Worse was that it was only getting harder to be around Ed, their flirting becoming more blatant even without trying. Sam certainly hadn’t meant to be so obscene with that pie, just like he didn’t think Ed had meant to imply he’d enjoy licking it off him.
Sam shouldn’t be pushing Ed toward a friendship with a detective and a reporter, though. They were nice, wholesome even, but not stupid. They might figure things out before Sam made his getaway. He just hated the thought of Ed being out there all alone after he left.
Especially with murderers in their midst.
Shaking his head, Sam shoved his phone back into his pocket without answering. He’d deal with them later.
The pie probably hadn’t fared too well in the compartment of his bike seat, but it would still taste good, he figured, as he retrieved it and headed into the bar. Mim and Gerry were in their usual booth, waiting for him. Lara was at the table, a pretty little thing with dark hair. Gerry was smiling dopily at her while she took their order.
She had remarkable patience, since Gerry tended to fawn without ever making a move. She always made a point to be their server, though.
Sam started toward them but hadn’t taken more than two steps before a pair of rough hands seized him by the shoulders, and the next thing he knew, he was being shoved into the men’s room. The pie thudded to the floor as he was slammed up against the wall.
“Hey there, Sammy. Having trouble getting your text messages?” Alverez yanked him forward to slam him back again, turning his vision spotty when his head made impact.
“I-I got the message!”
“You didn’t answer, and that got us all concerned.”
“I was driving!”
“Excuses, excuses.”
Alverez made to yank Sam forward again, but Shaw and Fitz came up on either side of him like a silent warning to hold back—Good Cop, Bad Cop, Worse Cop, only Sam didn’t know which was which.
“Next time you get a message, answer,” Alverez said, making a show of smoothing out Sam’s shirt for him.
“I thought compliance was implied.”
“Or you’re chickening out,” Shaw said. “With the way you’ve been stalling—”
“That’s Simons’s fault. I can’t let him grow suspicious. Timing is everything. The neighbors—”
“We don’t care about the neighbors,” Fitz barked. “You knew there’d be risks. You agreed to this job as soon as you heard the price tag.”
“Because I didn’t know who I was working for!” Sam growled.
Alverez made to grab him again, but Shaw moved in faster, suddenly going from being at Sam’s side to in his face with her forearm pressed to his windpipe.
He wanted to thrash back, ram his head into hers, and fight like hell, but that momentary surge of panic and rage was squelched by common sense. The missing persons reports kept getting worse, a new body found each week, and it would be too easy for him to become the next one.
“Now, now, Sammy boy,” Shaw warned, “I thought we were friends.”
She laughed, and the others joined her.
“Do your job and we won’t have to get friendly again,” Alverez said through dwindling chuckles, while Sam fought to take a deep breath with Shaw’s arm still pressing on his throat. “You’ll get your cut. Five percent.”
Sam coughed and wheezed when Shaw released him. “It was… supposed to be ten.”
“Consider it an inconvenience fee,” Fitz said. “Take any longer and the next thing we’ll be cutting into will be more personal.” He pulled a switchblade with a jarring snap.
They laughed again and moved for the door, Alverez making a point to step on the pie box along the way. Fitz left last, barely bothering to hide his knife before passing a bystander in the hall.
Mim. Shit.
If Sam hadn’t locked eyes with her, he would have stayed in the men’s room longer.
“Five percent?” she said once they were alone, Sam having kicked the pie box into the hallway, too upset to pick it up.
“Five of what Ed has is still retirement money.”
“Sam—”
“I’ll handle it.”
“You keep saying that, but then why do you look like you’re still having doubts?”
Because he’d just been threatened by a knife, and Ed would have no idea how to handle people like that. Sam wasn’t filled with doubt; he was filled with resolve. If he didn’t finish the job, the Cramers might send those three.
Besides, Sam used to think he’d do anything to get out of Riverside and live easy, but he’d do worse to keep his life, even if it meant betraying a good man.
“He’s decent. Sweet. Just isolated. I can’t help feeling bad for him.”
“You be sure and tell that to Bonnie and Clyde’s cronies when they’re breaking Gerry’s legs.”
Sam winced.
Then sighed.
“Sammy, you can’t.”
“I know. I just wish things were different.” He finally bent to pick up the pie box. “Guess I should throw this away.”
“What is it?”
“Coconut cream from the oblivious neighbors.”
“Gerry will eat it.” She offered a wry grin, and Sam chuckled despite himself.
“Come on. Instead of the quiet evening I promised him, I have two days to convince the world’s biggest homebody that he needs to go out Friday night.”
“OUT? WITH you?” Ed blinked at Sam, forgetting tact or subtlety whenever Sam flirted with him—which was often—but especially when he stood close, eyes flicking down and up his body with promise.
“We can still talk myths when we get back.”
“I-I….”
“Please?”
Oh, that word was unfair coming from Sam. “I suppose I do need to get out more.”
“Really? I mean, great! I thought I’d have to drag you kicking and screaming.”
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy going out, I just… feel safer at home.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Sam grinned at him.
Ed blushed at the promise, though needing protection wasn’t the problem.
