by J. M. Dabney
He shook his head as the man readied himself to fire.
“Drop your weapon and on your knees.”
He repeated the order until the officer held his arms to the side, dropped his service weapon, and fell to his knees to the asphalt. He ignored the cursing and orders to stand down as he removed the handcuff keys from the man’s pocket and tossed them several feet away. After he was confident that the man was secured to the grille guards, the officer told him he wouldn’t get away with whatever he planned. Pure was confident that he’d do just fine until they could figure out who framed Raul.
He didn’t want to speak too much in case someone could recognize his voice later. He checked the pulse of the other officer, found the beat strong, so it meant the man was just unconscious. Running to the rear of the tipped vehicle, he unlocked the back with keys he’d taken after checking if the guy was alive or not.
Cursing, he found Raul foolishly trying to break his shackles from the floor. Raul spun toward him, ready to fight and he tossed Raul the keys. Thankfully, Raul didn’t question and just started unlocking himself. Pure removed his second weapon and flipped it. He saw the suspicion, but as Raul took it, he backed away. He took off back to the tree line and trusted Raul to follow him. He’d altered the barrels of the weapons, left his rifle behind with the tree stand and hopped on the dirt bike.
“Pure, what the fuck were you thinking?”
“Just get on, we have maybe a fifteen-minute window. You can bitch at me later.”
That’s all it took, and Raul hopped on behind him, then they were off in the direction of the stashed vehicle. Their combined weights made it awkward to steer the bike, but they made it. He could practically feel the anger rolling off Raul, but they’d have to deal with it when he got them someplace safe.
He slowed, rolled the bike to a stop, and cut the engine off. As fast as he could manage, he thrust a bag with a change of clothes in Raul’s direction and a pair of boots.
“These are mine.”
“I had Peaches go to your motel room and grab your stuff after we left the Sheriff’s department, well, what the cops left. Everything is at my house in the spare room, and your truck is in my garage. A state forensics team came and tested everything, since there seemed to be nothing to connect it to the crime, it was released. They did seize your GPS, though.”
“You’re going to explain what the hell just went down.”
“Sources say there’s a hundred-k bounty on your head. Where is it best to take you out?”
“Jail. I didn’t kill him.”
“I didn’t think you did.” He stripped out of his tactical gear and stowed it in the trunk. “Get in the backseat and tuck down on the floorboard. We have thirty minutes on the countdown for signals to be restored, that is unless someone sees the accident. I didn’t go through all this trouble to get caught.”
“You shouldn’t have done this. I should put you over my knee.”
“Not in this lifetime.” He grumbled and got in the driver’s seat as he watched Raul in the rearview as the man cursed, but eventually did as he said. Before the door had slammed, he was taking off down the dirt road.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“What do you know?”
He corrected as the tail end fishtailed on the loose gravel. “First thing I checked was who contracted the fugitive retrieval. The guy’s a bit shady, but he came up clean. I thought he might be prone to taking bribes, but I couldn’t find anything. We have a ton of files to go through when we get to the safe house. Every fugitive you’ve taken down and a lot of them made some threats. Most of them are capable or have followed through in the past.”
“You’re leaving clues.”
“Nope. All the equipment was new. I altered all the barrels just in case to change the barrel characteristics. Nothing comes back to me directly. Also, my mom is ready to swear I was with her the last three days.”
“Your mom is lying for you?”
“It’s not really a lie. I have been at her place for three days. She’ll just say I was there all day today.”
“Is the team waiting?”
“We’re on our own. The less people who knew, the better.”
“You did this without them?”
“Yes, they weren’t taking the threats seriously. They were going to let my spotter go to jail, and that wasn’t happening. You might be able to fight off a few until we could get you out, but with the price on your head…everyone would be gunning for you.”
“You should’ve let me go to jail.”
“No, now shut up so I can focus. We have to avoid all major roads until we get where we’re going.”
He was fine when the man shut up, and he took the pre-planned route. They’d only have to hit the highway when they got closer to the safe house. He had it all planned out to a point. His mom and him had manufactured a believable cover for him being home. Today she was setting up one of her rental properties with electric and water. He’d be working on it to get it ready for the next tenants.
Hadn’t the team said it was best for him to take a backseat while they worked on finding whoever wanted Raul dead? They were just going to work it while Raul was trapped inside with hundreds of enemies that wanted to kill him. They considered him a flight risk, and the nature of the murder would keep him confined until trial. That could be months. Raul had put his life on the line for him too many times to let him get shanked in the back for a payday.
He turned on the scanner to check for trouble, and it seemed his luck was holding out or they ordered radio silence to cover their actions. Raul was involved with law enforcement.
He pulled onto one of the main roads and turned off the final turn they’d be on for another thirty minutes before they hit the highway and the rest of the way into the city. He hoped they’d think Raul and his accomplice would head south, but he couldn’t make any promises. Life would go back to normal as soon as they found out who was at fault. He’d worry about his future later.
