Shadow's Pen [Rescue for Hire 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Bellann Summer

  Shadow leaned against a file cabinet and watched Pen pull up a picture of an obviously dead man. It looked to Shadow as if it was a morgue photo. Pen glanced up from the monitor and looked at his office doorway before again concentrating on the computer.

  A newspaper article, with a headline stating there was a fourth man missing in Vernon County, filled the screen. After a few minutes Pen pulled up a Vernon County police report. Funny, Shadow had thought those were closed during ongoing investigations.

  A small black box sitting on a wooden stand in the corner of the room came to life. Sirens blared, and static crackled. “Dispatch, I need a 11-85 at Otter Lake. I have a 11-24. Silver VW Beetle, license plate, John-Boy-Charles-4-2-8. Be advised it is at the bottom of the lake.”

  In his mind Shadow went through his knowledge of police codes. If he were correct, someone was requesting a tow truck for an abandoned vehicle dumped in Otter Lake.

  Pen lurched to his feet, still clutching his notebook, while sending the chair he was sitting on skidding. Shadow was at his side in an instant. Pen looked up at him with troubled light gray eyes and a trembling mouth.

  Shadow was reaching for his lover when, from behind them, he heard a snick, followed by an all-too-familiar sizzle. Grabbing Pen, he dragged him toward the front doors.

  Shouts of distress rang out as the room filled with smoke. Shadow kept going, even when Pen shouted, “What’s going on?”

  Shadow answered, “Smoke bomb.”

  Chapter Eight

  Pen sat in Shadow’s Jeep parked at the end of the block and watched the firefighters struggle to contain the fire that he assumed had started from the smoke bomb. Bright red fire trucks and different colored police vehicles surrounded the old building that Pen had grown to love in the short time he had been in town.

  Never in a million years had Pen thought he’d see a smoke bomb in Granite City. Pen had been so shocked from the police scanner reporting that his brother’s car was possibly at the bottom of Otter Lake that his thoughts couldn’t process why Shadow was dragging him out the front doors.

  Shadow had thrown him into the Jeep before jumping in and gunning the vehicle away from the newspaper building accompanied by high-pitched squeals of tires. After driving around the block, Shadow had parked at the end of Main Street.

  As soon as Shadow had turned off the Jeep, he’d taken Pen’s hand in his. When Pen had looked at Shadow, the big man had ordered, “Stay put and lock the doors.” Not bothering to wait for Pen’s reply, Shadow had left the vehicle.

  Now Pen was fuming. There wasn’t anything he could do here. Once the fire was out, it would be days, maybe weeks, before the investigation was complete. He needed to go and verify that it was Daniel’s car in Otter Lake.

  But the man leaning against the front bumper of the Jeep with his muscled arms crossed over his massive chest had other ideas. And, yes, Pen hated that he was admiring the big galoot’s body while he was annoyed with him.

  Pen glanced at the ignition switch. The key wasn’t in it. There went the idea of taking off without Shadow.

  Shadow straightened from the bumper and turned toward Pen. Intense chocolate-brown eyes set in a face devoid of expression stared across the vehicle’s hood right at Pen, almost challenging him to disobey the direct order of staying put.

  The retribution Pen sensed that would come his way if he tried something had him settling back into his seat. Only a fool would go up against Shadow when he looked like that.

  And today, Pen decided, he wasn’t a fool.

  * * * *

  With slow and methodical precision, Shadow scanned every face in the crowd of gawkers who were watching the fire department fight the growing flames consuming the newspaper building. He was sure that the person who’d set off the bomb was in the widening band of people standing behind the barricades.

  The smoke bomb that Shadow had seen rolling into the newspaper’s bullpen had come from the back of the building. He wasn’t sure if more of those bombs had been set off in other rooms. In the last few moments the firefighter’s main concern had gone from trying to put the fire out in the newspaper’s building, to keeping the fire from spreading to the attached buildings.

  The sheriff and most of his department were here. That wouldn’t be unusual to any person observing the events. Sheriff Titan was busy directing his men in controlling the crowd and taking statements from the newspaper employees. So far he hadn’t approached Pen.

