“The man who lives will owe you his life, Palapiti. The man who dies?” Carlito didn’t have a patient smile. Menace hovered behind his lips like an unfed shark. “Superfluous.”
Despite his inward panic, Theo told Freddie, “It’s gonna be a bitch getting your blood out of the tiles, bro.”
“This is nuts.” Freddie turned to her. “Lady, I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re not gonna get a highly decorated HPD detective to play some stupid game—”
“Choose.” Gao pulled a dainty gun from her purse and held it to his head.
“You’re bluffing.” Beads of sweat dotted Koa’s forehead, and anxiety sketched shadows beneath his eyes.
“Are we?” Gao asked. Freddie’s face turned a sickly yellow-green shade, but for the first time, Gao lit with pleasure. Now her ownership of that swanky BDSM club made sense. She wanted to see someone bleed tonight. Maybe even die.
Albert. Theo’s gaze fell where Albert had been standing a few seconds before, and there was no sign of him. Had he gone for help? Or did he leave because he didn’t want to watch?
Koa eyed Gao. “This doesn’t have to happen, and you’re gonna be fucking sorry it did, but okay. You think I won’t?”
“I think you will.” Carlito’s voice tightened with giddy interest. “I simply want to see who.”
“Ms. Gao.” Zhang didn’t look happy. “Don’t let Mr. Ito distract you with stupid games. Palapiti is a man of his word, and if he’s said he will—”
“It’s no distraction.” Gao’s eyes glowed. “If it’s entertaining.”
Carlito smiled. “I’ve been observing these two all evening. You asked me to find leverage against Detective Kekoa Palapiti, and you may trust I’ve found it. But it isn’t Freddie Ortiz. You don’t need both of them.”
Theo froze.
“Aw, fuck this.” Freddie’s jaw worked.
“Use my gun.” Carlito pulled a Sig Sauer P229 from his holster. His pupils had widened, and now he licked his lips as if he could taste whatever was to come.
Theo waited, speechless. What the hell was this?
With a deeply unhappy sigh, Koa took his weapon, dropped the magazine, and checked the chamber. After replacing it, he pulled back the slide. When he was ready, he faced the two of them and waited.
Theo met his gaze and found no one home.
How could he have been so wrong? How could Koa look at him like that? How could the boy who mowed his mother’s lawn, whose smile could power whole galaxies of stars, kill him, kill anyone in cold blood?
Theo didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Beside him, Freddie seemed equally frozen.
“Brah.” Freddie’s white face and shaking hands were for real. He was scared as fuck, and now Theo’s blood drained from his face, from his brain, and his heart threatened to blow him apart.
He said nothing. He couldn’t beg. Life wasn’t his to beg for or throw away. At any rate, he loved Koa. He’d followed him here because he loved him, and if being here, being chosen to die, helped keep Koa safe….
Nope. Theo was gonna get so fucked off over this. He was gonna tear that Carlito bastard apart, and when he was done, he’d bang Gao’s head with Zhang’s and kick Koa right in the nuts. That would be that. You better not miss, goddammit, because if I get shot—and I live—I’m gonna kill you right back, motherfucker.
Koa lifted the gun and fired at him three times. Pop, pop, pop.
Once to the head, twice to the chest.
Theo didn’t fall. Nobody fell.
Nothing happened, except Theo’s ears rang and his heart seemed to burst with chaos and crazy, and then down he went, thud, in a heap on the wooden floor.
He’d been shot at. Koa shot at him. And….
Nothing.
Chapter Nineteen
IN THE bedroom of the “spaceship suite,” Albert waited quietly by the wall, hands jammed in his pockets, while Theo sat in a slipper chair and attempted meditation. Nothing worked for him. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Koa taking aim again. Heard the pop, pop, pop of Carlito’s gun, heard the laughter of Gao’s goons, and saw the pitying way she’d smiled down at him. It made his heart rattle like a ferret in a cage. Made him yearn to punch her rich, red familiar mouth.
“She’s your mother, isn’t she?” he finally asked. Their mouths were identical, down to the way Gao’s incisors encroached ever so slightly on her front teeth on the right side.
