8. Rio
The news of Cas’s surgery hit Saint hard. He sat for a long time and I stood by his side, because I knew the value of simply being with someone at times. When he sat back and looked up at me, I squeezed his shoulder. “He’ll be okay. It wasn’t your fault. Come on, let’s get something to drink, and then you should watch your movie and check out for a few minutes. You’ve had a hard few days.”
Saint nodded slowly, setting his drawing pad aside. He had closed it when the phone rang, and I took it and the box of pencils and laid them on the bedside table while he pulled his laptop out of his backpack. I brought him a cup of hot coffee from the little coffeemaker in the room when it was finished, and I heard Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes coming from the computer speakers in a moment. I kept an eye on him for a bit longer, then sighed, made myself a cup of coffee too, and sat back down in the chair.
I was listening to the show, too, and was midway through the third episode Saint had watched since I sat him down with it, when my phone rang.
“Marcus,’’ I said in answer. “I got the email.”
“Good. There”s been another development. Ginny went to the shelter and Rishi got rid of her, but then she went to Saint”s place. She vandalized the door with a bunch of slurs in spray paint.”
“Motherfucker,” I growled, and Saint”s head popped up. I shook my head at him, holding one finger up. “Did she do anything at the shelter?”
“No. Rishi has her photo and she hasn”t changed her appearance at all. I guess she really isn”t that bright. Anyway, they installed the cameras outside the shelter this morning so he saw her coming and met her at the door. He called the police but she was gone by the time they got there.” Marcus sighed. “I have a feeling there”s someone trying to slow things down internally. Her reaching out to Shiloah about that video is in the report, I would have expected a much faster response time for someone connected to a shooting that cost an LAPD officer his leg.”
“Greene”s influence,” I said, and Marcus hummed. “Fucker.”
“Yep,” Marcus said. “I have all my ears on, Rio. I”ll keep you in the loop.”
“I will, thanks.” I hung up and looked at Saint, who was watching me in a somewhat similar fashion to the way he had watched the sugar container.
“Saint…” I said slowly, sliding my phone into my back pocket. “That was Marcus. Ginny went to the shelter and then to your apartment. Rishi met her at the door of the shelter so she wasn”t able to do anything there. She vandalized your door, though. Lee says spray paint.”
Saint dragged in a deep breath and let it out. “She didn’t get into the shelter though. The kids didn’t see or hear her?”
I shook my head. “Lee said it was all outside. Rishi met her at the door and sent her packing.”
Saint nodded slowly. “Good. The paint– I’ll probably be paying a deposit on that but at least the kids didn’t hear her.”
“Sí. Rishi will keep them safe, he’s good at what he does. We were in the same unit together, he’s fearless.” I smiled encouragingly.
Saint managed a tiny smile in return. “Thanks.” He sighed. “Bet this wasn’t what you were thinking of when you took this assignment. You’ve been here less than a week and dealt with a poisonous spider, a drive-by shooting, woke up with my dick poking you in the ass, and on top of all of that I was an asshole to you several times.”
I raised one shoulder in a shrug. “Not all of those things were unpleasant,” I said, hoping to get him to smile again. It worked, a little at least, but he shook his head at the same time.
“I don’t know what Shiloah is paying you, but I hope you get a bonus when this is all said and done. Christ, I should call Shiloah and check in too…” He massaged the bridge of his nose.
“Might not be a bad idea. Or text, at least.” I watched him pull his phone out, write what looked to be a fairly long message, send it, and then wait for a reply.
He smiled a little when he got the reply, then he put the phone away and scrubbed his face with both hands. “He says that everything there is fine and he hasn’t heard from her again. I told him about Casimir and he told me to tell him that if necessary he is willing to provide assistance since it was our insane sister who is partially responsible for all of this.”
He gnawed his lower lip for a moment. “I should have listened to you,” he said. “Fuck, I should have listened to Clay. He told me that he would leave the shelter if it meant keeping the other kids safe. I wondered for a minute if you put him up to it…” He looked a bit chagrined about that. “But if he could see it, I should have. But no, I said ‘We’ll go to dinner and discuss it.’” He looked disgusted with himself.
I sighed deeply and dragged the chair over to the edge of the bed where he was sitting, dropped down, and rested my elbows on my knees. “Saint, you are not responsible for Cas Hallie’s injuries. He is a police officer, he could have been shot tomorrow just as easily as he was shot the night before last. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You didn’t pull the trigger.”
