Trust And Obey

by Ts McKinney

  Jagger blushed. “Of course, you are. I realize that now, but I sure the hell didn’t realize it until…well, you know.” His blush deepened. “My body fought against you to try and protect my heart. I think Landry might be doing the same with Brookes.” He shrugged. “I’m definitely not a psychologist, but I recognize a lot of the same symptoms and reactions. I wouldn’t have allowed Brookes near Landry if I hadn’t thought he could take care of him.”

  “I’m still not comfortable with this,” Rory said. His eyes remained focused on Brookes and Landry as the Dom talked Landry off the panic attack ledge. “None of us know the man, not really. We’ve read his file and know he’s famous in the BDSM world, but that doesn’t mean jackshit when we’re talking about one of our friends.” His jaw ticked. “I think we need to investigate him a bit further, especially if there’s a chance of something developing between the two of them.” His frown deepened. “I can’t believe I hadn’t already thought of that. I’ll be on it first thing in the morning.”

  “Have you stopped to consider how Landry might feel about that?” Jagger asked. “I sure the hell wouldn’t want anybody fucking around in my personal life without asking me about it.”

  “Oops,” Colton whispered. “I might have stalked you for years. You know that, right? I might have gotten Rory to stalk you too,” he added. “If you need be mad at one of us, make sure it’s Rory.”

  “Thanks, dude,” Rory snapped playfully. “Go ahead, make me out to be the bad guy where Jagger is concerned.”

  “If the shoe fits,” Riley interjected with a smirk, always more than willing to make Rory out to be the bad guy.

  “What? You don’t think I should step in and run some interference? Help Landry out by taking it upon myself to investigate Brookes? Maybe do something that might force them apart or shove them together?” Rory argued…because arguing with Riley was his favorite.

  “I think you should mind your own damned business. I think you might struggle with that,” Riley argued. He argued because that was about all he and Rory were good for. Well, that and blowing each other to topping off with the most earthshattering hand jobs in the history of mankind. Yeah, if they weren’t in bed, doing everything except fucking each other, they were arguing. Riley was beginning to suspect that was never going to change…because both refused to change. If he had it to do over again, Riley would have just given his ass up to Rory that first night. If he had, they might be a serious couple, planning a future like Colton and Jagger were doing. But he hadn’t…and now he couldn’t. They’d argued about it so damned much that there was no backing down now. It was the fucking principle of it at this point!

  “I should mind my own damned business?” Rory hissed. “Me? This coming from the man who missed the game-winning free throw of the championship game just so Jagger would have to go on a date with Colton…the man he supposedly hated? Seriously? You’re telling me to mind my own business?” Rory was trying to sound outraged, but the huge grin on his face was totally ruining the mood.

  Jagger could see that Rory had Riley there and that Riley hated it. “Come on, guys. You’ve fallen for that ‘hey, there’s a rainbow’ trick and gotten off track. We were talking about Landry and what was best for him. Hell, a man that looked to be barely in his early twenties was killed last night and there’s just enough stink in the air to make us all suspect the murder might be connected to at least one of us, if not all of us.” Jagger argued. He was either blushing from the free throw comment or getting angry enough to cause a red blotch to cover his cheeks. He glanced back at Brookes and Landry and was thankful to see that Landry was breathing normal. The panic attack had passed.

  “You okay, Landry?” he called out.

  Landry nodded, still too weak to answer out loud. Brookes took it upon himself to answer in his place.

  “Landry needs to go home and rest before opening tonight. Can one of you make sure he gets there?” He turned back to Landry and tucked some dark hair behind his ear. “And tie him to the bed if necessary. He needs to sleep this one off.” When Landry started to argue, Brookes cut in, “There’s plenty of time for a nap before the club opens tonight, kitten. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or that you aren’t handling your shit, it means you need a nap. No biggie.”

  “I like him,” Colton whispered.

  “Me, too,” Jagger answered just as softly.

  “Not me,” Rory hissed.

