Chapter Five
After they’d eaten, Neo dumped the plates in the sink along with the pans he’d used. He then turned and reached for Jude. “Come here, sexy.”
“You want dessert?”
“Hell yeah.” He kissed Jude’s neck, behind his ear, then to his nape. “Dessert and more.” Suddenly he lifted his head. His grip on Jude slackened.
“What?” Jude asked.
“Shh.”
“But—”
“Shh.” He stepped away, nose in the air as if he could smell something that concerned him.
Jude’s stomach turned over the food they’d just eaten. He didn’t need any sixth sense to know something was wrong.
“Get down, down on the floor, hands behind your heads,” a booming voice echoed around the house.
Four policeman appeared on the balcony, weapons pointing into the house, directly at Jude and Neo.
“What the...?” Jude said.
“Down. Now. We won’t tell you again.”
Jude didn’t need telling again. He hit the deck, belly on the cool floor, arms and legs spread. Fear shot through him.
What the hell?
Why were the police here? Did they think someone had broken into Neo’s home? “What’s going on?”
“Shut it, asshole.”
“What the fuck have I done?” Jude said.
A booted foot rammed onto his back. Jude turned to the side. Neo was still standing. Not only standing but struggling, too.
Two police officers had hold of his arms. Each big guy battling to contain Neo.
“Leave him alone, this is his house,” Jude shouted, though it was hard to find the air with a boot pressing his lungs. “Get off him.”
Neo suddenly roared and lunged forward onto the balcony. The cops were forced to let go of him.
A shot rang out, deafening and terrifying.
Jude screamed and shut his eyes. The policeman above him cursed. Another shot.
“Get after him.”
Jude was suddenly dragged to standing, his arms were tightened behind his back and the mechanical click of handcuffs secured them together. “Don’t hurt him. He’s done nothing wrong. This is his home.”
“He told you that?” the police officer said, gripping Jude’s elbow and pulling him to the balcony.
Jude stumbled. Fear washed through him. “Yes. He did. It is.”
Is it?
“He’s gone. Damn it,” the tallest police officer said, leaning over the balcony, his gun at the ready.
“What? How?” his partner asked, setting off down the steps to the beach. “He can’t have just fucking gone.”
Jude looked to the right. The moon had lit up the beach in a silvery glow and running by the shoreline was a huge black dog.
Neo’s dog.
And the cops were right. Where the hell was Neo?
And how come whenever the dog was there, Neo wasn’t? He’d vanished. Jude shook his head as the ridiculously fantastical idea of shifters blasted through his mind.
People who could turn into animals.
No, that wasn’t a real thing. Panic, and being handcuffed had clearly sent him crazy. The man he’d just orgasmed spectacularly with wasn’t a dog.
The next thing Jude knew he was being taken through the house to the front door. “Here,” said the cop holding him, scooping up Neo’s bike keys. “You can have your Harley back, Jim.” He threw the keys in the direction of the cop who’d fired the shot.
Jim caught them, then spun them around his index finger. “If there’s so much as a scratch on it, I swear I’ll—”
“You gotta catch him first. He’s slippery, that one.”
“That’s Neo’s bike. What are you talking about?” Jude said, confusion twisting his guts. Was everything about the man who’d just fucked him a lie?
“Open your eyes, pretty boy,” Jim said, pocketing his keys. “Your one-night hook-up isn’t all he makes himself out to be. This isn’t his pad and that’s not his bike sitting out there. Probably the only thing he told you that was true was that he likes fucking guys.”
Jude frowned. Not Neo’s house? But he’d let them in, he’d...
His memories rushed back as the cops dragged him from the house. How Neo had driven slowly past these waterfront homes and stopped at one with an overflowing mailbox. Jude had never seen a key, so it seemed Neo was pretty adept at lock picking. And the photographs, definitely not family. He’d figured out this beautiful home was empty, and let himself and Jude in. Played the part of wealthy, sexy homeowner to perfection.
“A neighbor spotted lights on. He knew the people who live here are in England for the summer. Alerted us,” Jim said.
