by Carol Lynne
“Because I know Cole well enough to realise that he’ll want to be in court with me. He’ll want to hold my hand when he sees it shaking. I’m wondering whether it would be better to wait until the trial or whatever is over before seeing if the two of us work.”
“Don’t you think you should talk to Cole about this? I mean, you’re sitting here making decisions for him. Shouldn’t he have a say?”
Trey shook his head. “I know him better than you think I do. He’d say being there for me is what was important. He may be willing to throw away a long career, but I’m not ready to let him.”
Zac actually chuckled, which surprised Trey. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you? There are so many variables in this situation, how can you make a statement like that?”
Trey shrugged, embarrassed. “I think he likes me.”
Zac laughed louder. “Of course he likes you. What’s not to like? I just don’t want to see you make the same mistake I did. I knew Eric all of a couple days when suddenly I felt I had the right to tell him what was best for him. Remember how that turned out?”
Trey remembered. Zac was left alone and miserable until he swallowed his pride and went in search of his lover.
“All I’m saying is, don’t make decisions for Cole because you think you know what’s best for him. It’ll come back to bite you in the ass every time.”
A round of laughter from downstairs got Trey’s attention. “They sound like they’re having fun without us.”
He stood and held out his hand to Zac. “Let’s go win some money.”
With a smile, Zac took Trey’s hand and followed him downstairs. The group of men were calming down, but Marco was wiping the tears from his eyes which meant it must’ve been a good one.
“What’d we miss?” Trey asked as he took a seat beside Jules.
Jules glanced at Bobby. It was then that Trey noticed the older man’s cheeks were red. “They were making fun of Angelo again. I told them shoe-fetishism was a fairly common occurrence and not the same as a foot fetish.”
Jules leaned over to whisper in Trey’s ear. “I think I made things worse when that wasn’t my intention at all.”
Trey turned and kissed Jules’ cheek. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. These buttheads can twist anything said to fit their sick senses of humour.”
He glanced across the table and tried to give Angelo a supportive smile. His friend’s cheeks were also red, but Trey had a feeling it was anger more than embarrassment.
It was a wonder why Angelo had anything to do with them. The poor guy always seemed to be the butt of every joke. “Have you ever seen the inside of a police station?”
Angelo narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I have to try and pick JB101 out of a line-up in the morning. I’ve heard you say how sexy you think cops are. I thought you might like to meet me and Cole there at ten.”
Angelo appeared dumbfounded for several moments. “Why me?” He gestured around the table. “I mean, anyone here would go with you in a heartbeat.”
“Maybe. But you’re the one I asked.”
“Because you feel sorry for me all of a sudden?” Angelo snidely asked.
Trey had to step back and think about the question. Why had he asked Angelo? They were friends, but Trey wouldn’t say they were particularly close. Maybe it was the lost look he often saw in Angelo’s deep blue eyes that reminded him so much of himself.
“He’s trying to make you feel better, you asshole,” Marco said, smacking the back of Angelo’s head.
Angelo smoothed his midnight black hair back into place. “I could probably show up. If you’re serious, I mean.”
“Of course I’m serious. Not really something I’d joke about,” Trey answered.
Angelo’s expression changed. “Thanks.”
* * * *
Sipping his coffee the following morning, Trey regarded Bobby. “Do you think it was wrong to invite Angelo to the station?”
Working his way through a plate of bacon and eggs, Bobby wiped his mouth. “No. Actually I applaud you for what you did.”
Trey rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that big a deal.”
“You’re wrong. You saw Angelo was hurt and despite everything you’re going through, you reached out to him. That’s what a true friend does.”
Bobby’s statement warmed him. If Bobby could acknowledge so readily that Angelo was hurt, why hadn’t he done anything?
“Why didn’t you say something to make him feel better?” Trey asked.
Bobby glanced around the room before answering. “Because Jules felt so bad about the comment. If I’d tried to come to Angelo’s aid, I would’ve made Jules feel that much worse.” Bobby grinned. “And I like a happy Jules.”
“Did I hear my name?” Jules asked as he walked into the room and stole a piece of bacon from Bobby’s plate.
Bobby wrapped an arm around Jules’ hips. “I was telling Trey that I enjoy it when you’re happy.”
Jules’ face lit up. “You make me that way.”
Bobby pulled Jules onto his lap and the two men began making out right in front of him. Although Trey groaned, he liked the fact the two men couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
“I’m going to wait for Cole out front,” he told them as he took his cup to the sink for a quick rinse.
He heard Bobby’s chair scrape across the floor. “Hang on.”
Trey turned around and was enveloped in a bear hug.
“I hope everything goes smoothly. You’ll have two people beside you who care about you. Use them if you need to, that’s why they’re going.”
Trey nodded. Bobby stepped back and Jules took his place. He received a quick kiss on the forehead from the older man. “Call if you need us.”
“I will. Cole asked me to spend the day with him, so I’m not sure what time I’ll get home, but I’ll call after we leave the station.”
Jules nodded in that fatherly way of his.
The thought stopped Trey cold. “I just realised something. I’m going to have to tell my parents what exactly happened to me before my name shows up in the papers.”