“I know that,” Saint said hollowly. “But–”
“But nothing. You can’t isolate yourself from everyone you care about to keep them safe. Right now we are here, yes, but that’s just for a short while. A lot of people are working on finding the people who hurt Cas and who want to hurt you and Clay.” I let my eyes roam his form, long and lean, currently slumped dejectedly on the edge of the bed. I hadn’t felt the urge to hug someone so acutely in years. I pushed the urge away, but I kept speaking. “The things that bad people do are their fault, Michael,” I said gently, using his name to drive the point home. “The way you react is yours. Cas’s injury isn’t your fault. Ginny’s insanity isn’t your fault. Me getting to play Little Miss Muffet isn’t your fault.”
That surprised a little snort of laughter out of Saint and I smiled, pleased with myself.
“I’m glad that I can be here for you. I like my job, and this gig in particular is important. You do a good thing with the shelter. Those kids love you, and you need to stay in that role for as long as possible. I will protect you to the best of my ability so that when you are able to, you can resume your job there.” I hadn’t bared myself like this with anyone in a long time either, but at this point, I figured I was in for a penny, so I might as well go the rest of the way. “All I can ask of you is for you to trust me if I make a call that you don’t agree with. Could you do that?”
Saint lifted his head and nodded. “Yeah. Thank you, Rio.” He looked at me, his eyes moving as he searched my face, and I kept myself as open as I could. He smiled softly after a moment. “You’re very sweet, really. I had thought you were just a hardass but… you’re just hiding it.” His smile grew. “I like it.”
I wasn’t expecting that, and I couldn’t keep the surprise off my face. His eyes searched me again, then sighed. “And now I’m flirting with you. Christ,” he said, sitting back.
I was honestly shocked that he had liked the openness and vulnerability, but when I realized he thought his attention was unwanted I surged forward. “No! No, no, that’s not–” I swallowed. “I mean… I was flirting with you earlier.” I attempted a flirty smile, and he returned it after a moment.
“Do you know how good you felt in my arms this morning?” Saint asked quietly. “I haven’t woken up to someone in close to ten years.”
I nodded slowly. “It was nice,” I agreed. His eyes dropped to my lips then, and I realized he was going somewhere with this that I thought I would definitely enjoy. I let my eyes fall to his lips, too, and the lovely little cleft in his chin.
“Rio, don’t say yes if you don’t want to, but…” his eyes flicked from my eyes to my lips and back.
I smiled a little wider, licked my lips, and leaned forward. “And if I want to say yes?” I asked.
“Oh…” And then he was kissing me, sending a gorgeous shiver down my spine as he gave my lower lip the barest bit of suction as he pulled away.
“Oh…” I repeated, and whatever he saw in my face made him smile and kiss me again.
When Saint pulled away the second time, I followed him, shifting over to sit next to him on the bed. “You’re good at that,” I said, my body coming alive. I had enjoyed his erection pressed to me when I woke that morning, at least for as long as he had done it.
He looked a bit self-satisfied. “I do my best,” he said. “Just because I’m out of practice doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what I’m doing.”
“If that’s out of practice…” I leaned in, watching carefully as I laid my hand on his shoulder, stroked the skin of his neck lightly with my thumb, and kissed him. I kept it closed-mouth, but I sucked lightly at his lip as I continued to stroke his neck and was rewarded with a soft moan. I answered with a soft hum of my own and licked lightly along his lower lip. I felt him shiver at that, and pulled back to smile at him.
His pupils were pools of black with thin blue rings. He swallowed as his gaze practically flew between my mouth and my eyes, then pulled in a shaky breath. “Holy shit,” he said, and let out a laugh.
I grinned. “Hm? Did I get five stars? And I haven’t even used my tongue yet.” I tilted my head the way I had at the table the night before and used that same tone of voice, and watched his Adam’s apple bob in a hard swallow. My smile grew wider and I leaned in and ran my lips along his jawline towards his earlobe. I stopped just short and chuckled in his ear. “Do you like names,” I asked, letting my breath tickle his ear. He shuddered hard and I touched my lips to the hinge of his jaw before I continued. “I’m very versatile, if you’re into that.”
He swallowed again, his throat clicking, and the next second I was being kissed like I was air and he was drowning. My hands fisted in his shirt and I held on while he pillaged my mouth, tingles racing down my spine and limbs to my fingers and toes. I was rapidly hardening in my jeans and when he pulled back I followed almost desperately. “Jesús Cristo…” I whispered, my chest heaving. “I was right last night, fuck…”
Saint chuckled wickedly and kissed me again, no less desperately, and this time there was no more talking for a long time.