  “Me either,” Riley followed right on his heels.

  Jagger rolled his eyes at Rory and Riley and then turned his attention to Colton. “How about I take Landry home and make sure he gets some rest and you stay here and keep an eye on the club and Sage? The poor kid is passed out in Landry’s office right now. That picture did him in.”

  Colton frowned. “I wanna be with you.”

  “Pouting is very unattractive, Colton. Stay with Sage. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I need to be with Landry in case another panic attack hits.”

  Colton’s frown deepened. He wasn’t pouting. He was fucking terrified. He couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Jagger alone for a few minutes, much less a couple of hours. Someone had been murdered last night. “Rory and Riley can stay with the club and Sage. I’m coming with you and Landry.”

  “Nah. I think Sherlock and Holmes have something, which I totally don’t approve of, to do. Landry and I will be fine,” Jagger said.

  Colton’s eyes cut around to Rory, threatening him without saying the first word. Rory didn’t need words, he was reading Colton’s message loud and fucking clear.

  “Holmes and I will stay at the club with Sage. You guys go with Landry. All’s good. We need to stay together as much as possible.” Rory grinned. “We can always do our research later.” Looking around the naughty club, he said, “I’m sure there’s something the two of us can find to do while we wait on you guys to get back.”

  “Again, I don’t approve,” Jagger told them again. When they turned, and looked at him, he quickly added, “I don’t approve of the snooping. I approve of the…you know, the other.”

  “Yeah, you didn’t approve of me missing that free throw, either, little man. We can’t exactly trust your judgement, can we?”

  “Asshole.”

  “True that,” Rory agreed with Jagger’s asshole comment.

  “What are you guys talking about?” Landry asked as he and Brookes joined their group.

  Landry’s face looked pale as shit. Brookes looked furious about something.

  “Nothing!” Rory and Riley answered at the same time, looking guilty as shit.

  “Listen, kitten, I’ve got some things that I have to take care of,” Brookes said to Landry. To Colton, he said, “Did you guys work something out about who was going to make sure Landry gets home and gets some rest?”

  “I don’t need a fucking babysitter!” Landry snapped. Weakly. He felt so fucking weak. Tired.

  “Call it a threesome,” Colton teased as he wrapped his arm around Landry and Jagger’s necks and directed them toward the door. “I’ll be the alpha and you two can be my twinks. It’ll be fun. I promise.”

  Brookes growled. Literally growled. Colton paused long enough to look back at the giant of a man. “No need to worry, Brookes. My Wildcat doesn’t do threesomes. I was just messing with you guys.”

  “My kitten doesn’t either. Not anymore.” He placed a quick kiss on Landry’s shocked lips and then slipped past them and right out the door, disappearing without telling any of them where he was going or when they’d see him again.

  “Weird,” Rory muttered, still convinced Brookes was hiding some deep dark secret…and determined to find out what that secret was.

  “Treasure hunting,” Landry answered softly. “He’s treasure hunting.” Turning to Colton, he said, “Brookes was right. I feel exhausted. Let’s get to my cottage and instead of a threesome, I’ll just watch you two go at it.” He tried teasing but knew his voice sounded weak and detached. Was Brookes treasure hunting? Had the panic attack s
cared him off? The murder? The needy way he’d clung to him during and after the panic attack? His insecurities roared to the surface.

  “Why would you say I don’t like threesomes?” Jagger asked as the three of them exited the club.

  “Well, shit. Did Jagger just say what I think I heard him say?” Riley asked. Shock waves were rolling off him. His Jagger? His sweet innocent Jagger? A threesome? Riley couldn’t imagine it. Didn’t want to imagine it. Colton would shit.

  Rory snorted out a laugh. “Yup. He surely did. Colton’s gonna have a coronary.”

