Free (Save The Kids Book 4)

by E. M. Leya

  "Good. I hated leaving them. One was in the bed beside the perp." D ran his fingers through his hair. "Whose car is out front?"

  "That would be mine," Beau said from the doorway of the kitchen.

  "Beau!" D smiled as he closed the distance between them and hugged Beau tightly. "I didn't know you were coming."

  "It was a last-minute trip. I was going to wait until tomorrow to see you, but I drove by on my way to the hotel and saw lights on." Beau pulled back. "You're okay?" He seemed to let his gaze travel over D as if making sure he wasn't injured.

  D held up his hands. "Fine. No problems, I promise." D glanced at Jeremy. "Jer took care of me."

  "Well, I sure didn't expect to catch you in the middle of a sting. Why don't I head off to the hotel and you two can finish up? We can talk tomorrow."

  "You're not getting a hotel. We have rooms here or we both have space at our homes. You'll stay with us," D insisted.

  Jeremy nodded. "Besides, we're done for the night now. Just have to follow up with the scanner and wait for police reports. We were curious how Denver PD will handle this. Hopefully, they won't go public."

  "Yeah, but who knows after news of my arrest in California went national. I'm sure there will be all kinds of attention surrounding this." D sighed.

  "Which is why you should lay low for a bit longer. Work on building your team before going out again." Beau stared at D.

  D tugged off his hoodie and nodded. "I know. I just couldn't sit back on this one. I've got a few leads I'm looking into for other members, but it's not easy." D walked into the kitchen, tossing his hoodie on the back of a chair before pulling out a beer. "Want one?" He asked both him and Beau.

  "I'll take one." Jeremy reached out.

  "I'm good." Beau sat down.

  Jeremy took the beer D handed him and sat down. "Beau, you mentioned you might have a way to help us?"

  D glanced at Beau as he sat down.

  "Yeah, possibly. I'm meeting with a friend for dinner tomorrow. I wanted to invite you both to come with. He's someone I met on that humanitarian trip to the Middle East I went on a few years back. He's a doctor who recently came to America after a hit was put out on him in his hometown. He was looking to start over here, but there is a ton of red tape. It will take years before he's able to work as a doctor here." Beau sighed. "I won't go into all the details, but he's a great surgeon. I've worked side-by-side with him. He could really use a job."

  "And you think he'll be okay with what we do?" Jeremy asked.

  Beau smiled.

  "What?" D asked.

  "He had to leave Oman because of his fight against FGM," Beau told them.

  "FGM?" D shook his head. "What's that?"

  "Female genital mutilation," Jeremy answered. "It's where the men cut off the female's clitoris so they can't experience pleasure."

  "Exactly," Beau continued. "Anyway, Rani started a campaign to have it outlawed. But he pissed off the wrong people, and they tried to shut him up. When his brother was attacked, and parents threatened, he decided it was time to leave. He's been living in New York for a few months trying to find work, but even with his training, he can't get anything other than entry-level medical positions. Even though he's been a doctor there for years, the US won't accept him until he pretty much retrains. Meaning another five to eight years before he can be licensed here."

  D sat back. "There's a big stretch from campaigning to stop a barbaric act to actually cutting off a guy's junk."

  "True, but I think he'll be up for it. He can jump through the hoops and work on getting his license here while working with you and having a more than suitable income. We both know he'll make more here with you in a month than he would in a year working at a hospital as a surgeon." Beau reached for his water.

  "I don't know." Jeremy didn't like how vulnerable this made them. "What if he refuses? Then he's seen us. Knows who we are. I'm not sure I like that."

  "Well, I'm here for a three-day convention. I'm more than happy to talk to him alone about it tomorrow night. I trust he won't turn me in. Then, if he's interested, we can plan another meeting before I leave." Beau glanced at D, then back at Jeremy. "I don't blame you for being nervous. You both have more than enough reason to be cautious."

  "I can't wait until things calm down. Sadly, by doing the sting tonight, I've put more heat on us. They'll be watching even more for me since it's a new location and I'm on the run. Still, it couldn't be helped. I have no regrets." D looked at Beau. "Talk to him. If he's interested, then I fully trust you to bring him over or have us meet, what about you, Jer?"

