Haven 1: How to Save a Life (22 page)

“I’m fine. Are
you
okay?”

“Yeah, I think Charlie took me down with more force than you did.”

There was a joke in there somewhere, but Kevin couldn’t find the desire to laugh or offer a comeback.

Evidently Walter felt the same. He drew back, the grip of his hands tight on Kevin’s arms. “Pack a bag. You’re staying with me until this is all over with.”

Kevin hesitated. Stay? Together?

Walter let go of him and headed to the front door of the apartment building. “You’re not staying here alone. And I have better security.” He held the door open for Kevin. Apparently this wasn’t up for discussion, and Kevin wasn’t sure he wanted it to be.

He gave a nod and went inside, Walter on his heels.

“We’ll call Gibson first and report this.”

“Okay.” Kevin climbed the stairs and tried to focus on the fact that he would be spending the night in Walter’s bed and not that someone had tried to run Walter down.

* * * *

Kevin shifted the gym bag to his other shoulder and waited as Walter unlocked the door to his apartment.

Once he had the key out of the lock, Walter gave the door a hard shove. With the way he’d taken it on, Kevin had expected the door to thud against the wall. It didn’t. The door bounced off a doorstop, leaving an odd silence hanging in the air. Kevin followed Walter in, and the silence continued. The same as it had since they’d left his apartment.

Charlie barreled toward them down a long hallway and went straight for Walter.

“Not now, Charlie.” Walter shooed him away.

Kevin stepped farther into the apartment and patted the dog on the head. “You did a good thing taking him in.”

Walter shrugged. He stood still and stared at Charlie. “I couldn’t leave him there.”

Yeah, and now Kevin knew why.

Walter threw his keys onto a hall table. “Apparently I’m collecting strays.”

“Very funny.” Kevin peeked into the kitchen through an opening over a bar countertop that divided the kitchen from the living room. The kitchen had pristine steel appliances and marble countertops, every surface bare of any clutter. A table sat off to the side, and beyond that was a doorway leading to a larger dining area. Kevin opened his mouth to comment on how nice the apartment was but instead asked, “Is that how you see me? As a stray you took in?”

“It was just a joke. Probably not a good one.” Walter gestured with a quick wave of his arm at the living room. “Not much to the place. Take a look around. I’ll be right back.” He walked off down the hall and went into the first room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Kevin couldn’t blame Walter for the frustration. It had been a long night. Kevin just wanted to crawl into bed, curl up beside Walter, and not move for a couple of days. Instead he checked out the rest of the apartment. Neat. Orderly. Nothing out of place. The living room was decorated simply but with elegance. Several artistic, framed prints of men hung on the walls. The one that stood out the most was a grouping of four prints over the couch. They were like puzzle pieces, creating one giant image when you viewed them all together.

Kevin stopped before the couch. He still held his gym bag, this time in both hands in front of him. He clutched it tighter as he took in the view of the image before him.

The larger picture featured two men, lying on their sides, their naked bodies pressed together in an intimate embrace. Nothing overtly graphic about the nudity of the photo, just an ass cheek visible for one of the men, but still the most erotic image Kevin had ever seen.

He couldn’t look away. Each smaller picture showcased a different point at which the men touched. Their feet. Their hands. Their chests. Their lips. When he backed up and admired the full image again, he couldn’t decide what was more beautiful: the individual elements or the complete picture.

He heard Walter walk up behind him. “Gibson’s off the case.”

Kevin spun around. “What? He just got on it.”

“He’s been put on special assignment. Seth’s case and the others have been sent back to missing persons.”

“Where they’ll bury it again.”

“I guess you might’ve been right about something going on with the cops.”

“Which means we can’t quit looking into this.”

“We’re not going to.”

Kevin turned to the picture over the couch again. He wanted to get lost in the image, wanted to lose himself in that kind of passion with Walter.

“You like it?” Walter asked.

“It’s so…”

“What?”

“Romantic, I guess.”

“He’s my favorite photographer. You should see the one in the bedroom. Come on. I’ll give you the fifty-cent tour.” Walter took off for the hallway, still moving in an agitated stride, like he wanted to go off on someone and there was no one around he could pound on. Just Kevin.

