilted silence. The moment he was shown back to the suite, he walked rapidly through his bedroom door and locked it behind him. After a moment's consideration, he dragged the heavy nightstand in front of the door as well.

The set of tools that he had brought along was nowhere near as complete as what he was used to working with, and though Minoru's diamond-tipped implements would have been a little more thorough, he'd be damned if he was going to ask for one more thing from the Inoue heir.

It's a lot like shutting the barn door after the horse is already out
, his mind supplied helpfully, but he pushed the thought away.

A thorough search of his own internals didn't reveal anything that hadn't shown up at the hotel, but the painstaking process, conducted alone and with the requisite attention to detail, did serve to calm him down a little bit.

Padraic didn't have the same knack for software that he did for hardware, but he looked anyway. The small interface screen that he had brought along showed him every program that he had picked up, from the Japanese language program to the spidering software, but there was nothing resembling a packet of stolen, encrypted information. He hadn't thought that Jenner and Minoru would make it so easy, anyway.

Padraic thought about trying to uninstall the spidering software, but he dismissed the idea. Hell, they would probably just knock him out and put it back on.

Buttoning his shirt back up, he lay down on the bed. He didn't want to sleep, he didn't want to dream, and he especially did not want to dream of Minoru, but his mind saw fit to betray him yet again.

This time Padraic could feel the bed sink under Minoru's weight, feel the weight and the heat of the other man's body as he stretched out on the bed. Minoru's hand was cupped around Padraic's shoulder gently, not stroking, just holding, and it was so comforting, Padraic could have cried.

"Oh, thank God,” he muttered and turned onto his back. He reached out blindly and found strong shoulders and skin that was deliciously warm. Instinctively he nuzzled his face into the chest above him. He could hear a quick intake of breath, and he reached up, suddenly afraid that Minoru would leave.

"Please don't go,” he whispered, appalled at how naked his words and his needs were. But instead of pulling away, the phantom figure only gathered him closer, pressing warm lips to Padraic's face.

Kisses like rain, Padraic had time to think, and he caught the other man's mouth with his. Minoru's kiss was soft and wet, achingly hot, and Padraic realized with a start that he was no longer dreaming. For a long, guilty moment, he indulged the kiss, and then the memory of what Minoru and Jenner had done to him lit up in his head like a firecracker.

With more anger than he thought he would be able to muster, he shoved Minoru hard in the chest and sat up. A glance at the door showed the nightstand slid backward on the floor, and he glared at Minoru even harder.

"I didn't find a Do Not Disturb sign, so I figured a barricade would be just as eloquent,” he said with more than a little bitterness.

Minoru at least had the grace to look a little embarrassed, even as he said, “A ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign wouldn't have stopped me either."

"So what would?” Padraic said, moving farther away from him on the bed. “A punch in the face? A barbed wire fence? Or do you just call that foreplay?"

"I'm not a rapist,” Minoru said, and frowned a little. “Why are we suddenly talking about sex?"

"Because...” Padraic gestured uselessly, finally just looking at the floor. “Because it always seems to come up when you're in the room,” he muttered. He could feel his face heat up. He could hardly believe that he was saying these things, but they were coming out of his mouth and Minoru didn't seem to mind at all.

Minoru laughed a little, shaking his head.

"What a strange thing,” he said, seemingly to himself. “I was already hot for your tech..."

"What, and the body's a nice bonus?"

"More than that."

At Padraic's raised eyebrow, Minoru amended it to, “It's more than nice."

Padraic shook his head.

"I can't believe you.” Padraic let his breath hiss through his teeth, feeling his anger with Minoru rise and rise.

Suddenly Padraic wondered what would happen if he simply struck Minoru. Arch had taught him to defend himself, but Padraic had never actually had the urge to strike someone before. It was a new and unpleasant feeling, and he pushed it away before turning back to Minoru.

"You've got nothing to say to me, not now and not again, as far as I'm concerned. No,” he said sharply when Minoru started to interrupt. “And you're not going to do anything else. Get out."

"I would rather not."

"I. Do not. Give. A fuck.” Padraic said distinctly.

"You don't mean that.” Minoru said it so calmly and decisively that Padraic got up and started pacing just to put some distance between the two of them.

"Maybe I don't,” Padraic said, talking to himself as much as he was talking to Minoru. “Maybe I'd like nothing better than to lie down and fuck. Maybe I should stop saying the word fuck so much, I don't know.

