So, he stared.
And stared.
And stared.
A memory began niggling in the back of his mind, one of a sterile hospital waiting room, his parents sobbing, a ten-year-old Jaden huddled in the corner as he watched and then yelling when someone stumbled into the room, someone whose clothes were torn and covered with blood, someone who collapsed onto the floor at their feet and kept sobbing I’m sorry, I’m sorry, over and over as doctors and nurses rushed in to attend to him.
Jaden gasped and his ass slid off the bed with a thump onto the floor. “That was you,” he whispered.
Colby flinched but other than that, he didn’t move.
“Say something,” Jaden whispered because now he needed to hear everything this man had to say.
“He was my best friend, Jaden. I loved him, so fucking much.” Colby whispered.
“You, you killed him.”
Colby’s head moved slightly in a nod, “Yeah, I did. And not a day goes by that I don’t think about what I could’ve done differently, what I should have done,” he lifted his head slightly to look at Jaden out of pain-filled eyes, “I lost my heart that day, Jade.”
“Yeah, well, I lost my fucking brother,” Jaden spat and then he clamped a hand over his mouth, “Oh god, you, we, you fucked me. Why? Why would you….oh fuck,” he mumbled and then he half crawled, half ran to the bathroom and began heaving the pizza slices that he’d eaten for dinner into the toilet.
He was still occasionally heaving and spitting into the porcelain bowl when he heard the water running. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Colby slide to the floor onto his ass, leaning his back onto the cabinet under the sink and setting a small glass of water onto the floor while he clutched a wet washrag in his hand. But he still wouldn’t make eye contact with Jaden.
Jaden rinsed his mouth with water, spit, flushed the toilet and then sat on his ass leaning against the opposite wall and staring at Colby.
He grabbed the washrag out of Colby’s outstretched fingers, wiped it over his face and then said, “Tell me….everything.”
Colby’s eyes finally lifted, “I will.”
“Now, Colby. Not eventually, not next week, not tomorrow, fucking right now.”
Colby scrubbed a hand over his face as he nodded, “Yeah, okay, yeah,” he mumbled.
“Did you know it was me?” Jaden blurted out.
Colby’s head snapped up.
“When we fucked in that bathroom, did you know who I was?”
Guilt washed over Colby’s face, letting Jaden know the answer before the whispered, “Yeah, I did,” fell from the man’s lips.
Jaden squeezed his eyes shut, “Why, Colby? Why would you do that?”
“I……shit.”
Jaden kicked his foot out, connecting it with Colby’s shin as he shouted, “Fucking tell me!”
Colby slid a hand through his hair, “I had no intention of it going that far, Jaden. I…..fuck.”
“What?”
“The way you kept watching me. Every time those hazel eyes of yours glanced my way, it felt like a fucking caress over my body. By the time you brushed past me to walk into that bathroom, I felt like I was about to fucking explode.”
“So, instead of, oh, I don’t know, fucking mentioning that you were the guy who murdered my brother you decided to fuck me instead? I still don’t fucking get it, Colby,” he growled.
Confusion-filled eyes looked over at him, “I wanted you, Jaden. I’ve wanted you for a long fucking time.”
As Colby’s words tried to sink into his brain, Jaden’s eyes blinked and blinked and blinked until he finally shook his head slightly and said, “I’m sorry, what?”
Colby’s eyes returned to his fingers, “I’ve been watching you for a long time, Jaden, years actually.”
Jaden leaned forward and slapped at Colby’s hands, “Look at me when you talk to me, goddamn it!” he shouted and then he pushed to his feet, “You know what? Never mind. Fuck this shit. I’m outta here.”
Colby watched as Jaden stomped out of the bathroom. He listened to the sounds of him angrily puling his clothes on and zipping up his bag and then the door as it opened and slammed shut.
He wanted to go after the man, he wanted to stop him, he wanted to try to make him listen….but it felt like he was glued to the fucking floor.
