Chapter Thirteen
Bailey
There was a very good reason for me to stay in Vegas—a beautiful blond-haired man who was in desperate need of love and affection, which was my specialty.
There was no reason for me to stay in Carson City other than Thomas, and I could see my brother when he came to Vegas on official business.
He had a full plate as it stood, and I needed a damn life.
Being a private investigator wasn’t what I really wanted to do.
Instead of going to the governor’s office to confront my brother first, I decided the smart thing would be to go to the mansion to talk to Lindsey. She hadn’t reached out to me since we’d had dinner that night when she’d calmly asked me to follow Thomas.
It still didn’t sit well with me that she wasn’t more worried about Thomas rushing out as he had that night. It was almost… Something wasn’t adding up.
I stopped at the gate to be cleared by the protection team monitoring the house. When I pulled up to the mansion, Lieutenant Rupert, the lead on Thomas’s protection team, came down the front steps to greet me. “Master Sergeant Gregory.”
I got out of the SUV and shook his hand. “Retired, LT. I’m retired now, thank heaven. Thomas still at the office?”
“As a matter of fact, he and the First Lady are inside. Did they know you were coming?”
Rupert looked tense, which meant Thomas and Lindsey were likely in a heated discussion. I hadn’t talked to them since I went to Vegas looking for Boyd, so I had no idea what the fuck was going on.
“Think it’s safe to go inside?” I stood next to the SUV, reevaluating why I was there in the first place. Thomas didn’t want my help, but I couldn’t let my baby brother navigate shark-infested waters alone. Whatever he’d done, he needed me.
Rupert laughed. “Better you than me. I’m going to patrol the grounds. Good luck if you dare.”
With that, Rupert took another officer with him, whom I’d never seen before, and they went along each side of the driveway to go to the guard house.
There were other security officers on the property and likely one or two in the house, but if Lindsey and Thomas were arguing upstairs, those guys would stay as far away from the yelling as they could.
Hell, I wasn’t a coward. I jogged up the stairs and opened the door, which was never locked since they had about ten armed guards wandering around the place. “Hey! Anyone home?”
“Fuck you, Thomas. Fuck you!” The shouting brought me to a stop. Heels clicked across the hardwood upstairs and a door slammed. That wasn’t good.
I took the stairs two at a time, heading to Thomas’s home office. As I stepped into the doorway, a crystal glass sailed past my head and smashed into the wall next to where I stood. Thankfully, I was able to throw up my right arm to shield my eyes from flying chunks.
“Hello to you too.” I shook my head to release any glass that had settled in my hair, seeing a few shards fall onto the carpet.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, Bailey. I wasn’t expecting you.” Thomas hurried over to me and ruffled his hands in my hair until I pulled away from him and pulled it up in a bun at the back of my head.
“What the hell is going on?” I walked to the leather chairs in front of his desk and sat.
“We, uh, we’re having a party next weekend, and, uh, Lindsey and I can’t agree on—”
“Baaa! Bullshit.” He couldn’t lie to me, the asshole. We were part of the same egg.
Thomas sat next to me before he leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. “Bailey, how did you know I needed you?”
“That screwy twin thing, Tommy. We’ve always known when we need each other. What the fuck is going on?”
My brother sighed heavily. It was then that I noticed the bags under his eyes. He looked as if he’d lost weight, which wasn’t good because Thomas couldn’t afford to lose any weight. I was muscular, but he was lean. I worried about him.
“Lindsey wants a baby. She says if we have a baby, it will secure my reelection bid.” He leaned closer. “She wants it the old-fashioned way, Bailey. I offered to donate and do IVF, but she refused.”
It was no wonder Thomas looked like hell. “Have you had sex with her at any time?”
Thomas sighed. “Inaugural night, we had a threesome with Boyd. We were all drunk after the party. Boyd fucked me, and I fucked Lindsey.”
It was my turn to sigh. “So, Lindsey knows about Boyd?”
Thomas glanced at me before his face flamed.
“Yes. I didn’t want to keep him a secret from her.
She was always supportive of me and only asked if she could be part of my life.
She wants to know who I might be involved with, and I’ve told her the same thing, but she’s never wanted to be with anyone else. ”
That was interesting. He’d tied himself to his best friend, who was female and straight, and she hadn’t taken a lover like they’d agreed?
“Did she ask for a repeat performance? Did you use condoms that night?”
“I can’t remember if I used a condom. Boyd did though.
You know, with his job and all, he’s required to use them.
I must have worn one because Lindsey didn’t get pregnant.
” Wait… He didn’t remember fucking his wife?
How could that be possible? As a gay man, I remembered everything I’d done with women. What happened that night?
