Phoenix Arizona (6 page)

He took a deep breath, steadying his need to hurt anyone that came near Phoenix, and tried at a civilized conversation. “So, Phoenix, how did you get a name like that?” Matt had thought it beautiful and uncommon, at least for naming a human male. The city or bird was another thing.

“My mom has a twisted sense of humor. I’m convinced the drugs hadn’t worn off before she signed my birth certificate.
Phoenix Arizona
.” His mate shook his head as he smiled, and then his head snapped up and fear came off of him in waves. It was so thick that Matt damn near choked on the acidic flavor.

Matt looked around the diner for any threat. When he perceived none, he looked back at his mate. What had him so afraid?

Phoenix gulped and wrung his hands in his lap, looking like he just might pass out.

“What is it?” Matt finally asked.

“I–I don’t normally tell people my last name.” Matt saw the pleading look in Phoenix’s eyes and wondered why telling someone his surname would inspire such fear.

Anonymity. It had struck Matt that his mate didn’t want to be found. Why? What was so wrong in giving out his last name? Was Phoenix a wanted man? Was he running from somebody? Being a detective, all sorts of scenarios began to play in his mind. It was a puzzle, and Matt found himself trying to work it out in his head.

“Your name is safe with me,” Matt reassured his mate before he kissed him again until the food was brought to their table. Phoenix pulled away, thanking the waitress as they ate in relative silence.

Matt couldn’t take the silence and awkwardness anymore. He wanted his mate at ease around him, not like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

“Who’s the guy that was with you last night?” Matt made it sound like an offhanded question, but he needed to know if his mate had a fuck buddy. His anger at the thought surfaced for a hair’s breadth then died. Phoenix was already skittish. He didn’t need to make the man go running from the diner in terror.

Phoenix stabbed at his food, giving Matt a shrug. “He’s my best friend and my roommate.”

Matt relaxed a degree.
Roommates.
Okay, it still didn’t answer if they were friends with benefits, and this would drive Matt crazy until he knew.

“Are you guys…you know?” He immediately regretted the question when he saw Phoenix stiffen.
Way to go, asshole.

“I honestly don’t think that’s any of your business. But, well, no, we’re just friends.” His mate huffed as he shoved a fry in his mouth, glaring for all the world like he was pissed off and would kick Matt’s ass if he pried any further. Now that was the man Matt remembered from last night.

“Sorry.” Matt realized that he didn’t like his mate angry with him, but it got him his answer and he was a very happy man now.

Even if it made him a bastard for asking.

Phoenix was still trying to figure Matt out. He guessed it was a legit question about Armando. If the shoe were reversed, he would be curious as hell. The ease that Phoenix and Armando had around each other and his friend’s protectiveness made people assume he and Armando were lovers. Phoenix had never bothered to correct anyone before. Quite frankly, he hadn’t cared what people assumed. He let people think what they wanted. It was no skin off of his teeth.

So why did he care now?

What was it about this man that made Phoenix want to tell him about his life and share his dreams and fears? It made no sense, and that frightened Phoenix. This was going way too fast for his liking. He didn’t even know the man for crying out loud!

Phoenix laid his fork down and turned toward Matt. He furrowed his brows and looked up into those hazel eyes. As angry as he wanted to be for feeling so attracted to a stranger, he just couldn’t muster up any negative emotions.
Drat and double drat.

“What exactly is it that you want from me, Matt?” he finally asked.

Matt stopped chewing and swallowed, glancing at Phoenix’s face. “To get to know you. To see if you’re as wonderful a person as I think you are.”

Okay, so the guy was saying all the right things. Phoenix still didn’t know if he could trust Matt. Could he? Could Phoenix take that leap of faith and give this man all of him? That was a scary-ass thought. It was something he had never considered with any person before. “We still have to go down to the clinic together and get tested. I haven’t forgotten about last night.”
When in doubt, change the damn subject.

