“Do you think we should tell Moore that we asked to be assigned to the jewelry store robbery?” Kelly asked.
“Let’s see how it goes. I think our friends are right. That would be very risky,” Kane said. “My guess is that he’s not going to trust us until he sees us actually do something heinous.”
Kelly nodded. “Fine. Drop me off at the station so I can pick up my Mini. I’ll go talk to Auerbach and you hunt down Luca.”
“Good.” Kane smiled. “Thanks for doing it this way, Murphy. It means a lot.”
“I know,” she said, heading toward the Charger. “But now you owe me dinner.”
Kane grinned. “It’s a date, Murphy.”
“I’ll leave the dates to Luca for now.”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Kane dropped Kelly off at the station and waited for her to drive away. He pulled out his phone as he stood by the side of his vehicle and looked up Luca’s phone, hitting the dial button when he found it. He knew from what the store employees told Murphy that it was Luca’s day off and wasn’t expecting a quick answer since it was still late morning. Kane wasn’t the kind of guy who slept in. He got up and ran every morning except when he was too sick to run. Those few days a year, he sat at home feeling guilty. His jogging routine was engrained in him since his military days and it was a hard habit to break. On weekends, he played basketball with some guys at the gym and he never turned up his nose to a little beach volleyball when the weather was great.
“Hello?”
Kane was jolted out of his musings as Luca answered his phone on the second ring. He hastened to clear his throat. “Hey. This is… ah, this is Kane… Delancey.” He swallowed, having no idea what happened to his brains since they seemed to leak out his ears the moment he heard Luca’s voice. A shiver went through him and he realized he was a goner with just that one word. What had he been thinking?
“Kane?” Luca’s voice went up an octave. “I didn’t expect to hear from you again, to be honest.”
“Yeah, well, I kind of wanted to apologize for the way I left things. I know I kind of hurt your feelings and…”
“You didn’t hurt my feelings,” Luca said, sounding just a little too loud and too fast for the statement to be true.
“I didn’t, huh? Well, anyway, as I was saying, I know I should have tried to explain things a little…”
“You did just fine, Delancey. Trust me, it came through loud and clear. Was there anything else?”
“Yes, dammit! I need to talk to you. Now tell me where you are so I can… come and talk to you.”
“You can’t talk with me right now. I’m just getting ready to take a class so if you have something to say, let’s do it on the phone.”
Luca’s voice was still way too sped up for him to be normal. It was like someone put the normally high-energy Luca on spin cycle.
“What kind of class are you in? Any way for you to get out of it?”
“Nope. I’m just stepping in right now.”
“Look, it’s super important and it involves the store,” Kane said. He heard a car door slam and then an engine start up. He was confused. “Wait a minute. Are you in a car? I thought you said you have a class right now.”
“Did you say something about the store?” Luca asked, sounding distracted as a female voice muttered something in the background. “Like this? Oh!”
“Hey, Luca! Stop whatever you’re doing and listen to me,” Kane demanded. He hated it when people ignored him, especially people he wanted to sleep with more than anything in the world. He heard the sudden screech of brakes. “Jesus, what was that?”
“I told you I’m in class,” Luca said. The woman muttered in the background again. “Oh, that’s a good idea. My friend asked where you are right now.”
“Me?” Kane wasn’t sure if Luca was talking to him or someone else.
“Yes, you, Kane Delancey. Where. Are. You?”
“I’m at the LAPD substation in Brentwood.”
“Perfect. I’ll be there in ten minutes. I’m just down the street,” Luca said.
“Wait a minute. You don’t have to walk. I’ll come get you. Tell me where you are,” Kane said.
“I’m not walking. I told you, I’m taking a class. Stay there and I’ll see you,” Luca said, hanging up before Kane could say anything else to him.
