A Promise Kept

by Lynn Hagen

  Jericho looked at the clock on the wall. “Well, since you get off in a few hours, I guess you can skip the rest of your break. Why don’t you help Lacey clear the tables?”

  That would mean getting closer to Malik. Emilio wanted to jump at the chance to be closer to him, to smell his intoxicating aroma, to feel Malik’s warm skin rub against his. “I’m good behind the bar.”

  He walked to the other end and took a few orders, all the while feeling Malik’s intense gaze boring into him.

  The next few hours passed in a blur, and forty minutes ago, Malik and his friends had left. Emilio was both glad and disappointed that Malik was no longer around.

  Unfortunately, Calvin was. The drunk smiled a watery smile at Emilio as he raised his empty glass. Emilio wasn’t sure what Calvin’s problem was considering he’d turned the guy down countless times, yet Calvin didn’t seem to understand that “no thanks” meant “fuck off.”

  He tapped Jericho on his shoulder. “Calvin needs a refill.”

  Jericho rolled his eyes. “Is he still harassing you?”

  “Every damn night,” Emilio said.

  “Do you want me to tell Mike?” Jericho looked over Emilio’s shoulder with a glare. “He gives me the creeps.”

  “Who, Mike?” he asked.

  “No, Calvin.” Jericho walked away and refilled Calvin’s drink as Emilio started shutting everything down. Jericho shouted that it was last call, and for the next thirty minutes, everyone in the bar ran to them for a refill.

  By the time they locked up the bar and headed to the parking lot, Emilio was dead on his feet.

  “Good night,” Jericho said before he got into his car and drove away.

  Emilio didn’t own a car so he was walking through the parking lot to head home when he felt someone behind him. When he looked over his shoulder, Calvin was bearing down on him with a look of lust gleaming in his eyes.

  Emilio spun and walked backward. “What the fuck do you want?”

  That had been a dumb question. He knew what the guy wanted. Calvin had told him in dirty details over the course of a week what he wanted to do with Emilio. What had really creeped Emilio out was the fact that Calvin kept telling him he wanted to gobble him up. Who said that kind of shit?

  “Stop playing hard to get.” Calvin gained ground and reached out for him. He missed and stumbled but righted himself. “Do you know how good you fucking smell?”

  Emilio spun to take off and slammed into a tree. He shouted as he slapped a hand over his nose, and that was when Calvin grabbed him. Panic set in. For a drunkard, Calvin was strong, and Emilio couldn’t get the guy off him.

  Calvin smacked wet lips at his face, and Emilio gagged at the stench of his breath. Booze and breath freshener should never be combined.

  “Get off me!” Emilio shoved at Calvin’s face, desperate to keep the man’s disgusting lips off his skin. His shirt tore as the bastard yanked on it, trying to pull Emilio closer.

  This couldn’t be happening. Emilio shoved his knee into Calvin’s nuts as he slapped at the guy’s hands. Calvin snarled, using one hand to hold his groin and the other to keep a tight grip on Emilio.

  “I got your scent now,” Calvin snarled. “You’re gonna give me what I want. You smell too good to pass up.”

  Emilio heard what sounded like a roar, but he had to be hearing things in his desperate attempt to get Calvin off him.

  One minute Emilio was fighting to keep his shirt intact, and the next, Calvin was gone. Emilio blinked, tears in his eyes as Calvin hit the ground.

  Malik. He stood over Calvin, seething as he balled his hands into fists. “You piece of shit!”

  Emilio couldn’t process what was going on, what Calvin had tried to do. So he ran, his legs and arms pumping as he fled. He didn’t stop running until he made it to his apartment and slammed the door behind him, locking it before pressing his back against it.

  Calvin had tried to…oh god. Emilio clenched his eyes shut as he tried to catch his breath. He pulled the shirt over his head and threw it into the trashcan, unwilling to keep it and be reminded of tonight.

  He got into the shower and scrubbed his body until his skin felt raw, and then he sank down into the tub as he sobbed.

  Calvin might not have finished what he’d started, but Emilio couldn’t stop feeling as though the guy’s hands were still on him, couldn’t stop hearing the smack of Calvin’s lips close to his face or smelling the raunchy odor of his breath.

