“Do you know who he ran away with?” I asked, trying to sound calm, but must have failed. I wasn’t calm.
“No, Mr. Rowan Woods, helper to Fate. Do you?”
“Why would he tell me? I planned his wedding... if he ran away from it then he must have had a good reason.” I knew I was trying to convince myself, but couldn’t help it. “Maybe you under estimate him. Maybe you overlooked something, maybe finding me made you miss some other loose end.”
“You are the loose end. The only one. People aren’t very good at vanishing into thin air. Most people. Not without help and money and luck. He received no help from any friend or relative, he had no money, that brings me to you. You were his luck. You know more than you’re than you’re telling me. Yes, Scot would try to hide and maybe he has a natural talent for getting lost. But someone would know something, his friends would have cracked under my questioning. I’ve been spreading around money and promising fistfuls more for good information to everyone who might have seen or heard something. So far nothing. The maids and the cooks and the taxi drivers all like money but have nothing to tell me.”
My heart was beating faster. Eli was good at what he did. He was right.
“But how could something have happened to Scot…” I wasn’t being careful with my words now, but I couldn’t stop thinking of the happiness and hope I’d seen in Scot Cameron’s eyes and of how awful—how inhuman—it would be if all that hope led to tragedy. If I had missed something or been blinded by my own knowledge of his uncle and what sort of plans he had for Scot, then it was my fault.
I wanted to be sick, but that was the last thing I wanted Eli to see.
Three days ago, I watched Scot Cameron leave, I loaned the eighteen-year-old omega some cash for the trip since he wasn’t allowed any despite being the heir to a huge fortune.
I sent Cameron on a trip to get his true love, his mate, and to avoid a match to someone horrible his uncle had in mind. But did we let our hate for the uncle make us less cautious? As horrible as his uncle Caden’s plans were, they were better than the unimaginable things that were waiting for cute little innocent omegas like Scot.
He should have been bonded now. I trusted Eli’s instincts- things that were unimaginable for me and most people were not unimaginable for him, he had witnessed the unimaginable too many times. If he thought something was wrong, then maybe it was. He had a reputation for finding omegas for a reason- he was good at it and relentless.
Scot you poor, innocent, trusting lamb…
“Scot Cameron came here that morning. We had some things to go over, patterns, colors, something- I can’t remember. For the wedding to whomever his uncle Caden had chosen- I can’t even remember a name. But by the end of the appointment, I knew he wouldn’t need me. I knew he planned to run before the wedding took place. I know the alpha he planned to run away with was decent and Caden’s choice was not. That’s all I know Eli.”
“Everything about you screams that you’re keeping secrets. I think you knew what Scot Cameron planned to do before three days ago. What you know may help me find him. You tell me everything, and I won’t go out there and tell the Mercers that Rowan Woods is really Tom Jenkins, a poor little omega from the east side slums of White Rocks, a thief. And the reason why omegas go missing so much. See if anyone sends their children here again.”
“Don’t,” I said softly. “Don’t destroy me, Eli. If you ever cared for me....”
“I’m your mate. Of course I care, but Scot’s life weighs more than your business. The last time I saw you, we fucked on that red jacket and the pile of money. And the next morning they were gone and so were you, and I never stopped searching.”
I remembered. I remembered being under Eli, being sweaty and dizzy with pleasure, feeling alive and powerful. I couldn’t forget any of that. Or caressing his naked body, feeling hard biceps, cupping the globes of his ass. His body was beautiful and fascinating.
And I abandoned it. Abandoned my mate, my other half. My penance was helping people like Scot who somehow understood much more about the world than I had at that age and weren’t dissuaded by my warnings and the truth of being poor, losing your friends, losing your family- they still chose the things I threw away.
