20
Notes:
Sorry this chapter is late. There was an alligator blocking me from entering my front door, so I hid in a tree until he left.
Milo
When I force my way into the office, I’m running on pure murderous rage. Hoping Rowan’s still alive. Ready to rip out the trachea of anyone who’s caused him harm.
My pulse races as I run through scenarios that involve prying someone off of him, hightailing it to an emergency room, or interrogating this Tucker asshole with my favorite knife until he tells me where Rowan is.
My business is one that requires calm decision-making and a steady hand. I’ve got neither of those right now.
None of my panicked scenarios involved finding a shaky, glassy-eyed Rowan standing over a body with a bloody trophy in his hand.
“Rowan. Baby. Hey.” I’m approaching slowly and quietly, hoping to get his attention without scaring him. “Are you okay?”
A tired laugh slips out. He gestures vaguely with the trophy. “You know, I think I’ve been better.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can see that.” My hand slides over his. “Why don’t you let me take this, huh?”
Slowly, carefully, I pull the trophy from his hand. I use some cleaning wipes from my pack to get Rowan’s prints off, and the bits of blood and other stuff stuck to the one corner. The red-stained wipes go into a sealed wet bag while I look him over again.
He looks okay, I think. Out of it, but okay. Thank fuck.
“Rowan. Can you tell me what happened here?”
“There’s someone coming to kill me,” he says quietly. Almost to himself. “There’s a car coming to take Tucker to the airport soon.” For the first time, he looks right at me. “What am I going to do, Milo? They’re going to know it was me.”
I press a kiss to his parted lips. “No, they won’t.
It’s going to be okay.” I pull out more wipes, getting every nook and cranny of the trophy clean, then I return it carefully to the spot it looks like it came from on the desk.
Pushing into Rowan’s space, I grip his chin and urge him to look at me.
“We’re going to take care of this, okay? You and me. Together.”
“We are?” He blinks. “How?”
“Hey, so I took care of the other guard and—ooohhhh, shit.” Jalen stops short as he enters the room, taking in the dead body at our feet.
“Someone’s coming to kill me,” Rowan tells Jalen in greeting.
“Nobody’s coming to kill you,” I assure him. “I won’t let that happen.” I nod to Jalen. “He says there’s a car coming to pick this guy up too. You mind taking care of that while I wrap things up here?”
“Gladly.” Jalen throws up a hand. “Better you than me. Hate dealing with blood.”
“Really?” Rowan looks confused.
Jalen shrugs. “You think every pet owner loves cleaning up dog shit? Dealing with fluids is a pain in the ass. Nobody enjoys it.”
“Not true,” I insist. “Ran across a guy in Texas who loved seeing it gush. Compared it to cutting open an over-easy egg.”
Jalen makes a face. “If you’ve ruined eggs for me, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“You don’t need the cholesterol anyway, old man.” Ha. Payback. And I know it will piss him off.
Jalen’s only got a few years on me.
He shows me both of his middle fingers on his way out of the room.
“Okay.” I tap Rowan’s cheek. “Need you to hang with me for a few minutes, baby. Can you do that? Let’s take care of this and get the hell out of here.”
“But what about—”
“Jalen will take care of it. Or I will. Either way, you’re safe now.” I pick up a drink sitting on the desk and take a sniff. Bourbon. “Were you drinking this?”
Rowan shakes a head. “I took one drink, but I didn’t like the taste. Which is good, because I think it might have been poisoned. Tucker only offered me alcohol once before, and he seemed like he wanted me to drink it a little too much.”
I drop to the floor and start checking pockets. Sure enough, I come up with a small baggie full of a micronized powder. “Probably whatever this is. Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Grabbing the bourbon bottle from the minibar, I empty most of it into a decorative fern by the window.
Then I make sure the only prints on the bottle are Tucker’s and put both on the desk, leaving the lid a little loose as if old Tucker here was too busy self-medicating to put it on carefully.
Last, I pour some of the contents of the glass into Tucker’s mouth.
“What are you doing?”
“Hopefully making it look like this was all an accident. If we’re lucky, they’ll rule it as such and not look too carefully.
Rich folks are sometimes surprisingly resistant to an autopsy, and police are sometimes inept.
Even if they don’t, well, many people could have poisoned him, and you and I will be long gone by the time they find out you were ever here, if they find out at all. ”
“Long gone? Both of us?” Rowan’s wide, wet eyes have me wanting to pull him into my arms. I’d also like to bring Tucker back from the dead so I can murder him myself.