  Jeremy set his beer on the table and looked over at Beau. "I have no reason not to trust you. If D and Carter trust you, then I can too. Just be sure he knows what he's in for. I hope we never need his help, but if we do… Well, you know exactly how bad it could get."

  "I do, and I'll prepare him for that. I won't hold anything back. I think he'll be okay with it. I wouldn't ask him if I didn't think he'd take the job." Beau twisted the cap on his bottle of water.

  "He's going to be willing to leave New York?" Jeremy wanted to make sure they covered everything before following through on this.

  "He'll be ecstatic to get out of there. He hates it. He was asking about coming out to California with me, but I don't think he'd be any happier there. He'll be a great asset to your team. He's a great surgeon, and has training I don't even have. He speaks great English, but there is a strong accent."

  "Is he going to be okay with my lifestyle?" D asked.

  "He's left Islam, and besides that, he's accepting of me being gay. He won't have a problem with you. In fact, I think you'll be good for him. I get the feeling he wants to experience life for a change. He was sheltered his entire life, living under Sharia Law. If he joins, take him out for a beer, talk him into getting a tattoo." Beau grinned. "Seriously, he's way cool. He's down to earth and a damn good doctor. You'd be lucky to add him to the team."

  "Well, we aren't going to have an easy time finding someone, so if he's willing, he's in." D glanced at Jeremy. "Right?"

  "Yeah, as long as he can handle us, we can handle him. He's welcome to use one of the rooms here until he gets a place. He'll probably want to be here a lot at first anyway to get the room set up how he wants it." Jeremy shrugged.

  "Speaking of which, thanks for all the stuff you sent us. I've left most of it boxed until we find a doctor, but you sent anything we could need on our own." D stood, going to the fridge, and pulling out another beer. He lifted it towards Jeremy. "Another?"

  "No thanks." Jeremy still had half a bottle left.

  "I wanted you to be prepared. I know you well enough that be it a sprained ankle or a deep papercut, you are one I know can't be without some medical supplies for long," Beau teased.

  "You're clumsy?" Jeremy asked. He hadn't seen any signs of it, but then again, they hadn't really left the house much.

  Beau laughed. "Careless might be a better word."

  D sat down again. "Hey, I'm not careless. I just play hard."

  "You'll learn how to wrap a sprained ankle quickly with him around." Beau nudged D with his hand.

  "If I ever get to go hang out in public again." D sighed.

  "You will. The news is slowly forgetting about you back home. If they aren't talking about you, the rest of the country won't be either. Just give it time. Dyeing your hair back dark probably wasn't the best idea you had." Beau tugged on a long lock of D's hair.

  "You know I love Faith, but her hairdressing skills are lacking. I had like four different colors in my hair, besides, I looked like an idiot with blonde hair. That wasn't me," D argued.

  "That was the point." Jeremy sighed.

  "Hey, you're not the one everyone's looking for." D glared.

  "No, but I also didn't escape from jail, and I moved a lot farther from home than you did. My face wasn't on national news either." Jeremy rolled his eyes at D. They'd argued this all before.

  "Well, I am glad to see you two are ge
tting along. When you left California, D, you were so tense I worried you'd pick a fight with whoever they tried to team you up with. You'd either beat them down or fuck them hard to alleviate all that shit you were carrying with you." Beau leaned back in his chair.

  D laughed.

  Jeremy swore his cheeks were on fire. He was too old to blush, wasn't he?

  "Oh, really?" Beau caught on right away. "So that's how it is?"

  Jeremy shrugged and grinned. "It was better than being beat down."

  Beau laughed. "I don't know. I've heard Dys… D having sex before. It sounded about like the same thing."

  Jeremy dipped his head as his cheeks heated even more. He wasn't used to talking about his sex life with anyone, let alone joking about it.

  D didn't seem to mind. "Can you blame us? We were both uprooted from our lives and tossed into this house together to create an impossible team. We had to work off some of the stress."