Ten minutes later, Kane straightened from where he’d been leaning against his black Charger. Driving into the parking lot in great fits and starts and grinding gears was a pale yellow 1980s era Yugo with rust-colored pin stripes. For its age, the three-door hatchback appeared to be in fairly good condition with a highly polished wax, the only thing that made the old heap look decent. He suspected it was held together only by rust. Kane had only seen Yugos in pictures, looking the car up on Wikipedia one day while listening to his favorite radio show, Car Talk, who’d named the car one of the worst cars ever made.
Kane squinted as the driver stepped on the clutch, forcing the transmission into first gear. It made a teeth-grating grinding sound that was hard to listen to. When Kane noticed a magnetic logo on the passenger door, he realized it said WeHo Student Driver. Behind the wheel was none other than Luca Price, and Kane covered his mouth with his hand to hold his laugh inside. The passenger was a lavender-haired woman who was barely visible over the dashboard as the car came shuddering toward him. When Luca spotted Kane, he grinned widely and waved, stepping on the brake hard, rocking both him and his instructor back and forth as the old heap creaked out its protest. He heard Luca throw the car into park with more grinding and then the Yugo shuddered to a stop, its engine pinging long after it was turned off.
Jesus Christ. Luca was learning to drive and all Kane could do was laugh at the ridiculousness.
“That was so good for your first lesson, Luca,” the passenger said as she exited the vehicle, if that’s what the thing could be called. As she stood to her full height of no more than four nine, Kane realized she was about a hundred and eighty years old with wrinkles so thick, there wasn’t a smooth spot of skin on the woman anywhere. Kane sauntered over as Luca got out, jumping up and down with enthusiasm as he ran around the car and threw his arms around her. He really hoped every old bone in her body wasn’t going to shatter as Luca picked her up off her feet and hugged her.
“That was so fun, Thelma!” he exclaimed. Kane absently wondered where Louise was. Then again, this woman was old enough to be Thelma’s great-great-grandmother. As the old woman began cackling and slapping weakly at Luca’s shoulders, he set her back on the ground, holding her until he made sure she was steady on her feet before letting go. When Luca turned to look at him, his expression of unguarded joy was so beautiful it nearly took Kane’s breath away. Who was he kidding? The man had to be his.
“You’re learning to drive, Luca?”
“You know, I wasn’t going to but then Thelma told me that she took a job at her daughter’s driving school after she retired. Isn’t that sweet?” His eyes were sparkling.
“That is sweet,” Kane said. “When did you retire, Thelma?”
“Me?” Thelma reached out and placed gnarled fingers on Kane’s forearm as she gazed up at him. She had to crane it a long way up and Kane winced as her arthritic neck cracked. “No, Luca’s talking about my daughter’s retirement. She turned sixty-five and doesn’t want to teach anymore so I told her I’d step in.”
Kane chuckled. He’d been right about her age, then. He glanced between them both. Seeing Luca so happy after leaving him so miserable when they’d parted last, made him feel buoyant, like he was floating on air. His attention was drawn away from Luca when Thelma took his large hand in both of her wrinkled ones.
“You are stunning, Kane. Luca told me you were the cat’s meow. Boy howdy, was he right?” She patted his hand.
Kane grinned as he looked down at her for a few seconds. When he looked back up at Luca, the man was smiling at Thelma indulgently.
“Thelma, I told you not to embarrass me
, didn’t I?” Luca chided gently.
“Come here, child,” Thelma said, reaching out and taking Luca’s arm. He let her pull him up until he was standing beside Kane and then she dropped her hands as she stepped back, grinning. Kane could hear her making a clicking sound with her teeth, something he’d seen other people with ill-fitting dentures do. She crossed her arms and looked closely at them, cocking her head to one side and then the other. “My my, you are good together. What a picture the two of you are.” She pursed her lips and blew them a kiss. “I love seeing happy couples and the two of you were made for each other.”
“Honey, what did I tell you?” Luca asked. “We’re not a couple.”
Thelma frowned. “Well, you should be. Now, I must be getting home. Cathy has a friend coming over for brunch and I can’t be late. She’s bringing enchiladas, Luca, and they’re almost as good as yours.” She walked forward and Luca leaned down when she held her arms out. He hugged her loosely and she patted his back. Kane thought the gesture was very sweet.
