Chapter 27 Sheldon
SHELDON
We’d been down this road before, more times than I could count. Someone was after one of us. We didn’t know who it was. Our lives became searching for the motherfucker who was threatening us. It was a shitty situation not to know who your enemy was.
Lists were made. There was one for the people I’d disemboweled.
Another of the people I’d personally killed.
A third for murders I’d been involved in, but didn’t deliver the final blow.
And none of these were the poisonings. Those were how most of the people I encountered died.
But when we went back years, let’s just say the lists weren’t short.
I was tired of the bullshit, so I started leaving my bike out in the open or one of the Navigators, going to places just to see if someone would fuck with me.
No way was I doing that with Forest, but I’d readily use myself as bait.
Except, no one took it. I also didn’t tell Forest what I was doing.
He’d yell, I’d feel horrible, then apologize.
He’d tell me never to do it again, which I would.
I’d do whatever it took to keep him safe.
“This is ridiculous,” Oleander said from my side. He had the day off from guarding Vail, so he tagged along with me while I stood on a street corner a few blocks from Jordan’s building. I had a cup of coffee and casually leaned against the outside of a small market.
“When we want someone to shoot at us, they don’t.” I must have said that too loudly because a woman walking past gasped. Whatever. She was in East Dremest, not the middle of nowhere. Shit happened here. Less with Jordan around, but it still did.
“Because you want them to,” Oleander replied.
“You can’t will it to happen. Besides, even if it did, we’d have to track the person down to see if it was for this specific reason or just because we’re making ourselves targets.
There are probably a lot of people out there who’d love to kill us.
” He shrugged like it was no big deal. Meh, guess it wasn’t. We were used to being targeted.
“I could ask Jordan to stand out here with me.” Okay, so I was getting desperate. I didn’t want to risk anyone’s life, but for fuck’s sake, I needed a break here.
“No one would be bold enough to take a shot in broad daylight on a busy street. If someone wants him dead, they won’t do it with a crowd.”
I threw my cup in the garbage and glanced up in time to see a guy pause on the sidewalk to look at me. “Got a problem?” I asked.
“I think I know you.”
“Depends. Are you a piece of shit or a good person? The way you answer that will tell me if you’ve seen me before or not.” I guessed I wasn’t feeling polite today.
Just when I thought he’d walk away without answering, he asked, “Are any of us truly good people? Life isn’t kind to most.”
“True, but some of us live more in the gray than we do in the light.”
“I think most of us live there. And the people who think they are full of love and never do anything wrong are usually lying to themselves.”
“Agreed.”
“I remember why you look familiar.” He lifted his phone and tapped on the screen before showing it to me.
It was a photo of me, and beneath it said, This man killed my partner.
It was a post on a popular social media site where people liked to speculate about crimes.
I didn’t go on there, but one of the guards did.
It was his guilty pleasure. He even got a few of the others into it, and they tried to solve the crimes before the solution was posted.
“At least I look good,” I said in response.
“Did you do it?”
“Do you really care?”
“No.”
“Then if I did or didn’t doesn’t matter. Also, getting a confession out of me isn’t going to happen. That’s a forum for people to speculate and fuel conspiracy theories. If I did it and they knew it, wouldn’t I be in prison?”
He glanced down at the screen, then up again. “It says you work for Jordan Altair Sr.”
“Accurate.” I didn’t hide who my boss was. I’d been seen numerous times with him. There was no reason to conceal myself.
“Are you sure it’s only the gray you live in?”
“It varies by the day, but let me ask you this. Do you live in the city?”
He nodded.
“Do you feel safer knowing Jordan is looking out for the people here? The streets are cleaner than most cities. Crime is down.”
“I agree with you there,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I want to meet him.”
“No, but you benefit from what he does. The gray isn’t a bad place to live in. Thanks for the heads-up on the forum. I’ll be sure to go down that rabbit hole later.”
“Anytime. By the way, even if you did do it, I have a feeling it was warranted.”
“Welcome to the dark side.”
As the guy walked away, I noticed Oleander typing on his phone. “I told Barry. He’s going to fill Jordan and the others in.”
“Did you read the post?”
“Skimmed. There’s nothing concrete. It reads more like whoever posted it wants others to join in, saying you killed their loved ones as well.”
“Is it a breadcrumb?”
“I doubt we’ll get anything from it. Barry will tell Lawson. People can create fake accounts though. This account was already deleted. They could have been logged in from a coffee shop when they posted and ditched the device. There are too many variables.”
