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What can I tell him? Of course he’ll find it? Don’t give up? Michael is forty. We probably have more yesterdays than we have tomorrows. So I’m not sure what I can say to make him feel better. “Have you ever had someone you wanted to be with forever?” I ask curiously.
He chuckles and turns back to his computer. “Yeah. Wild thing is, I’ve never spoken to him. But I felt it.”
“Why not try? It’s not too late to speak to him now.”
“Can’t,” Michael says, sighing and putting his hands behind his head. “He thinks we’re dead.”
I wince. He’s from our old life. While nothing will happen if we go back to our old lives, it will put Savage in danger. “Fuck, man. I’m sorry. Can you find a way to tell him you’re not? Without freaking him out?”
“Doubt it. But thanks for trying to give me an idea. I saw him twice and I started thinking we could have had something. Weird, right?”
“Nah, I don’t think there’s anything weird about what you feel. You never know. You might find a way to get what you want.”
He nods, then turns back to his computer, ending the conversation.
Hearing Michael ask what it’s like to feel how I do about Red kind of crushes me. Besides Savage, he’s my best friend and I want the best for him. I wanted the best for Savage when he started dated Abel. I remember doing more than normal to keep him as safe as possible so they can have what they do. Having what they have is almost more than I expected.
It makes me wonder who he’s talking about. While Michael had his fair share of sex over the years—not just with men—he never tried to have a relationship. I didn’t think he even liked anyone enough to consider it. I can’t think of who he might be talking about from our old lives.
While I wish Red had never gone through what he did, I count my lucky stars that he called me to take care of and protect him.
The phone ringing breaks into my thoughts. Scooping it up, I bark, “Hayes.”
“Hayes? Lorry from the RCMP, Ontario. I’m the contact for Jared, your Quebec guy. I’m calling to thank you for the tip. It was good. We found the warehouse and we rescued eleven individuals chained in different rooms. It was an elaborate set up, one that went back a few years, but we shut it down.”
A smile stretches my face and I think about how thrilled my boy will be when he hears this news. Then I think about how sad he’ll be when he hears about how many people they found in that warehouse. I’m not sure how he’ll take the news, but I know I have to tell him everything. I promised myself that if I found a boy after I stopped working for Savage, I would be honest with them about everything. Probably why the two I had before didn’t last. When you work for a crime family and you can’t tell your boys everything they want to know, they tend to check out of the relationship. If you tell them you work for the Benavelli family, they run faster than Usain Bolt to get away from that danger.
“Thanks for calling, man. How big was this operation? Any chance it could be going on in other provinces?” Since I have an in with Jared, hopefully he’ll give me that information. If not, it’s only the work of a moment to find out myself. While it’s been years since I was on active duty, once a Marine, always a Marine. The skills they taught me never left. There’s a reason I co-own and operate at a physical and cybersecurity convergence firm.
I hear a creak on the other end of the phone, then a sigh. “Thankfully, it’s just the one warehouse we found. Solo operation. The guys we caught are all trying to confess faster than the others to get better deals, but eleven counts of human trafficking and kidnapping won’t have any of them seeing the light of day anytime soon.”
We discuss the raid a bit more then hang up. I’m satisfied with what he told me, but I want to see it with my own eyes. Hacking into their system isn’t difficult since they have shit firewalls. Finding the files I’m looking for, I read over the reports and see all the information he told me. I’m glad to know he was honest, but I can’t be too careful when I tell Red. He needs to know it all.
I need to call them back one day to have them update their firewall. While I have excellent skills, I didn’t even break a sweat getting into their mainframe.
I call Red at his desk, asking him to come to my office. Since Michael is still here, I know he’s not getting the idea that we’ll fuck in my office again. Though it’s definitely something we’ll have to find a way to repeat. I need new memories.
Rapping on the door, Red sticks his head into the office, looking nervous with a notepad. I probably should have told him it wasn’t work related to put him at ease. Smiling at him, I pat my leg and he hurries over, sitting on my knee and looping his arms around my neck. He leans in, then freezes, eyes wide. “Shit, we’re at work,” he says, trying to scramble off my lap.
Not gonna happen. Getting a hold of his hip, I keep him in place and put a hand in his hair. Red melts under my touch and leans in and I kiss him. “You’re forgetting I own half of this company, right?” I ask rhetorically against his lips.
“And the other owner is out. Keep it in your pants, you two,” Michaels shouts over his shoulder as he leaves, making us both grin.
When we’re alone, Red leans in for another kiss and I slid my tongue into him, opening him up so I can taste his sweet mouth. My boy moans softly, putting a hand on my chest and grabbing my locs with the other.
I’m sure we would keep this up all day if Red had his way, but I need to tell him the good news. I only hope he sees it that way when I tell him the number of victims that were rescued.
I pull back and see Red’s pupils are blown and his breathing is uneven. Smirking, I give him another peck that has him pouting when I pull away. “I called you in for a reason.” Red nods and sits up, giving me his undivided—and lust free—attention. Drawing a deep breath, I tell him what Lorry told me. About the raid, the arrests and the victims. I’m very candid with him, giving him all the facts without sugarcoating anything. Red is strong and brave, so I know he can take it, even if it will make him feel terrible hearing about how many people this operation had.
“Good news is,” I tell him, finishing up with what Lorry told me, “they were a solo operation. There’s no bigger person they have to go after to shut this shit down. With the sweep they did, they got them all. No more.” That’s not the case with many trafficking rings, so I’m grateful it is with this one for Red’s sake. I would gladly spend my life tracking each and every one of the fuckers down if it weren’t isolated, but I’m sure Red wouldn’t want me to go around killing people.
Red nods, looking off into space. He sits in silence for a bit and I rub his back gently, letting him know I’m here, but I won’t crowd him or treat him like he can’t handle basic shit. Shaking himself, he looks at me with sad eyes. “Will they be okay? Will anything be done for the people they rescued? I don’t know if I can bear the thought of them being rescued from that hell without the means to get better and live a reasonably normal life.”
I didn’t think to ask. Fuck, I didn’t even think about it. They’ll need a lot of therapy and have a lot of healing ahead of them. Canada has universal healthcare, but will the limited therapy sessions be enough to help them? Probably not. They’ll need regular visits for a long time. Three to five appointments a week for the foreseeable future.
Shrugging, I pull him closer. “I’m not sure, baby boy. I can make sure they have some therapy sessions for the next few years. How does that sound?”
“You’d do that for me? For them?”