He showed Kevin the bathroom in the hall, the two spare rooms, and a door that led to an entrance at the rear of the apartment. They ended the tour in the master bedroom.

Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off the photograph over the headboard. He just stood there staring at it with his gym bag still clutched in his hand like he’d been frozen in place. This picture was even more erotic and beautiful than the one in the living room. A close-up of two men from their waists up. The embrace, the openmouthed kiss, the way one man had his hand on the back of the other’s head—it all reminded Kevin of how Walter kissed him.

Reluctantly Kevin gave up on the picture.

Walter stalked across the room, then back. Like a lion unable to attack the prey he desperately wanted.

Then all at once, he halted. He stood still, staring at Kevin, the expanse of the room and the bed between them. “You look exhausted.”

So did Walter. It was the middle of the night, after all.

“I’m okay. Just overwhelmed, I guess.” Kevin smirked. “It’s not every day I find out some psycho wants to abduct me, I talk about the night my brother was murdered, and oh, yeah, I finally get to feel what it’s like to be completely naked in a bed with a man.” He dumped his bag on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed.

Walter came around the bed in a rush. “Don’t sit there.”

Kevin jumped up and spun around. What the hell had he broken now? “What is it?”

“I get you in my bed, I won’t want you to leave. Ever.”

“Oh.” Kevin’s breathing picked up at that thought. “Would that be so bad?”

Chapter Seventeen

Kevin kept staring at Walter and waited for an answer. He wouldn’t back down. Not about this. Although for the first time in his life he was fairly certain if he wasn’t careful, his heart was going to get trampled on.

Not that he thought Walter would do that on purpose. He wasn’t cruel. But he was a guy who had a lot more experience and who might not want some young virgin with a crush following him around like they were in high school.

Walter eyed him. “Don’t you think I’m a little old for you?”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? I can’t figure out what you see in me. You could have any guy you want.”

“There’s only one I want.” Walter kept his gaze locked on Kevin for a moment more. Then he looked to the framed print hanging over the bed. “We keep doing this, and it’s going to get serious for me. I’m pretty sure you don’t need that in your life right now.”

“I can decide what I need.” Kevin hesitated. He’d never been good at this part, saying what he felt, probably because he’d never really dated anyone who’d meant this much to him. He’d loved Sondra, always would, but it was different with her. It was definitely different with Walter.

But Kevin wasn’t a coward. He’d been hiding for too long. Now that he’d had a taste, now that he’d followed the inevitable trail his life had been heading toward, he wanted to savor every part of it. He wanted to feel everything. “What if I told you this is already serious for me?”

Walter watched him for a long moment. Maybe he read something in Kevin’s expression he didn’t like. Or liked too much. He rounded the bed until he stood on the other side, his back to Kevin, his posture tight, like a cop on duty. Ready to protect and serve.

Protect himself? Or Kevin?

Not the best reaction, but at least Kevin had been honest. He wouldn’t regret that later. Even with the humiliation of this moment.

He should grab his bag and get out of there before he embarrassed himself any more. He just couldn’t seem to make his legs work right then. Or shut his mouth. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

When Walter finally spoke, his voice was tight. Were the walls coming down or going up? “I think what you need right now is a friend.”

Kevin swallowed around the lump forming in his throat. Who knew opening yourself up—no, more like throwing yourself at a guy—was harder than closing yourself off from everyone? “Who says I can’t have both a friend and a lover with you?”

Walter turned to face him. His gaze zeroed in on Kevin. “Christ, you’re so young.” He ran his hand through his hair, the gray more visible whenever he did that. Did he know? Was he proving a point? So he had some gray hair. Big deal.

“Stop saying I’m too young. Stop overthinking everything.”

“At my age that’s a hard habit to break.”

“At any age. But at least
I’m
trying to let things go. To move on from my past.”

“I see that.” Walter’s face softened. Then he turned away again, slowly this time, like it took effort. When he spoke, the shake in his voice scared Kevin more than seeing that guy outside his apartment had. “I can’t stand that this guy’s watching you, thinking about you.”

