Chapter 14
14
QUIN
Exhaustion tugged at me as Matt eased the Hummer into the driveway behind a fire truck. The hoses ran out from a tanker, and the firefighters were standing about fifteen feet away blasting the house with water. The one guiding the spray was a big man who had a serious expression on his handsome face. The front door was off its hinges, and my gut dropped.
Had they gone in there?
Everything was blazing.
“Oh no,” I whispered. My heart sank. I’d known the house was burning when we’d left, but I hadn’t really had the time to process what that meant. Any tension Matt had fucked out of me and apologized away came roaring back to life, sizzling inside me hotter than the fire.
“This is awful.” I tugged down the bill of my cap, only to shove it up again almost immediately because I couldn’t ignore the world.
“It’s okay,” Matt said soothingly. With a gentle grip, he squeezed the back of my neck. “It’ll be all right, I promise.”
Shaking my head, I shoved open the door of the Hummer and hopped out to stare at the chaos. Another fire truck came roaring onto the property and drove right across the lawn before the firefighters on board leaped out, but they didn’t rush too much, simply stood around talking to another firefighter that had already been here.
“The insurance will cover it.” Matt came around to stand near me. He was frowning, so maybe he was worried it would be a big problem and just didn’t want to say as much. I had no idea.
“That isn’t the point. That jerk ruined my car and now this!” I gestured at the house.
“I know.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “And I promise you that there will be hell to pay.”
Tears pricked my eyes as a firefighter came toward me. She smiled and tugged the helmet off her head before shoving her filthy hand in my direction. Her eyes were a light shade of green that reminded me of spring leaves, and her short pointy nose somehow managed to make her look elfin despite being almost a foot taller than me. We shook, and then she did the same with Matt. Soot smudged her pretty face, and guilt rolled through me. While Matt and I were having sex, these people were fighting this fire and risking their lives.
“I’m Bay, and I’m the fire captain.” She brushed her short hair off her forehead, unsticking the strands from the sweat there.
“Oh,” I said, giving her a small smile. Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I swiped at a few tears escaping the corners of my eyes. “Nice to meet you.”
She snorted and turned to stare at our burning house. “Sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances. Are you the homeowners?”
Matt and I both nodded, and he shared a small smile with me.
“I’m sorry we aren’t putting more oomph into this.” She winced at us. “But I had to make a decision. It’s a loss. I can’t risk sending anyone else inside, so we’re going to contain it and do everything we can from out here. I’m sorry. Safety hazards were too large by the time we got here. Life over material goods, you know?”
“Oh, yeah, I just.... There’s really nothing to be done?” I asked, feeling lost.
“Sorry, no. You didn’t have any pets or anyone else living with you?” She scowled at the building as if she wanted to yell at it.
“No,” Matt said when it was taking me too long to answer. Turned out I didn’t need to act very much. This was upsetting. This was devastating. We didn’t have a home right now.
“Need to get back to work.” She smacked Matt on the shoulder. “Call your insurance company. They’ll send an adjuster. The faster the better!”
“Thank you,” I said.
She smiled at me, then jogged back toward the new fire truck and the firefighters who were running out hoses.
“Well, this isn’t much of a surprise.”
Holding in a groan, I whipped around, and Matt did the same.
O’Neill walked toward us with his hands jammed into his pockets. His partner was nowhere in sight.
“What are you doing here?” Matt growled at him, but the jerk didn’t seem to mind—he even smiled at us.
“Strange.” He stopped and tugged a mini bottle of antacids out of his suit jacket pocket. He watched the firefighters while he palmed a few, then popped them in his mouth. “A body turns up on your boyfriend’s shot-to-hell car today.” He talked around crunching the meds, and I bit my lip as my stomach turned. “Now your house is burning rubble.” He winked and stuffed the bottle back into his pocket. “You have a lot going on. Care to share?” He grinned at Matt, and I grabbed Matt’s arm when his hand squeezed into a fist.
“We don’t want you here after the awful way you acted,” I snapped at him. “You’re not welcome.”
The detective chuckled. “As if anyone gives a damn. Let me tell you something. Someone might care about the shit that came out of my mouth today if it wasn’t aimed at a couple of crooks. I’ve been doing this job a long, long time, and there isn’t a union boss or judge alive who gives a single fuck what any cop says to someone like you two. You’re career criminals.”
Matt’s face flushed, and my stomach swooped.
O’Neill nodded toward our burning house. “This has mob bullshit written all over it. I can assure you of one thing, the crimes that happened today will be thoroughly investigated.” He beamed at us, and it took me a few seconds to realize he was goading Matt, hoping to get Matt to snap and give him a reason to haul Matt downtown.