  Most of the Rescue for Hire team was also here. They weren’t in uniform, but they casually mixed in with the crowd, observing from various points. One member was stationed on the roof of a building across the street from the fire. If Shadow wasn’t mistaken, the long braided ponytail told him that it was Treble Walker. Shadow had encountered Treb a few times back during his days fighting militants in Arab countries.

  A woman stumbling over the street curb while trying to step onto the sidewalk caught Shadow’s eye. She looked to be in her late twenties and was dressed in a mid-length green and blue skirt accompanied by a button-down white shirt. On her feet were black slipper-like shoes.

  To complete her look, she wore thick black glasses and her hair was tied in a bun at the nape of her neck. What grabbed Shadow’s attention was the identification card hanging from a chain around her neck and the way a police officer caught her before she hit the ground. It was clear he knew her well, as did another officer several feet away, who smiled when he saw she was safe. Shadow noted that the second officer was Deputy Irvin who had interviewed Pen at the hospital.

  Shadow glanced at his watch. Given the police officers’ familiarity with the woman and the ID, Shadow’s instincts told him she worked at the police station or courthouse. He questioned why she wasn’t at work at ten o’clock in the morning. He also wondered where she had gotten the black sooty mark marring her white blouse and one hand.

  A different police officer walked up to the woman and held his smartphone out to her. She pointed at the screen as they discussed something before she nodded, smiled, and headed in the opposite direction of the fire and crowd. Shadow dismissed his suspicions, concluding she must have been at the scene as part of her duties.

  The bumper under Shadow’s butt rocked slightly, letting him know Pen was getting restless. With a look, Shadow had let the smaller man know once already that they weren’t going anywhere until he was ready.

  Shadow pressed the fob button as he walked around to Pen’s door. The second the door was unlocked, Pen opened it. Shadow grabbed the edge of the door with one hand and leaned in the opening with his other arm resting on the roof, boxing in his fidgety lover.

  “Going somewhere, baby?” Shadow watched a flush creep into Pen’s cheeks.

  “Look, I can’t really do anything here. You heard the report on the police scanner. They found Daniel’s car. I need to be at Otter Lake.” For once there wasn’t any temper in Pen’s tone. Defeat and pleading laced each word, and Shadow hated it.

  “Knowledge is safety.” For Shadow, that said it all. Pen’s safety was first and foremost.

  A speculative gleam came into Pen’s eyes. “You know something I don’t,” he accused. “This is about more than a simple mugging. You think the smoke bomb has something to do with me.”

  Shadow stood up and shut Pen’s door. They could give the sheriff a statement later.

  Sliding into the driver’s seat, Shadow started the Jeep and pulled away from the curb. “I need directions to Otter Lake.”

  “That’s all you have to say?” Pen turned in the seat and faced Shadow.

  “Directions,” Shadow stated. His mind was racing. The reporter inside Pen was starting to sniff out answers that Shadow couldn’t give.

  “Continue on this road out of town. In ten miles you’ll be at the lake.” The tone of Pen’s words was flat but steady.

  Shadow braced himself. The tension in the air told him the hot-tempered man was gearing up for a showdown.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s
really going on, Mr. Drayton?”

  The tiny hairs on Shadow’s neck stood up. If he didn’t handle this right, he could very well lose Pen. He was nowhere near ready to give the sexy man up.

  He decided to go with the truth, at least as much as he could tell. “Cade Miller hired me to keep an eye on you for a couple of days after you were mugged.”

  The snort Pen gave was pure disgust. “Don’t treat me like a moron, Mr. Drayton. I know that. The question I want answered is, why does Cade care? I’m new in town and don’t even know him that well. It seems over the top to assign one of his employees to guard me after a simple mugging.”

  Shadow kept his mouth shut, hoping the shrewd reporter had run out of steam. Yeah, he didn’t have a hope in hell of that happening. Maybe they would reach the lake soon. Shadow checked the car’s odometer. Shit, they still had seven miles to go.

