The Exit Strategy Bundle

by Jocelynn Drake

  When she stepped back, she looked from Gabriel to Justin, her smile even bigger. “You don’t understand, but Justin is just so precious to me. Like my own brother. And I just know that anyone Justin would dare to date must be as sweet as he is.”

  “I don’t know if I’m as sweet as he is, but I try,” Gabriel said.

  “Oh, trust me, Luce, he’s just as sweet. He cooked me dinner last night, and he is such a fantastic cook,” Justin gushed, bringing an answering blush to Gabriel’s cheeks. Though, Justin wasn’t quite sure if it was embarrassment or anger. Probably a little of both.

  Lucy clucked her tongue at him. “You didn’t even tell me you were seeing anyone.”

  Justin gave a coy little shrug. “We haven’t been seeing each other long. We met months ago while I was traveling, and we’ve talked here and there. Gabriel is based out of London, so we don’t see each other often.”

  “Oh no,” Lucy said on a little gasp.

  To Justin’s shock, Gabriel’s hand smoothed along his shoulders, pulling him closer. A wave of warmth spread through his body as he leaned ever so slightly against Gabriel’s taller frame. “But we’re working on it. I’m staying in town for the next few weeks so that we can spend time together. Get to know each other better.”

  “That’s just wonderful. We’ll have to do dinner while you’re in town. My husband, Patrick, couldn’t make it to the party today, but we’ll schedule something when he’s free. I’ll text Justin so we can arrange it.”

  “Sounds fabulous.”

  Lucy placed a kiss on Justin’s cheek and then Gabriel leaned down so she could do the same to him before she moved on to mingle with the rest of the attendees. She moved with the same breezy light and warm personality. Justin couldn’t help but marvel at her. He was sure there were dark and disappointing things in her life, but whatever they were, she never let them show. She just appeared to be happy with life and to spend time with the people around her.

  “She was interesting,” Gabriel said softly. “Is she a normal representation of your friends here?”

  “Some are like her. Others are more reserved,” Justin said and then grinned up at Gabriel. “You seem to be fitting into this boyfriend role with little problem.”

  Gabriel reached down and grabbed Justin’s free hand, threading their fingers together again. “I said that I could do this.”

  “And so you are.”

  Justin led the way deeper into the party, mingling through one knot of people after another. There were drinks and light hors d'oeuvres. A few people made some brief speeches about the upcoming season with a glimpse of the new ballets, operas, and art displays that would fill the new year. Justin introduced Gabriel to every person he knew at the party, and the man handled it all with relative ease. At the very least, he didn’t flinch or stiffen when Justin referred to him as his boyfriend. Even a few times, Gabriel offered to get him a fresh drink or shared some food off his plate.

  His actions reminded Justin of what it might be like to have a boyfriend, to have someone care about him. Not that he thought Gabriel would fill that role in his life, but someone who happened to be tall and sexy with a wicked grin when he was stretched out on the hallway floor covered in…yeah, that line of thinking needed to stop immediately. The slacks he was wearing would hide nothing if he suddenly found himself with a hard-on.

  After a couple of hours, they finally found themselves standing alone in the garden. Gabriel’s arm was wrapped around his waist, holding him close. It felt as if his hand was burning through his clothes straight to his hip, and Justin was doing everything within his power to ignore his touch so that the blood would stop flowing to his goddamn cock. He really thought he had more self-control than this, but Gabriel was quickly proving him wrong.

  “While I’ve enjoyed this little outing, we have yet to meet our target,” Gabriel said in a low voice. The words were at complete odds with the easygoing smile teasing his lips.

  “That’s because I’m not closely acquainted with her. She arrived around thirty minutes ago and is talking to that group of people over by the rose arbor. Light blue dress with the pillbox hat.”

  A low chuckle left Gabriel, drawing Justin’s gaze to his face. “I find myself surprised that you know what a pillbox hat is.”

  “Fuck you. I loved Jackie O,” Justin said in a grumpy voice.

