For a split second, I thought things were about go very differently than they did. Case had reached out an arm and had curled it around my bicep. Instead of anything that I had anticipated, however, he instead, just yanked me up to my feet until I was standing straight and then pulled me even closer until he was looming over me.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Suarez. I know exactly what you want, and I know exactly what you think you’re doing to try to get it. This, though?” He punctuated the question by letting his eyes run up and down me. “All that just now? That’s not going to work. All your little threats are nothing because, if you tried to get me in trouble over this, I’m going to explain to the sheriff that I was investigating a lead, which is what I am doing, and I’m going to come out smelling like roses.” Case paused to shrug. “Sure, he might not love it, but, ultimately, I’m just going to be a good cop trying to do a good job even when it meant doing some punk a favor. So, let’s just cut that shit out because it doesn’t get you anywhere. Second of all, the other thing you’re trying? This whole papi thing? Well, you sure must think very highly of yourself, but I can promise it’s as dead an end as the first thing you tried.”
With all that said, Case put me back against the car with a little shove. I think, more than anything, that was what pushed me over from teasing to real annoyance, and I felt that old, familiar spark of anger inside of my stomach again.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Your jurisdiction. Your promotion. Nothing can interfere with that,” I said, wrenching my arm out of his grip. “Not even what’s right. What’s right only sort of matters in Worthington, and it apparently doesn’t matter at all if it involves crossing the Warton county line. But, that’s fine,” I wrinkled my lip and shrugged, trying to convince him that I didn’t give too much of a shit either way what he decided to do. “Stay back and get your promotion. I didn’t need you to come with me in the first place and, if you won’t go any further, that’s fine, too. I’m happy to keep looking by myself.”
“Then, we’re about to have the same conversation that we had outside of the precinct. You don’t know what you’re doing, you’re not going to be able to find too much of anything and anything that you do find isn’t going to help your uncle, no matter what you do.” Case stepped back and seemed to ease off some, looking more tired than anything right now. “Get in the damn car. I’m taking you back. I can’t control what you decide to do once we get back to Worthington but, please. Just get back in the car. You probably have school or work or something that you have to go to back home for, anyway.”
“Nope,” I defiantly tossed my head at him. “I really don’t. I called in sick and I emailed all my professors. That means that you don’t get to fake-worry about my job or my attendance as a way of getting out of what you know you should do. If you cared about doing what you should do, anyway.”
It was my turn to cross my arms and hold my ground. “If I’m getting in that car, we’re either going to Warton or we’re finding the nearest bus stop or something, but I’m not quitting, and I’m not starting all over again in Worthington. I can’t afford to. Bus stop or Warton. Warton or bust. Your choice, gringo. You can’t compromise on things like justice or family, or at least I can’t,” I said, ending the conversation and planting my eyes on the gas station a few paces off, anything to avoid looking at him.
I guess he could have lied and said that we were going to Warton and then just turned right around and gone back to Worthington. I guess he could have told me that that was fine, too, and just left me stranded at a bus station in Gaton. Hell, I guess he could have tackled me when no one was looking and said that we were going back to Worthington one way or the other. Yes, he growled in frustration, walked off a few paces, and muttered to himself. Yes, I was sure that one or some combination of all of the above was about to happen. But to my surprise, it didn’t. He was pacing when, suddenly, he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, angrily stomping back to me so I’d hear him, I guess.
“Hi. Shelby? Yeah, it’s Case. Listen, I wanted to let you know that I’m not going to be in today. Yeah, I’m kind of running a fever, and I hate to knock anyone else out by giving them what I’ve got. Yeah, I’ve got soup and stuff. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll call him when I get back. All right. Thanks. You too, bye,” he said in clipped tones, until he was done and clicked the conversation over.
As he spoke, he didn’t take his eyes off of me and kept on staring at me angrily even after the conversation was done. Eventually, he just shifted his eyes over to the other side of the car. That was all I needed. I knew what that meant. I slunk around the front of the car to the passenger side and climbed in, knowing better than to say anything right now.
He pumped gas, went inside, came back out with a bag, let himself into the car and slammed the door shut. Turning to me, he stuck a finger up, almost in my face, and breathed deep before starting.
“Anything, and I mean anything that you find on your own will be completely inadmissible and in no way helps your uncle. If you try to get one over on me again, if you threaten to snitch on me again, if you threaten to go off on your own again, you are walking back to Worthington by yourself, and I’d better not see you around the precinct.”
“We’re going?” I said, sort of in shock, in a voice a little smaller than I was used to hearing come out of my mouth. Is he really not as much of a asshole as he comes off as? I thought in the back of my head, even when his finger was still in my face.
“Oh, yeah.” Case scoffed. “We’re going. Because for all your big talk, you don’t know shit. You don’t know what this badge means to me, and you don’t know how far I’ve gone for justice, for family, and all of that. This could get dangerous, and you’re too young to even know it so, no, I don’t want your blood on my hands just because I let you go off and do something stupid. But,” he said, jabbing his finger in the air at me, “when I say we’re going, I mean, you’re a stupid kid and you’re not in charge here. We’re going in the sense that you’re not leaving my sight. You don’t talk, ask questions, sit, stand, open that mouth of yours, eat, sleep, piss, or breathe too much before I say so and, even then, up until the point when I tell you to stop. You hear?”
