My name is Lucien. For three nights I have watched him on the cameras.
The east stairwells. The freight dock. The service elevator at two in the morning.
Tonight I stop watching.
The doors open on thirty-one. He is there with his cart and his mop and his jaw set.
Lucien: Get in.
Caleb: I have a route.
Lucien: Your route just changed.
He steps in. I let the doors close. Then I press the stop button.
Caleb: What the fuck are you doing.
Lucien: We're going to have a conversation you've been avoiding.
He backs up until the steel is at his shoulders. He does not look away.
Caleb: Say it from over there.
I put my knee between his legs. Slow. So he can feel exactly what I am offering.
Lucien: I've been patient. I'm done being patient.
His hands find the rail. His breath catches, and his hips move before he can stop them.
One slow grind against my thigh. Then his eyes fly open like he just heard himself.
Lucien: You're hard. Don't pretend that's nothing.
Lucien: I want you in my bed tonight. My cock in your mouth, your cock in my hand.
Lucien: I want to hear you come. Say a number and it's done.
He kisses me. Hard. One fist in my shirt, the other still on the rail.
For a few seconds he is mine and he hates it and he does not stop.
Then his hand is on my chest and he pushes.
Caleb: Read the file you already bought.
Lucien: What file.
Caleb: Don't do that. Don't pretend you don't know my sister's name.
Caleb: You know what she needs. You know what I owe. You had it all before you ever said a word to me.
Caleb: So read it again. Nowhere in that file does it say I'm for sale.
Lucien: The file says you need forty thousand dollars in two weeks.
Lucien: It says pride doesn't pay for dialysis.
His hands are shaking. He does not hide them this time.
Caleb: It says I need it. It doesn't say I'll take it from you.
Lucien: Everyone takes it eventually.
Caleb: Then wait.
I press the button. The doors open.
Caleb: Forty thousand in two weeks. I'll find it myself.
He walks out with his cart and does not look back.
The doors close. My hand is still open where his chest was.
He told me to wait. He does not know I am better at it than he is.