  Emilio wasn’t sure how long he stayed that way, curled up into a ball, before he forced himself to get out of the shower and go to bed. Unfortunately, every time he closed his eyes, he saw Calvin’s face.

  Chapter Two

  Malik had the fucker’s shirt curled in his hand as he dragged the bastard down the street to the police station. When he entered, Deputy Joshua Hayley looked down at the drunkard Malik had hauled inside.

  “Mind telling me why you have Calvin Mahoney in a death grip?” he asked. “That’s not how we do things around here.”

  “He just tried to rape someone outside Tilted.” Malik released his grip, and Calvin hit the floor.

  Joshua’s brows shot up. “Who?”

  “Emilio.” Malik was ashamed that he didn’t know his mate’s last name, but in his defense, Emilio hadn’t given it to him. “The bartender.”

  Joshua lowered his brows. “He tried to rape a guy?”

  There was no mistaking the disdain in his voice. “Does the gender matter?”

  Malik should’ve killed Calvin for laying a hand on Emilio. But he was trying to turn over a new leaf, and he couldn’t very well commit murder in front of his mate, though it had been very tempting and his lion had gone nuts for a piece of the guy.

  “Hey, Roy,” Joshua shouted. “Got something for you to do.”

  Deputy Benton strode to the front of the room. Malik couldn’t believe Joshua was handing this off as though he couldn’t be bothered with arresting Calvin for his heinous crime.

  Moose had warned Malik about Joshua, but seeing the disgust in the deputy’s eyes floored him. Malik was over three hundred years old, yet the prejudice toward gay people still astounded him, especially in an era where more and more people were coming out and a lot of communities celebrated Gay Pride Day.

  Clearly Maple Grove was not a progressive town, but Malik planned on changing that.

  “What’s Mr. Mahoney doing down there?” Roy asked. “Did he fall down?”

  “He assaulted one of the bartenders at Tilted,” Joshua said. “Read him his rights and process him.”

  Malik glared at Deputy Hayley as the human walked away. He was five seconds away from grabbing Joshua by the back of his shirt and clocking him. Instead Malik breathed in and out, telling himself he couldn’t assault a soon-to-be coworker.

  Then he thought of Emilio. His mate had taken off before Malik knew what was happening. He needed to find out where the guy lived so he could make sure his mate was okay. Calvin might have been stopped before he had a chance to rape Emilio, but Emilio still must’ve been shaken to his core.

  But Malik had no way of finding out. Not tonight. It was three in the morning, and most of the town was asleep. But his chest ached for what Emilio must’ve been going through right now, and he was all alone.

  Malik hung around the station until the sheriff arrived three hours later. Thankfully Sheriff Copache took Emilio’s assault more seriously than Joshua had.

  “How can you have someone so insensitive working on the force?” Malik asked through clenched teeth. “Maple Grove might not be as tolerant as a lot of other towns, but your gay community is growing, Sheriff. For Joshua to dismiss the attack is downright insulting and negligent.”

  He hadn’t meant to unload on the human as soon as he’d entered his office. The sheriff looked barely awake as he clutched his coffee, but he narrowed his eyes after Malik’s speech.

  “He handed the arrest over to Roy?”

  Malik nodded as a fire ignited in the sheriff�
��s eyes. “How is Emilio?”

  “I don’t know.” Malik’s chest squeezed tight. “He took off as soon as I pulled Calvin off him.”

  Sympathy edged the sheriff’s eyes. “I need Emilio to file a formal complaint, or Calvin will walk.”

  Malik leaned across the desk, his palms flat against the surface. “If Calvin walks, I’ll kill him. The only reason I brought him here in the first place was because I didn’t want to tear out his fucking throat in front of my mate.”

  Bringing Calvin in had been a mistake. Malik saw that now. So much for trying to do the right thing. If he saw Calvin on the street, Malik was ending him.

  Copache stood and squared his shoulders. “First, I didn’t know he was your mate. Second, stop trying to intimidate me. I’ll do whatever I can to keep Calvin locked up, but your mate needs to get down here and file charges.”

  Malik backed down. It wasn’t fair he was taking his anger out on the sheriff. “I don’t know where Emilio lives. I just met him last night.”

