Chapter Twenty-One
Liam
By the time I burst through the doors of Masters and Loft at a little after six, I’m running on rage and fumes.
“Okay, tell me who we need to kill.”
Zed is sitting at the receptionist desk out front with his feet propped on the desktop. We haven’t had an actual receptionist in, well, ever. Not that it’s seemed to hurt business. Bev goes through the voicemails every morning with only a minimal amount of annoyance.
Really, though, we should hire a new receptionist.
“Okay, first things first.” He slides a cup of coffee my way. “You look like shit.”
“I don’t need coffee,” I insist before taking a gulp that burns my throat. It does nothing to cauterize the guilt leaking from every pore. I’m pulled tight as a competition crossbow after what happened with Ravi last night.
All night. All. Fucking. Night.
What in the hell was I thinking?
Seeing him tied up and begging for hours punished me at least as much as it punished him. Nearly drove me out of my damn skull. I could have buried myself in that sweet body while he was immobile and helpless.
If I had, there’d have been no turning back. As it is, I’m barely rational.
“How did the auction go?” My friend is regarding me with concern but also a clear certainty.
“You already know, don’t you?”
“Bev managed to convince Daniel Corvus that it would be in everyone’s best interest to share the client list from the auction last night—who got in, and more importantly, who didn’t.
She figured whoever’s after Ravi might be unhinged enough to have been a red flag for Daniel as well, and they wouldn’t have gotten in.
Of course, this is under the agreement that the information would be kept in-house.
And yes, we also got the list of who did get in, which included who won.
So.” His eyebrows bounce up and down. “How did it go?”
Dropping into a chair, I thrust one hand into my hair and pull slightly, hoping the pain will help wake me up. “I’m not sure how to answer.”
“Did you fuck him?”
No, I gave him pleasure until it became pain and then left him. “Not…exactly.”
Zed knows damn well there are plenty of ways to play that don’t involve penetrative sex. Still, he looks at me as if he can’t fathom what I mean. “What did you do?”
“Dragged him to my bedroom, tied him up, and edged him for…” I check my watch. “Four and a half…maybe closer to five hours. I don’t remember exactly what time we started.”
“No wonder you look like shit. Did you at least talk after? Get things out in the open?”
When I don’t answer, the curiosity on his face morphs into judgment. Judgment I’m not used to seeing from my best friend.
“Liam, you didn’t.”
“I untied him before I left.”
“So you gave him what was most likely his first real sexual experience ever and then left him there by himself? Who are you right now?”
I’m not sure I know. Couldn’t even look at my own face in the rearview on the way here. “You sent a text. You said you had important information.” The squeeze of my hand on the to-go cup causes scalding coffee to slosh over my hand. “Fuck!”
“Okay, so”—Zed rubs his hand over his forehead—“are you honestly telling me right now that if I hadn’t sent a message saying we had information, you would have stuck around and had an honest conversation with him?
The guy you knocked my fucking teeth out over?
Got to the dentist in time, by the way, thanks for asking. ”
Again, I don’t answer. I don’t have anything good to say.
“Jesus Christ. Okay.” He drags his feet off the desk, his boots landing with a heavy thud on the floor. “I’m not going to give you shit about this because I suspect you’re already doing it to yourself, but I hope you know you have one hell of a mess to clean up. It’s not like you to be a coward.”
“I’ve got twenty-four hours with him.” I try to rub the grit out of my tired eyes. “I’ll talk to him when I get home. After we deal with this.”
After I make sure he’s safe. Though I’m not sure what I’ll say to him then, either. Every time I blink, all I can see is the dreamy, breathless way he looked at me when he finally came, the shining look of something a little too close to love in his eyes, and then the suspicion that came after.
You’re just going to leave?
All the things I’ve done and lived through would drive most men to drink. Yet my final undoing will most likely be the love of the kid I was supposed to take care of.
Zed is right. I’m a fucking coward.