THE BOY NEEDED HIS ASS SPANKED
He was seething from where he was squeezed into the floorboard, and he’d stopped talking to Pure thirty minutes ago. What the hell had the boy been thinking of conducting an operation like this on his own? Not that he wasn’t thankful that he wasn’t going to have to fight off a couple hundred motherfuckers with a hard-on for a bounty. Still, anything could’ve gone wrong. He didn’t care how good Pure was because all it would’ve taken was one tiny mistake.
A grunt was forced out of him as the car hit a bump as they turned onto an incline and then it was all dark. The sound of a garage door lowering signaled they’d arrived wherever Pure had taken him.
“Come on. We’re safe, but we’re moving on tomorrow to a better place. I have to pack in supplies tonight.”
Pure’s voice was strangely calm as if he hadn’t just taken out a prison transport. He wiggled out of the tiny space and onto the backseat, then out the door Pure opened for him. The scent of musty air mixed with faint scents of gas and oil filled his nose. As he slammed the door, he caught Pure opening a door that let bright light into the dark garage.
“Mom, you home?”
“Hey, honey, how was work?”
What the fuck? He ascended the few steps that led into a cheery kitchen with flowery curtains and chocolate wafted on the breeze created by a ceiling fan.
“Seems successful. You stink, go take a shower. Dinner is in thirty.”
“I love you too, Ma. House ready for us?”
“I dropped off groceries, and the renovation supplies will be delivered tomorrow or the next day.”
“Mom, this is—”
“Go.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He didn’t know why he smiled at the tiny woman ordering a beast like Pure around, but it was cute how he dragged his feet out of the room. He could almost picture Pure as a little boy being chastised by his mom, and it was adorable, but to be honest, he thought that about
Pure a lot. It was one of the reasons his Daddy side found Pure irresistible.
“Hi, I’m Jenn, and you’re Raul. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Hope some of it was good.”
“My son trusts you, so that’s all that’s important. I wasn’t happy about his plan.”
“Then why didn’t you talk him out of it?”
“Talk him out it?” She scoffed. “I helped him plan it. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner. You can clean up in the downstairs bathroom. I bought and washed you some clothes, along with some shampoo and stuff. Nicolas told me what brands you preferred. Everything is in a duffel in the guest room off the living room.”
He didn’t know what to say. She looked like the perfect suburban stay-at-home mom with her bun and flowery apron, but she just admitted to planning a felony.
He stepped into the living room, and he froze as a wall of pictures caught his attention. He approached, and for some reason, he felt his mouth tug into a wide smile. There was a line of pictures that was Pure’s mom decked out for Pride, some included Pure, and some didn’t.
“Even when he was gone, I never missed Pride.”
“My parents wouldn’t step foot near Pride.” His parents hadn’t taken the news of his bisexuality well, and while they still talked, any mention of his personal life was ignored. The few times he’d visited, he’d thought about inviting Pure or at the very least tell them he’d met someone who he believed could’ve turned out to be his one. Each time he’d decided against it, he couldn’t subject Pure to the censure even if it was passive-aggressive. Their conditional love made him demanding of finding someone who would accept every part of him.
“He came out when he was just a wee thing.”
“I can’t picture Pure as being a wee thing.”
“I think at eight, he was already taller than I was.”
The love she had for Pure was right there on her face—in the way she stroked his image behind glass. Too much could go wrong, and he’d rather waste away in prison knowing Pure was living his life. Happy and healthy—free.
“He shouldn’t have come after me.”
“I didn’t agree with his decision, but he explained it to me, and I had to support his reasoning.”
“You’re weird.”
“I’m pretty normal compared to Peaches and Lily.”
“You’ve all been in the same room?” He was horrified by the thought. It was bad enough that the Matriarchs of the Crews thought the law was all gray area.
“Plenty of times, but not so much in the last few years. I work the night shift in the ER.”
“Stressful job.” No wonder she was cool under pressure. Emergency Room nurses were a special breed. From just meeting her, he was sure she could take care of herself.
“Can be, but I love it. They wanted to move me to another department, and I refused.”
He needed to address the elephant in the room. “Why are you helping me?” She had no connection to him at all, and anyone else would’ve told their son he’d lost his mind. That wasn’t what she did. She went through the whole process of helping her son plan a felony that would have him going to jail.
“Because my son has never been close to anyone. He trusts you, and that’s rare. Go get yourself cleaned up.”
“I’m going to turn myself in before the heat comes down on him.”
“You’ll do what you need to protect him. From all the stories I’ve heard, you’re the only man he’d ever want at his Six, and that’s a big thing for Pure. Dinner is on the table in twenty.”
He nodded and went to find his room. Once inside, he closed and locked the door behind him. He rested his back against it as everything suddenly played out in his head, but not the version where they ended up there. It was the one where Pure took a bullet or was arrested. He needed to figure out how to turn himself in without implicating Pure. He jumped as a soft knock vibrated the door. He straightened and turned to open it.