The change in topic sent Kevin scrambling for a sign they’d come to some sort of an agreement he’d missed with the previous conversation. Hadn’t he been pouring his heart out?

Maybe he’d seen one too many romantic comedies on date night with Sondra. Or was Walter telling him a truth amid the tense words and rigid stance? Kevin rounded the bed and went to stand in front of him. He didn’t think, just let his instincts drive him forward, like everything with Walter. He wrapped his arms around Walter’s waist and tugged him into an embrace.

Walter let out a deep breath as they came together, Kevin’s head landing on his chest.

Kevin said, “I won’t go to the club by myself. I promise.”

“Good.” Walter held on to him, running a hand up and down his back. That hand moved in gentle sweeps, in direct contrast to how tense he’d stood a moment before. “That’s a start. I want you to stay here during the day tomorrow.”

“Here? I have work to do.”

“You can’t get someone to cover your beat for you until we find this guy?”

“No. It’s my job.”

Walter exhaled. This breath left him for such a long time, it sounded like a slow leak.

He finally took another breath. “No way are you giving this guy a chance to get you alone. He could grab you anywhere. He was outside your apartment, Kevin. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Let? You’re not responsible for whatever this guy does.”

Walter released him and was around the bed and across the room again in an instant. “I’m not letting him hurt anyone else, let alone the guy I’m falling for.”

Kevin tried to hold back the excitement surging through him. He didn’t make it for long. He dashed around the bed and planted a kiss on Walter. The pursed lips gave way to a gasp, and then Walter opened his mouth more. He met Kevin’s tongue with his. The kiss didn’t let up as Walter held on to Kevin, pulling him against his solid body, holding him like the man in the picture over the bed.

When he drew back, Walter asked, “What was that for?”

“You went from ‘this could become serious’ to you’re ‘falling for me’ in what? Five minutes? I figured you deserved a reward.”

Walter held still, his eyes searching Kevin’s. In an instant the tension fled from Walter’s face. He smiled down at him, and without warning he flung Kevin backward onto the bed and straddled his hips, his weight stilling the bounce of Kevin’s body on the mattress. “Smart-ass.”

Kevin sat up on his elbows. “They say wisdom comes with age, but with you I’m not seeing it.”

“Oh, you’re in for it now.” Walter tickled Kevin’s sides.

Kevin squirmed to get out from under him, but Walter had him pinned good. Somehow Kevin got flipped onto his stomach, Walter grinding down on his ass as he continued the tickling. Kevin laughed, letting the last of the worry float away. Whatever was going to happen, they would face it together.

Because he’s falling for me.

Did it make him a complete dork that he kept repeating those words in his head?

The tickling came to an abrupt end. Walter lifted up and, like a shot, flipped Kevin onto his back. Walter’s face had taken on a serious expression far from the tense one he’d been sporting before the tickling. “You need to be careful.”

“I will.” Kevin tugged Walter down to him. “I’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

The kiss Walter planted on Kevin’s lips had his toes curling into the mattress in no time. He wanted more, but it was late and they were exhausted.

Walter must’ve been thinking the same. He maneuvered them around on the bed until they lay side by side, Kevin’s head on Walter’s chest, their arms wound around each other.

“Get some rest.” Walter lightly massaged Kevin’s back through his shirt. They were still fully clothed and on top of the blankets. Kevin couldn’t care less. He wasn’t moving. Walter’s hand kept running along his back. “We’ll figure out our next move tomorrow.”

Kevin lifted his head and gave a nod. As Walter’s eyes drifted shut, Kevin took it all in. Where he was. Who held him in his arms.

He had more to look forward to than he’d ever imagined. For the first time in his life he had a chance to know what it felt like to both care about and desire the person he was with.

He had no intention of missing out on any of it.

* * * *

“Busy place.” Kevin shifted his ass in the passenger seat of Walter’s car. His legs were stiff from the three hours they’d been sitting in the parking lot watching the front door of the Roundup, a gay bar on the south side of town, hoping to catch a glimpse of the long-haired man Nelson had described as the Protector.