I rubbed Matt’s hand until he glanced at me.
Bay turned in our direction, then walked over with a large smile. “Detective? I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”
“O’Neill,” he said, giving her a smarmy grin that had me rolling my eyes. She was pretty, but no one in their right mind would want to go on a date with him.
“Well, no one called the police in. We don’t have the fire contained yet, so we have nothing to share with you.”
“Oh, you will.”
“Off my property. Now,” Matt roared at O’Neill.
He held up his hands. “Fine.” He winked at Matt. “For now.”
Uneasily, we watched him walk away.
Bay frowned after him as if she was trying to figure him out. She nodded at us and hustled back toward her post again.
I nearly swallowed my tongue when Derek strode toward us, emerging out of the darkness like a demon into the hellish glow from the house. O’Neill shot some words at Derek that had him smiling and laughing—then flipping the cop off. When Derek reached us, he sighed.
“What a pompous asshole. He’s still a real fucking treat.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Derek reached out to squeeze my hand. “You scared the hell out of me.”
Shame made my cheeks boil. I took off my hat and fanned my face. “I’m sorry. I had my reasons.”
He glanced at Matt. “I’m sure you did.”
I chuckled when Derek sent me a wink.
Derek glanced over his shoulder. “You know, I’m tired of getting the hairy eyeball from O’Neill. You think anyone would look too hard if he disappeared?” He grinned at Matt, who only grunted and glared after the cop.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered.
We all stood around for a long time watching the house burn, but after an hour went by—and I was sure the smell of smoke would never wash out of my borrowed clothes—Derek finally slapped my shoulder and Matt’s. “Come to my house.”
Matt tipped his head back and stared up at the sky.
“Oh, that’s very generous of you,” I said, slipping into my housewife persona. Manners, manners, manners. I didn’t hate it, but right now I wanted to swear. I didn’t want to have to spend God knew how long at Derek’s house, even if it had a nice view of the lake.
“We should go to the Courtesan Hotel.” Matt cut a glance at Derek that seemed to hold the weight of the world, and he nodded slowly.
“Why?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at him. “Not that it isn’t lovely, but we’re going to need a place to stay for more than a few nights.”
A grin slowly spread across Derek’s face. “Quin, a well-known secret in New Gothenburg is about to become yours.” He stretched his arms up over his head and arched his back. “Madam Winters will put someone’s head on a pike if they shed blood in her place. It’s been declared a no-fly zone for years. Everyone likes to get a piece of ass without worrying about their head getting blown off, so that neutrality has stood for a long time.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Matt said.
“Yeah, but that’s enough info for Quin, and besides, don’t piss off Madam Winters is good advice for anyone.” Derek waggled his eyebrows.
“Topher would be insane to come after us there.” Matt lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I want you safe.”
Derek waved at the house. “ This is insane. The cops know something is up, and with this mess, they’ll dig. O’Neill has been hounding us for-fucking-ever. This is better for him than his goddamned birthday. Topher clearly doesn’t care about the heat—figuratively or literally.”
My stomach clenched as I watched the firefighters back away from the house. The top story completely collapsed. They scrambled and pointed their hoses at what seemed to be strategic positions around the mess. I grabbed Matt’s hand and clenched it hard while sparks lazily drifted on the wind, dangerous fireflies ready to take a bite out of our unsuspecting neighborhood.
“You should check on Royal and Jackson,” I said, not caring which one of them did it.
Derek glanced at me, then nodded. “Yeah, who knows how much Topher is aware of? He knew enough to track down Quin while he was out today.”
Matt pursed his lips and dragged his phone out of his pocket.
I leaned against his side as he texted.
“They’re probably fine,” he said.
They had to be okay. No one could know everything we’d been doing. I peeked at the phone when nothing happened—no response. That wasn’t good. I bit my lip as he hit Royal’s number and tried to call. He did the same with Jackson’s. When there was no answer again, we all stood around for a few more minutes.
My stomach tightened into a knot. Derek’s face was paler than I’d ever seen it, even though he didn’t look otherwise worried. The only reason I could tell Matt was concerned was because the hold he had on me was starting to make my shoulders ache.
All at once, as if one of the cinders from the fire had slid down his pants and burned him on the ass, Derek ripped his phone out of his pocket. He walked a few steps away from us to mutter low and fast at someone on the other end. When he was done, I couldn’t help the questioning grunt that slipped from my lips.
“I’m having one of Kit’s friends ask him to stay the night, and I’ll go with you and Colt to the Courtesan.”
