AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Henri pulled his Glock from his jeans and fired off two shots—one through Diego’s hand, the other through his thigh—and as Henri whirled around and aimed the gun at rAz’s head, he gritted his teeth and said, “Give me a reason, motherfucker. I’m in just the right kind of mood.”
RAz didn’t get a chance to respond, though, because a second later the door flew open and Detective Dick came in with a flashlight trained on them. He marched over to where Henri was holding his gun to rAz’s temple.
“Good job,” Dick said. “Well fucking done.” Dick aimed a fuck you stare at rAz and said, “Get on your feet, asshole.”
RAz stood, and Dick jerked him around to cuff him. RAz looked Henri in the eye and said, “I’ve seen your face now, townie. Don’t think I’ll forget it.”
Henri leaned in and said, “Bring it on, fucker. I’ve been hunted by things much worse than you.”
Dick yanked rAz away and passed him off to one of the uniforms. “You okay?” he asked Henri. “You didn’t get hit or shot at or anything like that, did you?”
Henri knew Dick was just asking to be professional, but for a second he let himself believe that he and Bailey’s brother could be cordial, if given the chance. Now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get that.
“I’m fine, detective. No extra paperwork for you tonight.”
Henri wasn’t sure, but he thought he almost caught the beginnings of a grin on Dick’s mouth.
“How about no paperwork between you and me from now on?”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I can’t exactly have my brother’s boyfriend as my CI now, can I?”
Not about to point out that he might not be Bailey’s anything anymore when he was about to get his freedom, Henri said, “I guess not. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, but—”
“It’d be a fucking lie?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Dick made his way to the door and said, “You made me look good here tonight, Boudreaux. That’s not an easy fucking task. Go home and celebrate.”
Henri walked out the door and into the now-bustling hall, and as he thought about the empty home he was now heading back to, he thought, Celebrate? Celebrate what? He had nothing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
CONFESSION
I’m tired of being the good guy.
Tired of always being “Saint Bailey.”
“SO…HOW WAS your sex vacation? I want all the dirty details. And start from the top, since we both know that’s where you like it best.”
Xander shrugged out of his grey fleck peacoat and hung it on Bailey’s coatrack, then stepped into the living room, ready for all the salacious details from Bailey’s impromptu getaway.
God, this was the last thing Bailey wanted to do tonight, Saturday night dinner with the family. But he’d known that if he canceled twice in a row there would be questions, people at his front door to make sure he was okay, and he figured he could avoid that by plastering on a smile for a couple of hours and then sending them on their way.
It might even do him good to be around other people. Maybe that way he’d stop obsessing over the person he’d sent away. Not that he’d been very good at that in the past, and whenever he’d tried, his obsession had only gotten worse.
“Earth to Bay…”
“Huh?”
Xander chuckled as he walked into the living room. “Where did you just go? I asked how your trip was. But before you answer, how about we get a fire going in here or something? It’s freezing.”
Was it? Bailey hadn’t even noticed. Then again, he’d been spending a lot of time curled up in his bed watching TV or just…existing.
Xander grabbed a couple of the logs from the pile Bailey kept by the hearth and crouched down to place them on the grate. “Are you okay? You seem a little out of it.”
Okay, Bay, time to pull yourself together, or he’s going to start asking more questions. “I’m fine,” Bailey lied, and then looked out the window to the night sky. “I guess I didn’t realize how chilly it got when the sun went down.”
Xander eyed him until Bailey started to get a little fidgety.
“Let me grab the matches and we can get this going.” Bailey headed to the side table and pulled out the box of long matches. Once they got the fire underway, Xander brushed his hands off and slipped them into the pockets of his designer jeans.
“So, you never said. How was your trip?”
Bailey grabbed the poker and jabbed the wood a few times as he tried to think about the sunshine, sand, and crystal-blue water. The beautiful bungalow, and the way he’d felt when Henri said he loved him.
But those memories were quickly replaced by Henri’s nightmare, the pain etched across his face as he relived it all for Bailey, and the sadness in his eyes when Bailey said he needed time and walked away.
