“Good,” I muttered. Jesi dug his elbow into my ribs. “Ouch,” I said, grinning. Lord, it felt good to feel him.

  “Ajui, take him over there, sit him down,” Luiz ordered. Ajui came over and helped him up. “Don’t kill him.” He stuck his tongue out at her and dragged the guy off over to a patch of grass a little way off. She waited until they were settled, then turned to us. “We’re about two klicks from the main road. I can get him that far, flag down a vehicle and then split. Him,” she said, jerking her thumb at Ajui, “he can do what he likes so long as it’s in the opposite direction.”

  “What about the ‘copter?” Jesi asked. “And the law?”

  “The law won’t know who I am cos no one’s seen me, and the ‘copter just got itself a new, dead pilot. Pity he’s about to go up in smoke.”

  She needed Ajui’s help to move Jesi’s corpse around. “Ugh,” Jesi said, turning away and pulling a face. “Not sure I’m supposed to be seeing this.”

  “I can’t remember mine,” I said. I knew how he felt. Even knowing he was beside me, didn’t make seeing his dead body any nicer. Luiz was made of tougher stuff and just got on with it. Together she and Ajui got the body into the pilot’s seat, then she put an incendiary into the fuel tank on a fifteen minute timer. They needed to get out of there, and fast—but she still took the time to put a little kiss on Jesi’s dead face.

  She saw me looking. “I know, I know. I just...needed to.” She rubbed her eyes, then got clear. “Haul arse, people!”

  Between them, they got Carrot-top a good four hundred metres away from the ‘copter before it went up in flames with a hell of a bang. That would bring someone to investigate the thick rising smoke for sure, though maybe people would think it was more fireworks.

  Ajui made Luiz stop walking, and put the injured guy on the ground. “Wait,” he said, and then he grabbed the redhead and concentrated.

  “What the hell?”

  “Shut up,” Parido snarled at her. “He’s saving your neck.”

  Luiz, Jesi and me could only watch, confused, as Ajui did whatever the hell he was doing. Finally he stood up and beckoned us all away from the guy. “Right—I’ve scrambled his memories so hard he won’t know up from down. He tries to tell anything about this, they’ll think he’s got a bucket of screws loose. But I don’t think he’ll say much anyway.”

  I blinked. “You can do that? I thought you could only persuade.”

  Ajui gave me a smug look. “He’s an untrained paranormal, injured, and a bit feeble-minded. I can do pretty much what I like with him. I coulda done it to you, Langse, only I like your pretty eyes.”

  “Blech, don’t go there,” I said, backing away, wrinkling my nose. He grinned, and Jesi laughed.

  “Well, we better get moving, or he’ll bleed to death too,” Luiz said. “I guess I’ll be seeing you two,” she said brightly, holding out her hand to us. “Oh...I forgot,” she said, dropping it back and rubbing it a little against her thigh. “Will you come see me again?”

  “I think...we might be heading on now,” I said carefully.

  Her face fell. “Oh right. Sure. That’s how it’s gotta be. Sure.”

  “We’ll find you in the next life,” Jesi said quietly. “I swear it, Luiz.”

  “Me too,” I chipped in as she tried to look cheerful. “Now don’t do anything stupid. Just because a certain someone got himself killed, don’t mean you got any excuse.”

  “No way. I’m not the type.” She sniffled, rubbed her nose, and then gave a little wave. “‘Bye, guys.”

  “Yeah, ‘bye,” Ajui said. But his eyes were on the man standing next to me, and I knew his words were for Parido. “See you ‘round.”

  “Tinun....”

  “No, babe, don’t. Not here.”

  The two lovers looked at each other with longing and sadness in their eyes, and with Jesi at my side, I could be generous. “Jes? We should....”

  He stepped forward. “Tinun, wait. Luiz, let him say...what he needs to.”

  But even as Luiz seemed willing to cooperate, Ajui shook his head. “Nah. I’m over all that. I’ll be fine. Got things to do, people to off and stuff.” He gave me a crooked grin as I pulled a face. “You two...you deserve it. You done good,” he said, his hands twisting.

  “So did you. It was an honour,” Jesi said, and then he saluted. “You’re a brave man, Tinun Ajui.”