Suddenly, before I could stop him or even react to what he was doing, Eli grabbed me by my upper arms and spun me around, pulling me close and slanted his mouth over mine. His hand pressed my lower back to his hips, and I braced myself for a harsh mashed lips sort of kiss, rough and full of anger, but it was gentle, tender. His mouth caressed instead of punished, and made me tremble with five years’ worth of desire. I wrapped my arms around his broad back and surrendered. The ground was tilting again underneath me, but somehow this was exactly what I needed.
He’d kissed me before, we took each other’s virginity which had been the most wonderful, wet, hot, and heartbreaking night of my life. I had been able to run away after it- I should be immune to his lips now, but he kissed me so tenderly, so gently that I had no defense. His lips teased mine, his mouth coaxed mine to open wide, I moaned as his tongue found mine and reminded me of what I dreamed of all these years.
It was half a decade since we last kissed and the only kiss I had since then had been forced on me. I escaped it with a well-timed knee in the place where it hurt most. After that, I never wanted to be touched again. Until now.
Eli broke our kiss, setting me back down and pulling away to stare at me with those brilliant green eyes full of warmth.
“Why did you do that?” I blurted out while my mind said why did you stop?
A light-hearted, playful grin spread across his lips, “I wanted to find out if those lips were worth thinking about for the last five years. Think about telling me the truth about Scot.” He said, licking his lips. “And see if you can find that red jacket.”
4
I hadn’t planned on kissing Tom. I don’t lose control while on a job. Never. My head is in charge, not my cock.
But Tom was, as always, the exception.
I couldn’t think of anything but getting him back into my arms, keeping him there forever, kissing and kissing him until he was panting, needy, and begging me to fuck him.
I called my accountant for an update on my partner Webb, but he had nothing new. We had been in business together for two years. He was older, had more experience with the police department than me, and a perfect record. But he also had a gambling habit and some of that extra experience was centered around taking bribes to feed the gambling habit. I would have never gone into business with someone like that. But it was my fault for doing business with someone outside the pack, and for not going back to the old neighborhood and asking them about Webb. They knew what internal affairs and even his own partner didn't.
I did my best to get out of the east side slums, but those who stayed were too useful a source of information to completely turn my back on. I was learning that the hard way with Webb.
I didn’t know very much about what Caden was doing, but Caden Cameron was Scot’s uncle. After Scot’s parents died, Caden became his guardian under the terms of the trust and controlled the Scot’s inheritance. Caden was also set to inherit everything if something happened to little Scot Cameron.
I didn’t expected Tom to give me any information. But his shock when he heard Scot Cameron was missing had told me enough. It meant Scot Cameron’s total disappearance was not part of the plan.
That still couldn’t do anything about me mentally undressing Tom whenever I saw him or thought of him. It was easy to imagine what Tom would look like naked, completely bared to me and draped in red over his desk. I had seen it before- but if I had known it would be the last time for five long years I would have burned every inch of his body into my retinas.
Even with our pasts, even with Tom’s betrayal and lies- I had to admire him. I always knew he was tough, but now I knew how determined and smart and clever he was too. He transformed himself- his new life wasn’t some red jacket he slipped on to cover up
his meager childhood. He had changed himself, transformed himself into someone who belonged in a better world than the one he was born into. His new clothes weren’t as sexy as that red jacket, but they were his, they suited him and were not just an act any more. They were him. And I wanted nothing more than to tear him out of them. If I had just met him today, I would have enjoyed meeting him, enjoyed the game and matching wits with a beautiful, smart omega- that’s the sort of thing that makes my job interesting.
But we weren’t that lucky. Our history mattered. It mattered to me. When Tom looked at me, I didn’t feel anger, or bitterness or hurt, or if I did they were overwhelmed by sorrow and regret. And there was another thing- bigger than all those. I felt for the first time that our ending, however painful for me, was the right thing to do.
If we stayed together neither of us would be where we were now, safely away from the east side slums, wrapped in new lives. It was foolishly looking for Tom that made me walk into the wrong alleyway by not paying any attention, and got held up and beaten within an inch of my life. That was the moment I realized I had to get out of there. That one mistake, one moment of distraction was all it took to get yourself killed and that wasn’t the way I would live my life.