“Thank the Lord for nosy neighbors.” The cop holding Jude opened the patrol car door and indicated for him to sit down. “Means we got your bike back.”
“But I didn’t know,” Jude said. “He duped me, told me it was his place and his bike. Why wouldn’t I believe him?”
“Blinded by lust, were you?” The officer huffed, dropped Jude’s shoes and socks on his lap, and shut the door.
As the car pulled away, Jude felt anger rising. Neo had lied, and he’d used those lies to get into his pants. He’d charmed and faked his way into Jude’s affections from the very first second he’d seen him. Offering him a ride on his bike like that, all sexy smile and dark, brooding good lucks.
What man could have resisted?
Well, he damn well should have. Getting on Neo’s bike had been one heck of a mistake despite it having been one of the best evenings of his life.
****
The police station was cool and air-conditioned and a block away from the courthouse.
Jude found himself, still handcuffed, sitting in the waiting area. His shoes and socks now on. He was next to be processed apparently, but goodness only knew how long it would take for them to get to him.
Stark, overhead lights beamed down, and the dark windows were curtainless. The room smelled of a mix of disinfectant and tobacco and in between the phone ringing—a shrill two- toned bleep—various visitors, in various states of sobriety arrived.
If Jude hadn’t been so uncomfortable in the handcuffs and his ass not aching on the hard seat, he might have found it entertaining. But the worry of what was going to happen to him took the edge off anything good he could find from his precarious situation.
The cop behind the desk was tall and gruff. He had a seen-it-all-look about him. His eyes exhausted with witnessing human nature at its worst and he had large bags beneath them, which made Jude think he’d been on night duties, and living nocturnally, for far too many years.
An officer with a police dog came through the door from the outside. The dog was an Alsatian and wore a night reflective collar and jacket. As the cop stood talking to his world- weary colleague, the dog looked Jude’s way. It put its nose in the air and sniffed, the overhead light catching on the wet end.
Jude squirmed, a sudden feeling of unease coming over him. What had the dog smelled? Was it something on him? Was it sex or fear or...Neo?
What if that dog could smell a shifter from a mile away? And because Jude had been with Neo, had Neo inside him, the dog could sense that.
The cop holding the dog’s lead turned to Jude. He glanced at his dog that then pulled toward Jude.
Jude shrank back on the seat. The canine was huge and its amber eyes were piercing and intelligent.
It opened its mouth and panted. Hot breath spread over Jude’s legs. With his hands bound behind his back, he felt doubly helpless to defend himself should the beast turn nasty.
“What’s up, Roon?” the cop said, looking quizzically at Jude. He then turned to the officer behind the counter. “What’s this guy in for?”
“Being a dumb-ass in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Thanks,” Jude muttered, not taking his attention from the dog.
It leaned closer, the leather lead at full strain now, and twitched its nose.
“Well, Roon likes him, so he can’t be all that bad,” his handler said.
“How...how do you know he likes me?”
“He hasn’t bitten you.”
The dog licked Jude’s knee. A long, wet stroke of its pink tongue that left a faint damp mark on his pants.
Jude held his breath.
He could see a full set of sparkling teeth.
The cop holding the dog chuckled and rested his hand on Jude’s shoulder. “You can’t be too much of a criminal if my Roon likes you.”
“Er...thanks, I think.”
“You should send him on his way,” the dog handler called across the room.
“Yeah, well, there’s no room at the inn, anyway, so that’s likely to happen.”
“Really?” Jude said as the dog was tugged backward but continued to look at him. “You’re going to let me go?”
“Probably.” The cop shrugged. “When Officer Hammond has finished with the waste of space he’s just thrown in cell four.”
Jude blew out a breath. If only they would send him on his way. A caution he could live with and he’d apologize for being an idiot and being blinded by a beautiful man. He’d say sorry to anyone and everyone who would listen.
But, damn, Neo was beautiful. Everything about him seemed designed to press Jude’s buttons. He adored Neo’s rough, tough appeal—his shaggy hair, his muscles, the sexy glint of naughty in his eyes. And heck, the man could fuck and cook too.