  Ajui smiled. “Told you I weren’t no pussy. Go on, Fresiz, before I change my mind about killing you.”

  She gave him a wry look, and then saluted the pair of us. “An honour, sir,” she said, coming to attention. “Good luck.”

  Jesi snapped off a salute in return. “You too, Lieutenant...and...just be careful, hon.”

  She nodded, and then walked off. She didn’t look back. That was the way it had to be.

  Ajui stood and watched her collect the guy—we never did find out his name—and then he gave a little shrug, before he started to walk off in the other direction. He didn’t look back either, but then, he could no longer see or hear us.

  “Will he be okay?” I asked Parido. Ajui seemed a bit more stable than when we’d found him, but ‘stable’ was a relative term with him.

  “I don’t know.”

  He wasn’t sharing more than that. “Be like that,” I muttered, and then I turned to Jesi. “Lord, look at you.” He was just as he’d been in life, vibrant and strong and healthy, and dressed somehow in the leather pants and linen shirt that I loved so much on him. “Jes, if spirits can have sex, then I’m gonna—”

  There was an agonised scream from behind us. “No! Tinu, no!”

  I whirled. Ajui had stopped walking. He had his gun out, and the safety off. “Didn’t anyone tell him about...?”

  “No,” Parido whispered. “No, I never— Fuck, Tinu, don’t!”

  His lover was staring over where he thought we would be. “I know I said I’d off that Sasine bitch for you, lover, but...maybe I done enough killing this time around. I think that Jesi had the right idea. So I guess I’m a lucky punk too,” he said with a small smile, then he put the gun under his chin.

  “Ajui, no!” I yelled—but without someone in the real world who could see me, it was hopeless. The sound of the shot was lost in the still cracking and spitting blaze behind us. I looked away. Hated shots to the head. Hated suicides.

  Parido screamed in pain again, and sunk to his knees. “No! No, Tinu, why?”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell him?” Jesi asked, staring at the mortal remains of one Tinun Ajui, whose spirit was now lost, disconnected from the man who loved him.

  “No one got around it,” I said. I felt sick. We should’ve seen it. Should have known he’d....

  I went to Parido, knelt beside him. “Man, I’m really sorry.”

  He looked up, tears streaming down his face. “He’s gone,” he whispered. “I waited so damn long. And he’s gone.”

  Jesi came over to stand beside me, his hand resting lightly in my hair. “Parido...I’m sorry. Tinun didn’t deserve that.”

  Parido blinked. “No,” he murmured. “All I wanted was for him to have more than...what was planned for him. More than your damn ESF were going to give him. I wanted him to live!” he shouted, his hands curling into fists in front of him. “Tinu, damn you! I would have waited. I would have waited, love.” He buried his face in his hands, and quiet sounds of agony came muffled from between them.

  I looked up at Jesi. His expression was one of pity, and sorrow, and helplessness. I knew how he felt. I clenched my hands—it wasn’t fair, damn it. Surely something...somebody could help them. And then I remembered.

  “Nev?” Jesi asked as I got to my feet.

  I waved him down, then yelled. “Firna! Firna, get over here! Firna!”

  And then she was just...there, looking as lovely and serene as the first time I’d seen her. “Yes, Nevo? There’s no need to yell. Welcome, Jesi,” she said with a smile and a bow.

  “Never mind the polite stuff,” I snapped. “Help him!” I waved at Parido, and across the thickening white veil towards Ajui’s body. “Can’t you do something? He helped you!”

  “Indeed he did, but we can’t stop the effect of psychic shock, Nevo. It’s produced by the physical world and we have no control over that. I’m sorry.”

  Parido hid his face in his hands again. “Tinu...please.” Jesi silently took my hand and squeezed it. She was the only hope I could offer.

  But she wasn’t done. “Wait, Keril.” She came over and touched him on the shoulder. “I didn’t finish explaining. We can’t stop the shock, but we can buffer it a little from this side. We did our best. Look.” She picked up his hand. From it dangled a long, silvery thread. It stretched out through the void that was now all around us. “It’s weak, and fragile, and I don’t know where he is—but there is still a bond.”

