by Naomi Aoki
But Brian had played him. He’d heard nothing from him in the past eighteen months, despite the whispered promises against his skin. No phone calls. No texts. Not even a bloody email. And now... Now he was expected to pretend like it had never happened. Fucking brilliant. Wasn’t like his Uncle couldn’t afford to put Brain up in a hotel.
He should have argued back. He should have refused to pick Brian up from the airport when Jamie suddenly couldn’t do it. Like that didn’t smell like a set-up.
But he hadn’t argued back at all, leaving him to travel in the back of the SUV surrounded by Brian’s delicious scent for the next forty-minutes as they headed back to Kyoto. He struggled to rein in the heated emotions coursing through his veins, staining his body with a desire that he couldn’t give into. Hated that he wanted to crawl onto Brain’s lap and remind him of the fun they’d had last time; beg him to sleep in his bed for the next three weeks... except to Brian it would be nothing more than a fling whereas for Kennosuke it would mean so much more.
He shifted in his seat trying to put as much distance between them as he could, even considered asking to switch with the man up front. Kennosuke dismissed the idea, realising the stoppage would only prolong their journey. Once he was back in Kyoto, at the apartment he could easily find an excuse to disappear. They just had to make it to Kyoto without him punching Brian first. It was either that or kiss him.
What had he done to deserve this?
Kennosuke stared out the window and tried to focus on the scenery needing to find something to distract his mind. Small traditional styled houses stood next to rice paddies, but slowly the houses grew bigger and the fields smaller until only the tall buildings of the city filled the landscape. Yet the more he looked at them, the more his thoughts drifted to Brian and the memories Kennosuke wished he could forget rushed in.
He grinned as his hands drifted over Brian’s chest as the man leaned over him. Kennosuke loved the feel of his muscles, their heavy weight bearing down on him. Loved that Brian was never afraid to get rough with him, manhandle him in ways other guys he’d been with had been too afraid to do. Men who’d been attracted to the danger and power associated with the Kitayama name and yet, they feared it. Brian didn’t fear it.
Yip. He was going to kill Jamie.
Chapter 2
“What?” he snarled, taking a swing at whoever was trying to rouse him.
“Get out of the damn car, Brian.”
Brian blinked, confused to why he could hear Kennosuke’s voice. Must be some weird arse fucking dream he was having after passing out in his chair at home... Fuck! Jet lag was a disorientating bitch as Brian remembered he’d flown to Kyoto to visit Jamie. Heat stirred in his veins; an unwelcome desire that he tamped down quick before opening his eyes and stared at Kennosuke’s angry face. He wished he was back home, comfy in his favourite chair with a few bottles of beer and a game of rugby on tv. Jamie was so dead.
Clambering out of the SUV, Brian stood in the narrow alley and gazed at the tall buildings towering over it. Haphazard in their shape in height; the chaotic collection of wires running between them looked like an electrical fire waiting to happen. He’d lived in cities before, but those years spent in Auckland and Wellington couldn’t have prepared him for this overwhelming sight. But then they were nothing like this. Sprawled across a landscape where the green grass of city parks was no more than a ten-minute walk away and the sky so close you could almost reach up and snatch the clouds from it. But here Brian struggled to see where the buildings ended, and the sky began.
He took a deep breath and stepped forward, if Jamie could live here, then he sure as hell could manage three weeks.
Kennosuke grumbled out some complaint and shook his head. He stepped away from the vehicle and headed for a flight of stairs at the side of a building. Brian spat out a few choice words of his own before snatching up his luggage and hurried after him. Taking the steps two at a time, Brian quickly closed the distance between them thinking the apartment must be on the first or second floor. He soon realised how wrong his assumption had been as they reached the third floor and Kennosuke gave no indication they’d reached their destination. Normally it wouldn’t have bothered him, but after a ten-hour flight? Brian was buggered.
“What fucking floor do you live on? And why is there no elevator?”
Kennosuke stopped ahead of him and turned around. “Fifth-floor. And you’ve got-” a heated gaze drifted over Brian’s body sending his blood rising to the surface and sinking southwards faster than Brian could restrain it. “-a perfectly good set of legs.”