I did. I did hear. I heard it, even when my heart was beating so hard I felt a little woozy and it was all I could hear over the pounding in my own ear drums. I heard, alright.
“Yeah. Yes.” I said, swallowing thickly. “Yes, sir. Anything you say,” I said, more seriously than I’d probably said anything in my life.
“Good,” Case said, starting the car and driving us out of the gas station. “First things first. Get your phone out and start looking for a hotel room. Warton County’s a drive and we can hit the road in the morning.”
“A hotel room? Just one?” I said, actually trying to make good on my word about listening for once.
“Well, hell, I’m not made out of money and you freaked the fuck out the last time I suggested spending any kind of money, so I figured just one. We’ll split the bill. And, Suarez?”
I didn’t answer but looked at him out of the corner of my eye as I reached for my phone.
“Don’t you try to pull anymore of your bullshit with me.”
8
After laying down the law, Nico was quiet as we hauled ourselves into the room. There was a sliding glass door that opened out to a balcony, and outside a street light illuminating the darkness and casting a long orange shadow over the beds. It was fairly basic, two beds separated by a simple bedside table with a lamp and an alarm clock. The bathroom was just off the entrance to the room.
I flicked the lamps on around the room and flopped down on the far bed after sliding off my boots and socks. It had been a long day, and more than anything, I was ready for bed. Nico followed suit on the other bed and turned on his side, his head in his hand, to look at me.
“So, what’s next?”
“Next? What do you mean?”
“W
ell, do you want to go out?”
“Out? We just got in!” God, I sounded like Noah or something. I was tired, true, but I usually was willing to go out on the town. No, it wasn’t that. It was that I couldn’t imagine being able to keep my hands off of Nico if I wasn’t stone cold sober. I just imagined what it would be like at a club either having to watch him grind shamelessly on some other lucky man or trying and failing to keep him off of me.
“Ugh, you’re such an old man,” Nico complained, but he didn’t make any offer to move from his spot on the bed. “Well, we can at least watch a movie or something, right? Just hang out?”
I snorted. “This isn’t a vacation, Suarez.”
“You’re telling me. Like hell I’d come to Gaton for a vacation. Miami, absolutely. Pero, Gaton? No way.”
“Then I don’t know why you think we’re hanging out. This is business. Get some rest. We’re gonna have a busy day tomorrow.”
Nico stood up and started pulling off his clothes, piece by piece. I could see the tattoos covering the muscles of his arms and the way his boxer briefs cupped his ass before looking up at the ceiling instead.
“What the hell are you doing, Suarez!?”
“Que? What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ You said to go to sleep and I’m going to sleep.”
“And, that was necessary?” I asked.
“You may like sleeping in denim and belts and shit, but fuck that. I’m going for comfort.” He crawled back into the bed, pulling the covers up around his neck and turning his back to me. “‘This is business,’” he mocked, lowering his voice before tsking and continuing. “Whatever, cabron imbecil. Could be pleasure too, but what the hell do I know? Idiota...” There was more, but I couldn’t make it out as he transitioned into mumbling Spanish into his pillows.
I turned out the light and rolled over to face away from him completely.
“Night, Suarez.”
There was a heavy sigh and then a begrudging. “Buenas noches.”
It wasn’t long before I heard his breathing slow into the steady rhythm of sleep, but now, I felt too amped up to follow suit. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, letting my mind wander. Today had been frustrating for us and I was hoping that tomorrow, I would be able to get some answers for both our sakes. I still wasn’t sure whether or not I thought this was all for nothing, but if this Nina had seen what happened, could clear Nico’s uncle, well, then, I figured I had an obligation to get to the bottom of it, especially since I was the person that originally brought Oliver Suarez in.
I thought about the case for a while, which of course led to me thinking about the man sprawled out in the other bed, now softly snoring. Knowing that he was interested was gratifying, but more than that, it was appealing. I’d never had much trouble pulling guys, but it was nice to know after all this time, I still had it. It was frustrating, too, though, how much I couldn’t let myself have it in this case.
I wandered back to what I’d imagined this afternoon, this morning, and if I were going to be honest, what I’d been imagining since meeting Nico. I imagined what he’d look like, fucked out and covered in my come, what he’d feel like inside once I’d teased and used him over and over again, what he’d sound like half-begging me to stop because he was exhausted or sore and half-begging me to keep going because he couldn’t get enough of it, either. I wondered what he’d taste like when I finally let him come, what the sweat at the nape of his neck would smell like if I had him tied up and moaning around a gag crammed in his mouth.
My cock was hard. It ached in my jeans. I slipped my hand down to squeeze it through my zip. I toyed with the idea taking it out and stroking myself under the warm blankets, but that felt wrong, somehow. It would just be one step closer to something I wasn’t going to allow myself to have. Instead, I closed my eyes, forcing myself to sleep.
* * *
“Hey, Charlie? It’s Case.”