  “There is?” Parido said, staring up at her, blinking away tears, looking startled and for once, completely free of his usual cynical air.

  “There is?” I repeated. “That’s great!” Jesi gave me a grin—I knew she could do something! See? You just got to follow the thread!” I clapped Parido on the shoulder. “So you better get started, right?”

  “Right. Fortunately, I expect to have help finding him,” Parido said, getting to his feet.

  I frowned at him. “But Firna said she can’t—”

  “Not her—you.”

  I backed up. “Uh, no way. I’m grateful and all that, but the slate’s clean...what the fuck is that?” I asked as he pointed to my hand. There was a thread—no, three threads—hanging from my own wrist. One was going across the barrier to the physical world, so that’d be Luiz. One was going to Jesi, of course...and the other.... “Uh uh. No. No, that’s a mistake. Firna, that’s a mistake!”

  “No mistake,” she said sweetly. “We bound you two together once he found you. He asked for it so he wouldn’t lose you again.”

  I shook my hand, trying to get it off. “Then get rid of it! I’m not soul bonded to Parido!”

  “It’s not a soul bond, not technically. It’s a spirit bond. Stronger,” Parido said, smirking, though he quickly wiped the tears off his face as he stood up. “It means you and I will be tied together until I choose to break the bond—which I’ll do just as soon as I find Tinun.”

  “Great! What about our new lives?”

  “Oh, you can go to them. I’ll be right behind you—and somewhere, somehow, so will Tinun.”

  “And to assist you, Keril, we’ve ensured that the four of you will retain some memories of this life. That should help.”

  I groaned. Remembering Parido? “Give me a break.”

  Jesi had a grin on his face I could’ve taken issue with. “Suck it up, Nev. It wasn’t so bad, having them around this time, was it?”

  “Are you joking?”

  He put his arms around my shoulders. “Only a little. Come on—I want to be back in a body so we can make love.”

  “Fine, fine,” I muttered. Around us, the void was changing again. I only had time to turn to Parido and say, “You keep out of our bedroom, you hear?”

  And the last thing I remembered was a dry, mocking laughter, a faint “You couldn’t pay me enough, Langse,” and the feel of Jesi’s hand around mine as we tumbled towards our future.

  If you enjoyed this story, then discover more of my books for sale at

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  A Fresh Start

  A sequel to Transitional Arrangements

  Chapter 1 — A Fresh Start

  “Don’t move.”

  I rolled my eyes, those being pretty much the only bit of me I could move trussed up like this. But then I yelped behind the gag as Matsin’s hand hit my butt, hard as hell. Again and again, until I felt my skin starting to glow. I couldn’t stop him, couldn’t protest, not even when he picked up the flogger and tanned my backside with that.

  When he was done, he pulled the butt plug out and thrust his fingers in, stretching me. I squirmed against the pleasure-pain of it, wanting more, but not wanting him to stop any time soon. He put the plug back—another one, bigger, tighter—and then pulled me to my knees, making me rest against the plug so he could torment my bound nipples, pinching and tugging around the thread. My arms were tied against my back, high and tight, and my legs lashed together from the knees down. I could only submit to his tortures, just as we both wanted.

  He stopped when the pain tears had begun to course down my face, and pushed me forward again. He worked the plug in and out slowly until I groaned with need, then he rolled me onto my back, pushed my knees against my chest, and fucked me deep and hard, an awkward position which made it hard for me to breathe, but I didn’t care, so long as I was fucked.

  When he was done, he jerked me off with two fingers in my arse and no lube on his hand, fast, dry. He wiped his hand off on my stomach and then snapped the catch on the gag, letting me draw in my first deep breath in ages. He took his time undoing all the other bindings while I lay limp and sated. Sore, but happy. My only regret was that we hadn’t done it for as long as I liked, but Matsin didn’t waste more time than he needed to for anything.

  Cuddling afterwards was my favourite bit of sex but Matsin didn’t go in for it much. Today he didn’t even let the afterglow disappear before he got out of bed, pulled on his dark green bathrobe—I tried not to be jealous considering I knew which slimy little wannabe had given it to him—and then snapped open his organiser. I hated the damn thing but he’d notice if I accidentally on purpose dropped it into the loo or the pool. It was probably waterproofed anyway. Matsin planned ahead.