Phoenix felt Matt’s hand stroke his hair. His eyes closed, and he leaned into the touch. His hands that had been fisted in his lap reached up and grabbed Matt’s shoulders, pulling the man closer. He had to be certifiably crazy, but Phoenix wanted to give this man a chance.

“Can I see you tonight?” Phoenix asked and then cursed under his breath for asking. Yeah, he was going nutty. This was the first time he had asked a man on a date. Would Matt turn him down, or was it just sex after all?

“And where would you like to go?” Matt’s hand went from Phoenix’s hair to skim down Phoenix’s back. The warmth of Matt’s hand had Phoenix squirming. He wanted to feel that hand in many, many other places. It felt so right to have Matt’s hand on him. Phoenix wasn’t sure why, but it did.

Phoenix shivered as Matt ran his hand down his arm. He was really trying to concentrate on the guy’s question, but the man was making it hard to think. He wondered where people went on dates. Phoenix had never dated. He hadn’t planned for this lunch to go this far and had no idea what to suggest.

“I’m not sure,” he answered honestly. All he knew was that he wanted another one of those soft, nibbling kisses. Phoenix didn’t want to think about relationships and dating, or any of that complicated, messy stuff. He just wanted to have fun in the moment. There was nothing wrong with having fun. Matt looked like the type that could be real fun, especially if he went by the mind-blowing sex he experienced last night.

Now that had been toe-curling and butt-clenching fun. Phoenix wouldn’t mind repeating last night all over again, but slower this time. He wanted to lick Matt from head to toe, and everywhere in between. The sex last night was so quick that Phoenix hadn’t had a chance to explore every delectable inch of Matt’s body.

And he wanted to explore more than anything.

“How about we take a drive out of the city? The countryside is beautiful,” Matt suggested as his voice dipped lower, his eyes filling with promises that made Phoenix want to run out of the diner. It wasn’t a heated look for sex, but something deeper, more relationship-wise. Phoenix wasn’t sure a relationship was what he was looking for. Sex, yes. That was a given. But being someone’s steady made him nervous as hell.

Did he trust Matt not to take him to some remote place and…

It’s not him
.
Stop it.

Phoenix’s past tried to claw its way up and pull him under. The memories of what had happened to him made him think that everyone was brutal and conniving. He had to let those feelings go. Phoenix had to move on. He couldn’t live his life afraid of every guy.

It had been four years ago, but the memories were still there, along with his mistrust in men. Armando had picked up the pieces for Phoenix and shielded him from any outsiders who tried to come near him. He was shocked that Armando didn’t have a bitch fit about Matt taking him to the diner alone. But his friend had insisted on knowing where Phoenix was at all times.

He owed his best friend his sanity, his life. Armando may be many things, but Phoenix knew that loyal was at the top of his list in regards to his best friend.

“We can stay around here if it makes you more uncomfortable.” Matt was watching him, concern swimming in his dazzling eyes. Phoenix wasn’t sure he trusted that look, but he had to learn to let go and move on. Who better than a man who made Phoenix feel things he had never felt before? It was as if he knew Matt his whole life, and Phoenix couldn’t figure that feeling out. No, he couldn’t keep hiding. Phoenix could do this.

“We can go. I just…” Phoenix glanced around the diner, unsure of how to explain things without explaining them. He didn’t know Matt. Phoenix was not going to trust him with his past, or his heart. Not yet. “What time?”

“Phoenix, what’s wrong?”

Phoenix’s eyes widened when Matt’s hand came away from his cheeks wet. He had been crying and hadn’t even noticed. What a loser he was. Phoenix hadn’t allowed his emotions to show in front of any man, and here sat Matt, pulling emotions from Phoenix without thought or prompt.

Matt would probably blow him off now. The man would give him some sort of an excuse or not show for their next date tonight. At least it happened before Phoenix invested any real feelings into this. Whatever
this
was.