  "I agree, you did. I just didn't expect it to be with each other. Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing. Right now, if you can get what you need here and not go putting yourself out in public, then I'm all for it. The last thing you need is for your addiction to get you caught." Beau stared at D.

  "Addiction?" Jeremy raised a brow.

  "You mean you haven't noticed? He needs it almost daily or he becomes a bear. Even when he was stabbed, he was trying to figure out how he could still perform. I don't know if it's really an addiction, but he's a hell of a lot easier to deal with when he's getting some." Beau watched the two of them closely.

  Jeremy glanced at D. "I didn't know that, but it's good information to have. I know how to talk him down now if he gets worked up."

  D flipped him off.

  Beau laughed. "You two will work great together. I can tell already. You'll be even better than Bryon and Carter in no time. Don't let those two tell you how to run things. Follow their plan, do what works, keep the rules strict, but make this team yours. What works for us out in California might not work here. Make this your own."

  Jeremy smiled. "We are. If we followed the rules, D wouldn't have gone out tonight."

  D shrugged with a sly grin.

  "Okay, I'm sure you two have some debriefing to do, and want to get to bed. I'm going to head out." Beau stood.

  "What the fuck?" D shook his head. "I said we have plenty of space. Why pay for a hotel room and deal with all that bullshit when you can stay with us?"

  Beau shrugged. "I figured I'd be in the way."

  "You're family, Beau. You're not in the way. There's rooms here or we can head to my house, but I insist you're not sleeping in some hotel tonight." D stood.

  "Okay, then let me grab my bag and you can show me where to sleep."

  Jeremy tossed his beer bottle in the trash. "Need help with anything?"

  "Nah, I packed light. I will be quiet when I leave in the morning. My conference starts at nine. I'm meeting Rani for dinner at six, then will call you guys if he wants to meet. You sure you don't mind me here for a few days?" Beau asked.

  Jeremy glanced at D. "From what you've said, having a doctor around might be a good thing. Seriously, you are more than welcome. I look forward to getting to know D's old team. We're glad you're here."

  D stood beside Jeremy, hooking an arm around his shoulders. "Just don't go telling Jer all my secrets. I'm trying to leave the old me behind." He winked. "Go get your shit. I'll show you to your room, then I need a shower."

  Jeremy leaned into D, enjoying the casual affection. He wanted to ask to join him in the shower, but after what he'd been doing earlier in the night, and with Beau here now, sex was probably the last thing D was thinking about. Gently pulling away, he grabbed the police scanner and headed back to the computer room. He had a few more things to check on before he finally headed to bed too.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Light poured through the window, directly onto D's face as he slowly opened his eyes. He groaned as he rolled the other way to keep it from his face. They needed blackout curtains in the rooms if they were going to continue staying here. It wasn't as if they kept normal hours. Sunlight was the enemy after a night like he had.

  It had taken forever for him to get to sleep. He'd tossed and turned trying to shut down his mind, but the thoughts kept coming. Mostly about the team and work, but there were also fantasies about what he wished he was doing.

  He'd been so sure he was going to come home and get laid, but when he saw Beau, he was sure any chance of that was gone. He'd almost asked Jeremy to join him in his bed, but the way he had rushed down to the computer room, like he wanted to be alone, made D uncomfortable about asking.

  Maybe all Jeremy wanted was the one-time thing. He hadn't shown any real interest in more. Sure, they flirted and joked around, but he did that with everyone. It was a shame too, because the sex had been fantastic, and he really liked Jeremy. He'd hoped the two of them could have something casual, especially since they couldn't go out and meet others yet, and were stuck together all of the time.

  Glancing at his phone, he sighed, seeing it was already noon. He didn't want to get up, but he needed to see what the fallout was after the sting last night. If the news was going to pick it up, they would be reporting about it by now.

  He grabbed his pants, pulling them on, then found his shirt and slid it over his head. The house was silent as he made his way downstairs. Beau would be gone, but he wondered if Jeremy was up yet.