Albert had been crying quietly for a while. Now he looked away while he wiped his sleeve over his mouth.
“She’s a tough coconut, huh?” Theo tried again.
“You have no idea.” Weak laughter finally cracked whatever held Albert up, and he sank to the floor, cross-legged.
“Who was the girl?” Theo guessed the girl was family, no matter what Gao said.
“Nobody.” Albert shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Someone related, though, yeah?” Girlfriend didn’t track with Albert’s interest in him. If that wasn’t feigned. “Sister?”
“Never.” Albert’s reaction was swift and shocking. His face reddened furiously. “Never.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re not meant to understand. You’re not meant to be here.”
Albert got to his feet and left through the kitchen. More proof, Theo thought, that there was a way to get to the other side of the house without taking the obvious stairs. Of course, that wasn’t as important as finding Koa and giving him a piece of his mind, but it might come in handy.
Also, finding another pain reliever for the ache in his ass. Maybe some booze for his scratched-and-dinged heart….
Koa knew. He had to. He wouldn’t have fired if he’d believed the gun was loaded with live rounds. That’s what Theo told himself. That’s what he had to believe or he’d die of grief.
He’d die, and the first person he’d see in hell would be his dad, who’d laugh his ass off because Theo’d proved him right all along—he was nothing but a worthless drama queen who thought with his dick, not his head. Who trusted a guy he loved over his common sense, his training, and now look. He’d nearly gotten himself killed, and—
The door from the bathroom opened and Freddie and Koa trooped in. Both appeared physically exhausted. Koa especially was pale and sweaty. His hair looked as dull as raked-over ashes. He hesitated in the doorway for a minute, turned back, and lost his stomach in the toilet.
“You should see how this feels from where I’m standing,” Theo called to him.
More retching, more flushing. Water ran in the shower.
“Guess he’s not coming out anytime soon.” Freddie sat uncomfortably on the end of the bed. Theo continued trying to meditate. I have everything I need to be successful in the here and now. “You can’t blame him.”
“Oh yeah I can.” Theo gave Freddie the look his words deserved.
Five whole minutes passed before Koa returned, wrapped in a towel, using a second towel to dry his hair. “Get lost, Freddie.”
“No.” Freddie laughed. “Nuh-uh. I want to see you explain to your boyfriend why you shot him in the face.”
Koa sat next to him. “He knows why.”
Theo snapped, “Hello, he’s right here and not really.”
“Get lost, Freddie,” Koa told him again. “Go before I break your nose again.”
With a put-upon sigh, Freddie rose and sauntered to the bathroom door. “But that means I gotta go sleep on the couch. You know… the least you could do is—”
“Fuck off, Ortiz.” Koa threw Theo’s boot at the door. Freddie ducked out in time, and it fell uselessly to the ground.
“One shot. Start talking.”
Theo turned on the radio again and waited. Koa winced but spoke, low and urgent. “You get that I had to do that. If I hadn’t? You’re their leverage. Whatever they want from me tonight or tomorrow or for the rest of our lives, they pinch you to get it. Or your family.”
“You could have killed me.”
; “I had no choice, and I knew it was loaded with blanks. Otherwise I’d have turned it on myself first, I swear to God. I would never hurt you. Never.”
“How did you know?”
“Carlito.” Koa said the word without sound.
“You trusted that asshole with my life?” The soundless shout hurt his throat.
“He’s not who you think.” Black eyes beseeched him to believe. He lowered his voice even more. “He’s ATF. From the Seattle office. I told you, other agencies are involved. You don’t think I’d trust your life to anyone less than a government agent whose job—and believe me, I told him his life and the lives of every member of his family—was on the line too.”
“God.” Theo’s hands were blocks of ice. Feet too. He stood and stamped to get his blood moving. After everything, now was not the time to fall apart.
“What’s the plan?” he asked. “Who’s the girl?”
Koa spread his hands. “We’ve got nothing, yet.”
Bear Lake didn’t have this kind of thing. Bear Lake had Polish sausage and Oktoberfest and a geshmillion mosquitos. He reasoned the shower was one place they could talk openly, so he pulled Koa back into the bathroom, stepped inside the luxurious stall, and tossed his clothes out.