“All I’m saying is, I’ve seen him recently, and Ravi is looking pretty damn grown up, my friend. If you cast him aside, I might have to move in to ease his broken heart.”
“Don’t make me remove those fucking teeth again,” I snap. Jesus. Zed and I may have shared someone before. I’m sure it would be hot to see my best friend fucking the kid if that was something he wanted. But easing his broken heart?
Surely fucking not.
My friend’s expression is too knowing as he slides the open laptop on the desk over toward me. “All right, asshole. This is who we’re looking at. Dylan Beck was barred from the action because he couldn’t prove his ability to pay. He’s a real estate developer here in town. Or used to be?”
He shrugs as if he somehow answered his own question.
“Anyway. He owned or co-owned several hotels and resorts in this state, including the Belle Argo Premiere, until he fell on hard times and was forced to sell his share to his business partner. He made some bad crypto investments, and there’s a rumor he’s had some Mafia run-ins.
Promised too many favors to the wrong people to get his business done and appears to have overextended himself. Also…”
He pulls up a file—a picture of a kid about Ravi’s age, lying in a hospital bed with his face covered in bandages.
“This unfortunate young man used to be an escort here in Belle Argo. This is what he looked like after a date with Beck. Nothing ever stuck because the proof was insufficient, and the kid ran home to Ohio without pressing charges. But he’s the kind of guy who uses his money to throw his weight around and doesn’t seem to have any qualms about asking bad men to give him more of it, which means he’s dirtier than my mother’s garden clogs. ”
Then he shows me a picture of our suspect. I recognize him. He was at the party where I saw Ravi grinding on his “friend.” When I left, he was standing near the door. Staring. At Ravi.
Most of the men in the room were staring at him. He has a magnetic way of drawing attention, especially when he had his legs wrapped around his very tall friend.
Thinking back on it now, though, the gleam in Beck’s eye was a little too hungry. I was distracted by my anger at Ravi for sneaking out and didn’t process much else. I should’ve fucking clocked the danger.
“Okay. Good. This is good.” Certainty settles in my gut. We’ll have to question him first to be sure, but I’ve gotten good at listening to my hunches. And my partner’s.
I’m already itching to make this guy bleed. “Let’s grab him, then. Hang him up in the warehouse and find out what he knows.”
This guy thinks he can beat young men to a pulp? Already I can feel his face caving under my fist.
“We will definitely do that.” Zed’s face falls. “As soon as we find him.”
“Where the fuck is he?” I stand from my chair before forcing myself to sit again. “I know, I know. You already told me you don’t know. What’s the situation?”
“We suspect he’s lying low. Bev’s been chasing down his real estate holdings. After a deep dive into the guy’s financial records, she found a connection to a shell company with the name TMI. Ring a bell?”
“It does. Something to do with the trafficking ring we’ve been trying to dismantle.”
“Exactly. Those kids who were taken from posh parties a few months back, some were transported on private planes. The planes belonged to a shell company called TMI. TMI also has a few industrial buildings, vehicles, and other assorted assets. Plenty of whispers that the guy likes them young, fewer on where he might be now. I’ve already got a couple of the guys out searching the warehouses, since those seem the most likely options. ”
“Fuck. Give me part of the list.” This is a fucking nightmare. I need to find this guy. I need to make sure he never threatens Ravi or anyone else again.
Zed holds up a finger. “Before we go tearing through every boathouse, farmhouse, and outhouse, Bev was able to get us access to the guy’s house. Said it’s about to go up for sale in a foreclosure auction, and the agent let it slip there are some wild rumors about the place.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Exclusive parties. The kind people testify in court about.” Zed tosses his keys up into the air, catching them with a grin. “I’m about to go take a look.”
I chug the rest of the coffee and push to my feet. “I’m coming with you.”
Zed’s eyes narrow. “You sure you’re in the right headspace for this?”
Absolutely not.
“I’m coming with you,” I say again.