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Abe dropped a hand on Shane’s shoulder and squeezed. “I get it. I’m out of here. I put a new loaf of bread and some deli meat in the fridge for lunch. Give me a call if you need me to run for anything else.”
“I will—”
“Hold on a sec,” Quinn interrupted. He put his phone to his ear and walked back into the bedroom. There was a low murmur of urgent conversation that Shane couldn’t quite make out punctuated by some threats that Shane could clearly understand. Quinn returned a minute later, a nervous smile on his face.
“Abe, Dominic Walsh is going to follow you home, if that’s okay with you. He’s going to check over your house and make sure that everything is safe before he comes back here to keep an eye on Shane.”
“If you think it’s necessary,” Abe said, looking from Shane to Quinn, but Shane couldn’t talk because of the lump that had grown in his throat. He hadn’t even thought about the potential threat against his dad. If this was the mayor and his bodyguard, it wasn’t exactly hard to find where he lived, where his dad lived. If anything happened to his dad…
“Nah, it’s probably not necessary, but it would be one less thing for us to worry about.”
“Please, Dad,” Shane added in a low, rough voice.
Abe squeezed his shoulder again. “Why not? A strange, male visitor wandering around my house. It’ll give the neighbors something fun to gossip about.” He then leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Shane’s head. “Be safe, Shane,” he whispered.
While Quinn walked to the door with Abe, giving a quick description of Dominic, Shane motioned for Ethan to accompany him into the living room, where he could more comfortably stretch out on the sofa. The back of his thigh was throbbing in time with his heart. He needed another painkiller, but he didn’t want to go back to the bedroom for the bottle. His head had to stay clear.
He’d just gotten comfortable on the couch with his leg up when Quinn returned with a fresh mug of coffee and his bottle of pills. He accepted both but put them on the table before roughly grabbing a fistful of Quinn’s shirt. Jerking him close, he barely managed to get out, “Thank you for protecting my dad,” before he captured Quinn’s mouth in a blistering kiss that had the other man melting into him. He didn’t care that he’d kissed Quinn in front of his dad and he didn’t care what kinds of questions Ethan was going to ask him. Quinn made sure that his dad was safe. It was the only thing that mattered.
He only broke off the kiss when he heard his front door open and close. Releasing Quinn, he started to get up, but Quinn put a restraining hand on his shoulder and gave him a shaky smile.
“It was part of the deal for your dad,” Quinn explained. A couple of seconds later, the heavy footsteps across the hardwood floor resolved into Royce as he walked into the living room. The same grim expression he normally wore filled his handsome face, but he seemed even more pissed than usual and Shane was sure that it was directed at him.
Dragging his eyes back to Quinn, he reached over and took his hand. “He can’t know, Quinn. Not yet.”
“I’m not asking to know what shit you’ve dragged the squirt into,” Royce said, his voice more of a low growl. “But I’m not leaving. I’m his shadow until this is finished.”
Shane looked up at Quinn, who didn’t look disturbed by Royce’s announcement, sending a ripple of unease through him. Had he misread Quinn and his feelings? Maybe he was able to keep things separate and his heart was really locked up with Royce. You only had to see the two men in the same room to know that they were close.
“There’s a fresh pot of coffee. Help yourself.”
Royce dropped his eyes to Shane for a long second before giving a grunt and turning back toward the kitchen.
“See if you can keep Rowe off my back for a bit,” Quinn called after him. Royce’s only response was a low chuckle that held more menace than amusement.
“Shane, what the fuck?” Ethan demanded when they could hear Royce moving around the kitchen. “The cops have stopped by the agency, demanding full details on the case. I’ve managed to put them off until they get a warrant, but it’s only a matter of time. You’ve been in the center of two shootings in two weeks.”
He looked over at his long-time friend and his heart broke a little bit. When the mayor’s case had landed in his lap, he thought that they had been handed a chance of a lifetime to take their little detective agency to the next level. But now it was looking like they’d been played by the mayor from the very start. He’d risked his own life, Quinn’s, and possibly Ethan’s. At the very least, their business could be completely sunk if they made a wrong step now.
