Renton followed Henry out to the car. His hands were shaking as he pulled the seatbelt across his chest—he wondered briefly if he should forego the safety measure in case he had to make a quick escape. Henry was characteristically silent, completely aware of the terror that Renton was experiencing. The conversation they were going to have was long overdue, and Henry wanted to keep up this level of anticipation for just a few minutes longer.

He could feel Renton watching him out of the corner of his eye. He thought back briefly to the early days of their friendship… he liked having Renton around because he had been cold as shit. Henry identified with that. They both were pensively aware of the lengths to which they would go to get a job done; they both had explored their limits and established their boundaries. Most people believed they were aware of their own parameters, but very few actually were. Renton and Henry had both been to the brink of depravity, had both stared unblinking into the eyes of pure sadism, and knew exactly how to react in order to serve their own best interests.

Early on, Renton had agreed that Henry would be the one to lead, and Henry appreciated this concession because he knew that Renton had intricate knowledge of what he was giving up. Unlike Jeremy, whose loyalty Henry appreciated, but who was born to be a follower. Henry knew that Renton struggled for months with his submission—he’d rather fight shoulder to shoulder than one step behind. Henry was accommodating in many aspects, but giving up even the slightest ounce of control was not one of them.

“Maybe it’s my fault,” Henry said aloud, and smiled a little when he saw Renton jump. He liked to start conversations as if he had already been talking—it made the other person feel uneasy, not knowing if Henry was crazy or they were. “I should have sensed this earlier.”

Renton swallowed. What was he referring to? Did Henry think that Rent was in love with Maya?

“I thought you were content with the way things were. I didn’t realize you wanted more. You know that I can’t let that happen. So where does that leave us? We have about an hour to figure out a solution, and by that I mean you have some time to come up with a way out of this mess, something that I find acceptable.”

Silence filled the car. Renton balled his hands in to fists. He had no idea what he was going to do, but a kind of morbid relief washed over him at the thought of everything finally being out in the open.

*

Maya stepped out of the shower. So many thoughts were swimming in her mind… Rent’s defense of her, however slight, had been surprising. She had never considered that he cared for her much at all. He had always been so indifferent towards her. When she first started dating Henry, everything happened so quickly—she moved in with him less than three weeks after they met. Usually her decisions were much more cautious and thought-out, but she had been so swept up in him, the romance, the passion that she left everything she knew to create a life with him. She had tried endlessly to be warm with Renton and Jeremy, because they were her only friends in her new life. Jeremy was receptive, and although she regarded him fondly, wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the box. He was sweet, but they didn’t have anything to talk about. She found herself falling into a motherly role with him, which she resented a little. She had never wanted to be anyone’s mother.

But Rent was different. It was as if she barely registered with him, as if he didn’t care if she lived or died.