  “We’ve got the premiere of Kergo’s film tomorrow. You’ll leave from Nata with Steljia.”

  I scratched my groin and thought about an evening with sour, bitchy Steljia, rising comedic star and one hundred percent lesbian. “You know she hates me, right?”

  “She hates anything with a prick, Jay, but you both need the exposure. Don’t interrupt.” I wrinkled my nose at him but he wasn’t looking at me. “Then go on to the Lako club—we’ve arranged photographers, so make it a good show.”

  “Am I supposed to be fucking her or marrying her?”

  He looked at me over his reading glasses—vain bastard knew they made his green eyes look bigger. “I want you to put on a convincing performance. Show some interest, make it look like a developing thing. You’re an actor, so is she. You know how this works.”

  “People won’t come to my next film because they think I'm fucking Steljia Knole, Matsin.”

  “No, but they’ll come to hers and you’re not the only horse in my stable.”

  I played lazily with my cock. “Only one hung like one, right?”

  “Please don’t be vulgar.” For a man who just had his prick up my arse, he sounded downright prissy. “I need you to finish reading those scripts I gave you. We need to give them an answer.”

  “I already told you, I don’t want to make a film that takes me away from Mum for three months.”

  He sighed. “Your mother wants you to be a success. At some point—”

  I sat up and pulled the sheets around me. “I said ‘no’, Matsin.”

  “You’re severely limiting your potential if you only take work in this area.”

  “I don’t care. Lord, do we have to talk business right after we fuck? You’re as romantic as a boil on my backside.”

  “I'm just doing my job.” Any trace of sympathy in his tone disappeared. “I don’t stop being your manager because we have sex.”

  “But you can stop for half an hour.”

  “I really can’t. Now—”

  “Can I stay tonight?”

  He turned away to tap something into his bloody organiser. “No, I’ve got meetings. They’d only bore you.”

  My nostrils flared in automatic response to the careless slur. “How the hell would you know? You’ve never taken me to one.”

  “You only have a high school education. I really don’t think you’d have much chance of following the conversation.”

  He walked into the bathroom before I could throw something back at him for that shot. Not that it would make any difference to him or his opinion of me. Matsin Ro had never wanted me for my brains. He’d laugh himself sick at the idea of anyone doing that.

  I got out of bed, the urge to cuddle long gone but the itch to distract myself, to be with someone, just as bad as ever. Days like this, I missed school because at least that had given me something to do in the evenings. I hated the whole actor social scene—fucking my manager was enough for me—but avoiding it meant a lot of empty nights. I’d developed a strategy for dealing with them, but I’d have much preferred to have stayed here, having dinner with Matsin, being fucked again by him, and pretending that he cared. Like he said, I'm an actor. We’re naturally good at fooling ourselves.

  When I emerged, dressed and cleaned up from his guest bathroom, he handed me the appointment sheet and patronisingly repeated the arrangement for tomorrow, as if I really was as slow as he thought me. Prick.

  “The luxar will pick you up at six,” he said as I picked up my coat. “I’ll have a suit sent around. Janki is desperate for you to model his line.”

  “Do I get to keep it?”

  Matsin raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to?”

  “Not especially. Mum might like me wearing it.”

  “I’ll have a word. Run along, Jay, I’ve got things to do.”

  I resisted flipping him a finger as I left. He wouldn’t care if he saw it, and it would just make him think I was the fool he took me for.

  He had a private luxar for his own use, though the one he sent out for photo opportunities was bigger, blacker and much sexier. This was a sleek, zippy little silver and blue model which I knew Carll, his chauffeur cum bodyguard, loved to drive. I didn’t own a luxar—didn’t need one—but this would be close to what I would have if I did.

  “Back to your old lady’s? Or a club?” Carll asked as I climbed in.

  “Home, thanks.”

  I wasn’t planning to stay in but I sure wasn’t telling Carll that. Matsin pretty much owned me body and soul, but he didn’t read minds and what he didn’t know, he couldn’t give me shit about. The same went for my Mum, even if I liked her a lot more than I did my lover.