  “You know,” Pen went on, “I thought we were building something between us. You even wanted to give up using condoms. That’s a big deal. Good relationships have honesty between the partners.”

  Shadow glanced at Pen with one eyebrow raised. If the man wanted to push, he’d better be able to handle Shadow pushing back.

  “Call Cade and ask him.” Shadow sent Pen a hard look. “But be prepared to answer some of his questions with this honesty you talk about.”

  “Why can’t you answer my questions?” Pen challenged.

  Shadow slammed on the brakes and pulled the Jeep over onto the road’s gravel shoulder. Shoving the gear into park, he reached over and unsnapped the man’s seatbelt before grabbing Pen by the hair and pulling him half over the console.

  He didn’t give the persistent man any time to speak and took his lips in a brutal kiss. Hands clung to Shadow’s shoulders, as, after a few moments, Pen finally relaxed and submitted. Once Pen succumbed to his dominance, Shadow changed the kiss, licking the man’s luscious mouth before pressing inside for a taste. Pen’s tongue touched his, and the appendages tangled together as if they were two halves of a whole.

  The Jeep shook as a semi-truck roared by, and Shadow ended the kiss. Looking down into Pen’s heavy-lidded gaze, he said, “We were together before I was assigned to guard you from further attack. We will be together after Cade feels the danger has passed.”

  “Do I have any say in the matter? I am a grown man,” Pen pointed out.

  Shadow let his gaze rake Pen from head to toe before he said, “I will show you how grown up you are later. If you have something else to say, call Cade.”

  After setting Pen back into his seat, Shadow buckled him up, kissed him one more time, and returned the Jeep to the road. He was thankful the rest of the ride was made in silence.

  * * * *

  By the time they reached the boat landing on Otter Lake, the silver VW Beetle was already loaded on the trailer bed of the tow truck. Pen watched streams of muddy water roll down the sides of the car and pool on the trailer before draining onto the ground.

  His heart felt as cold and cloudy as the water. Turning to the Granite County deputy who was talking to the tow truck driver, Pen asked, “Are you sure I can’t climb up and see if my brother’s possessions are in the car? I could confirm if anything was my brother’s or not.”

  The deputy frowned, and his gaze was hard. “No one touches the car until the forensic team has a chance to look at it.”

  Pen could see he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the man. Which was weird. Why was everyone stonewalling him on any information concerning his brother?

  Just as Pen decided to disobey the lawman anyway and jump up onto the trailer, an arm as hard as steel wrapped around his chest. Lips touched his ear, and Shadow murmured, “You can ask all of your questions when we give the sheriff a statement about the smoke bomb.”

  Pen thought about that for a moment. “Okay,” he answered. He decided when he saw the sheriff he would have a lot to say and ask. The days of putting him off were over.

  Chapter Nine

  Shadow sat on a hard wooden chair in the middle of the deserted house. A thick black blindfold covered his eyes. For the last fifteen minutes, he had sat there, listening and using all of the senses he had available while not moving a muscle.

  “Freeze,” he shouted.

  Standing, he began pointing around the room. “There, there, there, and there. Someone is in the kitchen and another is over by the staircase in the front entryway. Whoever is in the back bedroom, don’t give up our day job. And I don’t even want to talk about the moron who cracked his elbow on the pole holding up the outside front porch.”

  Shadow sat back down on the chair. “Again.”

  The corner of Shadow’s mouth twitched. He was pleased. For the last week and a half, he had been working with the Rescue for Hire team on silent building entry. The last two days the team had been running drills, the goal being who could knock off Shadow’s blindfold. Shadow figured it would be another week before that happened.

  * * * *

  The door to the hotel room opened, and Shadow walked in. Pen’s breath caught at the sight of the big man dressed all in black with his hair pulled back into a ponytail. The boots laced up almost to the man’s knees had Pen’s dick jerking to attention.

  “I see your ride is here,” Grant Colburn teased.

  Pen smiled at the owner of The Granite City Chronicle. He could tell the older man was in awe of Shadow and had once asked if Pen was ever scared of such a dangerous man. Pen had felt many things over the last couple of weeks concerning Shadow, but true fear had never been one of them.