  “Shhh…everyone does,” Gabriel consoled. Gabriel’s hand squeezed his hip and Justin found himself relaxing against the other man. What the fuck was happening to him? He was getting far too wrapped up in this little role play. They needed to get the information they came for and get the fuck out of there.

  As they watched Gretchen, she suddenly reached for her phone and looked at the screen. Frowning, she made motions to excuse herself and then disappeared into the house, likely to take the call. That looked like a perfect opportunity if he ever saw one.

  “Shall we wander into the house? Get out of the sun for a little while?” Gabriel asked before Justin could.

  “I think that’s a perfect idea.”

  Sliding his hand from Justin’s back, Gabriel motioned for him to lead the way across the lawn and toward the house. They moved at a steady but leisurely pace. Justin was careful to nod at a few acquaintances but steered clear of anyone who looked like they may want to engage in longer conversation.

  Once inside, he blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the relative darkness. The house was richly decorated with dark woods and dark colors. Art hung on all the walls and the floor shone as if freshly polished that day. The interior was cooler thanks to the air conditioning, and Justin sighed with relief. Sweat had started to trickle down his back, and he had been fantasizing for the past hour about stripping down to just his briefs and standing in front of a fan. He might have also fantasized about stripping Gabriel down to his birthday suit, but he forced his thoughts away from that bit of loveliness as quickly as possible. That was later…maybe…if he was lucky.

  Servants in white attire rushed from place to place, carrying either full or empty trays. More alcohol was summoned from where it was being chilled. They skirted the servants and anyone else, trying to appear as if they were simply admiring the house and the art within, while cautiously listening at closed doors to try to track down where Ms. Lornamen had disappeared to. They were about to circle back to the main staircase to the second floor when they heard a woman’s voice behind a closed door. She sounded troubled but not in a panic. Justin looked over at Gabriel who motioned for them to hold. They needed for her to end her call before they walked inside.

  Silence lengthened and then they finally heard the clomp of her heels as she approached the door to leave the room. Justin nodded, and Gabriel pulled open the door. Gretchen Lornamen came to a sharp halt, her phone clutched tightly in her fist. She blinked in surprise at them for a moment and took an unsteady step backward as if to let them pass. A handsome woman, she looked to be in her late fifties with dark hair threaded with gray. She had the no-nonsense feel of a ruthless businesswoman to her eyes, but there was something more in her pale green eyes that had Justin hesitating.

  “Excuse me,” she said with a brittle smile. “I was just taking a quick phone call.”

  “That’s quite all right, Ms. Lornamen,” Justin said easily, smiling back at her in hopes of putting her more at ease, though he was sure it was unlikely. “We were just hoping to have a moment of your time to discuss a small matter.”

  Behind him, Gabriel softly closed the door. He glanced back to find the tall man standing in front of the door. He was sure that it wasn’t so much to keep Gretchen trapped as it was to listen for anyone approaching the room. Not that she would pick up on that.

  “What do you wish to discuss?” she said. Justin knew the warmth that she infused in those words was as fake as the smile she graced them with because her eyes would not leave Gabriel.

  “Iaso Health.”

  Gretchen’s eyes snapped back to Justin and flashed rage for only a sec
ond before she got her emotions back under control. “I’m no longer associated with Iaso. I can’t help you. Try contacting their investor relations or even their new chairman, Dane Hamilton, if you wish to know more.”

  “Well, my concern with Iaso is actually in regards to the death of Dr. Kevin Weiss and Dr. Kristen Jones.”

  Gretchen grew pale and took several steps back. She rested her hand on the edge of the large oak desk in the center of the room for support. “Yes, Kevin and Kristen’s deaths were unfortunate and very untimely. They both did some amazing work for Iaso over the years. We were all saddened by the news.”

