“Okay, no condoms and being exclusive is good,” Alex answered.
Then a twinkle lit his eyes, but behind that twinkle Leo saw a deep sense of longing. When he spoke again, Leo knew it was something that was very important to Alex.
“The guys on the team, when they became exclusive with their partners and decided on forever, they had rings tattooed on their fingers. We can’t wear regular rings because of our job.” Alex left that thought right there and shifted his hips like he was trying to take Leo’s mind off of what he had just said.
Leo was only too happy to set up a hard rhythm of thrusts. But he only thrust a few times and then stopped again. His pet was sweating and his hole was squeezing Leo’s dick, wanting to move things along, but Leo was in charge and he could see Alex wanted a permanent commitment, only now was shying away after stating his wants. Leo knew his pet was ultimately afraid of rejection.
Looking into Alex’s eyes, Leo said, “We’ll go tomorrow and get those rings tattooed on after our blood tests. Then everyone will know you are mine and I am yours.”
With that said he set up a fierce rhythm, pegging Alex’s sweet spot every time. Leaning down, he licked the tears that were streaming down Alex’s cheeks.
Alex opened his eyes and said, “I love you.”
Leo smiled down at that beautiful glowing face. “I love you, too,” he responded.
Before long their bodies became overloaded with pleasure, mentally and physically. Both men hit their peak together. Leo collapsed down on top of Alex, loving the feel of the smaller man beneath him. He knew soon he would have to get up and clean them both, but for the moment this was a little bit of heaven. Although now that he thought about it, it was already early evening. He could get them to the kitchen for a light supper and then he thought an early bedtime was in order, maybe even with a few toys involved. It sounded like a plan to him.
* * * *
The next few weeks were spent establishing a routine. In the morning Alex and Jack would work in the pool, strengthening his hip. It was during this time that Leo would work on his newest cookbook. Occasionally he would try out something new in the kitchen and the result was a delicious lunch for Jack, Pip, Alex, and the twin girls. Alex had graduated to a cane now, so every other afternoon Alex would take Bud on a long walk. This was the time for them to practice their tracking skills. For a while he thought the connection between Bud and Pip had grown so strong that when it was time to move back to his own house, he would have to leave Bud behind. But that idea proved to be wrong, as every morning Bud could be found sleeping outside their bedroom door, and although he spent most of the day at Pip’s side, he always checked in with Alex throughout the day.
Late afternoons the couple went over to their house to see how the renovations were going. The huge addition containing the pool was almost done, and Alex couldn’t wait to try it out. He knew it would be a lot of work maintaining the pool, but it was the key to the health of his hip and keeping his career.
The kitchen was turning out to be something beyond his imagination. That was totally Leo’s territory. Alex figured if he eventually found the refrigerator and microwave, he wouldn’t starve if Leo wasn’t around.
It would be another couple of weeks before they could move back to the house though, and by then he hoped he would be ready to be on call for rescue duty. Alex realized those thoughts were probably pushing his healing time a little, but he was sure he could do it. Unfortunately he also had a feeling, even if the doctor signed off to okay him for duty, his Sir would have something to say about the final approval.
Many evenings were spent playing with Jack and Pip’s girls. They were almost a year old and Alex loved being with them.
One night Bella was kicking up a fuss when a stuffed bear kept falling over, no matter how many times she tried to make it sit on the floor next to her. In a fit of temper the feisty little girl threw the bear.
Leo immediately scooped up the kicking, crying little girl and in his calm, firm voice that Alex knew so well, quietly talked to her.
Alex watched as a few minutes later, Bella toddled over in her wobbly baby steps, picked up the bear and brought it to Leo. The both of them, along with the beloved bear, ended up in a rocking chair, with Bella asleep cuddled in Leo’s arms.
“Have you ever thought about having kids, Leo?” Jack asked.
Leo looked shocked for a moment and then a little sad. “To be honest, I thought children would be a gift I would never have. My career for many years was all I concentrated on. There was no time for children.”
“Now you have time,” Jack pointed out.
Leo’s deep brown eyes locked Alex into their depths. After a moment both men smiled.
“I think you’re right, now we have time,” Alex answered.
Chapter Six
Tonight Alex was driving over to the hotel to meet the team and their partners for dinner and drinks. He had spent the afternoon in the city, about three hours away from his home, working at a school that trained rescue dogs. Alex had spent most of the time with the puppies, assessing which ones had the potential to be good tracking dogs someday. To be honest he had considered, more than once, the idea of setting up his own dog-training facility. He had enough money and the room at his house. But he had been so busy the last couple of years with the Rescue for Hire Company, it had been just a thought now and then.
Walking into the hotel bar and dining room, he saw he was the first one to arrive. Leo had been waiting for a call from his editor concerning his new cookbook and he was coming later with Jack and Pip. They had been delayed because the grannies hadn’t arrived yet to stay with the twins. Alex was assigned the job of securing a table for the whole group. Since it was a Thursday night and the place was pretty empty he could see that it wasn’t going to be a problem.