I’m proud of my baby for saving himself, but if I’m honest, I was looking forward to making that sicko’s eyes bulge.
“Exactly. Little to the right, baby.” I lift Tucker into a standing position, gauging where he’d have been standing had he drunk-stumbled and struck his head on the desk corner. Then I drop him.
He thwacks the desk corner on the way down exactly as planned. Just as Jalen returns.
“Oh, man, that’s nasty.”
I roll my eyes. “Did you take care of the driver?”
“Yeah. Pretentious fuck ordered a limo just to take him forty minutes to the airport.” He shakes his head. “Gave the guy an extra hundred for his trouble, so by the way, you owe me a hundred dollars.”
“Fine.” I look around, taking in the space. “We should really get going.”
Rowan trails behind me. “What about the person coming to kill me?”
“If he shows up while we’re still here, we kill him. If he finds a body, he’ll realize his job is already done. I’ll have Ray put the word out to be sure.”
A call to Jalen’s boss and his hacker ensures the footage from the security cameras on site are wiped. We cram the security guys we took care of earlier into the trunk of my stolen vehicle, leaving Tucker in his office to be found later.
I fish out the contents of my wallet, handing most of the cash over to Jalen. “Thank you for taking care of those bodies.”
He sighs. “Shit. My debt’s definitely cleared now, you dick.”
“Fine. And thank you, by the way.”
Jalen waves me off.
“Something tells me you won’t be as dismissive next time you’re the one who needs a favor.”
He laughs. “Guess you better hope I don’t need one.”
Rowan stops short of the car we brought.
“Baby?”
Without another word, he doubles over at the edge of the drive and vomits into the grass. He wipes his mouth with the back of a shaking hand. “I killed him.”
“I know. It’s going to be all right. I promise.” Hopefully. I had a similar reaction after my first kill, but mine wasn’t a guy I’d thought I loved.
One thing at a time. I pull Rowan back, urging him toward the car. He climbs in without further questions. For the entire drive out of town, he’s silent.
Jalen drops us at a bus station, heading out with a jaunty wave to dispose of the security guys in the trunk.
“Where are we going?” Rowan blinks as if he’s got no idea how he got here. Given the circumstances, maybe he doesn’t.
“Out of town.”
“I need to get Iggy.”
“On our way here, Jalen had the presence of mind to contact a guy who used to be in your escorting group. He does animal rescue, I guess. Said he’d watch Iggy until we get back.”
“Back from where?”
“Back at the cabin you mentioned you’d never traveled. Seems like a good time to do that. Especially since it’s better if we’re both far from Belle Argo right now. Just in case.”
“You want me to travel with you?” For the first time since I dropped him off at his apartment, he gives me a small smile.
“I guess I should ask if you’re into that, but that was my plan. I’ve got a job to do farther south, and then we can go wherever we want. I even know someone who can get you a passport.”
I pull him close, ignoring the people wandering around us as I nuzzle his throat.
“It took thinking I’d lose you for good to realize how stupid I was being.
I’m sorry. I know you’ve been single for all of five minutes, so if you’re not ready for more, I understand.
You still need to lie low until things are closed out with Tucker.
I can get you money, enough to get you by until it’s safe to come back.
And when that happens, I’ll be back too.
And I’ll just keep coming until you decide you’re ready to love me back. ”
“You love me?” Rowan’s perpetually crinkled forehead smooths out. His lips form a slight smile. At least he’s not horrified. Good sign.
I shrug. “Seems messed up, right? A few days together and I’m ready to buy a house in the suburbs.”
“Really?”
“Fuck no. Metaphorically though.”
“Right.” He bites his lip. Now I want to bite him too.
“The point is, I’m not letting you get away again. And you know I’m good at tracking people down.”
Instead of looking as alarmed as he probably should, Rowan’s smile widens. “I would like to travel. I want to go someplace with snow. And mountains. First, though, I’d really like to see my family. It’s been a long time.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Might even be fun. Mothers love me.”
“Really?”
“I’m a damn hit with the ladies. Why is that such a surprise?”
He shakes his head, but his chest is shaking with silent laughter. Yeah. He’ll be okay.
I turn to go inside the station, but Rowan grabs my hand and pulls me back to him. He dips his head and presses the sweetest kiss I think I’ve ever had to my lips, tucking a strand of my shaggy hair behind my ear. “Thank you. For coming to get me. For everything.”
“I’ll always come back for you.”
“Good. And, Milo? I love you too.”