My new life still had risks, the wrong alley might still get me killed, and foolishness would too, but I had some control over that now. I knew the risks and chose them with eyes wide open. I enrolled in the police academy right after I healed- thankfully my record was clean, but it might not have been had Tom and I stayed together. That was my last chance to escape- Tom’s too. Tom was smarter than me- he knew it before I did and had the courage to act on it.
Now it was my turn to decide something for the both of us, to have the courage, to do something that would be better for the both of us.
5
I fell asleep thinking of Scot and dreamed of the worst things I could imagine happening to him. I woke sweating and taking deep breaths. I had to close my eyes and sink back down in my fluffy bed to relax and get my heartbeat under control.
Suddenly, I felt a warmth in my bed, and smelled arousal. I gasped and started to scream, but a hand came out of the darkness and clamped over my mouth, rough hands, in my bed, trying to stop me from screaming.
“Easy, I won’t hurt you,” the voice said.
Fuck that.
I struggled against the arm that was clamped around my torso, Caden Cameron flashed through my head, he whispered I won’t hurt you, after following me home, and coming up behind me as I was unlocking my door. I saw the glint of a knife- I think it was a knife- and took it as a threat of I will hurt you if I don’t get what I want… Growing up in a shit neighborhood prepared me for most things, but not that. With Caden, I turned and dragged my keys across his face and swiftly brought my knee up to where it would hurt him the most and left him groaning and cursing on my stoop.
I was planning something similar tonight, I reached to the nightstand and grabbed a pen tightly, ready to do even more damage this time when I repeated history.
A strong hand wound around mine and yanked the pen from my grip, “Careful with that- I don’t want any holes in me that god didn’t put there.”
Eli.
I turned to face him. “Sunofa.. what the hell..? You terrified me. It reminded me of... shit. What’s wrong with you?”
“What did I remind you of?” His voice was hard, strangling emotion.
When I didn’t answer, he kissed me. His mouth devoured mine and with it all my fear and anger, even as furious as I was with him, my cock was hard and suddenly we both had way too much clothing on.
“Tell me what happened, Tom. I’ll kill anyone who hurt you.”
Why does he say things like that and kiss me like that? Like I had never hurt him and he still wanted me? He was almost menacing earlier, and was not in a forgive-and-forget place. The simple fact that he still gave a damn about me and my safety had my heart thumping.
“I won’t have that on my conscience.” Not yet, until I knew more. When I talked to Slate earlier and I yelled and he laughed, I finally listened to him and that’s what had me fearing for Scot’s life. I had never even known that Slate was taken prisoner for Finn. I was happy he found his alpha, but not happy he sent Eli to find me. He had done enough to convince me that I should trust Eli- he already spilled all he knew to his mate, the alpha Gavin Ross anyways. If I didn’t help Eli, Slate would but in and tell Eli everything he suspected of me. Which was just about all true anyways. And Slate was writing his book now- about me apparently and Eli’s questions, as tough as they were, seemed easier than Slate’s third degree. “I can take care of myself.”
“I want all your secrets, Tom. Every last one.” He whispered in my ear as his finger traced my jaw and his mouth made its way down to my neck.
I couldn’t surrender anything to Eli, if I gave him a little he would take it all.
“You know who Scot Cameron ran away with,” he murmured, his breath hot against my neck, the sand paper of his five o’clock shadow had me nearly moaning.
“I spoke some of our old friends- from the east side today,” he continued in his, deep, sensual voice. “They told me some interesting things about your hobby and missing omegas.”
“I’ve had a few successes,” I tried to pull away but Eli held me too tightly.
His tongue ran up and down my throat, if he kept it up there wouldn’t be enough left of me to tell him anything- I was turning into jelly.
“Enough,” I begged.
