Savage (Park Avenue Kings #1)

12. Lachlan

12

LACHLAN

C OOPER’S VOICE WAS the last I’d expected to hear on the other end of the line. It’d been a week since I gave him my number in the coffee shop, and to my surprise, he hadn’t used it.

Then again, he’d had a late night visit from my alter ego instead, so I’d done a great job of fucking up that whole situation.

No matter. The panic in his voice had me canceling the rest of my workday, and as I approached his building I saw him nervously pacing out the front. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest in a protective way, and he was chewing on his thumbnail as he walked back and forth. It was clear whatever had happened in his apartment was enough for him not be in there, and the second he looked up and saw me, the relief on his face was clear.

It also made me fucking hard, made that feral, protective inner beast want to scoop him up and get him the hell out of there. Somewhere safe, where no one could touch him.

“Lachlan,” he said, meeting me halfway, dropping his arms by his side, “thank you for coming. I’m sorry it’s so random. I just wasn’t sure what to do, and then you popped into my head and I remembered you’re the CEO of a security company, and?—”

“I’m glad you called, Cooper. That’s why I gave you my number.”

“Oh. Right. Well, I…I meant to call you before this. But then I thought maybe you were just being nice and I didn’t want to bother you. And I realize I should’ve probably called the police, but, well, I don’t know if they should be involved, and?—”

“Cooper.” I gripped him by his upper arms and waited until he looked me in the eyes. Eyes that were laced with apprehension. He was wound up, for good reason, but he’d made the right decision. “You did the right thing calling me.”

He nodded and then exhaled slowly. “Okay. Thank you.”

I inclined my head toward the building, careful not to automatically look up to where I knew his apartment was. “Now, why don’t you show me what happened?”

“Okay.” He started toward the door, but then spun back to face me and said, “Whatever you do, don’t say what you’re really here for when Ms. Edith asks.”

“Ms. Edith?”

“My incredibly nosy landlord. Just pretend you’re a friend.”

“Or a boyfriend?” Cooper’s cheeks colored a delicious shade of pink that made me want to feel their warmth under my lips, but I managed to restrain myself.

Not something that was usually in my wheelhouse.

“Relax, Cooper. You and I are friends. No pretending necessary.”

He swallowed and nodded, but his foot caught on a break in the sidewalk as he turned around. Before he busted it on the concrete, I sprang forward, catching him firmly by the waist.

This close to him, feeling him in my arms with his heady scent filling my lungs, brought me back to how he’d felt beneath me, the way he’d arched his back, thrusting his ass up to give me another taste?—

Fuck. Before the memory took over every rational sense I had left, I made sure he was steady on his feet and took my hands off him. I wasn’t here for sex—I was here because he’d called me to help him. And that help didn’t, unfortunately, include multiple orgasms.

Cooper blinked at me, seemingly as distracted as I was, but then led the way into his building. I hadn’t been through the entrance yet, and it was just as cramped and old as his space. We started up the staircase that creaked every other step—definitely smarter to climb through his window—and a rough-hewn voice behind us said, “And just who might this be?”

To his credit, Cooper didn’t stop, continuing the climb as he called out, “Just a friend, Ms. Edith. Nothing to worry about.”

“If I hear you two messing around, I’ll give you something to worry about.”

Over my shoulder, I gave the old woman my most charming, least-threatening smile. She clearly wasn’t expecting it, because her mouth fell open and she slammed her door shut.

Well, she wouldn’t be following us.

“I’m at the top,” Cooper said quietly. “I know it’s a trek.”

If he only knew this wasn’t my first visit to his private space.

Once we reached the fifth floor, he didn’t bother unlocking it, just opened it and gestured for me to go in first.

“Was it unlocked when you arrived?” I asked.

He nodded. “The door was open. I got pissed because I thought maybe it was Ms. Edith going through my things, but then I walked in and…” He waved a hand at the mess I could see from the hallway.

I went to walk inside, accustomed to Libertine’s kind of self-reliance when it came to handling criminal matters. But this was Cooper, and he was a normal, everyday, law-abiding citizen in New York, and I had to remind myself that there were steps and protocols for what happened when a crime was committed in the city.

“You said you thought about calling the police, but called me instead. Do you still feel that way? Because if you don’t, you should call before I go in there.”

I presented the choice as though it didn’t bother me either way, but deep down I was hoping he held tight to his original conviction. I’d been careful the night I crept through his window. But I wasn’t stupid enough to believe I hadn’t left some kind of trace evidence behind after fucking him into his mattress.

Reckless. Sloppy. Unplanned.

King’s words repeated on a loop in my head with frustrating accuracy.

“No… I… There’s something I need to show you.” Cooper gnawed on his lower lip as if trying to decide whether he was doing the right thing. “The reason I think this might’ve happened.”

“Okay, do you mind if I…” I gestured toward the open door.

“No, please, go ahead.”

I stepped through the doorway and took in the complete and utter destruction. His shit was everywhere it shouldn’t be: clothes on the floor, drawers pulled open and emptied of all contents, his sheets—the ones we’d made a mess of that night—tossed as though the perpetrator had been searching for something.