  And Justin believed her. He wasn’t sure if she actually knew the two researchers personally, but she did take their deaths very personally. It made sense that she would be the one to take out the contract in an effort to get justice for them. But the contract had not stated that Dane Hamilton was a target, though he was willing to bet Gretchen would love to see the man dead.

  “It seems a strange coincidence that both doctors died so suddenly, and they were both on the research team for Iaso’s new drug, Siltryptrose.”

  “How do you know that?” Gretchen demanded sharply. She pushed away from the desk and took a couple steps closer to Justin. The hand holding her cellphone shook slightly. “No one but the executive team at Iaso and the FDA is aware of who is on the research team for that project. Are you reporters?”

  “No.”

  “Police?”

  “Definitely not,” Gabriel said with a small smirk.

  “Then I’m calling the police. You shouldn’t know what you do about the research team. If there’s a security breach, then it must be dealt with immediately.” She lifted her phone, using her fingerprint to unlock it, but she didn’t get any further.

  “You can call them, but that could make things very awkward, since we might be the men you hired to find Kevin and Kristen’s killer.”

  Gretchen’s cell fell from her limp hand and gave a muffled thump when it hit the ornate Oriental rug just in front of the desk. Her face had turned ghostly white, and she stepped back until she reached the desk for support again.

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered, her voice losing all of its earlier authority.

  Justin sighed and closed the distance between them. “I would really prefer to skip this part since our time is limited.” Carefully, he took Gretchen’s arm and directed her to a chair in front of the desk while he sat in the one next to her. “We know that you took out the contract. You want the killer and the person who hired the hit eliminated. You also want the proof that Siltryptrose is deadly.”

  “But…but you’re not supposed to know who put out the contract. I was told that my identity would be kept anonymous,” she argued.

  “Yes, well…there are ways of accomplishing that, but your contact didn’t. Let’s hope that it teaches you to either not use this person again or never put out another contract like this.”

  “Hopefully the latter,” Gabriel added, and Gretchen just nodded in dazed agreement.

  Justin gently placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head so she was meeting his eyes. “We need more information. Kevin and Kristen didn’t deserve to die, and I’d like to see them and their families get justice.”

  “I submitted all the information I have.”

  Justin shook his head. “You have to have more. It’s going to take time to hack into Iaso and even when I’m in, I don’t have a degree in pharmacology or medicine. I won’t necessarily know what I’m looking for. And we now have someone who is trying to kill us to keep us from uncovering the truth. That definitely shortens our timetable.”

  “Oh dear,” she breathed softly.

  “Why would Kevin and Kristen have been killed?”

  “They came to me months ago and raised concerns about the drug. There had been a couple of deaths in the lab’s animals that they felt were being brushed aside too quickly. They wanted to do more thorough autopsies, but they said that management wasn’t taking their concerns seriously. I raised the concern at the board meeting and Dane, who had been the president at the time, said I was being overly cautious and slowing down progress. It wasn’t the first time I’d been accused of that. The last time had slowed down one of our new drugs, allowing our competitor to get to market first. It cost us nearly a billion dollars in lost sales. Dane used my worries to get me removed as chairperson.”

  “Shit,” Justin muttered. “Do you believe Kevin and Kristen were right?”

  “Yes. They were brilliant researchers. I trusted their insight.”

  “But the company obviously went ahead with the drug trials and moved on to human patients.”

  Gretchen nodded, fisting her hands in her lap. “I might not have been running the company that my family started any longer, but I am still a shareholder. I get the company reports, which include updates on drug testing progress. Siltryptrose was passing everything with flying colors. I started to think that maybe Kristen and Kevin had been too cautious. Then I received a frantic phone call from Kristen. She was desperate to talk to me. I missed the call. I’d been out with friends at the theater. By the time I tried to call her back, the news was already running the story of her death in a hit and run.”

  “Did Kevin Weiss try to contact you?” Gabriel asked.

  Gretchen shook her head. “Not that I know of. When I heard of the break in and his death, I knew something with wrong with the drug and it was being covered up.”

  “Do you know who is covering this up?”