“Cap! How the hell are you these days?”
I smiled. Charles Bowers was an old friend from basic, years ago. He was my opposite in a lot of ways. Charlie never had a bad word to say about anything, always managed to stay happy-go-lucky even when we were puking our guts out after fifteen-mile-long runs at daybreak. He’d left the service a few years after me and took a job with the FBI. Some of the other guys we’d graduated with said that it was hard to imagine Charlie keeping secrets for a living, but I knew first hand I could trust him with my life. He’d called me captain for years, even after he’d received the rank, himself.
“Can’t complain, can’t complain.”
“How’s that back treating you?” he asked.
“Eh, I’m not falling apart yet, so I’ll take what I can get. Hey, look, Charlie, I need a favor.”
Charlie chuckled. “Yeah, sure, Cap. What do you need?”
“There’s a woman I’m trying to track down for a case.” I was out on the balcony, and in the cold dew of morning, I pulled my coat closed tighter around me.
“Yeah? What case?”
“You remember that shit with Nora Grant couple years back?”
Charlie whistled. “Good Lord, that again? Thought that got settled years ago.”
“Yeah, well. There’s some new evidence that’s come to light.” I gave him Nina Thurston’s name and waited while he ran it through his system.
“Well, it’s not perfect news. Looks like she’s not on the grid right now. I’ve got an address in Gaton as her last address.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, already checked that one.”
“Yeah, I figured since it’s so close. She’s got some family, though, out in Warton County.” Bingo. That matched with the information Mr. Walker had given us yesterday. He gave me the address, and I wrote it down in my notepad.
“Thanks, Charlie. I really appreciate it. If you’re ever down this way, I owe you a beer or two,” I said.
“You sure as hell do,” Charlie agreed. “I’m surprised you’re reopening all this. It was hell the first time round, if memory serves.”
“You’re not lying,” I agreed.
“I hope you know what the hell you’re doing, Cap.” Charlie’s bright voice seemed subdued, concerned.
I looked behind myself into the room and saw Nico’s tanned shoulders, the tangle of the sheet wrapped around his slender waist, his bright, tawny hair against the pillow.
“Me too, Charlie. Me too.” I said my goodbyes and opened the door to go back in the room as quietly as I could.
By the time I was coming out of the bathroom, ready for the day, Nico was sitting up in the bed stretching his arms over his head and scrubbing at his eyes.
“Mm, morning,” he greeted.
“I got some news. Looks like we’re headed in the right direction.”
I explained what I’d found out while Nico yawned and got up. “Good. Well, it’s better than nothing, anyway,” he said.
Nico stumbled to the shower, and I gathered up all my things.
I’d just finished when the door swung open. Nico strolled to the bed behind me.
“Do you want to grab breakfast before…” I turned around, and the words died on my lips. Nico was completely naked, his back to me. Immediately, my eyes locked on the dimples at the base of his spine, and then slipped down to his ass. It was just as fucking gorgeous as I’d imagined, and I watched briefly as the muscles bunched and flexed as he moved to get his clothes.
Suddenly, Nico turned around and he caught my eyes roving over him. I could have stopped, but there wasn’t any point now. He’d already caught me. I followed a bead of water down from his tight, brown nipples across the flat of his stomach, and down into the thatch of dark brown curls around his cock. I kept watching as his cock stiffened under my gaze.
“I meant it.”
Nico’s voice broke my focus, but still, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
“What?”
“I meant it. What I told you.” Nico started moving toward me.
“What?” I asked again, fina
lly looking away to meet his gaze.
“I’ll do anything you say, Landon.” His voice was softer than I remember having ever heard it. I don’t remember him saying my name before. Now, I wanted to hear it every way I could. Panting, sighing, screaming, moaning. All of it. He was moving closer and closer. His skin was still hot from the shower, and he was close enough that I could feel it bleeding through my T-shirt.
His cock was straight out, and I looked down to see it just barely nudging against the leg of my jeans. It would be so easy to reach out and stroke him as fast as I could before gripping the base to keep him hanging there on the edge as long as I could. I could do it. I could. He was right there. My own cock was hard in my jeans, the bulge too obvious to hide, not that I’d wanted to.
“I could take care of that, if you wanted,” he offered. I looked up at him. His face was flushed, his lips parted. “Tell me to.” I couldn’t tell if that was meant to be an order or a plea. Sounded a lot like the second.
I was tempted. God, I was past tempted. I could feel the beginnings of a tremble in my hands and instead balled them into fists at my sides. For the first time, I realized possibly that there could be some other motive for all this, the flirting, the admissions, the passes.
“You don’t have to do this,” I bit out.
His eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“You don’t have to do this for me to help you, Nico,” I assured, backing away.
Nico smiled. Really smiled, not a smirk, but a real smile. Still, there was something unreadable in his expression. He turned and started pulling on his clothes before answering.
“That’s not why I do that, you know,” he said into the silence.
“Yeah? Then why do it?”
“Because,” he said before pulling his sunglasses on. “You’re fucking hot, Landon Case.”
Worth A Shot: Worth It: Book 5 Page 5