I stopped once I reached the middle of his place and turned back to see him frozen by the entrance.

“They really did a number in here. It’s a mess.”

Cooper frowned, and I wanted to slap myself upside the head. How the fuck would I know this was a mess compared to usual?

Hello, genius, Lachlan has never been here before. Remember?

But Cooper merely looked around at the chaos and nodded. “It really is. I’m usually much neater than this, I swear.”

It seemed his consternation was over the mess, not my reaction, his mind too busy trying to work out what had happened to realize my fuck-up.

“You said you had something to show me?”

“Right.” Cooper rushed inside past me and to the computer desk that sat by his window. The same window I’d watched him from, the same one I’d climbed inside of, but that was the last thing I needed to think about now.

He grabbed the backpack resting on his desk chair and unzipped it. Then he peeled back the front flap and pulled off the logo’s lining, revealing a small metallic rectangle the size of a credit card.

“I think it’s a key card.”

I reached for it, and when I turned over the cool metal item and caught sight of the symbol on it, I cursed inwardly. I knew exactly what the fuck I was holding.

Cooper was right, this was a key card—one that belonged to the dealers I’d been surveying the night I ran into him. The same dealers who were putting people in morgues after one hit from their product.

No wonder they’d tossed Cooper’s place. One of those fuckwads I’d laid out in the alley must’ve dropped it.

But how did Cooper get a hold of it? He’d been too busy trying not to die.

“Where did you get this?”

Cooper’s eyes widened at my harsh tone, but then he said, “I, uh, don’t know. I must’ve picked it up by accident somewhere.”

Bullshit he didn’t know. He just didn’t want to tell me for whatever reason. But that was fine. I didn’t need him to go into details; I knew most of them already. It was clear he’d gotten his hands on it sometime during the commotion that night, maybe when he dropped his phone. It didn’t matter either way—he had the damn thing, and I knew that was the reason behind his apartment’s ransacking.

I turned to take another look at the place, sweeping my eyes over every upturned item. “Was anything taken?” I asked, just to cover my bases, and Cooper shook his head. “But you think they were here for this?” I held the card up between my fingers.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you just said you think this is why they were here.” I knew I was pushing, but I wanted to see if he’d give me anything more, if he’d admit why he was in that alley that night and clear up at least one of the mysteries that had been plaguing me since I laid eyes on him. “Why would you think that? What is this?”

Cooper swiped his tongue along his lower lip. “I don’t know what it is.”

So now we were both dealing in half-truths. The only difference was, I knew it. He didn’t.

“It’s the only thing that’s different that I can think of,” he rushed out. “I mean, if they were going to rob the place, why leave my computer? Or the cash in the jar over on the counter? They didn’t take any of that, and, well, it appears they were looking for something. Right?”

I nodded and took another look at the card in my hand. “It definitely seems that way, and if they went to all this trouble to find it, I think it’s a safe bet that they aren’t going to stop.”

Cooper’s fingers tightened around the backpack. “You think they’re going to come back?”

“It’s highly likely.” Drug dealers in general weren’t the kind of people to let some random person walk around with anything that belonged to them. They’d somehow connected Cooper to the failed deal and tracked his ass down. He wasn’t safe here, and there was no way I was going to leave him behind. “I think it might be best if you come with me for now. Until we can look into this some more and make sure you’re safe.”

Cooper’s eyes widened at my suggestion.“Come with you? Like, you mean stay with you?”

“Yes. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

Cooper’s eyes shifted past my shoulder to the window, then back to me, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was worried his masked stranger wouldn’t be able to find him if he said yes.

Now that was a laugh.

“Um, how long do you think I’ll be gone?”

“However long it takes.”

He took another look around the room, and not wanting him to say no, I decided to help him out a little with his decision. I took a step toward him and reached for the backpack, brushing my fingers over the back of his. The connection between us crackled to life as it always did, and I wasn’t above using it.

“I can see you’re scared,” I said. “You have every reason to be. But this is what I do. That’s why you called me.”

“You’re right.” Cooper’s blue eyes locked with mine, his concern dissipating. “You’re absolutely right.”

“Good. Then why don’t you throw some clothes in this backpack, and I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

He nodded then moved around the room grabbing clothes and stuffing them into his bag. I slipped the card in my wallet and watched him closely, tracking his every move freely now instead of from the shadows.

It was strange watching him in the light of day like this, only adding to the illusion that there were two of me. This version of me could be the protector he’d met at a coffee shop, and something about that turned me on almost as much as being the masked stranger who unleashed Cooper’s wildest desires in the darkness of night.

“I’m ready,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts.

I refocused on the gorgeous man standing in front of me in his jeans, hoodie, and sneakers, his backpack slung over his shoulder and his computer in his hands. I had no business taking him where I was about to, especially considering he was a journalist. But I was already in King’s bad books, and I hadn’t saved Cooper just to have him wind up dead.

“There’s one last thing I have to ask before we go,” I said.”

Cooper looked at me expectantly.

“Do you trust me?”