“Nothing.” He pulled his hands away from Matt’s shoulders and grabbed a napkin, wiping away his humiliation.

God, he was such a goober.

* * * *

Matt was eyeing his mate warily. Something had surfaced in Phoenix’s memories, and Matt wanted to know what had brought him such pain that tears were unleashed. Phoenix had been joking around one minute, unsure and tear-filled the next. Matt wasn’t sure what to say or do. Crying wasn’t something he was used to dealing with. Not from someone he cared this deeply about.

His side vibrated and Matt grabbed his cell phone, not looking away from Phoenix, because he was still trying to figure the man out.

“Calico.”

“Hey, it’s Valentine. I got an ID on the vic from the apartment. His name is Ronald Washington. He was twenty, and get this, he worked at The Big Egg, a diner. Sound familiar?”

Matt’s hunch had been correct. He didn’t want it to be correct, though. Matt would have given just about anything not to be correct. No cop wanted a serial killer in their damn neck of the woods. It also bothered him that the second victim worked in a diner.

Only it was a different diner than the first victim.

There were too many damn diners in the city to check everyone for the description of what the killer was after. Just how many short, blond men worked at diners? Too many to stake them all out.

The similarities were adding up, and Matt knew he had a serial killer on his hands. He grabbed his drink, taking a sip as his mind put all the clues together, or in this case, the similarities—considering the killer hadn’t left any clues behind except for the bodies. The coroner hadn’t been able to find anything on the first victim to give Matt or Valentine any information leading to the killer.

And he had a feeling the second body wouldn’t reveal anything either. They were hitting a brick wall in this case.

At least Matt knew where the victims worked. It didn’t help, but at least he had some sort of a connection. He just had to figure out why the killer was taking diner workers. What would make the killer cruise the local diners? Was he a disgruntled patron? Was the image of a diner something that triggered some horrible memory for the man? Matt just wasn’t sure what the connection was, and it was frustrating the fuck out of him.

He had six days now before another man was killed.

Phoenix arched a finely blond brow at Matt as he finished off his breakfast. The man was sexy as sin, and Matt was very impressed that fate had given him Phoenix. He must have done something right in his past life to be given an angel.

Grabbing his coffee cup, Matt sipped at the drink as he watched Phoenix and listened to Valentine. He seemed to be enamored with his mate. Matt didn’t want the morning to end.

Phoenix began to make funny faces as Matt talked with his partner, distracting Matt from his conversation. Phoenix was being playful, and it made Matt laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Valentine asked.

Matt started to say that his mate was being comical, but caught the slip before it left his lips. Phoenix knew nothing about Matt’s wolf, and saying the mate word in a crowded diner wasn’t very smart.

“My lunch date.”

“Lunch date?” Valentine asked. “Whoa, you didn’t tell me you had a date.” His partner sounded pleased, and that only made Matt’s smile widen.

“Are you going to be rude for the remainder of our meal?” Phoenix asked as he balled up the paper that had been wrapped around his straw and flicked it at Matt.

Matt ducked, but was hit by the paper right on the side of his head. It didn’t help that Phoenix was sitting right next to him. There weren’t too many places to hide.

“I’m going to call you back.”

“Have fun with your date.” Valentine chuckled as he hung up the phone.

Matt tossed the phone onto the table, grinning at Phoenix. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I understand you have to work,” Phoenix replied. “Can you still make our date for tonight?”

Nothing would keep Matt from seeing Phoenix tonight. “Of course.” Matt stared at Phoenix’s blue eyes. Damn, they were fucking gorgeous. The morning sun was coming into the diner, hitting Phoenix’s eyes just at the right angle. The blue sparkled and glimmered like priceless gems, as if his mate had unshed tears in them.

“Great.” Phoenix picked his coffee up, taking a drink. “Then I’ll see you then.”

Matt couldn’t find a reason to make Phoenix stay. Letting the man go was his only option, but damn if Matt felt the loss even before Phoenix left the booth.