When the hostess came to seat him, he directed her to their usual back corner table. Sliding into a chair next to the wall so he could see the room, he automatically left the back corner chair open for Treb. That was Treb’s chair and no one messed with it. Alex ordered a drink right away, knowing everyone would be arriving soon.
When the waitress arrived and set his drink in front of him, she hesitated and said, “Some guy asked me to give this to you.” She took a large manila envelope from her tray and set it down by his drink. On the front of the envelope, typed on a label, was his name in bold letters.
“Who gave this to you?” Alex asked.
“Some guy about your height and build. But he had bleach-blond hair and a deep tan,” she answered, looking worried that she had done something wrong.
“Oh, well thanks,” Alex answered, already dismissing her as his attention was on the envelope. Alex knew from the description the waitress just gave him, the envelope came from the man who he had laid out on the deck at the café. Bracing himself, knowing that nothing good could be inside, he opened it.
Alex’s heart dropped to the floor when he saw the first picture of Leo sitting outdoors on a blanket somewhere getting a blow job by the guy with bleach-blond hair. The second picture was of Leo on his back, his fingers buried in the guy’s ass. On and on it went until the fifth and final picture showed Leo at the same café of their first date, gazing lovingly into the blond guy’s eyes. Anyone looking at the picture could see how deeply in love he was.
On the last picture there were a few lines typed on the bottom. They read, “I warned you that a nothing like you could never keep this gorgeous man’s interest. He has you snowed. He was never faithful. Soon he will throw you away and he’ll be mine forever.”
“Holy shit,” Treb exclaimed and grabbed the pictures, looking through them all. “Don’t worry, Alex, the asshole chef is going to disappear.”
Grabbing the pictures back, Alex said, “No you won’t, Treb. I’m going to be the one to have a long talk with the blond who sent me these pictures.”
“Alex, you don’t stay with a cheater.” Treb sat down next to him with a serious expression on hi
s face.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t. Now calm down and take a minute to really look at those pictures.” Alex handed Treb the pictures one by one. By the fifth, Treb was smiling.
“Fuck, you’re hot together.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that. Now all we have to do is figure out how he took them,” Alex stated.
“What the hell is that?” Cade roared. The boss’s eyes were on the pictures in Treb’s hands and he looked ready to kill someone. Behind him, he could see the rest of the team moving around, trying to see what had upset the boss. Alex could see Leo in the back. From where he was standing, he hadn’t seen the pictures yet.
There were a few shouts of outrage, and it took a while to calm everyone down. It was Bret, the boss’s partner, that they had to physically stop from trying to go find the blond and beat him to a pulp. There was also a near miss at Leo receiving a beating initially, until Alex shouted, “That’s me in the pictures.” That stopped everyone in their tracks.
Now the whole group, including Bret and Pip, was sitting at the table with the pictures in the middle. Leo was sitting next to Alex, looking a little green. He hadn’t said one word yet, so Alex just held onto his hand, waiting for the questions that would soon begin.
“Where did you get the pictures, Alex?” the boss asked.
“The waitress brought them with my drink order. She said a man with bleach-blond hair asked her to give them to me.”
“Why did you say that it’s you in the pictures? I admit you can only see the back of his head in most and a side view of his face in the last on, but that clearly isn’t your face or hair in them,” Jack asked.
“Look closely at the left arm on each picture and the left leg on pictures two through four,” Alex urged.
“Oh, I see it,” Pip exclaimed, pointing to the shiny red scar on the left arm of the man in the picture with Leo. Then he pointed to the exposed left leg in three of the other pictures. Everyone leaned in and looked closely at the spot Pip was pointing at. Now they all could see the large scar on the man’s left hip. The photos were grainy and not the highest quality so details on the bodies of the men weren’t clear. Oddly enough, their faces were very clear. “That’s your leg, Alex.”
Tony picked up one of the photos that showed two men lying on a blanket in the grass, limbs entwined around each other. Pointing to the area around the bodies, he said, “A bed has been taken out of this one and this blanket has replaced it. If you look closely, you can still see shadows of the bed’s headboard.” Then he ran his finger around the background. “These trees and sky have been put in here, too. Look right here, you can make out the image of a picture hanging on a wall.”
“Alex, that’s the bed and picture in the room you’re staying in at our house!” Pip screeched. “Someone took pictures of you when you were in our house. Our babies are in that house.”
“I think these were taken from a high resolution camera through the window. I stayed in that room when the babies were first born and just from the angle of the picture I would say the guy must have been outside somewhere.” Tony continued to study the photos.
“This one was taken at the café on our first date.” Leo pointed to the last photo. He was never so thankful that these men were top-notch specialists who saw everything. It would have broken his heart if Alex had thought he was cheating. Although he would have reminded Alex of the commitment they had made with the rings they had tattooed on their fingers. There was no way he was letting Alex go, even if he had to somehow tie the man up until he saw reason and the truth.
“He’s here,” Alex said, discreetly scanning the area.
“Why would you say that?” the boss asked.
“Because he’s after something,” Alex answered. “Don’t you see, from these pictures he’s been following Leo, almost like stalking him? The question is why? Does he really think he can break us up and have Leo for himself? Why would Leo want him after he took and then doctored photos of him?”
