Chapter 14 Drops of Blood
Drops of Blood
THE GROUNDS of Neuschwanstein were stunning—wide and green, dotted with mazes and topiaries, and with the fairy tale castle in the background.
Liam kept turning his face to the crystal blue sky, trying to raise his spirits to that level of beauty.
But he couldn’t. Josh kept saying he felt fine, but Liam’s heart kept thudding weirdly in his stomach, so maybe Liam was the one who was sick.
But Liam had a clear picture of the night before, after a day touring Stuttgart.
Neuschwanstein wasn’t the only castle in Bavaria, and the lovely greenery, even in late August, along with the reflective lakes, all displayed a certain…
precision aesthetic, Liam guessed. A serenity and beauty that seemed to give every moment a fairy tale age.
They’d eaten heartily, had some amazing light ale, and taken the S-Bahn across the city, getting off where they pleased.
The trip had been work to some extent. With suggestions from Carl and Michael, who had come the day before, they were mapping escape plans and alternative routes to the train and bus stations so they could split up if they needed to the next day and regroup in Prague.
Their luggage would be shipped before they left the hotel, and they’d be doing the job, hopefully slipping away before a lot of chaos ensued, and then hopping on the train.
If everything went well, they’d travel in pairs.
If it didn’t, well, they now knew the city, didn’t they.
And Liam would be perfectly sanguine with all of that, except the night before….
They’d been so happy. Honeymooning, in their way, tumbling into the suite—and Liam had yet to get used to the posh rooms the Salingers rented—still laughing from watching a street magician outside the restaurant.
The poor man had been either new or drunk or simply bad at his job, because they’d both spotted every move he’d made.
At the end, Josh had dropped euros in his hat anyway, because, as he’d told Liam, at least he’d been trying, and Liam had loved him so hard right then—the heart of the boy, he’d thought helplessly. Who couldn’t love the heart of him?
Their coming together had been laughing, with clothes being tossed everywhere, their hands lingering on each other’s skin, their kisses playful.
Liam could still feel the little thrill in his stomach when he realized that for all Josh’s slightness, for his age, his chuckle was deep and throaty, male and adult.
The combination was as heady now as it had been in July at Celeste Buenaventura’s terrible party, and Liam wasn’t sated yet, wanted more and more. Josh’s mouth, his taste, his laughter—Liam craved it all.
He’d had Josh his favorite way, underneath him, on his back, legs wrapped tightly around Liam’s hips, little gasps of pleasure coming from his parted lips, when suddenly his body had gone slack.
He’d tilted his head to the side, and Liam had been horrified to see the drops of blood, black and oily in the dark, as they flooded his upper lip to the pillow.
While Liam had pulled out and run for a towel, Josh had rolled sluggishly to the side and mumbled, “Suddenly so dizzy… sorry… sorry…. God, so sorry.”
Liam had come to his side, crouching naked next to the bed, heart thundering as he wiped the blood away and cleaned up the bed.
“No sorry, boy-o,” he’d whispered. “Did you know it was coming?”
“I swear I didn’t,” Josh mumbled, obviously exhausted by the episode. “Fuck. Fuck.” He took in gulping breaths through his mouth, and Liam had him sit up, running away to gather a bottle of water and a basin so he could rinse and spit.
A few minutes more and Liam pulled up the covers, as much to keep Josh warm as to avoid seeing him, pale and vulnerable and naked and sick, when they’d been in the throes of lovemaking not long before.
Liam found his own pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, and he turned on the bedstand lamp, sat, and smoothed Josh’s hair back from his forehead.
“Did we overdo it today?” he asked softly.
“No,” Josh muttered. “And not the day before either.” He’d been so patient about rest days, and so excited about exploring the city—as well as scoping out the job.
While Josh Salinger may not have paid a lot of attention to schoolwork, no matter what his grades said, he was obviously a big fan of homework, because Liam couldn’t fault his professionalism when it came to a job.
“Then what—”
“Anemia,” Josh muttered. “I swear it’s anemia. I—” He swallowed and took a breath, like he was pulling on his grown-up pants, and Liam was glad one of them was.
“We have to do the job tomorrow,” he said grimly.
“Grace, Hunter, Chuck, Molly—they are putting their lives on the line tonight so we can go execute a cakewalk after a little bit of public defacement. It must get done, and while Carl’s got the fingers for it, Michael doesn’t—not at all.
