Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Harley’s meeting place...
Chapter 2 – Your mission, if you choose it...
Chapter 3 – My best friend, Denny
Chapter 4 – My best friend, Arthur Blaine...
Chapter 5 – Same old...
Chapter 6 – Crime of passion?
Chapter 7 – The cabin in the woods...
Chapter 8 – Bugging...
Chapter 9 – Home truths...
Chapter 10 – Facing the truth...
Chapter 11 – Morning after...
Chapter 12 – No going back...
Chapter 13 – Kissing...
Chapter 14 – Even more kissing...
Chapter 15 – Pancakes
Chapter 16 – Let’s go all the way...
Chapter 17 – Doubts and memories
Chapter 18 – The face in the window...
Chapter 19 – All hell breaking loose...
Chapter 20 – Still alive...
Chapter 21 – Nightmare...
Chapter 22 – Heartbreak...
Chapter 23 – Explanations
Chapter 24 – Rejections
Chapter 25 – Moving on...
Chapter 26 – All good things come to an end...
Chapter 27 – Unwelcome news...
Chapter 28 – Stag party...
Chapter 29 – Sorting it out...
Chapter 30 – Where I’m meant to be...
Chapter 31 – Good old-fashioned policing...
Chapter 32 – Accident!
Chapter 33 – Visiting Seth
Chapter 34 – Questioning...
Chapter 35 – Result...
Chapter 36 – New beginnings...
Chapter I – Wading in…
Chapter II – Knight in shining armour?
Chapter I
Stake-Out...
Studs & Steel #5
Heather Mar-Gerrison
Heather Mar-Gerrison
Copyright 2017
Beautiful front cover design courtesy of
Selfpubbookcovers/petal65
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.
Prologue
Hendrix
It had been an agonising couple of years since his brother had lost his life at the hands of Peyton McKenzie’s bodyguard. There hadn’t really been a whole lot of love lost between then, but Callum had at least offered a barrier of sorts between the McCarthys and their cousins, the Roblinskis. Of course that had all dissolved when Callum died, following a night of getting high on crystal meth and ending up being shot between the eyes by his arch-enemy’s boyfriend, leaving Hendrix vulnerable and alone and now he’d finally had enough.
He’d had enough of trying to survive in a world that just refused to give him a break, he’d had enough of the abuse he’d been forced to suffer just to make ends meet and having all of his money stolen from his secret hiding place just days before he was going to buy his ticket out of there was just the last straw. He was tired. He was broken and he couldn’t go on anymore.
He was going to miss Mason – and he felt bad when he thought about leaving him behind to fend for himself – he told himself that Mason was tougher than he was. Always had been. Only that wasn’t really true – he’d looked after Mason every bit as well as Mason had looked after him – probably better because he was street-wise and Mason was, well, Mason...
“I can’t do this anymore Mason.” He mumbled as he sat up and started to pull his clothes back on. He’d done it again – allowed himself the luxury of being loved and cared for. He couldn’t keep doing this to Mason; he didn’t deserve to be dragged into his dark and dangerous world. Hendrix didn’t know if he was clean. His way of making money was distasteful even to himself – even though he was used to it now. Hell, he even had regulars...
“But I want to look after you, Hendrix.” He said earnestly. “I’ll be leaving college soon. I’ll take on some hours with my uncle at the garage and we’ll find our own place...”
He shook his head, “I’ll never be free of Lenny and you know it – the guy owns me.” Lenny was his pimp. The bastard. He took more of his money than he let him keep.
Mason shook his head, “He doesn’t own you,” he said firmly, “we’ll leave here – I’ve got savings – and you’ve got your stash. Mum’ll understand. Uncle Joe said he’d lend us whatever we need – and he said he’d help Mum out with the farm too. It’s all going to turn out okay – you’ll see. As long as I’m with you I can live anywhere – you know that.”
Hendrix’s heart squeezed painfully in his chest. Mason was adorable and he loved his optimism. He was a bright kid; he should follow his dream and go to uni, not give it all up for a no-hoper rent-boy like him... He shook his head, “I do know that – but everything won’t be okay, Mase. He’s never going to let me live my life – and they’ll only go after Joe if he helps us out – and then they’ll ultimately find us – and I refuse to have you hurt because of me.” They’d just throw the net out even further – hurting more and more people until Lenny found him again. He’d kill Mason without a second thought. Lenny was all about destroying lives. Their secret affair had to end... Now.
Mason scrambled to a sitting position and grabbed Hendrix’s wrist. “Don’t go doing anything stupid, baby.” He murmured. “We’ll figure something out.”
Hendrix smiled at him; their love was magical and real and had been from the moment they’d met in the nightclub, Studs and Steel, a few months ago. Mason had somehow managed to break down Hendrix’s carefully constructed wall around his heart and they’d fallen in love. Something Hendrix had never meant to happen. He was busy making his money to run away. Mason had never been part of his plan. He stroked Mason’s face and gazed at him, trying to memorise every freckle across his cute little nose. “Always know that I really loved you. I really did.”