  Again, she shook her head. “I would love to pin this on Dane, the weasely little asshole, but he could have just wanted my job, and sadly, that’s not a crime.” She paused and gave Justin a sad smile. “All submissions for the FDA have to be signed off by the head of the company as well as the heads of the project. That would have been Kristen, Kevin, and Dr. Saul Elba.”

  “Is Dr. Elba still alive?” Gabriel asked.

  “Yes, as far as I know.”

  “Do you have any idea what Kristen or Kevin might have seen to make them want to stop the drug trials?” Justin asked.

  “No, but I got the impression that it would show in the autopsy. It wasn’t showing up in the usual tests they run to monitor the patient. And there were four deaths during the human trials, but they were all marked as causes not related to the drug.”

  “Is that common?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. This is a cancer drug and these people are in various advanced stages. Their bodies have suffered a great toll already. It is often possible that they will pass due to unrelated causes or complications. That’s why everyone is so excited about Siltryptrose. It can potentially be used at nearly any stage of advancement and the damage and wear was supposed to be far less than other treatments. Kristen’s sister died of cervical cancer, and Kevin lost his father to lung cancer. They would have done anything to see this drug through all the phases to approval, but they wouldn’t allow something through that was just as dangerous as the cancer.”

  “Thank you for your time, Gretchen,” Justin said, standing again. “This will help us greatly.”

  “Wait!” She grabbed Justin’s hand, stopping him. “Who are you? How can I contact you if I learn something new?”

  A tense smile pulled at his lips. “It’s better you don’t know who we are. It’s better that you forget what we look like and don’t ask anyone here what our names are. If you see either of us again, don’t speak to us unless we speak to you. Just forget.”

  “But…”

  Justin lifted the hand holding his to his lips and brushed a gentle kiss across her knuckles. “It’s better to forget everything about today.”

  He then turned on his heel and quickly walked out of the room as Gabriel held the door open for him. His heart pounded in his chest. They had a new name and a couple of interesting leads. This could be a very good thing for them.

  “You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Gabriel murmured behind him as t
hey walked back down the hall.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The kiss to her hand. The suave gentlemen when you’re really just a ruthless killer.”

  Justin snorted. “Jealous?”

  He thought he heard Gabriel grumble something under his breath. Grinning to himself, Justin waited until they passed a dark little nook, then spun on his heel and grabbed Gabriel, shoving him up against the wall within the hidden recess. He pressed his body up against Gabriel’s and the other man sucked in a harsh breath. Tipping his head up, he brushed his lips against Gabriel’s neck before settling on the rapidly beating pulse just below his skin.

  “What’s really bothering you, G? That it’s been hours since I last kissed you?”

  “This isn’t the time, Mallory,” Gabriel growled, but he still didn’t push Justin off. He just stood painfully still, his body tense and pressed against the wall.

  “I think it’s the perfect time to steal a kiss from my boyfriend.” As he turned his head, Justin moved his mouth up Gabriel’s neck to his jaw. He needed Gabriel to tilt his head a little bit lower. Just move a little to his left. “Kiss me, Gabriel.”

  And to his surprise, Gabriel moved his head, seizing his mouth in a blistering kiss that curled his toes in his hard-sole shoes and filled his cock. Gabriel’s tongue plunged into his mouth, claiming Justin like he was a damn Spanish conquistador plundering a new land. Justin moaned into Gabriel’s mouth and pressed even closer, wanting nothing to separate them.

  The sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor tore Gabriel’s mouth from his. He looked around for a second and then glared at Justin. “This is not the place for this.”

  “Then let’s go home where we can get more comfortable.”

  “You promised me coq au vin,” Gabriel said with a smirk.

  Justin rolled his eyes and then his hips, rubbing his hard cock against Gabriel, earning a pained hiss. “Then we’ll stop at the grocery store for supplies. Lots of supplies. And then we’ll go home. You research. I cook. And then we have some fun.”