“Derek, how do you know Kit’s friend?” I asked, unable to stop my frown.
“Leave it alone,” Matt said.
The embarrassed smile that twisted Derek’s lips had me sighing. “Your meddling in his life will blow up in your face. You can’t pull his strings forever. Trust me.”
“It’s worked so far. Come on,” he said, gesturing toward his car. I didn’t know what else to do—the house really was a total loss, and besides, it was still burning like a cheerful bonfire—so I followed him, with Matt doing his best to be a big guard dog at my side.
Derek didn’t say anything as Matt and I slid into the back seat together so that he could wrap me up in his arms. We were on the road when Derek’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he dragged it out. The smile on his face allowed some of the tension to ooze out of my body.
“Royal’s bringing Jackson to the Courtesan,” he announced, and even though there was still a lot of awfulness that Matt and Jackson had to sort out together, I thought it was relief that shone in his eyes when he glanced at me.
“We can talk to them there and make a game plan.” Matt kissed my cheek, his beard scraping roughly against my skin due to the way he leaned against me.
“Oh, thank everything,” I mumbled.
“Keep your chin up, Quin. You’re too pretty to look sad.” Derek winked in the rearview mirror, and I couldn’t stop my laugh.
“Like this?”
“You’re beautiful no matter what,” Matt whispered, then smooched my ear, and I batted at him, completely relieved now that we had a safe spot for everyone to meet up.
The staff at the Courtesan was very observant, and it took the man at the desk less than no time at all to recall our recent stay and issue us key cards for the same room. We also got a room for Derek, and one for Royal and Jackson.
“Let’s go to the bar and have a drink for the old nerves, huh?” Derek strolled away, a spring in his step.
With a shrug, I followed. A few minutes later, we were at the silver-topped bar together, and I had a chocolate martini with a stick of fancy local chocolate lying across the top. It was sprinkled with pink edible glitter that appeared purple, thanks to the soft blue lights overhead. Matt and Derek both had beers, and they were murmuring together in low voices, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“Hey, you’re new,” a man said, sliding onto a barstool at my side. He was cute, with slicked-back white blond hair, a barely there blue tank top, and enough eyeliner to make his blue eyes practically glow.
“He’s taken,” Matt said, glaring at him.
“I work here.” The stranger laughed, then slipped off the stool and went farther down the bar to talk to another man, who looked lonely but brightened up when the blond slid on the stool beside him.
“Aw, that’s nice. So many people are shy these days. They’re hitting it off already.” I nodded in their direction.
Derek whipped around to look at the men I was pointing at, then started giggling like a teenager.
“What?” I frowned at him.
Derek glanced at Matt, as if asking for permission for something, which irritated me, but then Derek leaned in front of Matt. “Do you remember me mentioning Madam Winters? The Courtesan is a high-class brothel and a hotel. That blond works here as a?—”
“Sex worker?” I said with a gasp.
Matt grinned.
“Well.” I cleared my throat and sipped my martini. “That’s interesting.”
Derek and Matt howled with laughter, and I think they both needed it, considering everything that had happened today. We sat around for a while, but after my second drink, my cheeks were warm from the alcohol. I frowned beside me at the empty seat.
Matt and Derek were caught up in some awful conversation about investing that I had no interest in, but when I rested my hand on Matt’s thigh and squeezed, I had his full attention in an instant.
“What is it, Princess?” he asked. “Is your drink okay?”
“It’s perfect, but maybe you should call Royal?”
Derek and Matt frowned together, as if they hadn’t noticed that we were still waiting in the bar.
“They could’ve checked in already?” Derek said, scowling at his watch. “Shit.”
Matt tugged out his phone and grunted as he raised it to his ear. I hated that his eyes were glassy. My husband was beginning to show signs of stress and exhaustion. He let out a bone-deep sigh and tossed his phone on the bar to glare at it. “I went directly to voicemail.”
We stared at his phone, and all at once, I wished I hadn’t had the two martinis. “Where could they be?”
Derek sent Matt a pained look.
“Either at Topher’s or dead.” Matt slowly stood up and stared at Derek. “Or wishing they were dead.”
“Royal wouldn’t go down without a fight. They’re fine,” Derek said, shooting a quick glance at me. “Maybe they had to hole up somewhere.”
Matt scowled around, cracking his knuckles. “Well, we better find out. You need to?—”
“I swear I will kick you in the balls if the next words out of your mouth are stay and here .” I picked up the stick of chocolate that had come with my second drink and took a bite out of it, munching and glaring at the same time.
Matt said nothing.
Derek only laughed and slapped Matt’s back.