“Thomas, have you had sex with Lindsey before or after that night?” Something was coming together in my head that I didn’t like.
My brother stared at his shoes. “I don’t know. I have these weird dreams where we’re having sex, but I wake up in bed alone. I’m… I’m not sure what’s going on.”
Okay, that was something to investigate. “Does Lindsey ever hit…?” Fuck if I could say it to him.
“She’s not hurting me, Bailey. She loves me.”
I couldn’t take this shit any longer. “Is she loving you to death, Thomas? Is she drugging you and getting you to fuck her in hopes of getting pregnant? What the hell is going on?”
Thomas turned toward me, anger flaring in his gaze. “You know what, Bailey? You’ve never been in love. You’ve never had a fucking relationship. You know nothing about what you’d do for someone you love.”
I chuckled at his defensive lashing out. “No, Thomas. You know nothing. You know nothing about me. I have a goddamn relationship, which I left to come check on your bullshit.
“Boyd isn’t the one blackmailing you, little brother. From what I can confirm, it’s his body double, Danny Bolls. I can’t find the fucker, but he’s the one who sent the text, and he’s the one I beat the fuck out of in the park. I can’t find him, but I’m not done looking.”
“Danny Bolls? No. Danny wouldn’t do that,” Thomas protested.
I wanted to punch my brother in the throat. He wasn’t making any sense at all.
“You know Danny Bolls?” My voice lifted an octave.
“Not really. Only what Boyd has told me about him. Why would he try to blackmail me?”
I exhaled. “He was the one who came for the money, Thomas. He was the one who picked up the duffel in the park and tried to take it. Who are these fucking people you have in your life?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Who the fuck had Thomas allowed into his life?
I drove to my apartment after leaving the mansion with no more information than when I’d arrived. Thomas wasn’t giving anything up, and Lindsey hadn’t come out of her room.
What more could I do?
I decided to figure out what I wanted to take with me back to Vegas and what I wanted to donate. Not much of it was worth anything, but it was mine to deal with.
As I went through the cabinets in the kitchen, my phone pinged. I pulled it from my pocket and saw it was Jagger calling me. I swiped to answer.
“Hey, babe. How are you?” I wished to fuck I hadn’t been so damned stubborn and had asked him to come with me to Carson City.
“It’s been a long day. How about you?” There was tension in Jagger’s voice that I didn’t like.
I chuckled. “My brother’s fucked up right now. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell is going on with him. It’s a real mess.”
Jagger sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. Wait, does that bother you? Me calling you that?”
“God, no. I’ve never had anyone use a term of endearment when it came to me. No, I like it.” That was no lie. I loved hearing him call me honey or anything else.
“Is there anything I can do from here? I talked to Spitzer about Maria Ramirez. He’s familiar with her ex, but he told me to stay out of it.”
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, and I knew I needed to get back to Vegas because it sounded as if Jagger was in a perilous position. He needed me, but I had to fix Thomas’s bullshit first.
“I’m sorry I’m not there, Jagger. We’re a pair, aren’t we? We need a fucking hobby so we can stay out of trouble. I miss you.” That was no lie.
“Do you want me to come to Carson City?”
He sounded so sweet that I wanted to say that he should come to Carson City to babysit my ass while I tried to figure out my brother’s shit. But Jagger had a job he loved, so I wasn’t about to make him feel guilty about not traipsing after me.
“Not yet, Jagger. I’ve got some loose ends to tie up. When I have a better handle on things, I’ll let you know. Tell me what’s going on with Maria’s death?”
His voice softened. “It’s a mess. The aunt had no choice but to allow Pedro Vega to take Ruiz because he’s the boy’s father. We’re still waiting for the results of Maria’s autopsy. It looks like a suicide, but my gut tells me it’s not. It’s a clusterfuck.”
The tenor of Jagger’s voice hinted that he wasn’t walking away from that fucking mess as much as I wished he would. I needed to make something clear to him.
“Don’t do anything until I get back to Vegas. I’m at my apartment in Carson City, and I’m packing up my shit. Do you care if I store some stuff in your garage until I find a place in Vegas?”
Jagger’s voice held humor. “I’ve got plenty of room for you and your stuff. Please be careful, Bailey. We have a lot of stuff to talk about when you get back. I’ll say it again—if you need me, please call me.”
Every bone, muscle, and vein in my body wanted to be with him. The man had a way about him that drew me in.
The gorgeous man wasn’t exactly easy to understand. He was standoffish for sure, but moodiness aside, Jagger was sweet and adorable. He tried to make it seem like he hated everyone, but I saw through him completely.