” Michael’s hands were scarred and callused, which was great for a mechanic, but not so awesome for a thief.
“And you need to maintain plausible deniability. Carl was right. We can’t drag your job into it—not now. ”
Liam didn’t give a flying fuck about his job.
He thought he had. In fact he’d been damned proud of himself.
He’d thought he was a pretty solid officer.
He’d made some busts he was quite excited about—some with Danny’s help but some without.
But now, watching the dedication of this bunch of thieves and grifters, Josh chief among them, who were willing to throw their own lives and safety on the line in order to simply balance the scales, Liam thought his job was the least of his concerns.
“Bollix the job,” he said softly. “If I need to, I can do the drop—”
Josh shook his head. “No, you can’t, Liam.
You’ll get pulled in for questioning if you get caught, and there goes the whole plan.
No. Like it or not—and cakewalk or not—this whole thing hinges on me right now.
I swear, I’ll sleep in Prague. I’ll even see a doctor in Prague.
I’ll fess up to the whole crew in Prague.
But….” He gulped another lungful of air.
“But tonight, I’m going to take my iron pills, have a midnight snack, and…
.” His mouth quirked upward, the first sign of true regret Liam had seen regarding what they’d been doing when this episode had begun.
“And hopefully still be held by my boyfriend, who won’t be scared off by a little blood. ”
Liam swallowed and nodded, stroking his cheek.
“Not scared off, luv,” he said hoarsely. “Just scared. God, please don’t tell me I can’t be scared.”
Josh closed his eyes then and captured Liam’s hand on his cheek.
“I’m scared too,” he whispered. “Is that—can I say that? I-I’m so tired of being brave for everybody.
I almost died last year. I remember fighting so hard for each breath, and Danny and Felix, they prayed for me, and I think they both told God to fuck off a long time ago.
And I couldn’t tell my mom—I couldn’t—because I didn’t want to let her down.
And now I have you and….” He trailed off for a moment, and Liam wanted to soothe him, to calm him down, but God, he also really wanted to hear the end of that sentence.
“You have me and what?” he prodded, not proud of himself, but, well, Josh already knew him for his flaws.
“And I’m happy,” Josh whispered. “My mom is finally happy. Danny and Felix are happy. I… I mean, I’ll always worry about Grace, but he’s finally happy and might not die tomorrow.
And I have you. And you love me, and my heart is so…
so full. And I don’t want to lose that. I could live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere and never see a sky like today again as long as you loved me and my people were okay. But first….”
Liam saw the tear, saw the fear coming, and welcomed it. Oh God. His Josh, so snarky and full of life and determined not to ever let his illness or his hurt bring him low.
Liam rested his head next to Josh’s on the clean pillow and kissed his forehead as his boy wept silently.
“It’s okay, being scared,” he whispered. “It’s okay to let me see. How will you know I’ll still be here if I never see you need me?”
“I’m sorry,” Josh whispered, tiny sobs in his voice. “So sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He’d fallen asleep that way, still weeping, and Liam had hovered over him until his breathing evened out. Then he’d cleaned up and brushed his teeth and crawled into bed on Josh’s other side and held him tight.
And cried against his neck and hoped Josh slept through it.
It was okay if he didn’t—Liam wasn’t afraid of Josh knowing he was weak.
He had so many worse things to fear.
AND NOW, approaching the long drive to the castle via bus, Liam’s fears were churning in his stomach with the bagel sandwich he’d split with Josh.
Protein, fruit, carbs. Solid food—not so much it weighed him down, but enough to nurture him.
Liam had even made him eat blueberries with his yogurt.
God, anything to feel like they weren’t helpless against the sudden shifts of fate.
As the bus came to a halt, Josh and Liam disembarked casually, tourists excited to see King Ludwig’s stone-and-marble monument to whimsy, and neither of them glanced over to see Carl and Michael getting out of a cab that they’d taken at the same time.
Carl looked awkward in jeans, Josh had told them dryly.
Carl needed to stay in slacks and a polo and do rideshare and not public transpo.
He was a solid member of the team, yes, but a chameleon he was not.
Besides, Carl was going to talk shop with the security officers there, so he needed to appear somewhat professional.
Michael, on the other hand, had dressed casual, like Josh and Liam, in cargo shorts and T-shirts and ready to hop onto public transport on the way home.