  ****

  Four hours later, they were all safe and sound. Landry was back at the club with Colton and Jagger. Brookes was still pulling his disappearing act. Riley and Rory made their exit…after trying out some of Landry’s fun toys while they’d waited for them to return. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” Riley said to Rory as they walked down Duval Street, hand in hand. Other than a few tourists who gripped their children a tad tighter, nobody else paid attention to them holding hands in public.

  “I’m thinking you should finally give it up,” Rory countered with a sexy smile. “How long can we survive on blow jobs? Come on, babe, let’s take this thing between us to the next level,” he pleaded. “I’ve never met anybody like you, Kentucky. I want there to be an us.”

  “I was talking about Landry. Tell me what you think about this Landry thing. About this Brookes’ thing,” he added quietly. He didn’t like Brookes. He didn’t trust him, either. One had to earn trust and Brookes hadn’t had the opportunity to prove himself to them yet. This left him in a poor position in their group. They all firmly believed in protecting one of their own, and Landry was one of theirs. Right now, Brookes was nothing more than a stranger that managed to capture Landry’s attention.

  Rory took a deep breath, hating what he was about to say but knowing he needed to say it. There wasn’t another person in the world he trusted more than Riley. They might not be able to get it together in the bedroom, but they’d turned into damned good friends. “I think Brookes didn’t act nearly as shocked as a person should when they’d just looked at a picture of a man with his throat cut so deeply that he was nearly decapitated. That’s what I was thinking.”

  They turned down the road that would lead them to Rory’s Victorian. “I was thinking the same thing. I mean, Sage raced to the bathroom to hurl and the rest of us turned white as a sheet. Brookes just glanced at the picture like it was the most natural fucking thing in the world. How could somebody do that? What kind of messed up life would allow you to even do that?”

  “What time did Landry get home from the club last night?” Rory asked. “He was with Brookes at the club. They think the murder happened sometime around four this morning. So, what does the window of opportunity look like?”

  Riley stopped walking. “Landry got home between three fifteen and three thirty. Shit. That means Brookes could have easily been involved.” He looked at Rory, his heart in his mouth but then quickly forced himself to squash down the accusations. They had no reason to think Brookes might be involved. They were being ridiculously suspicious, overly cautious, anally protective.

  “Brookes doesn’t look like a killer. He doesn’t act like a killer,” Rory argued…just for the sake of argument.

  “Okay…what does a killer look like? Ted Bundy was a good-looking guy and was well spoken and smart. I bet not a single person that knew him at the time thought he looked or acted like a serial killer.” Riley watched as Rory whipped out his phone and started punching wildly.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Sending Colton a text. I don’t want Landry and Brookes to be left alone together…not until we’ve had a chance to investigate this guy further.” He put his phone back in his pocket and waited on Riley to argue with him like Jagger had. Didn’t matter. Sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness instead of asking for permission. Landry would be furious that they were investigating Brookes behind his back. Hell, who knew how Brookes would act when he found out. None of it mattered, though. He was going to do everything in his power to keep Landry safe. He glanced at Riley and felt his heartstrings get a good solid tugging. He was going to do everything in his power to keep all of them safe. He couldn’t lose Kentucky.

  “Good idea. Actually, I don’t think any of us need to be alone right now.” He frowned when Rory cocked a brow at him. “I don’t want to sound like a pussy, but folks always get killed in the horror movies when they are by themselves.” He shrugged. “Let’s just stay together.”

  Rory’s grin stretched from one side of his face to the other. “If you wanted to spend the night with me, Kentucky, all you had to do was ask.” Riley started to argue but Rory’s phone chirping a return text from Colton shut him up instantly. “What did they say?” He asked quickly.

  Rory smiled. “Landry and Brookes are planning to do a scene together at the club. Colton said he and Jagger would get it on in Jagger’s office and not leave until Landry was ready to go. They’re all going to stay over here tonight.” Rory tugged Riley up the stairs of his Victorian. “Colton promises to keep one ear on Jagger’s moans and one ear on what’s going on out on the club floor.”

  ****

  “Tell me what you know about him,” the husky voice said as a greeting. “I trust you’ve been able to find out all sorts of details. I haven’t heard from you since opening night. Being left in the dark makes me angry.”