He couldn’t move to save his fucking life.
He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and didn’t even care when he felt the tears sliding out of the corners of his eyes.
Seven
Brent and JD walked back into a room that was so thick with tension you could feel it.
Kingston was watching Rowan.
And Rowan was looking everywhere in the room but at Kingston.
So, the issue seemed to be from Rowan’s end, not Kingston’s. Interesting, Brent thought as he watched the two men.
Brent leaned over the back of the chair at the head of the table, putting his palms down flat and said, “Tell me.”
Panic flickered in Rowan’s eyes as his head snapped around to look at Brent, “What?”
“Tell me the history between you two.”
Rowan opened his mouth a few times and then started to rise from his seat. Brent knew the man was about to walk out and walk away from the team, and he wasn’t going to stop him.
But Rowan froze when Kingston began speaking. “We served together, same unit, twelve years.”
“So, you two are friends?” Brent asked.
Row and King’s eyes were locked together, Rowan’s jaw locked tight as he stared.
“Not exactly,” King finally said, “He’s kind of an asshole so we never hung out during our down time.”
Brent looked between the two men. He noticed the slight smirk that flitted across Rowan’s face before he locked his mask back in place and looked away. He knew King’s words for the lie they were but he decided to hold his tongue…for now.
Brent took a deep breath and went with his gut, “Okay, here’s how this is going to go. We’d like you two to join us but we’re not going to swap any other partners around because what we’ve got going now works, really well so moving folks around doesn’t make any sense. If you two are willing to partner up, we’d like to have you. But, given your history together, it’ll be probationary for ninety days. We’ll re-evaluate after that, if you two don’t kill each other first. Agreed?”
The two men stared at each other again and Brent had to bite back his smile at what he was witnessing. Two stubborn-ass men, each one trying to outlast the other.
Finally, King dipped his chin slightly, “I’m game if he is.”
Rowan frowned as he said, “Fine, me too.”
“Excellent. Let’s get you two a case to keep you busy, yeah?” he said as he picked up the folders in a stack on the table and began glancing through them.
“Um, where would I be staying? Do I need to find a place? And I don’t have transportation yet,” Rowan said.
Brent smirked slightly, “Our partners always live together. It saves time if you have middle of the night calls and what not.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. We’ve got a place for you. The apartment above the garage is available. It’s got two bedrooms. You two can handle that, right? Or would you prefer a one-bedroom RV?”
Rowan’s frown grew deeper and Brent was a little worried the man might break some teeth with how tightly his jaw was clenched. But Row took a deep breath, let it out and mumbled, “The two-bedroom place would be good, thanks.”
“Excellent. And you can use JD’s Impala. He was planning on getting rid of it anyways.”
“I….” JD started to say but stopped when Brent clamped a hand over his mouth. “Yes, you were,” he said just before he planted a kiss on JD’s cheek.
JD glared at him but didn’t try to say anything more.
“Excellent. And I think this case would be a perfect start for you two,” he said as he held up the file so JD could read it over
his shoulder. JD’s eyes went wide as he gasped then he looked over at Brent, threw his hands up in the air and said, “Have at her. I’m out of this before it becomes a clusterfuck. You’re running point on this one, babe. If it goes fubar, it’s all on you.”
Brent grinned, “I can live with that. Come on, boys. Let’s get your things over to the apartment and I’ll discuss the case with you there.”
The two men slowly rose from the table and began walking towards the end. When Rowan frowned over at King like he didn’t like how close the man was getting to him, King swept his hand out and said, “After you, partner.”
Brent walked out, followed by Rowan and finally Kingston, whose heart was pounding so hard in his chest he was surprised the whole house couldn’t hear it.
Here we go, he thought, as he stared at Rowan’s ass in his jeans and remembered how it felt to sink deep inside of it. Here we fucking go, indeed.