Brian could feel his control unravelling as Kennosuke stood there smirking at him; daring him to say he wasn’t attracted to him still. He gripped the handle of suitcase harder, needing something to distract him from doing something stupid like kissing Kennosuke or decking him. Or maybe both. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d traded punches and then fucked... except Brian hadn’t come to Japan to do either.
But fuck did he want to.
By the time they reached the apartment Brian was ready to collapse. He wanted to sit down, prop his feet up and drink beer. If there was a chance of watching a game of rugby it would be damn near perfect, well so long as he could keep his eyes open of course. Did Kennosuke like rugby? Hell, what did it matter Brian would watch anything so long as it was sport and kept his mind otherwise occupied; his exhausted state further eroding the tight control he had on his libido. Maybe something to eat too? His stomach grumbling as he followed Kennosuke into the apartment, tired feet slapping on the wooden floor.
“Take your damned shoes off.” Brian stared at his shoes and then back at Kennosuke, blinking in tired confusion. “We don’t wear shoes inside,” Kennosuke told him gesturing at his own slipper-clad feet. Bright purple monster feet that didn’t match Kennoske’s yakuza image. Brian thought they looked cute and grinned before stomping back down the hall. He took off his shoes and placed them neatly on the shelf he spotted beside the door before noticing that Kennosuke’s had been left messily. Brian huffed and tidied them away too.
“What food do you have? I’m starving.” He wandered back through the apartment to the living area.
“Should be able to cook something for us.”
Yeah, Brian didn’t think so. He grabbed Kennosuke’s arm and stopped him from grabbing anything out of the fridge. Sparks of desire danced between them, but Brian ignored it. “You aren’t cooking anything. I haven’t forgotten the mess you made in Jamie’s kitchen. Either I cook, or we order in.”
He might not have been present when Kennosuke tried to cook a meal for Jamie while in New Zealand, but he’d seen the aftermath. The burning acrid smell had filled the small farm cottage, drifted out the wide-open windows and Brian had dashed inside fearing the worst, only to find Kennosuke scowling as Jamie forced him to scrape the pots he’d used clean. At the time he’d wished Jamie would’ve buggered off as arousal raced through him, wanting nothing more to press Kennosuke against the wall and... Fuck! Brian didn’t need to recall that now, not when Kennosuke was wearing that same damn expression. What he needed to remember was that Kennosuke plus kitchen equalled disaster.
“I can handle the microwave,” Kennosuke snapped, shaking off Brian’s hold before grabbing several containers from the fridge and slamming the door shut. Brian winced as Kennosuke placed them on the bench hard. “My mother brought food around earlier.”
He did consider offering to reheat the food as well, not confident in any of Kennosuke’s abilities in the kitchen. That, and he didn’t want to encounter Kennosuke’s mother so soon after getting off the plane if they needed her to bring more food. Meeting her at Jamie and Gou’s wedding was already one too many times for Brian. But the angry, hurt expression Kennosuke stared at him with stopped the words from leaving his mouth. Brian liked it when Kennosuke was angry, but not like this.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll trust you.” He raised his hands in mock surrender and backed out of the kitchen.
&
nbsp; Collapsing onto the couch, Brian searched for the TV remote. He wouldn’t understand anything being said, but the noise would be better than the deafening silence engulfing the apartment. Might stop him from staring at Kennosuke’s arse as he bent down to place food in the microwave.
“Do you have any beer?”
“Yeah. Jamie stocked the fridge.”
“Can you, bring me one?”
Brian still hadn’t found the remote, not seeing it lying on the arms of the couch or on the nearby table. His hands however did discover something else as they slipped behind the cushions on their search. Brian grinned, his fingers curling around a familiar cold metallic object and he pulled it from its hiding place. He wasn’t shocked at all to find that Kennosuke had weapons stashed in the apartment – knew it wouldn’t be the only one – yet its location was surprising. As a cop, Brian had found plenty of illegal items hidden inside of couches – money, drugs and the odd knife – but this was the first time he’d discovered a gun.