  “I don’t have his address, but he lives in the building Steven used to live in. Steven’s the busboy at the diner.”

  He knew who Steven was. When Cyril, the owner of the diner, told Steven that Malik had been the lion who’d walked into the diner when Brad had held him at gunpoint, Steven had made Malik his official friend.

  He liked the guy, although Malik could tell Steven’s elevator didn’t reach the top floor. But he was sweet and funny, and Malik had taken an instant liking to him.

  “You’ll have your compliant this afternoon.” He wasn’t sure of that since Emilio didn’t seem to want anything to do with him, but Malik would convince him to come down to the station.

  Just as soon as he learned where his mate lived.

  After stopping at the diner and talking to Steven for a good thirty minutes, because the guy was chatty as hell, Malik drove to Emilio’s apartment building and knocked on his door. He had to knock a minute longer before he heard someone moving around inside.

  “Who is it?” Emilio asked from the other side.

  “Malik.” He wasn’t sure if he should have given his name. That might’ve stopped Emilio from letting him in. But he cracked the door open and stared bleary-eyed at Malik.

  “What’re you doing here?” He yawned and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “What time is it?”

  “I came to check on you.” Malik tapped his knuckles against the door. “Mind letting me in so we can talk?”

  The guy must’ve really been out of it, because he closed the door and Malik heard the chain slide free. When Emilio opened it, he waved him inside.

  Malik ground his teeth when he saw the red scratches on Emilio’s neck and leading past his T-shirt. He wanted to go back to the police station and eviscerate Calvin.

  “Coffee,” Emilio mumbled as he walked away.

  Malik stood in the living room looking around. The place was modestly furnished, nothing fancy and nothing matching. The couch was red, and the armchair was beige and looked well worn. The coffee table had seen better days, but the place smelled good, and he noticed an electric wax burner on a shelf.

  Malik sat on the couch, and it shifted a bit, making him fear it would collapse under his weight. One of the legs was loose. An easy fix.

  Emilio returned and handed him a cup before he curled onto the armchair, his mug clasped between his hands. “Now why are you here?”

  God, the guy was sexy as fuck with sleep-tousled hair. Malik wanted to pull his mate onto his lap and hold him just to reassure himself that Emilio was real and that he was okay after his attack. All nonhumans prayed they found their mate, but knowing what Emilio was to him had Malik’s heart racing. It was like winning the goddamn lottery.

  “Calvin is in jail.” He took a sip of his coffee. It was weak compared to how he normally liked it, but Malik didn’t complain. He just kept staring at Emilio and waiting for his response.

  “I’m sorry.” Emilio yawned. “I had only an hour of sleep before you showed up, and I’m so dizzy that I just made the worst coffee ever.”

  The only reason Malik could think of that Emilio wasn’t still freaking out was because he was drunk from sleep deprivation. The guy looked as though he was barely hanging on.

  Malik set his cup on the coffee table. “Why don’t you go back to bed and I’ll wake you later?”

  He didn’t plan on leaving Emilio unprotected, even if Calvin was in jail. Malik felt cagey, and his lion wanted to crawl into bed with Emilio and curl around their mate. Emilio seemed out of it, but Malik saw the fear that still edged the man’s eyes.

  His mate set his cup on the coffee table and rubbed his temples. “I’m not the best thinker when I’m this tired.” He got up and stretched, and Malik nearly lost his shit when the patch of skin between his mate’s shirt and pajama pants was exposed.

  There was a faint happy trail that disappeared past the waistband, and he wanted to follow it with his tongue to find his pot of gold.

  Emilio started away but paused by the hallway. “You can come get a pillow for the couch. I know you must be tired, too.”

  His mate really had to be out of it to invite Malik to stay after he’d actively avoided him last night. Malik got up and followed him down the short hallway to his bedroom, which was just as sparsely decorated as his living room. He had a bed, one long dresser, and a nightstand.

  There were no pictures on the wall, no art, nothing. It was the most impersonal room Malik had ever seen.

  Emilio crawled into bed and shoved his face into a pillow. Seconds later Malik heard a light snore. He started to grab the other pillow and leave, but he sat and kicked his shoes off, stripped his jeans down his legs, and stretched out next to his mate, pulling Emilio into his arms.