Eight
Colby had no idea how much time had passed before he finally forced his body off of the bathroom floor. Could’ve been a few minutes, it could just have easily been a few hours. Either way, when he stepped out into the hotel room, what he saw was the absolute last thing that he ever expected to see.
Jaden was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the closed door. His eyes were closed and his cheeks were damp from his tears.
Motherfucking hell.
Colby silently groaned as he took a few more steps into the room and sat on the end of the bed.
“Do you know what’s bothering me the most?” Jaden whispered without opening his eyes.
“What?”
Jaden’s eyes popped open and the pain in them felt like a punch to Colby’s gut, “That was the best fucking sex I’ve ever had in my life,” he said with a sob, “What does that say about me that the man who brought me the most pain I’ve ever felt also brought me the most pleasure?”
Colby’s heart broke even more. He longed to go to Jaden and hold him tightly in his arms but he knew he’d be rejected if he did, so he kept his ass planted on that scratchy, ugly yellow bedspread.
“God, Jaden, what can I say, what can I do to make this better? Tell me what you need me to do, please.”
“Tell me about that day, Colby. I need to hear it….everything.”
Colby’s eyes went wide with surprise, “You mean you don’t know?”
Jaden shook his head, “I was ten years old, Colby. My parents didn’t think I needed to know details. They just felt it necessary to tell me my brother was dead, that’s it.”
“But….not even when you were older?”
Jaden looked away, “My family doesn’t talk about Westley….ever. It’s as if he never existed.”
“God, Jaden, that’s just so…….”
Jaden’s gaze snapped back to Colby’s, “Wrong? You think I don’t know that? I had an older brother, Colby. I was a baby brother and then in the blink of an eye I was an only son. Because of you, Colby! You took him from me, you killed him!” he shouted and then he lurched forward from his spot on the floor.
Colby didn’t move. If Jaden wanted to beat the shit out of him, he’d take it. He deserved it.
But all Jaden managed to do was swing a fist wildly in the air as he flopped onto his stomach.
And then every ounce of anger in the man turned to despair right before Colby’s eyes. Jaden cried out and then curled into a fetal position, wrapping his arms around his mid-section like he was trying to hold some of himself inside. And then he cried. Fuck did he cry.
Colby couldn’t have stopped himself if he tried.
He dropped to his side behind Jaden and pulled him into his arms.
“Shhh, I’ve got you, babe, I’ve got you,” he whispered into Jaden’s hair.
And if Colby had his way, he’d never let him go.
Nine
Rowan stepped into the apartment behind Brent and looked around. King should probably do the same thing but he couldn’t seem to pry his eyes from the ass of the man in front of him.
Rowan Bates.
He was partnering with Rowan Bates.
His former fellow unit member, his former best friend, his former secret lover……and the love of his life. And the man who couldn’t stand to be in the same room as King. The man who’d tried, unsuccessfully, to take out several restraining orders to keep him away. The man who’d moved many times to try, unsuccessfully, to keep King from finding him.
The man who he knew (hoped) he could win back if he could just get the man to fucking listen to him.
“King?”
King’s eyes snapped up and he realized that both men were staring at him and that Rowan had asked him a question.
Rowan had fucking talked to him and his brain had been so busy taking a trip down memory lane that he missed it.
“I’m sorry, what?” he mumbled.
Rowan sighed as he rolled his eyes.
“He asked if you care which bedroom you have,” Brent said.
King’s eyes flitted to the hall that he knew led to the bedrooms, “Oh, um, no. I rarely sleep so it doesn’t matter to me.”
Brent’s eyebrow shot up, “Rarely sleep? Is this going to be a problem? I need my guys focused and on point.”
King’s heart started beating harder in his chest. How was he supposed to tell this man, his new boss, that he had barely slept since that night almost a year ago, the night that Rowan Bates had walked away from him, from them, and had taken King’s heart with him? How could he tell Brent that a man without a heart didn’t seem to need sleep? How could he tell him that the dreams that came every fucking time he closed his eyes, dreams of him and Rowan together, tore him up so bad that his body had decided that no sleep was the healthier option?