Koa gave his nude body an appreciative once-over. “I thought it’d take longer for you to forgive me.”
“You wish.” Theo narrowed his eyes before growling the words, “Just what kind of operation are you running here?”
Cold water hit both of them but warmed quickly. “This isn’t an operation in the way you think. When I got… invited to Gao’s club, I went to my superiors, who checked around. The Seattle office of the ATF had been watching her husband over possible weapons trafficking to Asian gangs in Honolulu and on the West Coast for years. They liked the idea of getting me inside, but nobody expected a face-to-face with the widow. She put me through a lot. I think… you were probably my last test.”
“So what’s next?”
“Me and Freddie give them what they want, while the alphabets figure out why they want it. That part’s above our pay grade.” He got a soap from the shelf and soaped Theo’s back. Under any other circumstances—no. Theo knew enough to be grateful for Koa’s hands on him.
He leaned against Koa’s strong body. God. He fit perfectly. “You should have told me the truth.”
“Would that have kept you out?” Koa rocked him gently.
“Nah.” Theo shrank into the arms that held him. “Not if I thought you were making a horrible mistake.”
Koa brushed kisses over his damp cheek. Down his neck. “Do you know what that was like, being forced to aim a gun at you, seeing you so scared, even though I knew it couldn’t hurt you?”
Theo shook his head. “I feel no sympathy for you at all. I’ve got no words for what that was.”
“That was theater. I’m so sorry. I knew but couldn’t tell you.”
Theo smiled his most evil smile. “I’ma let you tell that to my mom when you see her next.”
“Oh God, no.”
“Oh yeah. She’s gonna hear about this,” Theo practically purred. “Let’s see who’s her best boy then, you fuck.”
“You’re still her best boy. Me?” Koa thumbed Theo’s jaw. “I think… she knows I’ve been waiting for you.”
“What?”
“Come on, Te.” Koa pushed him against the tiles. “I measure every guy against my memory of you. Are they as much fun, are they as decent? Do they have your imagination, or your ability to fart the alphabet—”
“I never,” Theo argued.
“—plus, your mother adores me. Liar!” Koa did a double take. “You fart like a leaf blower.”
Theo frowned. “What’s your point? I’m a man. Men fart.”
“My point is, I’ve loved you all my life, Theo.” Koa bit his lip. “Been waiting for you to tell me what happens to those boys on their Malaysian adventure all my life.”
“Took you long enough.”
“C’mon,” he implored. “They were always watching, and I had to make sure they believed in me and Freddie. That if it came down to a choice, I’d do anything for him. Because I’d die for you, but I don’t want to have to, unless I have to. Got it now?”
Finally an answer from Koa. “That’s why Calista’s so pissed. She bought it too.”
“That’s how it’s done, apparently—compromise, extort, and then demand favors.”
Cultivating a long-term mole at HPD could pay off in a thousand ways. But playing dirty, making deals, doing favors, and turning around and reporting what he’d learned to the agencies that needed to know meant Koa would never be safe.
“Nope, nope, nope.” Theo’s skin fairly crawled. He couldn’t turn off the water, but he reached for a towel. “We’re getting out of here, now. Come with me.”
“Shh.” Koa made no move to do as he said. “The feds have to follow this up. The dead husband had powerful friends in Beijing. Human trafficking and cheap guns came in from China, and cash found its way back to North Korea. If they can tie all that together… you know what it could mean.”
“Jesus.” Theo’s mind reeled. “If that’s the case, they don’t need you. Why don’t they just… scoop them up and put them out of our misery?”
“Because the widow Gao came to us about the body.” Koa let out a deep breath. “Because I’m the guy who caught it. Me and Freddie.”
Suddenly he wondered about Spider. “Hey. Is Gao the one who fucked Spider up?”
“I think so.” Koa nodded. “That must be where she got those fucking videos of me and him.
Theo said sourly, “But no pun intended?”