Jules appeared taken back. “What? They were at the hospital that night.”
“Yeah, but all they know is that someone came into my house and attacked me. They don’t ask me personal questions, and I sure as heck don’t volunteer them.”
Trey once again questioned his ability to go through with identifying JB101. The relationship with his parents was already strained to the point that Trey only called them a few times a year, despite basically living in the same city.
“Who knows, maybe this’ll bring you closer,” Jules told him.
Trey snorted. “You don’t know my mom and dad.” He shrugged, resigned to speak with his parents. “If you don’t see me again, have the cops check my parent’s attic.”
“That’s not funny,” Bobby admonished.
“No. But accurate, I’m afraid.”
* * * *
After a sleepless night, Cole pulled up to the guard house at the entrance of the gated community where Bobby lived. He rolled down his window and spoke to the guard. “I’m picking up someone from Bobby Quinn’s house.”
The man in the dull brown uniform nodded. “I’ll have to call Mr. Quinn for permission.”
“That’s fine.” Cole actually liked the fact the area appeared to be so secure. He assumed it was the reason they had Trey staying here and not with Zac.
After several moments, the gate in front of his pickup opened as the guard waved him through. Cole consulted the scrap of paper beside him and made his way to Bobby’s. Trey was sitting on the front steps when Cole pulled into the circular drive.
Even in a simple pair of dark green cargo shorts and T-shirt, Trey looked good enough to eat. Trey opened the passenger door and climbed in. Before Trey had time to put his seatbelt on, Cole pulled him over for a kiss.
“Morning,” Cole greeted, coming up for air
.
“Morning.” Trey began rubbing the side of his thigh with his thumbnail, something Cole had long ago realised the man did when he was troubled.
“Something wrong?” Cole asked.
Trey nodded. “I need to talk to my parents about the rape. If you want me to drive separate I’ll understand.”
“Where do they live?”
“Nob Hill.”
“I don’t mind driving you, unless you’d rather I didn’t.”
Trey sighed and rested his head on Cole’s shoulder. “My relationship with them is complicated.”
“I figured there had to be a reason why you’re just now telling them. I can wait outside in the car, or I can even drop you off and go somewhere for coffee while you talk to them.” Although Cole had a good relationship with his parents, he knew a lot of people weren’t so lucky. The important thing was supporting Trey as much as he’d let him.
“We’ll see. I haven’t even called yet to see if they’ll be home. Guess I need to jump one hurdle before tackling another, huh?”
Cole gave Trey another quick kiss. “That sounds like a good plan.”
When Trey started to slide back over to the passenger seat, Cole pulled him back to the centre. “Sit by me?”
“Okay.”
Cole was grateful the ride to the station was a relatively short one. Although Trey didn’t say it, Cole could feel the younger man’s fear.
He pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine. Before he could get another kiss from Trey, he spotted a familiar-looking man walking towards them. “Is that someone you know?”
Trey smiled. “Yep. That’s Angelo. The guys were giving him a hard time last night, so I invited him. I hope you don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind? You obviously mean a lot to your friends. I’m sure if you’d have invited them, all your poker buddies would be here.”
Trey slowly nodded his head. “You’re probably right.”
Angelo stood outside the truck looking decidedly uncomfortable. Cole had time for a quick kiss. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Cole opened his door and joined Angelo, as Trey slid out the driver’s door after him.
“Cole, this is my friend Angelo Pilato, Angelo, Cole.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cole greeted.
“You, too.” Angelo shook Cole’s hand before turning to Trey. “If you’ve had second thoughts about me being here…”
“No,” Trey was quick to say. “I want you here.”
Angelo nodded once and gestured towards the station. “Shall we go in?”
Cole threaded his fingers through Trey’s and followed Angelo into the building. Angelo spoke to the desk sergeant, as Cole did his best to reassure Trey. “They’ll probably make it so the guy doesn’t even see you when you identify him.”
Trey wiped his free hand on his shorts. “Doesn’t matter if he can see me or not. He’ll know.”
Cole wrapped his arm around Trey and pulled him close, much to the apparent disapproval of the desk sergeant. “At least you’ll know the guy is behind bars and not roaming the streets.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you ready for this, Mr. Huggins?” A huge mountain of a man asked, coming into the lobby.
“I think so.” Trey gestured to Cole and Angelo. “Is it okay if my friends come in with me?”
Detective Torrance gave Cole a quick once over before moving his gaze to Angelo. Was it his imagination, or did the detective’s perusal of Angelo last longer than necessary?
“That’s fine. They won’t be able to go into the line-up room with you, but they can go back with us.” Torrance turned and motioned to the desk sergeant. A buzzer sounded and the detective opened the door, holding it for the rest of them to file through.
“This way.” Torrance led them down a hallway to a large room full of desks. The detective walked over to one piled high with papers and disposable coffee cups. He grabbed a file. “We can go in one of the interrogation rooms.”
Cole felt Trey tense beside him. He added more pressure to their clasped hands and followed Angelo and Torrance into the small room. Torrance closed the mini-blinds and laid the file on the table.