"All I know is that right now, I don't want to give you the satisfaction.” At Minoru's raised eyebrow, Padraic managed a bitter smile. “In bed or out of it, okay?"

Minoru looked thoughtful for a few moments, his eyes roaming from Padraic to the bed and back again.

"I'm sorry."

Padraic stared at Minoru, briefly sure that he must have simply hallucinated the other man's contrite words.

"I'll go, then."

Minoru was halfway to the door when Padraic managed to find words.

"What?"

Minoru looked at him curiously and without reproach.

"I apologize. I really never intended for this to happen, any of it, and I'm sorry I failed to make a better impression on you."

"Yeah, that's kinda what it sounded like...” Padraic said blankly.

Minoru sighed, and for a moment, he looked exhausted.

"This is not fair to you, and... I should not have done it. It was thoughtless, cruel, and it could mean a great deal of trouble for you in the future. I'm going to do everything in my power to make it right for you, I promise."

Minoru looked genuinely sorry, and the resolve that Padraic saw in Minoru's direct gaze might have moved mountains. The thought of being so well taken care of filled Padraic with a warm feeling that he didn't want to think about.

I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I feel fucked up beyond all belief...
Suddenly it didn't matter at all. It was like some infinitely more powerful part of him simply took all of those fears and inhibitions and quietly put them to bed.

"Would I completely negate every self-respecting thing I just said if I asked you to kiss me?"

Minoru was quiet for a long moment. Then he carefully crossed the floor to where Padraic was standing and picked up Padraic's hand, bringing it to his mouth and gently kissing the palm."You smell like metal and solder,” he said.

"Is that bad?"

"Not even a little."

This time when Minoru kissed him, Padraic realized that they were precisely the same height.

I should have figured that one out sooner,
he thought briefly, but then he was figuring out all over again how thoroughly Minoru's mouth could obliterate his capacity for reason and higher thought.

Minoru took his hand and led him back to the bed. Maybe it was because the last time that they had done this, Padraic had started screaming, or maybe it was because the apology he had given Padraic was sincere, but he was much more gentle than he had been in either of their previous encounters.

Minoru reached over and carefully loosened Padraic's clothing, baring the naked inputs and then removing his shirt entirely.

"Pale,” Minoru said appreciatively. “Pretty."

Minoru ran his fingertips over a nipple, making it tighten before turning his attention to the other. Traveling between them, his hand slowed gently over the inputs that had so captured him before, but he didn't stop.

Padraic released a breath that he had been holding and reached up to tug Minoru down beside him.

Even through their clothes, he could feel the heat from Minoru's body. People with implants and cybernetic modification tended to run at a slightly higher body temperature than people who didn't have the mods, and Padraic suddenly wondered whether the Inoue heir was more modded than he was. It was a strange thing to think about when the person in question was lapping at his neck, and he must have squirmed a little because Minoru paused.

"Are you all right?"

Padraic nodded, biting his lip. He was suddenly unsure why it was important to him, but it was.

"Could you take off your clothes for me?” he asked, and was relieved to see Minoru smile.

"I had intended to,” Minoru said, and sat back on his heels.

Padraic had expected that he would like what he was going to see, but he certainly didn't expect to be so turned on by Minoru simply stripping to the skin.

Minoru took off his clothes slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, and he didn't meet Padraic's eyes. It gave his actions a strangely intimate feel, as though he were all by himself, and it made Padraic ache with desire.

When Minoru had his shirt off and tossed on the floor, and when his pants had been unzipped but not otherwise removed, Padraic couldn't help himself. He ran an appreciative hand up Minoru's flanks, nearly purring at the feel of Minoru's skin. Minoru's body was lithe and strong, solid as marble against Padraic's touch. Minoru's skin was smooth under his hand, and the Inoue heir murmured with pleasure as Padraic turned his gentle touch into a caress.

Padraic suddenly remembered what he was looking for. His gaze flew between the center of Minoru's chest and the curve of Minoru's hip. Those two most common areas for interface were bare, and he looked up at Minoru's eyes, questioning.

"Completely green, I'm afraid,” Minoru said wryly, and Padraic flinched. It was a word that he heard too often from guys like his cousin and himself, and the implications weren't kind. Green, unmodded, primitive, simp—they all amounted to the same thing.

"It's not a bad thing,” he said insistently, and though Minoru seemed too polite to disagree, Padraic sat up and wrapped his arms around the other man's waist, kissing the strangely bare place on Minoru's sternum with care. “I don't care,” he said between kisses.