Mason frowned, “Loved?” he asked, his voice rising a little with panic, “Past tense? What are you planning?”
Hendrix shrugged, trying to pretend that it wasn’t killing him to leave his lover behind. “I’ve got to get away from here – without you being involved. I’ll call you when I’m safe.”
Mason flopped back against his pillows, defeated. “You don’t have to do this alone, babe.” He said softly, “I love you and I want to help you.”
Hendrix shook his head, “I know you do. But you can’t help me this time,” he said, “No one can.”
*
Hendrix knew what to do. Sitting on his bedroom floor he took a deep calming breath and held the knife against his wrist. After agonising over his decision for the last few weeks, he now felt able to carry out his plan.
It was a bit awkward being left-handed and having to perform this ‘final’ act with his other hand but he felt it was necessary.
He gasped as he cut deeper than he intended. God, that burns. He watched in fascinated horror as he started to bleed out onto his jeans and then on to the laminated wood floor. At least it wouldn’t be a bitch to clean up...
He looked up as he heard a noise. “You fucking little idiot.” The guy’s voice hissed through his foggy brain. He’d started losing too much blood to actually be able to get up and move. That hadn’t been the plan... He’d only meant to leave a trail of blood to make it to look as if he’d been murdered.
..
“No.” he murmured, “Don’t...” Suddenly dying seemed to be a pretty good back-up plan. It was certainly better than being rescued by him.
The man swore and then he felt his wrist being wrapped up tightly. That hurt even more than cutting it had... Fuck it all to hell. This wasn’t he way it was supposed to go down at all.
“Stupid little fucker.” The familiar voice was angry but relatively calm. “Come on. You’re not fucking dying on me. Not today anyway...”
Chapter 1 – Harley’s meeting place...
Denny
“What do you mean we’ve got to swing by Studs and Steel nightclub?” Blaine jogged after me as I strode towards the exit of the police headquarters we worked at and looked at me in horror, “It’s a gay joint, dude.” His steps faltered the closer we got to the door.
I slowed my pace and turned to him, smiling blandly. I nodded, “Yes,” I said as patiently as I could muster at my best friend and working partner’s obvious distaste, “but it’s also where Harley’s asked us to meet him. He’s waiting for us with the details of the case we’re being entrusted with – this is a big deal, Blaine – a big fucking deal.”
He sighed and nodded, “Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled, “But I don’t want some fucking creepy queer thinking he can feel me up just because I’m in there.”
Creepy queer? What the fuck? Was that really what he thought? Surely not.... I looked at him as if he’d just grown a new head, “Dude, will you listen to yourself?” I asked in annoyance, “You’re really not all that – and what the hell makes you think they’re gonna give you a second glance anyway?” Actually he really was all that. He was absolutely fucking gorgeous and I’d been in love with him for more than half of my life, but he had absolutely no idea about that and I wasn’t about to tell him. It would make things far too awkward between us if he knew the truth – and I wasn’t about to out myself when he was convinced that I was as straight as he was. Because sadly for me, Blaine was as straight as straight got.
He looked at me with a slightly hurt expression, “Fuck off.” He said, “I’m every gay guy’s wet dream.”
I snorted. What the fuck? That really wasn’t the sort of conversation I wanted to get started on, because, yes – he was the cause of countless wet dreams of mine over the years. I’d loved him as a friend for far longer than I’d been in love with him. I’d been a slight, shy kid of eleven when we met in our first year of senior school. I’d got a few friends at the junior school and I was always pretty happy with them – and yet somehow, big, beautiful, brash Blaine had decided he wanted to be my best friend and had set out to do just that – we’d become inseparable within a few weeks of starting school – and now, thirteen years later, we still were – and I was still completely and utterly in love with him but sadly, he was always in love with someone else. Girls. No competition...
It was getting more and more difficult to hide my real feelings for him. Hell, I was still hiding my true sexuality from him – and with bloody good reason when he reacted like this just to be meeting Harley at Studs.
“Seriously, dude – I’m damned sure you’re not.” I said as I pushed the double doors open and Blaine followed me out. I wasn’t wrong, though. Most gay guys would look at Blaine and sure, they’d admire him – but they’d also recognise a lost cause when they saw it. He oozed straightness. I was such a fucking idiot for falling in love with him. Unrequited love was such a ball ache... quite literally.
Harley, however, had never shown the slightest bit of interest in him, “Just stay with me and don’t speak to anyone. I don’t want you inadvertently offending anyone with your loose tongue.”
He grinned, “They’d all love to have a piece of my tongue.” He said, licking his lips salaciously. I had to laugh. He might have been making my dick start to wake up but I’d gotten practiced at schooling my reactions to him.
“You’re a dick.’ I said, punching his arm, “Come on.” I pulled him towards the police patrol car, “Just stick close to me and everyone will assume we’re together.” I winked and chuckled as his smile slid off his face and he scowled at me.
