Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

door open, seeing Kazuhiro on the other side of the room seated before the open doors to the garden.
    Kazuhiro paused in reading a letter, looking up to him with a smile. "Is there a reason why you're lurking outside and not coming in?"
    Jonathon stepped into the room, closing the door. He started toward him. "I was collecting my courage."
    Kazuhiro's gaze moved down Jonathon's body. "Your courage was unbound this morning and last night."
    Jonathon kneeled across from him, sitting on his heels. "It was easy to be courageous in that way with you."
    "Have I made you feel you can't be so in other ways?"
    Jonathon's nervousness returned full force and silenced him. He lowered his gaze, unable to continue looking into Kazuhiro's eyes. He opened his hand, which clenched the velvet pouch. He pulled the dark green bottle out of it and set it before Kazuhiro.
    Kazuhiro stared at it, silent. All humor faded from his expression.
    "Do you know what that is?" Jonathon asked.
    Kazuhiro looked away from the bottle, his gaze focused out to the garden. "I have a suspicion."
    "It's poison. Arsenic. That's why I'm here. Barrett sent me to kill you." Jonathon dropped his gaze again, his voice softening. "I have so much to tell you, starting with how I really came to be under Barrett's control. What I said before, about knowing his nephew, that was true. Only, I didn't give you the full details.
    "I met the younger Barrett, Edgar, in a secret club where men go to be together. You see where I'm from, men are persecuted for wanting to share their body with another man, so we do so in secret to avoid arrest, scorn, and humiliation. I loathe going to such places, but I was so lonely. Sex would happen. I knew that. But it was the comfort of another person, a touch, a caress, the warmth of a body that I craved.
    "Edgar…" Jonathon shook his head, "there were many things I didn't care for with him, but company was thin that night, so I accepted his. We went to a private room, and he began undressing me. Roughly. When I asked him to be gentler, he shoved me to the bed. I began to struggle. Both of us fell off the bed to the floor. Before I could recover, he punched me in the face. He pinned me to the floor by my throat, choking me as he hit me.
    "I thought I was going to die. That's when I saw the knife sticking out of his boot. I caught it, jamming it up toward him. The blade sank into his side. He threw himself off me, screaming, and I sprang up and fled the room…only to run into an officer, as the club had been uncovered. I was arrested and charged with more crimes than I can remember, or that I'd committed.
    "While in prison, the elder Barrett came to see me, the wretch who'd taken advantage of his nephew. Though, as Barrett had stood outside the bars of my cell, a devious light in his eyes told me he had no concern for his nephew. Barrett was looking for a very specific tool for his plan against you, and I fit what he needed. With a little influence and a lot of money, Barrett got the charges dropped against me as we'd come to an agreement, my freedom in exchange for your life."
    As Jonathon finished, silence like a suffocating fog fell between them. Long seconds ticked by. He wished Kazuhiro would at least look at him. He scrambled through his thoughts for something to say, and only one thing came forth. "I'm sorry. I should have told you last night. Actually, I should've told you the moment we met."
    Kazuhiro spoke, his voice low. "Why didn't you?"
    "I…" Jonathon stopped. How could he say the truth? He couldn't. If there was any trust in Kazuhiro's heart toward him, that would surely break it. But Kazuhiro spoke what he feared to say himself.
    "You needed time to decide if you were going to kill me."
    Jonathon swallowed and took a breath. "Yes."
    "Now you've made your decision?"
    Jonathon gasped, shocked that Kazuhiro could think he would even still consider harming him. "Yes, of course. That's why I'm here telling you everything."
    Kazuhiro slowly turned his head, looking into Jonathon's eyes. "How do I know this isn't a ploy?"
    Jonathon shook his head in confusion. "How could it be?"
    "By your claims of telling the truth to not lose my trust, you could hope to gain further trust in which you could then have a greater advantage in taking my life."
    Jonathon's mouth dropped open, the hurt that Kazuhiro could think him capable of such deceit making him speechless. His gaze dropped to the poison. Warranted, though, Kazuhiro's thoughts