“We’ll do something simple with minimal forced mingling, I promise,” Sam said, holding Ed’s tablet with his calendar open.
They were in their chosen chairs in the office again, where Sam had been helping Ed move his entire datebook to digital.
“How about a movie or a show? We can get cocktails first, with a late dinner afterward. I’ll keep my own drinking to a minimum and even DD.”
“You mean drive us? On your bike?” Ed leaned back, torn between excitement and concern at the thought of holding on to Sam during the trip, feeling his pulse thrum beneath his hands and through their connected bodies.
“You’ll love it.”
“I… guess that could be fun. Okay. It’s a date.”
Sam startled, and Ed worried he’d said the wrong thing. He knew they couldn’t be more than what they were, that he couldn’t give in to their flirtations beyond a night out, but was it so wrong to want to pretend for a while?
“I-I’m sorry. I meant—”
“A date,” Sam said. “Definitely.”
Sam handled everything. Cocktails planned at a bar near the theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing, which was one of Ed’s favorite plays, then dinner at a nice restaurant down the block, all close together downtown so they could walk between locations and easily escape when they were ready to go home.
Sam even chose something for Ed to wear.
“Are you sure I don’t need a tie? It’s the theater!” Ed said when he came out of the bathroom the next evening dressed in black slacks, a green button-down, and a charcoal gray sweater. With the black-and-gray peacoat, it was all very fashionable but still seemed too casual for a night out.
“No tie,” Sam assured him. He looked sharp as well, in dark jeans, a blue sweater, and a heather-gray blazer.
For their date.
“I can’t believe I’m f
inally going to see you eat,” Sam said.
“I… eat.”
“Never in front of me.”
“Well… tonight will be a first for many things, then.”
Sam gazed at Ed like he was trying to memorize how he looked. “Come here, Eddie. We have time yet, but there’s something I’ve been wanting to do.”
He grasped Ed’s hand, and for a moment, Ed thought he was going to kiss him right there in the bedroom, but then he pulled him into the hallway and tugged on the cord for the ladder up to the widow’s walk.
“Sam….”
“Here. I grabbed these from your dresser.” Sam handed him the sunglasses he’d given him. “The sun should be mostly set by now anyway.”
“It’s not only that. I really don’t—”
“Just this once. I promise I won’t let you fall.” Sam grinned, and Ed scowled at him for the jab but allowed himself to be led up to the roof.
The light was still a little much, making him grateful for the sunglasses, but the sun had dipped low enough below the horizon that it cast beautiful colors across the sky. Since they stayed near the hatch, he didn’t have to look out over the side but simply watched the sunset.
“Once upon a time,” Sam began, making Ed’s chest grow warm as he realized what was about to happen, “Hades was on Mount Olympus for a yearly council with his brothers. On his way home, he took the long route along a winding path down the mountain. He liked the gardens there, mostly because no one else ever frequented them, so he could enjoy their color and beauty without anyone gawking at him.
“No bloom he’d ever seen, however, was as beautiful as the goddess he found there that day.
“‘What are you staring at?’ she asked, completely unafraid of him, but also unaware of who she was speaking to. Persephone was in a foul mood after having a fight with her mother, who’d forbidden her to leave home. Willful and proud, she’d snuck out to the gardens anyway. She was all grown up and wanted freedom, but her mother still treated her like a child. She wanted to run away for good but had nowhere to go. She told Hades all this, still not knowing his name, just needing someone to listen to her.
“‘You can come with me,’ he offered, utterly captivated by this fiery flower he’d found. ‘It’s not beautiful where I live, but your mother could never reach you there.’
“Persephone, finally and truly looking at Hades, realized how beautiful he was and couldn’t imagine such a handsome god living anywhere that wasn’t remarkable, so she agreed. She got so lost in talking with him during the long trek down the mountain that she didn’t realize they were descending all the way into the Underworld until they came to the river Styx.
“‘You’re him. You’re Hades,’ she said. ‘Yes,’ he answered, assuming their time together would end now that she knew the truth. ‘Would you like to go home?’ But she surprised him. ‘Why would I want that?’ ‘Aren’t you afraid of my darkness, dear?’ he asked. And Persephone said, ‘No. You haven’t seen mine yet.’”
Sam’s smile was soft, maybe even sad, as he returned to the quote he’d first told Ed from that story. The space between them kept shrinking, Ed drawn in as Sam looked at him, certain that Sam began to tilt his head closer too….
Sam’s phone erupted, causing Ed to snap back.
“What is it?” Sam answered sharply, his smile gone now, and his expression only dropped further. “Tonight? I was on my way out…. No, I understand. You’re right, I did promise. I’ll see you in twenty.”
“Something wrong?” Ed asked.
“I’ve been helping some friends with moving plans, and I guess this is the only night they can pack up the heavier stuff. I promised to help and—”
“Oh,” Ed said before Sam could finish.
“I’m really sorry, Eddie. You should still go. Enjoy the evening. I’ll reimburse you for my ticket—”
“Don’t be silly. I’m sure I can find someone to take it at will call. I wouldn’t want all your hard work getting me out of the house to go to waste.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” Sam said, seeming more upset than Ed was, which he decided to take as a compliment. “I’ll call a Lyft so you can still have as many drinks as you want and make sure you’re safely on your way before I head out, okay?”