Was it wrong that I didn’t care? I mean, I did, but this person was playing games. If they really wanted to draw me out or ruin my reputation, they didn’t know me at all. I didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought about me except for a select handful.
“I’m not feeding into this,” I replied. “That’s what they want, a reaction. All they’ll get is shut down.”
“C’mon. We should get back.”
“Fine. Too bad I didn’t get anywhere today.”
“You made a new friend.” He grinned.
“Friend is a stretch.”
We climbed into the Navigator and drove back to the building.
It gave my thoughts time to run wild. We’d been on that forum before, but the obvious way whoever posted was new.
They wanted me ruffled. If they knew anything about me, that wasn’t something easily accomplished, except when it came to Forest. I’d kill for him.
The moment the SUV stopped in the garage, the door was ripped open, and Forest filled the space.
“What the fuck?” he yelled. “Did you know they posted your picture on that shit forum? I bet you did, and you didn’t bother to tell me.
How many people are going to be looking for you?
It’s not safe for you to leave. You should stay inside with me. Do paperwork or some shit.”
When he took a breath, I made my move to stop his rambling. I dove forward, gripped his biceps, and kissed the fuck out of him. By the time I was done, there were no words leaving his lips.
His eyes slowly opened, and he looked at me like he did whenever my mouth was on him—dreamy, full of want, with a cute smile on his lips.
“Hi,” I whispered.
“Hi.”
“How about you let me get out and we go inside?” It was one thing for me to expose myself, but having Forest vulnerable was a no-go. I didn’t care that we were in the garage. There was too much open space down here.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and moved out of the way. That was when I noticed Micah standing behind him, eyes scanning the area.
My feet hit the ground, and I immediately gripped Forest’s hand in mine to take him to the waiting elevator. I held him close as we rode upstairs with Micah and Oleander. I pushed the button for my floor, but the elevator kept going until we arrived at the top. The doors opened into Jordan’s home.
He stood waiting for us. “When did you become the problem guard?”
“It was my turn?” I asked when we exited.
He sighed. “Lawson removed the post but didn’t find much from digging around. It was like the others we’d found on there.”
“I didn’t think you would. It was done to piss me off, but they must not know me because it didn’t.”
“How can they allow people to say shit like that on there?” Forest asked. He wasn’t a fan of social media and liked to discuss why it was awful when given the chance.
“They live for drama,” Oleander said. “That’s the only reason to post, but this one was aimed at Sheldon. Maybe they thought it was doing more than it was. Who knows?”
“I just want to kill this person,” I stated. “I’m over this. The waiting is bullshit. They’ll eventually make their move, but until then, it’s a matter of when, which I hate.”
“We all do,” Jordan cut in. He always had to have the upper hand, not that I blamed him. When he did, we all won.
“Mind games. They think they can keep dropping these little tidbits to fuck with me, but the truth is, I just want them dead. I don’t care how it happens. There is no way I’ll be so stressed I can’t perform though.” I glanced at Forest for that one. I loved a comment with dual meanings.
“Jesus,” he muttered. He was still glued to my side, right where I liked him.
“I’m going to head home for a bit, unless you need me for anything,” I said to Jordan.
“No, go.”
“Just another day,” I reminded him. It earned me a low growl from my boss. He liked calm days or days when he was the predator. Having us as the prey drove him to the edge.
As soon as Forest and I were alone in the apartment with the door shut and locked, I pushed him against it and dropped to my knees, quickly pulling his sweats down and exposing his cock. Before he could utter a word, I swallowed him, bringing him as far as he could go.
His fingers threaded into my hair, nails biting my scalp. “Holy shit.”
This would be quick enough to get his mind off what just happened.
I teased around his hole with my finger, not pushing in but toying with him, touching him, rubbing him, until he spilled down my throat in a shout.
Licking my lips after taking all I could, I peered up at the man I loved as he sank to the floor in front of me.
“One day, I’m going to last forever and surprise the hell out of you,” he said, not bothering to pull his pants up.
“Sure you are.”
I reveled in how fast I could get him to come. He thought it was a bad thing. I saw it as how much the man who held my heart desired me. It never got old. I didn’t think he couldn’t last. It was just that I got him so good, he couldn’t hold on any longer.
Leaning forward, I pressed a soft kiss to the tip of his nose. “I love you.”
He gave me a lust-drunk smile. “I love you too, baby.”
I was going to spend the rest of my life with this man, showing him daily how loved he was. First, I had a motherfucker to kill. No more using myself as bait. I was going hunting.