  * * * *

  Emilio woke to a heavy presence pressing into his back. He looked over his shoulder and gasped when he spotted Malik. What the fuck? How had the guy gotten into his apartment, and why was he in Emilio’s bed?

  He slid from under Malik’s arm and tiptoed to the door. Emilio wasn’t going to fool himself into thinking he didn’t want to crawl back into bed. Malik’s heat had been welcomed, and it had been forever since Emilio had had a man sleeping next to him.

  Instead of walking out of the room, he stood there and looked Malik over. The covers had been kicked aside, and he was in his underwear and shirt. Emilio’s gaze slid over Malik’s powerful thighs, his ripped abs, and too bad he still had his shirt on, because Emilio would’ve loved to ogle his chest.

  He still wasn’t sure about his insane attraction to Malik. A lot of hot men came into Tilted, and some had even hit on him, but Emilio had turned down most advances. He wasn’t looking for a relationship, but he wasn’t a monk, either.

  Malik had a strong jaw, hugged by a goatee that turned Emilio on. He had full lips that had been made for kissing. He also had the thickest lashes Emilio had ever seen on a guy. They fanned across his cheeks as he lay there sleeping.

  Tearing his gaze away from the sleeping god, Emilio headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. He passed the change jar he’d been filling for a month to replace the iPod he’d borrowed from Steven and then had lost.

  Emilio planned on replacing it, but saving for a new iPod wasn’t easy when he barely made enough to pay his bills. He should’ve never borrowed it in the first place, but going over to Steven’s to ask for things had been Emilio’s way of trying to make friends with the guy.

  He’d even stupidly slept with his brother, hoping Steven would like him, but that plan had backfired. Now, every time he saw Kenny, Steven’s brother, the guy glared daggers at him.

  Did Emilio blame him? No. His social skills sucked, which was ironic since he worked at a bar. In truth, Emilio was shy and always said the wrong things, chasing people away. Every single time he’d opened his mouth to ask Steven if they could be friends, Emilio ended up asking to borrow something.

  Steven must’ve looked at him as a complete loser. Emilio
knew Kenny looked at him that way, and that had hurt since he’d really liked Kenny.

  “Good morning.”

  Emilio turned and saw Malik standing in the archway, one arm resting against the frame. Fuck, he looked good enough to eat. Emilio spun back around, grabbed the carafe, and emptied the old coffee before starting a new pot.

  “I hope you make it a lot stronger than you did this morning.” Malik walked to the fridge and opened it, pulling out the container of milk.

  Make yourself at home.

  “Not an afternoon person?” Malik smiled, and Emilio damn near swallowed his tongue. That smile was what wet dreams were made of, but it only reminded him of last night.

  Emilio thought of Calvin and looked away from Malik as images of what the drunken bastard had done to him once again hit him in the gut. Emilio wanted to forget Calvin’s pawing hands, his bad breath, and his fear-inducing voice.

  “Emilio?” Malik was at his side, pulling him into strong arms, and Emilio went, burying his face against Malik’s chest. “Have you processed it yet?”

  Emilio shook his head. He’d cried in the shower but forced the images from his mind when he’d laid down. Now those images were coming back, and he needed a steady rock, someone who would make him feel safe again.

  And Malik made him feel safe as he glided his hand down Emilio’s back. “It’s okay, Emilio. He’s not gonna hurt you again. I promise you’re safe.”

  Those words meant the world to him, but Emilio didn’t trust them. He didn’t trust Malik. Emilio pulled away and wiped at his eyes, giving Malik his back. When the coffee was done, he pulled two mugs from the cupboard and filled them.

  “I have a lot of things to do today,” Emilio lied. “You can see yourself out.”

  He left Malik standing in the kitchen as he padded to his bedroom and closed the door. Emilio’s past experiences served to only remind him that he couldn’t count on anyone, that everyone had failed him. Malik wouldn’t be any different.

  The guy had been interested in him for sex. Emilio had seen that in Malik’s gorgeous green eyes last night. He was only here because maybe he was a decent human being, but in the end, Emilio would be alone.