“Let’s go ask him,” Treb stated.
“How? If we all get up and start searching, he’ll run and we’ll never find him,” Bret pointed out.
“Treb, go to the bar and order a round of drinks for us,” the boss instructed. “See if you can spot him. If you can get to him without tipping him off, do it. We’ll keep an eye out and back you up if needed. I think it’s time to call Steve in, too.”
“Ah man, the guy is going to start wearing a Superman shirt with the way we keep calling him in for help,” Tony complained.
“I would think he’s just glad we’re helping get the bad guys,” sweet little Pip observed. Jack leaned over and kissed him.
Treb stood up as Cade took his cell phone out of his pocket and was putting a call through to the sheriff. As he made his way through the light crowd to the bar, he scanned right to left, sweeping over all the shadows in the corners. Just as he reached the bar, he saw a sliver of white-blond hair on the edge of the shadowed doorway of a hall, connecting the dining room to the bathrooms. That was the same doorway Bret had been attacked from behind by a crazy man on his first date with the boss.
Treb gave the bartender the team’s drink order. Then he casually glanced at the table and nodded his head toward the bathrooms. Glancing back toward where the guy had been, he was surprised when his eyes met the bleach blond’s, who was now standing fully in the open, just inside the doorway. The guy turned and took off back down the hallway toward an emergency exit at the end.
Treb immediately went after the guy. He ended up pushing a few people aside and ran into someone coming out of the men’s bathroom. Finally he pushed through the emergency exit and looked around the parking lot, trying to catch a glimpse of the man. Then he saw him. The guy had made it to the edge of the lighted parking lot and was heading to a dark wooded area just beyond. Behind Treb, the rest of the team burst through the door.
“Alex, I’m going to need you to track that guy. He’s headed into the woods,” Treb called and started running across the parking lot.
At the edge of the woods Treb stopped because he wasn’t sure which way the guy had gone. He heard Alex come up behind him. “Can you tell which way he went?” Treb asked.
Alex turned on a flashlight he had gotten from the bartender on the way out. Now he studied that area, looking for a faint trail or something just not right. He loved this. It had been a terrible time when he had thought he would have to give this up. Maybe someday, but that day wasn’t today.
Lifting his hand he pointed to the left and said, “This way.” Then he started toward a tree with long grass growing around it. Some of the grass was crushed, forming a slight path like someone had walked or run through it. Knowing the guy was running and probably not caring if he stepped on twigs or pushed things aside, Alex could see just where the man had gone. After about forty yards, he found a small scrap of cloth caught on a fallen branch, signaling the bleach blond’s hasty retreat. Alex followed the easy trail another forty yards, and then up ahead he saw the man struggling valiantly to keep running all out. Unfortunately for the bleach blond, he was probably one of those people who spent most of their time partying all night and sleeping all day. The guy was slowing down and breathing so hard that Alex wondered if he was going to cough up a lung pretty soon.
Treb took off and in seconds tackled the guy. By the time Alex came up to them, the guy was facedown with his arms behind his back, wrists being held by a zip-tie.
“You carry zips with you all the time, Treb?” Alex asked.
“Of course. I never leave home without one. Hell, you never know when some stupid shit needs tying up,” Treb answered. Alex knew as far as Treb was concerned, everyone should carry a zip-tie or two on them. Alex just liked to hassle him a little bit.
The rest of the team arrived with the sheriff, who carried a powerful portable light, bringing up the rear. Tony helped Treb turn the guy over. Alex knew Treb didn’t need any help, but they all wanted answers from the guy, and people who were
in a world of pain didn’t answer questions very well. It was best Tony was there before Treb could help the man too much.
Once he was sitting, leaning back against a tree, Leo stepped forward and asked, “Why are you following me? I don’t know you and have never met you. Why would you think I would give you the time of day after what you’ve done?”
The guy looked at Leo, not with want or misguided love, but with the cunning of a fox after a chicken. “Money,” he answered. “With every picture of you or with you I take, I can make a lot of money. I only needed to get plain boy over there out of your life so you were alone and vulnerable.”
“But I’m old news,” Leo argued. “I don’t even live in Chicago anymore, and I certainly don’t go out to any of the big functions anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter. After the next big scandal surrounding you, any picture of you will be worth millions.”
Treb stepped over to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. He must have applied some pressure because the man screamed. Once he calmed down Treb asked, “What big scandal?”
The poor guy started spilling his guts then. “I don’t know. It hasn’t been decided yet. Either a health scare was going to be arranged or he was going to have the paparazzi find you in bed with a bunch of people all at once. Jeffery hasn’t decided yet. He thinks it would be easy to infect you with something or drug you and set up the scene for the paparazzi to find.”
Leo couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He only knew one Jeffrey and if what this man was saying was true, this was turning into a horror show.
In a grave voice he asked, “Are you talking about my ex, Jeffery?” Then Leo held his breath, unable to fathom what it meant if the answer was yes.
“Yes,” the man answered.
Leo's Pet [Rescue for Hire 4] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 6