  Brookes frowned into his cell. For the first time in his life, he was concerned about his ability to see a job through. He was hired because of his…talents. A failure could ruin his reputation in the business, but he was beginning to think that Landry might be worth…everything. Things had changed after last night. Landry belonged to him, not the man on the other end of the phone.

  “Is he as beautiful as his pictures?” The man asked and Brookes couldn’t stop the growl that rolled from his throat. The man on the other end of the line merely chuckled at his obvious agitation. Brookes supposed powerful men never considered someone might double-cross them. Fucker.

  “I need you to tell me what you plan on doing with this information,” he hissed into the phone. He realized he might very well be about to ruin his…career, but he had to know. “What are your plans for Landry?” He demanded.

  Another laugh rolled through the cell phone towers, irritating Brookes to a defcon level. His employer had been nothing but professionally polite—well, as professional as one could be when conducting business as they were. “Are you becoming attached, Jericho?” He mocked the name they’d given him. The plan seemed so harmless at first. Go in, find Landry, let his boss know all the goods on the man. Suddenly, things didn’t seem so harmless.

  “Just tell me what the damned plans are,” he growled. “If you want me to take care of this for you, I need more information and the reasons why I need it are none of your fucking concern.”

  “He’s getting to you, isn’t he? I thought people in your line of work never got involved with their marks—well, except in the movies. It happens in the movies all the time. Is that what has happened? If it has, you can tell me, you know. I can easily see how he lured you to his side.”

  Brookes felt certain his head was about to explode. His boss, usually cold and professional, was antagonizing him on purpose…and fucking enjoying himself while doing it. He needed to pull out of the job and just walk away from the man. And straight into Landry’s arms. Fuck this shit.

  “You’ve got about three seconds to say something that will keep me from walking away from this job and walking straight to Landry and telling him about you. Start talking.” He never once expected the other man to say something that would convince him to stay involved with the situation.

  He’d been wrong.

  ****

  “Lovely job on the murder, boys,” a husky voice purred into the phone. “It made statewide news. If your slice and dice job has the state of Florida upset, I’d say Landry and his friends are terrified as well.�
�� His eyes glazed over as he imagined the slice of the blade sliding across the unfortunate boy’s throat…leaving a trail of bright crimson. The boy’s green eyes had probably been bright with terror before they’d finally dulled to nothingness as life faded away. Had he begged? He hoped he’d begged. Maybe on the next one he should have his men video it so he could enjoy it. They shouldn’t be the only ones having fun when it was his pocketbook paying for the entertainment.

  “Did you leave a calling card like we discussed? The news didn’t mention any connection to Landry or the club.” He had to ask the questions to keep his men on their toes, but he was damned certain they hadn’t botched something so totally simple. Then again, knowing them the way he did, they might have become too entranced with the boy’s lifeblood disappearing into the sand that they forgot to complete the task at hand.

  “We left one of the club flyers in his hand. There’s no way the cops could’ve missed such a blatant hint, boss. Just to make sure, we followed one of the detectives to Landry’s club the next day. Trust me, they’re running scared.”

  “Good. I want them nervous. Hell, I want them scared as hell before they feel my wrath come down on them. I want them to beg for their lives. Nobody takes what belongs to me!”

  “Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”

  “Any word on the boys? Have you made any progress there?”

  “Nothing, sir. The place is on lock down. The only way we will get them out is to force their hand…which we intend to do.”

  “How’s my inside man? Holding his own?” He frowned. This was his only loose string. He knew his men trusted the insider, but he didn’t. There was something soft about him—softness led to mistakes. He didn’t have room for mistakes. He’d spoken to the man several times and if he wasn’t mistaken, and he rarely was, the idiot was smitten with Landry.

  “Holding his own, sir. He almost blew it with the detective’s visit, but I think they were all so scared shitless that nobody noticed his reaction to the murder.”