Holding onto the weapon, Brian didn’t miss how heavily modified it was nor how good it felt in his hand; not too heavy or too large. He wished he could take it home, even more so as he noticed the intricate design etched on it. Designs that matched the tattoos he knew covered Kennosuke’s back having spent many a night tracing them with his finger and his tongue. It would fit right in with the other weapons stashed at his place, some that not even Brian’s colleagues at the station knew he owned. Inspecting it closer, Brian had to resist the urge to unload it as his police training kicked in, but he did make sure the safety was on before pointing at the wall.
“I’d have thought a cop would know better than touch something without gloves on,” Kennosuke snarked and Brian swung around to face him, gun still in his hand. “I mean, seriously Brian? They took your prints at the border-” passing Brian a beer and shoving the gun away. “-and don’t point that thing at me.”
Kennosuke had tried to sound angry, flippant about Brian’s handling of the weapon, but he failed. Brian could hear the worry tinging his words and could see the way Kennosuke’s hands shook as he took the gun from him. This was why there could be no holiday fling.
“I was looking for the remote.”
Chapter Three
He hadn’t expected Brian to find the gun he kept stashed in the couch yet watching him handle it had been damned hot. Not for the first time he wondered what kind of cop Brian was. He looked too comfortable, in a cocky-won’t-hesitate-to-shoot-you, kind of way that if Kennosuke didn’t know otherwise he’d have believed Brian was just like him: played dirty with the law and had a private stash of weapons in his own house. Except it couldn’t be true. Hell, even as a police officer Kennosuke knew the man didn’t walk around armed, Brian had blurted that fact out in one of their many arguments. Why it had come up, he couldn’t say, but Kennosuke did remember that the argument had led to a good hard fuck.
What was worse, Kennosuke knew he wouldn’t say no if Brian pushed for another holiday fling. Couldn’t say no.
Standing in front of the mirror he straightened his tie and ignored the pained look filling his eyes at the thought of being nothing more than a convenient fuck for Brian. He wanted to be more than that, so much more... but Kennosuke didn’t have time to focus on the slow break of his heart over the next three weeks. Turning from the mirror he slid off his rings and replaced them with something more appropriate for smashing faces. There would be a few extra broken noses, jaws and cheekbones tonight, for once pleased Jamie wouldn’t be accompanying him. Kennosuke didn’t think his friend would approve of the reason behind his needing to throw his weight around more than normal, though he’d still miss Jamie’s presence. Jamie always made the job more amusing.
“Where you headed?”
“Work.”
Brian stared at him, bottle poised on his lips as though expecting Kennosuke to elaborate further.
“What? You don’t need to know any more than that,” he snapped, grabbing his keys and phone, shoving them inside his jacket alongside the blade he’d already pocketed. “Besides... you’re a cop.”
“Yeah and? I’m like thousands of kilometres away from any authority my job might grant me.”
Kennosuke snorted, scribbled his number on a scrap of paper and slid it across the table. “My number, if you need me. Or call Jamie.” Please let him call Jamie. “No. Leaving. The. Apartment.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “Yes dear. Do you wish for me to wait up for you?”
Kennosuke scowled as he tried to tamp down the flicker of arousal lighting up his veins. No matter how tempting it might be, he refused to be baited into an argument knowing full well where it would end. But Kennosuke had responsibilities he couldn’t abandon for a piece of arse. Sure, it was a fine piece of arse, attached to a body that could fuck him good and hard. Still, it didn’t matter, the family came first.
BRIAN COULDN’T HELP but laugh as Kennosuke stomped out of the apartment with a pretty scowl on his face. He didn’t however appreciate his body’s reminder of how much he liked it. Maybe he should ring Jamie and ask him to organise a hotel room, because there was no way he and Kennosuke were going to survive the next three weeks. He’d come here intending to not pick up where they’d left off and yet Brian could see that plan crumbling. There was only so much restraint he could muster and Kennosuke was so damned fuckable, even when... no especially when he was angry.