“Thank you for the lesson, sweetheart. It was so fun,” he said, letting her go.
“No problem.” She glanced at Kane. “Will you see that he gets home? I hate to think of the people on that dirty bus he rides every day. It’s good that he’s learning to drive because the bus system just isn’t safe.”
Actually, LA City buses were one of the safest forms of transportation in the city, certainly safer than a 1987 Yugo with Luca behind the wheel. Kane couldn’t imagine the population of LA would ever be safe again if he actually passed a driving test and convinced the DMV to give him a license. He nodded indulgently at Thelma.
“Of course I’ll see him home, Thelma. It was nice to meet you in any case.”
He was pretty sure she winked, though he could have been mistaken since there were so many folds encompassing her eyelid. He watched her walk around the car and climb into the driver’s seat after moving it all the way forward. As she started the car, Kane watched her expertly drive the old yellow Yugo out of the parking lot and down the street, very aware that he and Luca had said nothing to each other except in front of Thelma. When her car was finally out of sight, he stepped back and turned to Luca, putting some distance between them.
“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.”
Luca crossed his arms, having lost his light-hearted mood of just a few minutes before. “What do you want? I thought we were done talking to each other.”
Kane had already decided that if this was to work, honesty would have to be the only policy between them. He nodded.
“Yeah, that was what I thought. I was wrong. I need to talk to you about a couple of things but I don’t want to talk about it here at the station.”
“Are you afraid a cop buddy might see you with the gay boy?” Luca asked snidely.
“No. That’s not what I mean at all, Luca,” he said with a frown. “I just have private things that I want to say to you and you don’t have to be a dick about it just because you want to be. I know I was shitty to you the last time I saw you. I know I was shitty to you when I stood you up, but we can’t keep doing this. You have me all twisted up inside, Luca. This is new to me and I guess I thought you might understand that.”
Luca was silent, watching him closely and biting his lip. When he broke eye contact and looked away, he put his hands on both of his hips. Kane had already noticed how good he looked in skintight blue jeans and a loose-fitting V-neck red T-shirt. The man’s black and white high-top Converse sneakers with no socks completed the look. He was hot as hell and he had to know it. When he finally glanced back at Kane, he sighed deeply.
“Fine. We’ll go talk somewhere.”
“Good,” Kane said. He walked to the passenger door of the Charger and unlocked it with the key, holding it open for Luca who slid inside. As he walked around to the driver’s door, he didn’t think he’d ever felt so relieved in his life.
Chapter Nineteen
As Kane drove toward the 405 freeway, Luca sat quietly beside him in the passenger seat. The last person he’d expected to hear from was the delectable detective who’d rocked his world when he’d thrown all his inhibitions to the wind and tracked him down before taking him to bed. Kane Delancey was so powerful, such a force of nature, just looking at the man sent Luca into a tailspin. He was everything he wanted in a man, sheer dominance and beauty, all rippling muscle, but underneath it all was a witty sense of humor and even a rare smile. He wished there was some miracle he could perform to make Kane laugh and smile all the time because when he did, the way he had with Thelma, Luca was left breathless and wanting more.
“You said you wanted to update me on a few things,” Luca began, needing to break the silence that was stretched like a taut rope between them.
“Yeah, I might as well tell you that part while we drive,” Kane said. His deep and rumbling voice practically sounded like heaven as he spoke. “You know Murphy and I have been investigating the jewelry store robbery and we think we’re finally making progress.”
Luca turned toward him, keeping the seatbelt across his lap but watching him closely. “That’s good news. Do you know who’s behind it? Is it an international gang of thieves or is it one brilliant criminal mastermind?”
“Oh, God,” Kane laughed. “Let me guess. You watch Criminal Minds and NCIS on TV?”
