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The case wasn’t proving to be too complicated. The client had come to Merleau complaining that he was being followed and threatened. He didn’t want to go to the cops until he had some kind of proof. The guy wasn’t sure if his wife was trying to have him killed or if his business partner was trying to force him to sell his half of the business.
Tonight, they were outside the guy’s business after he’d let slip to both his wife and business partner that he’d stashed some important financial documents in the office until he could meet with his lawyer.
“Doesn’t look like the business partner,” Shane muttered. There was an ultra-soft clicking noise of the shutter rapidly firing with each shot. “Maybe one of them hired out the dirty work.”
Hollis lifted the binoculars and swung them over to the building. The back of the warehouse was well-lit, giving Hollis a clear view of the tall, skinny figure wearing a dark knit hat along with black pants and a leather jacket. But even from the distance, Hollis could clearly make out the devil tattoo on the man’s neck.
“No fucking way,” Hollis swore. He lowered the binoculars for a moment and blinked, his heart racing in his chest. He couldn’t have possibly seen who he thought he saw. But there was no mistaking that tattoo.
“What? You recognize him?”
Hollis ignored Shane’s questions as he stared through the binoculars again. He carefully focused the lenses, training them on the man’s face as he paused at the door and looked around the open area to make sure he was alone. It was him. Hollis would have recognized Joey “No Nose” Pinscher anywhere. The man got the nickname because he apparently had no sense of smell. The guy usually stank to high heaven and was completely oblivious to it.
Hollis became acquainted with Joey when he’d worked undercover in Boris Jagger’s mob.
“It’s Joey Pinscher. He worked for Boris Jagger.”
“What? Jagger? He’s dead, right? I mean…”
“Yeah, Jagger’s dead.” Hollis would know. He was there when Ian finished him off before he could kill both him and Ian. That moment would haunt him forever. Terror and relief had run through him.
“Joey was a low-level creep for Jagger. Mostly ran errands, drugs, and worked as muscle here and there when it was needed.”
Shane’s voice was cautious as he continued to snap pictures. “Is this from when you were a Cincy cop? I know you were on the Jagger case.”
That was an understatement.
“I spent close to a year undercover in Jagger’s operation. That’s when I met Joey, along with an entire cast of monsters I’d prefer to think were locked up in prison somewhere.”
Hollis didn’t want to think about Jagger. It didn’t matter that the man had been dead for nearly three years. He always seemed to pop up in the back of Hollis’s mind, reminding him of the horrible things he’d put Ian through. That Jagger and his entire operation were the reasons for Ian’s nightmares.
Jagger conjured up endless tangles of helplessness and rage that Hollis couldn’t shed. The old memories were always there, even if Ian refused to admit it. They gave his lover nightmares still and caused more than enough bad days. But Ian shrugged them off and pasted a smile on his face. He plunged himself into work, forcing them both to pretend that Jagger wasn’t still haunting them.
And Hollis let it happen.
For the most part, they were happy. The nightmares were rare and so were the bad days. Hollis didn’t want to rock the boat. He didn’t want to be the one to force Ian to relive those horrible memories yet again. Not when their life together was going so perfectly.
He didn’t want to admit that there were days he was afraid to let Ian out of his sight. That there were nights when Hollis had his own memories or something triggered an old thought from their early days together, leaving Hollis wanting to simply hold Ian and reassure himself that the man he loved most in the world was safe.
How was he supposed to explain to Ian that he was struggling with those old recollections when he knew that Ian had survived far worse?
So, they both pretended everything was okay.
But the appearance of Joey Pinscher was a sharp reminder that not everyone from Jagger’s crew was locked up and far away from Ian.
God, he wanted to scoop Ian up and carry him far from this fucking city!
Far from all remnants of Jagger’s world so they could start fresh where Ian would be safe.
But Ian would never leave his family. Never leave his beloved restaurant.
Hollis didn’t want to leave their unique family either. As much as he hated to admit it, he loved Lucas, Snow, Rowe, and their husbands. Yet, Hollis would do anything to keep Ian safe.