“Give me a name.” He stopped kissing me, and lifted his head to face me. “I’ll risk what I know on you, then hopefully you’ll trust me. Caden Cameron, Scot’s uncle, is also the trustee to Scot’s trust. He’s either taken Scot for some purpose as the true mate, or that’s just a smokescreen and he has or will kill Scot. If Scot dies, Caden is a very rich man, as the trust settles on him. But he gets nothing if Scot has a husband. The trust changes to support Scot solely and start winding down. He may have some other twisted purpose, but plain old greed is simpler and makes just as much sense.”
I thought to that night Caden followed me home- he could have killed me, but my instincts took over and saved me. Scot had none of those instincts. He was a sweet, pampered omega.
“Caden Cameron is a piece of shit. But he might screw it up doing it alone. I would bet he had a partner.”
“Hopefully not the alpha Scot ran off with. Give me a name so I can check him out.”
“I checked him out, he-”
“You didn’t ask our old friends to check him out, you didn’t ask the pack that your best friend Slate was a member of, you didn’t ask me. If you had, they would have told me the name. I tracked three of the old ones you helped on, all three are married happily, one pregnant. None the bigamy type.”
“There’s a dozen more I didn’t need anybody's help for- all the same, mated and happy.”
“I could prove you helped Scot, I could tear your shop apart, find the secret passage that a cabbie swore someone rushed out of but another cab that he didn’t recognize beat him to them. Its circumstantial, but with the others... give me a name. If Scot ran off with some criminal some alpha who might have ki—”
“No! I promised to help him. That meant making sure he was running away with the right alpha.” There, I admitted my guilt. I still trusted Eli. Why not trust him all the way? “Mason Potter.”
“Who?”
“Mason. Potter.” I repeated. Elie was kissing me, in in my bed, uninvited. There was no sense pretending I could keep anything from him. “He’s a quiet, bookish kind of alpha. But he truly loves Scot Cameron.”
He frowned. “How could you know that?”
“I can tell, I just can.” I didn’t want to admit more. I was already much too naked and vulnerable, he stripped off most of my defenses in a single day, at this rate he’ll flay my skin off and I won’t notice because I’ll be thinking of his lips. I knew Mason was hopelessly in love with Scot because I compared how he looked when
he talked about Scot to the way Eli used to look at me.
I could tell it was love because of you.
“Thank you,” Eli said.
“What are you going to do? I went out to Potter’s bookstore, he’s not back. His employee hadn’t heard from him.”
“I think if Cameron planned Scot’s death, if he succeeded, we would know. He wouldn’t admit his guilt, but to claim the trust he needs proof. It would have been an accident or robbery or something if he had succeeded. Now he is desperate and running out of time.” Eli combed his hair back with his fingers and sighed. “I think no body means hope. I have to believe that. I think he failed and lost them. I need to follow their tracks, and hope Mason was not as not as disciplined as Scot. Hope he didn’t have the expert guidance Scot did.”
“I told him what to do, but he can barely remember his name around Scot.”
“Let’s pretend he listened to you. We follow their path tomorrow morning. Step by step. You and me.”
Alone with Eli? That thought was exciting and terrifying. But it was trumped by one even more exciting and terrifying. “And tonight?”
“I’ll take the floor.”
I couldn’t sleep and I doubted I could tonight with Eli so close to me, yet so far away. I could hear his breathing, his trying to get comfortable on my hard floor.
“You aren’t sleeping,” Eli scared me in the darkness. I could have sworn he was sleeping, his breaths came so slow.
He was on his knees beside the bed, elbows resting on my mattress. Watching me. He had stripped off his shirt, and it reminded me of the last time I had seen him without a shirt. Eli was a boy, barely nineteen but strong and well built.
But that was nothing like he was now. A man.
“Why are you still up?” I asked after taking in those beefy arms and thick shoulder muscles.
“I’ve just been wondering about you.”
Red Handed: True Colors #3 Page 2