Everyone took their seats, and the detective regarded Trey. “I’ll take you into a room with a one-way mirror. We’ll bring in a group of men, and you’ll tell us if the man who attacked you is in the line-up.”
Trey nodded. “Okay.”
“Are you sure they won’t be able to see him?” Angelo asked.
The detective narrowed his eyes as he once again seemed to size up Angelo. “I just said he’d be looking through a one-way mirror, didn’t I?”
Angelo didn’t back down a bit. Cole was actually quite impressed. It wasn’t that he considered Angelo a wimp, but he didn’t know many men that would dare challenge a huge, six-foot-seven detective. As a matter of fact, Cole doubted anyone spoke to Torrance the way Angelo just had.
“What about Trey coming and going from the room? Can you promise this JB101 guy isn’t going to see him? I was just watching an episode of Law and Order and…”
“Enough!” Torrance yelled, slamming his fist on the table. “Either let me do my fucking job or wait outside.”
Angelo didn’t even blink at the outburst. He waited for the detective to finish his statement and calmly adjusted his glasses. “You do your job, but if this guy gets so much as a peek at Trey, I’ll have your balls for dinner.”
Cole couldn’t help but notice the slight smile play across the detective’s lips before he quickly masked his reaction. Torrance stood and motioned for Trey.
“You come with me. You two can cool your jets in here.”
Cole gave Trey’s hand one last squeeze before he turned to follow Torrance from the room. For several moments after the door shut, Cole had to force himself to stay seated.
“What an ass,” Angelo mumbled.
Cole was grateful for the distraction. “Are you crazy challenging a man of that size?”
Angelo shrugged. “I’ve dealt with my share of bullies. Most are all talk. They’re used to intimidating everyone into submission, but most of them can’t back it up.”
Cole chuckled. “Somehow I get the feeling Torrance isn’t putting on an act. I think that big sonofabitch is the real deal.”
“Maybe. But now he knows his size and that hideous deep voice of his don’t scare me.”
“What is it that you do again?” Cole asked.
“I’m the sales manager for a group of radio stations here in the city. Why?”
Cole shook his head. “I was thinking about offering you a job as vice-principal at my school. If you can take on a man the size of Torrance, you’d have those high school kids wetting their pants.”
Angelo grinned. “It’s a gift.”
Chapter Four
“Detective? What’ll happen after I identify him?” Trey asked as he was led into a small room.
Torrance waved a uniformed officer into the room before addressing Trey’s question. “We inform the prosecutor, and he adds another whole list of charges to what we already have.”
Trey’s thumb found its way to his thigh and started scratching back and forth across the heavy cotton. “When will you tell me his name?”
“After you ID him.” Torrance put his hand on a black box on the wall. “You ready? It’s like ripping off a bandage. Better to just get it over with than work yourself up over it.”
Trey took a deep breath and nodded.
The detective pushed a button on the intercom. “Bring ’em in.”
Torrance turned off the light and Trey was thrown into darkness. The lights in the room on the other side of the glass were turned up as a line of men entered. “Why so many?” he whispered.
“Because the guy’s features are pretty common. The prosecutor thinks it’ll make a better case if we say you picked him out of a line-up of twelve instead of six.” Torrance shrugged. “Just doing everything we can to make
sure the bastard pays for what he’s done.”
Torrance pressed the intercom. “Face front.”
The line of men turned and Trey gasped. His gaze went immediately to JB101. Those cold pale blue eyes stared back at him, as if daring Trey to identify him. “Are you sure they can’t see me?”
“I’m sure. Do you need any of them to step forward?” Torrance asked.
Trey shook his head. Flashes of the night he’d been attacked assaulted him. When he’d first opened the door to JB101, he’d actually thought the man was attractive. Staring into those soulless eyes, Trey wondered how he’d ever been fooled enough to even let the guy step foot into his house. Was I that desperate?
He pointed to the line-up. “Fourth man on the right.”
“Chuck, have number nine step forward,” Torrance said into the intercom.
“That’s really not necessary.” Please. He didn’t want to be any closer to JB101 than he already was.
“I’m sorry, but it’s procedure.”
Trey took a step back.
“Are you sure that’s the man who attacked you?”
“I’m positive that’s the man.”
Torrance wrote something on a sheet of paper and spoke into the intercom. “That’s it. You can take ’em away.”
After the line of men had left the room, Torrance turned on the light. “The man you identified is William James Overton. The same man we charged in our sting.”
William? Will? Bill? None of the names seemed to fit the man who’d left him for dead. For the first time in his twenty-nine years, Trey actually wished harm on another human being. How would William feel if he was slammed against a hard surface and brutally fucked until he bled? Trey smiled. The image seemed to bring him a perverted sense of comfort.
“If you’d like to wait in the room with your friends, I’ll get this all typed up and ready for you to sign. We still have your initial statement on file. Is there anything else you’ve thought of that we need to add?”
Trey took his gaze away from the now empty room in front of him. “I know I told you I tried to wrench the knife from his hand. The more I think about it, the more I believe I might’ve broken his pinkie finger.”