What wasn’t to love?
He huffed as the dog and his handler left the room. Love. As if. He’d never see Neo again. He’d bet his bank balance on it and the rent on his small apartment, hell, throw in his new pushbike, too. That man had run off into the night as if the hounds of hell were after him.
Or was he the hounds of hell?
Jude frowned and thought of the black dog again. He sniffed the air, wondering if he could get a clue to what the police dog had smelled.
Nothing.
“Right then.” The cop who’d brought in Jude appeared. “We have a full house, so I’ve got the choice of housing you with a drunk, a murder suspect or a rapist. What do you want?”
Jude gulped. The drunk sounded like the safest option but it could be a trick question. He decided that honesty was the best policy. “Er, I really just want to go home.”
The cop tipped back on his heels and chuckled. “Life usually that simple for you?”
“No, not at all.” Life was rarely simple for Jude. Growing up gay had robbed him of his family who considered him an embarrassment, and his desire to do more than work in office supplies. He was just happy to get through each day.
Something seemed to switch in the cop’s eyes and he reached for the keys hanging around his belt. “Up you get.”
Jude hurried to do as instructed.
“Turn around.”
Again, Jude obeyed.
“You’re gonna get yourself straight home now, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“No fucking about with strange men?”
“No, definitely not.”
“And especially not strange men who have just slipped custody.”
“He did that?”
The cuffs were released and Jude rubbed his wrists and turned. “Yeah, he sure did.”
“But...why...what was he in for?”
The cop shrugged. “Does it matter? The guy was under arrest, and had been taken to the courthouse. Surely that’s enough for you to steer clear.”
Jude didn’t want to push his luck. He was ten paces from the door then a twenty-minute walk home. He’d take that rather than satisfying his curiosity.
“If you must know,” the cop said, reattaching his cuffs to his belt. “Something to do with stealing out of restaurant bins.”
“What? Really?”
“Takes all sorts.” The cop pointed to the door. “Now get the hell out of here and keep your nose clean.”
“I will. Thank you. And I’m sorry, you know, for all of this mess.”
“Go. Now.”
Jude didn’t need telling again. He rushed to the door, shoved it open, then sped out.
Within seconds, he walked onto the town square, breathing fast. The humid air sank to the bottom of his lungs and his brow prickled with perspiration.
That had been one heck of a close call. His first, and hopefully last, brush with the law hadn’t been fun.
Seemed it was a night of firsts and lasts.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and hurried along. The moon had shifted lower in the sky, and weak shadows stretched from the buildings and lampposts.
What on earth had the cop meant when he’d said Neo had been arrested for stealing out of restaurant bins? That must have been a mistake. Why the heck would he do that? It wasn’t as if he was starving. The guy was well fed.
As Jude walked, he became aware of something behind him. At first, it was just a feeling, but then, when he turned for the second time, he was sure there was movement in a doorway, as if something had ducked out of view.
Something?
Yes, because it’s not human. Too small.
He hurried along, glanced up at his dark office window, then at the ice cream parlor that had its shutters down for the night. Damn it, where was everyone? It was usually bustling with people around here. Well, not bustling, but not completely deserted.
He turned the corner, past the mall, and stopped. Pressing up against the cool brickwork, he willed himself to calm.
Then suddenly, around the corner, walked a dog.
A big black dog with shaggy hair and huge paws. It stopped when it saw Jude. Its mouth hung open slightly and it appeared to pant.
“What...what are you doing here?” Jude said, eyeing up the creature’s teeth. “Shoo, go, back to the beach or wherever you’re from.”
It was the same dog he’d seen when swimming, Jude was sure of it. And the same one he’d seen running up the beach when police had stormed the house.
The dog sat on its haunches. It set its keen gaze on Jude, then slowly, so slowly, it appeared to stretch upward. It elongated and its nose shrank. The fur seemed to blur for a moment then fall away and in its place, skin the color of pale treacle.
The face morphed, became human, and not only human, but one that Jude recognized. Neo.