On the other side, Pure stood there in a towel around his hips and nothing else. Pure was nibbling on his bottom lip the way he did when he was nervous about something. The bigger man had very few tells, but that was his biggest one.
He stepped back as Pure advanced and started to speak, and then the softest lips he ever felt pressed to his. He didn’t even think, just hugged Pure’s waist and spread his hands over the damp skin of his lower back. The man whimpered and fisted his big hands in his t-shirt. Resistance was a thing of the past, and he used his leaner body to push Pure against the door. It was like every sweet dream he’d ever had as he teased the seam of Pure’s mouth with his tongue. Pure’s thick, hard cock ground against his abdomen.
He fisted his hands in Pure’s soft wet hair and took control. There was the slightest tensing of Pure’s bigger frame, so he eased the kiss.
“I’m okay, baby.”
“I was scared.” Pure rested his forehead to Raul’s, as he traced the plump bottom lip.
Disappointment infused him. He’d wanted a kiss incited by need and not one of relief. The hard-on was caused by an untried body being stimulated. He needed to put distance between them before they made a mistake. His life would be harder now. He knew the weight of Pure’s body, the softness of his chest hair and the way the cute curve of his belly gave. What would torture him the most was the trembling of lush lips and a sexy whimper.
It took everything in him to step away, but he couldn’t go far. Pure looked vulnerable where he was rested back against the bedroom door. His gaze taking in everything but him, Pure’s embarrassment was clear.
“Thank you for what you did.”
“You’re not mad?” Pure’s voice went all soft and sweet.
“I am, but you have to understand, if it’s between me going to jail and you going, I’m sacrificing myself. You have to let me do that.”
“I don’t agree.”
The boy I knew him to be disappeared in those three short words. His partner was back, and his thick arms were crossed over his broad chest.
“I don’t care what you agree to. You’re earning spankings the longer you fight me.”
He forced himself not to snort at the bratty eye roll, and then Pure was opening the door. The big man turned to glance over his shoulder.
“Tomorrow morning, we head to one of my mom’s rental properties. I agreed to do some of the renovations to get it ready to lease. There’s a hidden room in the basement. It’s a safe place for you to hide if they come looking for you through me. I didn’t plan this to have you go to jail and die on me. You might think you’ll win, but Gage said the boy is always in charge.”
Before he had a chance to respond, the door slammed, and he was alone in his borrowed room. He reached for his phone to call Gage and find out what the hell he’d told Pure, then realized he didn’t have it and also that he couldn’t contact the team. Was Pure kissing him more than being caught up in the moment? Had his boy, that he’d secretly wanted, made the first move?
Life was way too complicated, and he couldn’t think with his dick. He had to keep them both alive and free. Then he’d figure out what the hell happened in the days he spent locked up. Apparently, Pure was talking to Gage about things that weren’t the older man’s business. Gage had his own boy and needed to leave Pure alone. Confusion changed swiftly to anger. Pure was his, and if he wanted a Daddy, he was the only one Pure was going to get.
HE'D MADE THE FIRST MOVE
A fter he’d left Raul’s room, nausea had threatened to take him down. He’d stood in the shower, and the adrenaline had quickly ebbed away. All the shit that could’ve gone wrong had played out, and he’d impulsively went to find Raul. When the other man had opened the door, all he could think about was finding out what Raul’s lips felt like. He wasn’t one to take the lead, but he was tired of the fear—of pretending he was okay with his loneliness.
He wanted to experience the connections his friends had with their people. Just a kiss had made his body react embarrassingly fast. Th
at’s why he was hiding in his workroom in the basement. He’d just finished reloading his 50 calibers for his sniper rifle. The process of reloading his own ammo always calmed him, but now that he was done, he couldn’t hide anymore. He was waiting for his mom to get up for her night shift before they left for the safehouse.
A knock sounded behind him. “Come in.”
He didn’t turn around as the door creaked open and he pretended to clean the already spotless bench, then put away his supplies.
“You’re hiding.”
“Not really, I just needed to—”
“You have enough ammo stockpiled for the zombie apocalypse.”
“You can never be too prepared.”
A shiver ran up his spine as Raul chuckled in that sexy rasp of his, and he tried to suppress it. He could clock the man’s every movement around his small room. He turned his head to find Raul checking out the pictures from his competitions. His mom had worked too many years in the ER to ever be completely comfortable with his chosen profession, but she was proud of what he’d accomplished.
“When do we head out?”
“Just after dark. The house is only about five minutes away in a quiet suburb. Luckily, the tenants moved out, and Mom just hadn’t gotten around to getting it ready.”
He stood up from his stool and started packing his weapons and ammo he wanted to take with him. Fingertips stroked down his back, and he froze seconds before Raul pressed to his back.
“What was this Gage said about the boy is always in charge?”
Strong hands took hold of his hips, and he felt as if his throat was closing. The panic built in the center of his chest and he spun, upset with himself. Too many times to remember Raul had gone into buildings behind him and not an ounce of fear had taken over, but in this, it was different—a new dynamic.