“Focus won’t be a problem, I guarantee that,” he said to Brent – because saying anything else would’ve been a death sentence for his career.
Brent’s experienced eyes scrutinized him for a few seconds before he nodded once, “Good,” he said. Brent walked over to couch and slapped the file folder onto the table as he sat down. “So, this case is a little dicey,” he said as he opened it up and began thumbing through the pages. He stopped at a photo. Rowan sat down next to Brent, glanced at the photo and then his head whipped over to King, his face white as a sheet.
What the ever-living fuck? King thought as he walked into the living room. He stopped on the opposite side of the table and then glanced down. He was barely able to hold back the curse that wanted to fall from his lips when he saw their former CO, the man who had ruined both of their lives.
David Campbell, CO, bigot, homophobe and all-around asshole.
“You two know him?” Brent said as his head came up and he looked between the two men.
Was this some kind of test or some shit? Brent and his team must’ve looked into his and Row’s backgrounds. He had to already know the answer to his question.
King’s eyes flickered to Row’s before he said with a growl, “Yeah, we know the fucker. What did he do now?”
“He’s in the private sector now, part owner of a club, but we believe he might be involved in sex trafficking,” he paused for a moment to let that sink in before he added, “of young girls and boys.”
King’s fists clenched at his sides, “Are you fucking kidding me? That shit ain’t funny, dude. He’s into sex with underage girls and boys? That dickhead was the biggest homophobe I’ve ever met.”
“Well, people hide what’s in their hearts all the time, don’t they?” Brent said as he looked between the two men.
Son of a bitch, were they that transparent, or more accurately, was he? King worried as he glanced at Row.
“What kind of club is it?”
“BDSM mostly, in Atlanta.”
“What the fucking fuck? That guy was the most anal-retentive, straight-laced prick and now you’re telling me he had a hidden kink side? I guess that just goes to show you that you really don’t know someone, doesn’t it?”
The moment those w
ords left King’s mouth, he wished he could take them back because he knew without a doubt what was coming next.
“No, you really don’t,” Rowan said and King knew the man was looking at him right now, was waiting for King to glance his way. But he couldn’t. If he did both Brent and Row would be looking straight inside of him and seeing his crumbled soul.
“What’s the name of the club?” King mumbled as he stared into the empty kitchen.
“Shooters.”
King’s head whipped around, “What?” he said with a gasp.
“Shooters, why? Have you heard of it?”
King couldn’t contain himself. He knew that if he didn’t step away for a moment and try to calm down he was going to punch a wall, a fucking wall in the apartment owned by his boss.
Yeah, that would get him points right there.
With a growl he spun around and walked into the kitchen to look for water or some shit just to keep his hands busy. Behind him he heard Rowan say, “I haven’t heard of the club but I know where he got the name. One of the guys in our unit was called Shooter, for a few reasons.”
Yeah…for a few reasons, King thought bitterly. The guy was an expert marksman. He could take out an insurgent from over a mile away. And the dude was incredibly proud of how far he could shoot his jizz when he came and had no problem freaking anyone out by showing them. Their barracks could be packed with men and Shooter would whip out his dick and start jerking. Anyone who knew the guy knew better than to try to get him to stop, if you did, he’d aim for you when he came. If you shut up and got the fuck out of the way, he would just shoot on the floor. And, damn, the man could shoot. They measured once and it was almost twelve feet.
And Shooter was also the guy that Rowan thought King had cheated on him with. Neither King nor Shooter were ever named in the video but the tattoo of a rifle on left side of the man’s neck could been seen if you looked close enough at the man who was leaning up against the wall. And for the man kneeling at the other guys feet? It was the hat. That god damn, fucking hat.
Thunderstorms on the Horizon Page 4