Luca smirked and crossed his arms. “Unless the culprits are serial killers or in the Navy or Marine Corps, then, no, I don’t think they’re the thieves. Besides what would serial killers do with diamonds, anyway?” He suddenly held up his hand as he pictured the most recent episode of Criminal Minds. “Don’t answer that.”
Kane laughed again. “Just my luck. You’re a TV detective. What’s your theory, Columbo?”
“Hey, don’t knock Peter Falk. He was the best detective on TV when I was a kid.”
Kane glanced over and looked him up and down, smirking. “When you were a kid? You’re twenty-two. Columbo was filmed in the seventies.”
“Reruns. We always watched reruns. Anyway, get back to what you were saying about the robbery. I won’t interrupt anymore.”
“That remains to be seen,” Kane said, focusing all his attention on the road as he got onto the freeway. “So, I should start this by saying there’s some things that I can’t tell you about the man we suspect is behind the robberies. Suffice it to say, the man is not a good guy. In fact, he’d a very dangerous criminal.” Luca gasped and Kane turned to look at him. He frowned a little. “Luca, we don’t think he was one of the men who actually robbed the store. We think they were some of his henchmen.”
“Henchmen?” Luca was sitting on the edge of his seat as Kane turned and smirked. “What?” Luca asked.
“I only said henchmen because I knew the TV detective in you would appreciate that, Sherlock. Actually, we call them accomplices but in this case, we think the main bad guy pays them to do his dirty work.”
Luca’s heart was beating rapidly. “So, you do have a pretty strong suspect, this ‘main bad guy’ you talk about?”
Kane nodded. “Yes, but the reason I wanted to talk to you again is because we think he might be circling back around to rob the store again.”
Luca gasped. “Are you serious? Do you have any idea what that would do to our sales? I mean Mr. Auerbach just got the new diamond stock in from Belgium and O-M-G! The cases! Are they going to wreck my diamond cases again? It won’t be so easy this time because he replaced them with shatterproof glass. At least we think it will be shatterproof. It most definitely won’t be the same kind of glass that just disintegrated like last time but people can still get hurt and O-M-G… what if they use guns this time because they can’t get by the armed guards and…”
“Luca! Stop, baby. Just listen to me,” Kane said, reaching across the bench seat and taking Luca’s hand. Luca could feel the tremors running through his body and he was embarrassed by how badly his hand was sweating in Kane’s. “Listen,” Kane soothed as Luca stared at him.
“We’re watching the store closely and Kelly is with Mr. Auerbach right now, talking to him about the cases, the glass, the inventory, everything. Even what we expect the armed guards to do if the robbers do come back. As soon as she gets all the pertinent information from him, we’ll go back to the store and brief all your employees, probably tomorrow. But right now, you’re scaring me because you’re turning blue so you need to take a breath.”
Luca sucked in a huge lungful of air, having completely forgotten to do so as he struggled not to hyperventilate. He nodded quickly.
“Okay, Kane. I’m fine… fine. I’m really sorry. I just kind of lost my mind for a second. I just don’t want to go through that again. I don’t want any of us to. Sebastian isn’t a young man and if they should come in there and start shooting… Jesus, Kane, I’d die if anyone I know got hurt.”
“Baby, you’re not listening to me. We’re not going to let that happen but we can’t do this without your vigilance. We’ll meet about it tomorrow and talk through all the possibilities. Just relax, okay?” Kane said. “And, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
Luca swallowed hard as Kane began to take an offramp. He looked at the sign and realized they were already over the hill and in the Valley. He glanced at Kane and narrowed his eyes.
“Why are we in the Valley?”
Kane chuckled. “You just noticed that, huh?”
“Yeah… what’s going on?”
“We’re going to my place where we can sit and be alone. I have some things to talk about with you. There are things I should have told you the last time you were at my place and I was…” The way he hesitated, had Luca sitting up straight. “Well, let’s just say, I should have said things differently. Not everything I told you about me was the truth.”
Stay with Me (The WITSEC series Book 1) Page 26