“Fuck. Right. Off.” He said.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. He looked so indignant about it. Part of me (the part of me that hoped against hope I was, by some miracle, correct) wondered if he sometimes protested just a little too much. I really couldn’t understand why he was so uptight about it. Seriously. There really wasn’t anything wrong with being gay. Although I still hadn’t come out to my best friend of the last thirteen years so maybe, deep down, I thought there was something wrong with it too... Still, I wasn’t about to start psychoanalysing myself – I had my unbearably over-protective parents for that – which was probably the reason I’d been such a wimp when Blaine took me under his wing and started to teach me how to become more of a man...
As we drew up to the large square building, it was obvious something was wrong. There were so many people gathered in the car park.
“What the...?” I opened the car door. “Hey!” I shouted to some guy with short hair and muscles on muscles. He was dressed all in black – tight black jeans and a tee shirt that showed his sculpted body off perfectly. He was likely just as gay as everyone else hanging around the car park – just not as obvious about it, which was totally the aura I wanted to give off, but wasn’t all that sure I actually pulled off with any conviction, “What’s going on?”
He sauntered over to the car, “Bomb scare, dude.” He said, rolling his eyes in exasperation, “It’s been the third one in the last month.”
I frowned. I hadn’t been privy to that information before now, “Have you reported it to the police?” There weren’t any other patrol cars here and I couldn’t hear any sirens alerting us to their imminent arrival.
He rolled his eyes again and shrugged his massive shoulders, “We’ve got the owner’s boyfriend and another of his colleagues checking the place out – I reckon you’ll probably know them both – Harley Fitzgerald and Kody Elden?”
I nodded. I knew Harley far better than I knew Kody. Kody was kind of scary. He was one of the senior detectives on the force – totally above us rookies – we didn’t get to rub shoulders with that lot very often. Harley was more senior than me but he was a cool guy and I really got on well with his younger brother, Joel.
“Maybe it’s time to involve us,” I suggested, “If it’s becoming a nuisance – we could keep an eye on the place for you.”
The big guy grinned, “A stake-out, huh?” he asked.
I chuckled, “Something like that, yeah.” The fact that my brief from Harley sounded like it involved something similar to a stake-out in the middle of nowhere was actually pretty amusing. Although the idea of being stuck in the middle of nowhere for weeks on end with limited internet access and even less of a phone signal – something that was obviously benefitting the criminal for whatever reason – was actually kind of scary. The novelty of being stuck there, alone with Blaine aside, we were nineties-born dudes – we’d practically been born with a mobile phone in our hand... How the hell were we supposed to be able to survive without our technology?
Blaine didn’t even know about that part of it yet either... he was still happily ignorant about the whole thing and the longer he stayed that way the better for everyone – he was a little on the volatile side if things weren’t going his way. Something that was incredibly sexy, but also a little bit scary sometimes.
I glanced across at him. He was eyeing the crowd with a little frown on his face. He’d obviously never seen so many gay guys in one place before. Well, time to get over it, dude. We were gonna be seeing a whole lot more of them if we got this job...
I grabbed his elbow and steered him towards the building. “Harley?” I shouted through the entrance door, “You in there?”
He and Kody Elden appeared, “We’ve checked everywhere – there’s no sign of any disruption – it’s just some loser trying to put the wind up everyone. Probably someone who
doesn’t like gay people.”
I frowned. I hated that I wasn’t out sometimes. It made me think I was just adding to the problem, “Hate crime?”
He shrugged, “I guess...” He shot a glance towards Kody who shrugged his shoulders. “It still happens – more than you’d ever imagine.”
Harley turned back to me, “We think it’s more than that – and I’m so sorry – I had no idea we were going to have this disruption when I invited you to join me here to discuss the job I wanted you and Blaine to do.” He sighed, “I actually thought it would be the most suitable place.” He rolled his eyes, “Anyway – now that we’re sure the caller was a hoax, let’s go inside and we can talk...”
Chapter 2 – Your mission, if you choose it...
Denny
If I didn’t think he was offending pretty much all of the clientele of the nightclub, I would have found it quite amusing that Blaine was walking behind me so closely. Honest to God, he could have been my sewn-on shadow with how close he was behind me – and damn, it was such a turn-on. Wrong, I know...
I turned to him and gave him a look, “Knock it off, Blaine,” I hissed, “I’ve told you before – they’ve all got gaydar in this place. They can smell a straight homophobe a mile off – so just fucking chill, will you?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, looking utterly mortified that I thought he was in any way disgusted with the guys being gay and enjoying their life, “And I’m not a homophobe. I’m just a bit...”
“Prejudiced?” I asked flatly. Seriously. There was no way I could ever let him know the truth.
He shook his head, “I just feel a little... threatened.”
I blinked. Threatened? Blaine? What the fuck? “And what are they threatening?” I asked, “Most of them are cute little twinks – and the bears just want to protect them. Believe me, mate – no one is interested in you.” Except me. I’m hopelessly in love with you and always will be...
Stake Out... (Studs & Steel Book 5) Page 1