  He didn't have to wonder long. He heard the usual sound of heavy metal music pouring out of the computer room. He stopped off in the bathroom to pee before heading down the hall to see what Jeremy was up to.

  "Morning." Jeremy glanced over at him as he opened the door. "Sleep well?"

  "Not at all. How about you?"

  Jeremy shook his head. "Ended up coming back down here about eight this morning. Just couldn't sleep. I kept wondering if I'd be able to find out what happened to the girls you saved."

  "Find out anything?" D took a seat beside him.

  "Wasn't easy. Had to do some hacking. Girls are at Children's Hospital. They were twins, both taken by their father back in Maine almost a year ago. No one knows where the father is now, but the mother is flying in to reunite with them." Jeremy bit his lip.

  "Fucker. I wish I could get my hands on the father as well. Bet he sold the girls. Hopefully, the cops will track him down. I hate this part of the job. The never knowing the long-term outcome of what we do."

  Jeremy nodded. "There's been some media reports about the girls being found, but nothing about what you did. They said a man had been arrested, and it was an anonymous phone call that led them to the home."

  "Good. I was hoping they wouldn't go public. It makes it easier if we don't have half of the city looking over their shoulders. If it gets out that pedophiles are being hunted, they'll go into hiding and we'll lose our chance to take down the really bad ones." D ran his fingers through his hair. "Did you see Beau this morning?"

  "I did. He's pretty cool. How do you feel about this doctor he wants to bring in?" Jeremy turned to face D.

  "If he's willing to keep our secret, put himself at risk if we ever get caught, and deal with an array of injuries, then I say bring him in. We'll meet up with him if Beau talks him into it. I don't want to bring anyone aboard unless we both agree on them. Are you okay with him?"

  "Yeah, I mean, what's not to like? He sounds perfect. As long as he can do the job, I say let's bring him in. Unless he's a total asshole when we meet him, I'm good with this." Jeremy tapped D's knee. "Come on, let's get you some breakfast. I'm starving and I know you need to eat."

  "I was thinking about making waffles."

  "Did we buy syrup?"

  D frowned. "I don't know, but I know we have jam."

  "That works. We need to make another list now that we've been here a few days. I didn't expect to be practically living in this house, so I didn't really think to buy a bunch of food we'd want." Jeremy stood.

  "Yeah, I didn't plan o
n it either, but I should have known better. Bryon and Carter practically live at the team house. Makes sense we would too. Guess you better get used to my ugly face." D grinned as he stood.

  "I've seen your fuck face, so I think I can handle anything else you've got." Jeremy laughed as he walked out of the room.

  D hurried to follow him. "Is my fuck face that horrible?"

  "Does anyone have a good fuck face? I mean seriously, think about it. No one looks sexy when they come." Jeremy started opening cupboards in the kitchen and pulling out what they needed for waffles.

  "I liked how you looked when you came." D decided to risk it and walked up and pressed his body to the back of Jeremy's.

  "You didn't see my face. You had yours buried in the couch." Jeremy pushed back, grinding his ass against D's cock.

  "Then how did you see mine?" D wrapped his arms around Jeremy, brushing his lips across the base of his neck.

  Jeremy turned in his arms, but reached for D's hips, so he couldn't pull away. "You arched your head back when you came. The way your neck muscles tensed made me want to bite them."

  D stared into Jeremy's eyes. "Now I want to see your fuck face."

  "What's stopping you?" Jeremy tugged D closer so they were chest to chest.

  "You serious?"

  "I never lie about sex."

  "Thank God." D reached up, gripping the back of Jeremy's neck as he kissed him. His cock was rock hard just from the conversation, and as they started to move against each other and he realized that Jeremy was just as aroused as he was, he nearly lost his mind. "Where?"

  "Not the kitchen. Living room works."

  D didn't release him. Instead, he kept kissing him as he walked them backward as his hands slid under Jeremy's shirt and started to lift it up. They paused long enough for Jeremy to pull it over his head, and while he did that, D removed his own and kicked his shoes to the side. He was unbuttoning his pants as Jeremy watched him.