Koa shook his head. “The video of me and Freddie was a fake. I had no idea Spider kept anything like that. You can be sure I never gave permission. That night… someone must have been following him the night I found you on the bluffs. He says he met up with someone else, had a little fun, and got jumped on his way home. That’s all he remembers.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe house.” Didn’t Koa trust him? “It’s all about leverage with Gao’s people. Leverage and corpses.”
Theo’s gut clenched hard. He turned away before asking, “So you and Spider—”
“I’m not gonna lie, we had a friends-with-benefits thing and it was good.” Theo held his breath. “It ended the day I found out you were coming home. As soon as your mom told me, I started cleaning out one side of my closet for you.”
“Oh.” Words he’d longed to hear. Theo took that inside him and it felt… pretty good. But he couldn’t trust them. Not yet. Not now, after all this. “You don’t even know me.”
“I guess I don’t.” Koa pulled him closer. “Since you grew up to be such a tough bastard.”
Theo preened. “I’m not tough. I’m resilient. I can give as good as I get. At Gao’s fancyass club, I’d be considered a catch.”
Koa’s eyes widened.
“And you owe me a blow job.” Theo sighed happily. “If we’re being technical, you owe me a blow job and a Kobe beef dinner. With lobster. I… wish you’d confided in me.”
His gaze lowered. “You know why I couldn’t.”
“I know.” Theo’s heart thudded painfully.
Koa’s eyes darkened with pure, manly hunger. “Can I fuck you, Te?”
Theo’s back arched and his feet tingled. He turned off the water “I don’t know, can you? Why don’t you come here and find out?”
Koa sought his mouth, and they joined, breaths mingling, He was wild to be filled, to be pounded; even though that damaged stretch of skin on his back burned like he was fevered, his sickness was all for Koa. He wanted Koa to take that hot stretch of agony and slap it some more. Longed for Koa to own him completely.
Tumbling out of the shower, they dried quickly and headed for the bedroom. Since Theo was not unfazed by possible voyeurs and he didn’t want to waste the entire point of getting shot at, he turned on the big screen. A porn soundtrack and vaguely unfulfille
d fucking noises filled the air again.
Koa opened the nightstand and they found all kinds of sex supplies. Of course they did. Whatever games people played in this spectacular house, hygiene was important to the hosts. Protocol had to be followed; that much was obvious from the careful tray of ice and arnica. He dropped an assortment of condoms and lube onto the pillows between them and turned to Koa, who waited… waited….
Koa said he’s not a top. He’s not gonna be a top any more than you were gonna be a straight MMA fighter.
Tenderness filled Theo. Confidence filled him.
Koa had been waiting for this moment as long as he had. Pretending as long as he had. And now it was up to him to treat Koa like the man wanted to be treated.
“Ah, Woodie.” Theo pushed him back into the pillows. “You’re so beautiful. I want to watch your face when I fuck you.”
“Don’t play with me.” Koa sat up. “Pfft. Beautiful.”
“You see anyone else here?” Theo asked unnecessarily. “I’m talking to you, and I think you’re beautiful.”
Koa’s grin was short-lived. Uncertain. “All right.”
He lay back again, thickly muscled, heavily inked, as fluid as molten lava… as strong as mountains. His face stayed impassive, but his eyes…. He couldn’t hide his desire.
“Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?” Theo asked softly.
Koa shook his head. “But you could. In a scene.”
“I could,” Theo agreed. “Physically, I could hurt you. Is that what you want?”
“I don’t—” Koa shook his head. Coughed. “I like to be tied up.”
Theo drew in a breath. “I do too,” he admitted. “But right now, I could just kiss you.”
Koa swallowed before rising up to kiss Theo. Once, chaste, on the lips.
“Mm.” Theo swept his tongue over Koa’s lips. “Like that?”
Koa nodded. “More.”
Theo said between kisses, “You fucking… shot at me… Woodie.”
“But I love you.” Koa grinned. “Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Everything.” Theo blinked and cupped Koa’s jaw with both hands. This man counts for everything. Sweet and handsome and so, so good. Deep down. He knew, deep down, Koa was never gonna lose his humanity. “It counts. Now we just have to live through this so we can go home and I can tell my mother”—he glared—“that you fucking shot me in the face.”
Hawaii Five Uh-Oh Page 17