They left the roof and waited in the foyer for the car to arrive.
When it did, Sam opened the front doors for Ed and joked, “Are you sure you’re not a ghost haunting this place and you can’t actually cross the threshold?”
Ed smirked at him and made a grand show of walking out of the house.
“I stand corrected,” Sam said, locking up behind them. The driver was waiting. Sam’s bike that Ed wouldn’t get to ride on after all was also waiting. “Goodbye, Eddie,” he said.
Ed wished that didn’t sound so final. “Promise me, before you start your other job, you’ll come back sometime and finish telling me that story?”
“I promise.”
I PROMISE.
It wasn’t the first time Sam had lied to Ed, but it hurt the most.
He took a different route than the Lyft, making sure it was well out of view before he parked his bike away from the house in a place he’d chosen earlier. He walked back by cover of nightfall, so there was no chance of the Neu-Ryans seeing him.
He’d stashed the needed supplies in the foyer closet, in a backpack he’d told Ed was his change of clothes. It had been, but it also contained the tools he needed to complete the job.
Sam had hours to get everything done now that Ed was out of the house, but he planned to be swift, if also careful. He’d leave no trace of the theft or his presence there once he was gone, and maybe Ed wouldn’t ever find out. He’d wonder, though, what became of Sam Coleman when he never heard from him again.
Sam ditched his blazer and took the gloves from his bag. He’d memorized everything he’d touched, so he knew exactly what needed to be wiped down before his escape.
With the curtains drawn, he hardly had to be careful with his flashlight as he moved through the house. First, he’d remove his prints, since that would take the longest, and as he did, he also claimed several priceless trinkets Ed had forgotten he even owned until Sam cataloged them.
Once that was done, barely an hour having passed, all that remained was the safe. The only thing Ed hadn’t entrusted to Sam was the combination, but he’d given his whole life over to him otherwise, never once doubting that he could trust him.
Gerry was right; the magnet opened the safe in seconds. There was hardly any challenge to it, no obstacles, just the ever-widening chasm in the pit of Sam’s stomach that worsened when he found an unexpected item among the others.
There was a photograph, beautifully shot in black and white, of Sam on the back patio looking out beyond the fence. Sam had no idea when Ed had taken it, though he had to have done so from one of the windows. He must have been embarrassed and stashed it as a memento.
Whenever something beautiful catches my attention, he’d said.
Sam felt two inches tall, but he had to push past it.
He put the picture back and grabbed the flash drive. All he needed to do now was copy it onto his laptop and he could put it back, so that if Ed looked in the safe anytime soon, he wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
Sam also took one of the stacks of cash. There were so many in the safe, Ed wouldn’t notice that either.
He opened his laptop on the bedroom floor to start the transfer, but just as he slid the flash drive into place—a car pulled into the driveway!
Sam stiffened. The lights were off inside the house; it couldn’t be Marie or Daniel checking up on Ed when it looked like no one was home.
After snapping the laptop shut, Sam shoved it into his backpack along with the cash, but he put the flash drive in his pocket, not wanting to risk it getting smashed. There was no time to replace it now; he’d have to bring it with him.
He closed the safe and then hefted the backpack over one shoulder, padding quickly from t
he bedroom across the upper floor. Below, in the foyer, the front doors opened. It had to be Ed, but it had only been an hour.
Sam heard Ed’s voice, followed by a second voice just as he reached the parlor.
“This place is amazing.”
“Thank you. I’m very happy here. How about we have that drink on the patio, and I can give you a tour later.”
“You mean of the bedroom?”
“Wherever you want,” Ed answered tellingly.
Ed, who’d brought a man home and was getting him a drink, inviting him upstairs, only an hour after he and Sam almost….
Sam shook his head. He had no right to be upset. He’d ditched Ed. He was betraying him right now. But it still hurt that Ed could move on to someone else that same night.
Their voices drifted from the foyer into the living room, and Sam hovered near the stairs. Once they were outside, he could leave right through the front door.
“I’m glad you came out tonight,” the other man said.
“So am I. I had other plans, but once those changed, there was only one thing on my mind.”
“Using me to get back at someone who stood you up?”
“Oh no. Trust me, I would never have done with him what I’m about to do to you.”
Sam was halfway down the stairs when Ed’s voice trailed off. Ed didn’t even sound like himself. Had Sam read him wrong? Was this the real Ed Simons he’d been waiting to find to make robbing him easier?
It didn’t feel easier….
Sam kept going. He could still hear them out on the patio, the doors left open, but they were definitely outside. He should go. The front doors were right there. But as he stood before them, his feet turned toward the living room instead.
He passed the radios, the old photographs he loved, even one of Ed’s horrible cardigans draped over a chair.
No, that was the sweater Ed had been wearing tonight.
Nearing the patio, Sam could see them through the open door. Ed was missing his sweater all right, and starting to pull the tails of his shirt from his slacks as he crawled into the lap of the man sitting in one of the patio chairs.
Their Dark Reflections Page 4