“Oh fuck. That sneaky bastard,” he muttered, slamming the bottle on the table. “He thinks he can play matchmaker? Well, it isn’t going to happen.” No way was Brian going to let his mate interfere in his love life like this, though it might mean laying off riling Kennosuke up. He groaned and rubbed a hand over his short-cropped hair realising it would be an impossible task. Making Kennosuke angry was too much fun.
As he picked up the bottle to take another swig Brian noticed the scratch in the tables veneer; a groove that dug deep into the wood itself and he wondered what would have possessed someone to use it as a chopping board.... Oh. Shit. It wasn’t food that had been cut here, but Jamie’s finger. A sobering reminder of how far his mate had fallen into Gou’s world and the price he’d paid for it. Brian cursed, his thoughts of fucking Kennosuke slunk away taking his unwanted arousal with it as they turned to the other reason Brian had agreed to travel to Japan.
Brian downed his beer and placed the empty bottle on the table. He pushed himself off the couch and headed to the bedroom where he stashed his bags earlier, rooting through his backpack to find his phone. Finding it proved easy, but with the battery running low Brian wished he’d stuck the charger somewhere more accessible, tipping the backpack upside and emptying its contents on the floor. Snatching it up, he spun around looking for the nearest socket and plugged it in. He only needed to call his father, having already texted his mother when he’d gotten off the plane, and he could wait a few more minutes as Brian turned his attention to his suitcase.
It still amused him that he hadn’t been stopped at the border entering Japan, when the only reason he’d managed to get out of New Zealand had been through the judicious payment of bribes to airport workers along the route. Not that he’d paid them, his father had organised that side of the trip to make sure Brian’s fingers remained squeaky clean – or at least they appeared that way. He breathed a sigh of relief as he removed the bag hidden beneath his clothes and finding the contents had survived the journey. The return trip wouldn’t be easy. He’d need to purchase a whole new set of luggage, maybe clothes too if he didn’t want the dogs sniffing around him.
“Do you know what fucking time it is?”
“It’s not like I woke you. You’ve not even gone home yet,” he snapped back, listening as his father moved from his noisy surroundings to somewhere quieter.
“Not the point, son. You were supposed to ring hours ago, not at one god-damn in the morning.”
“I had to wait until I was alone.”
“I thought Jamie was putting you up in a hotel?”
&n
bsp; “So. Did. I. Instead I’m staying in his old apartment.”
“So?”
“He shared it with Kennosuke.” His old man knew who Kennosuke was. Hell, he knew who Jamie had married. Laughed his arse off when he learned that the straight-laced boy his son hung out with at high school during his rebellious phase had married a man like Gou.
“So, you’ve fucked him already?”
Brian’s face burned. Oversharing was nothing new, his parents open about everything. Well, everything but how his father made his money. That was something Brian hadn’t learned till he was older.
“No. And I’m not going too.” He moved quick to turn the conversation away from him and onto the true purpose of the call. “I got it into the country okay.”
“Yay think I didn’t figure that much. I’m sure your colleagues would have been on my doorstep by now if you hadn’t.”
“Ha ha.” Not that his old man didn’t have a point and one-day Brian would need to hang up his uniform. Just not today. And not on anyone’s terms but his own. “The seals didn’t break from what I can see, so the transport method is viable.”
“Good. Good. So, how do you plan to broach the deal? Jamie might know who I am, but he thinks we’re estranged and has no idea of your involvement in my business.”
Brian grinned. “I’ve got a few ideas.”
Chapter Four
Kennosuke flexed his aching hand as he trudged up the stairs to his apartment, trying to determine whether it was broken. He couldn’t say the same about the men who’d worn the brunt of his anger and frustration: a few broken noses, black eyes and the odd jaw. And they’d gotten off light. If Jamie had accompanied him instead of attending meetings with Gou, the punishment for not paying their debts could have been much worse. He chuckled as he walked up the last flight, shaking his head. Jamie had taken to the brutality of their world with great gusto; more than happy to slam someone into a wall, wrap his hands around their throat and squeeze. His name now evoked as much fear as any other senior member of the Araki-gumi.