  “You’d better pack up too,” Pen teased back. “I saw the text from your wife telling you not to be late for dinner.”

  Grant’s lined face grew serious. “We made good progress today.” Glancing around the table, he continued, “Wrap things up, men. Tomorrow I’ll be taking these plans into the county planning and zoning office and applying for building permits.”

  Pen looked at the other men in the room. Besides Grant, there was the paper’s publisher, and Max Imal, who was the current editor-in-chief of all the newspapers The Chronicle put out. After the fire, Max announced he would be retiring once the building was rebuilt and the papers were running smoothly again.

  To his utter astonishment, Grant offered the editor-in-chief position to Pen. Wanting time to think things over, he had spent that evening talking about his concerns and hopes with Shadow. By the time Pen concluded he was going to accept the position, the twitch at the corner of Shadow’s mouth had turned into a rare, full-blown smile.

  The rest of the night was spent with Shadow’s cock deep in Pen’s ass. Shadow had kissed and sucked up so many delicious marks all over his body that Pen resembled a leopard’s skin the next morning.

  Now the group of men spent their days in the hotel room planning the rebuilding and restoration of The Granite City Chronicle back in the burned-out building on Main Street.

  Some of the insurance monies had come through, and one of the most valued perks Pen had received was a new laptop. It contained the newest researching programs. After being stonewalled yet again by the sheriff while giving his statement on the smoke bomb, Pen had redoubled his efforts to finding out what had happened to his brother and the oddities of the Gregslist kidnapper.

  “Are you ready to leave?” Shadow touched Pen’s shoulder.

  Pen smiled up at the man who was stealing more pieces of his heart every day. “Yep, let’s grab some Chinese on the way home.”

  Shadow nodded. Pen had come to the realization that Shadow would never be a big talker and Pen would always more than make up for it.

  Pen grabbed his laptop and notebook before waving at the men and receiving farewells in return. As they left the hotel room, he asked, “Did things go well today? Has anyone managed to take your blindfold?” Secretly Pen was in awe of Shadow’s talents, but he kept that to himself. Giving the overbearing man any more ammunition over him wasn’t happening.

  A large, warm hand rested on the small of Pen’
s back. “No, it’s going to take them a few more days. But they’re getting close.”

  “I hope Rock wasn’t bored out of his mind watching the hotel room door not move today,” Pen said. He wasn’t above letting Shadow know that he still thought it was a waste of time having one of the Rescue for Hire men guarding the hotel room while Shadow worked with the rest of the team.

  It had been a battle of wills, but Pen had agreed and promised to abide by the agreement that he would stay in the hotel room after Shadow dropped him off in the morning until he picked Pen up at the end of the day.

  Pen thought his word should be enough, but on the first day, when he just happened to open the hotel door, who should be standing there but Treb, smiling and shaking a finger at him as if he were a naughty boy.

  Every day a different member stood outside that door. Pen knew this because he checked.

  Shadow opened the passenger side door for Pen. “Rock was fine.”

  “It seems a shame he should miss out on all your expert training,” Pen persisted when Shadow slid into the driver’s seat.

  “He’ll be fine,” Shadow answered.

  Shadow insisted Pen accompany him into the restaurant while he ordered their food to go. If anything, lately Shadow had stepped up the guarding thing. Of course he refused to explain why to Pen, no matter how many times Pen nicely asked him what was going on. A spot on his ass burned in reminder of the one time he had pushed too far.

  Walking into his apartment, Pen went and sat down on the chair in the corner of the kitchen nook while Shadow checked for nonexistent intruders. Pen didn’t bother to argue about it anymore. He just sat in the chair, glanced through some of his notes, and let Shadow do his thing.

  A hand on his shoulder had him slamming his notebook shut and looking up into Shadow’s all-too-knowing, handsome face. Keeping his own face devoid of expression, Pen asked, “Are you ready to eat?” Yep, that sounded innocent, and if he wasn’t trying to hide anything, he might have dug up on his brother’s case.