"I haven't had a good night's sleep since my father was killed. I keep having the same nightmare. I'm afraid to close my eyes."
"I'll be right here. I'll sleep with you."
"After your food digests. You just ate and you don't want to wake up with all that food sitting on your chest. It's not good for you and…"
Leo couldn't take his worry anymore so to stop his outpouring of words, Leo slammed his lips over Anderson's. The professor moaned but wrapped his arms around Leo's neck and opened his wonderful lips. Without a second thought, Leo shoved his tongue in, allowing the heat from their joined lips to flood his body as he leaned backward, pulling Anderson atop him.
"This your way of getting me to sleep?" Anderson questioned.
"Is it working?" Leo brushed a hand over Anderson's head to the back of his neck and caressed, massaged. "I wish I could take you in the bathtub."
"Take me in the bathtub?"
Leo sighed, closed his eyes, eased his mouth up to Anderson's ears and licked. "Take you in the bathtub… slow, rough."
"Leo."
"I know. We can't here. Just lie here with me."
Anderson moved to his side and rested his head on Leo's chest. Leo sighed, smoothing a hand over Anderson's cheek then settled against the bed. But no matter how happy he was to have Anderson in his arms, something didn't feel right. He didn't move until long after Anderson had fallen asleep. Walking to the window, he pushed a bit of the curtain aside and peered toward where the squad car was parked. He hoped someone had relieved them but he couldn't go check. The last thing he wanted was for someone to see him going to speak with them and break their cover. He was about to crawl back into bed when a movement caught his eyes. Squinting, he hunched lower, staring into the semi blackness wondering if he was seeing things. Unfortunately he wasn't. There was a shadow moving toward the squad car.
"Shit."
"What's going on?"
Leo turned toward the bed but only for a mere second. He was rummaging through the drawer for his gun and badge even as he replied. "Someone is out there and they're heading toward the squad car."
"How do you know?"
"Trust me. I know. Stay in the house and away from the windows. If I don't come back you get Mildred and the Coach and lock yourselves in the master bedroom."
"Leo?"
"Please. Just do it."
He tore from the room and skidded down the stairs. Instead of going through the front door, he climbed out the low side window like he normally did when he stayed with the coach's place in high school after his mother died. Those were the times his mother spent more than a couple of days in the hospital. When he was younger it was so much easier to get through. Eventually he landed on solid ground and hunching in the dark, gun in hand, he made his way quietly around the house, across the street, then toward the car in the darkness of the trees.
His heart was racing in his chest. At one point it was so loud his ears popped. Swallowing, he winced as it popped back and he could hear again. He moved in behind the man hunched down by the car.
"NYPD!"
The man rose and turned toward him. The figure jerked around to look toward him, only to back up and take off running. The cops in the car didn't come out to help, even with all the commotion. It didn't seem as if they so much as lifted their heads. A bad taste rose in Leo's mouth. Instead of taking off after the suspect, Leo figured he should knock on the glass. He could not believe they were sleeping on the job, so something was definitely wrong.
When he knocked on the window, the men didn't move. With the suspect out of his mind for a moment, he removed his shirt, wrapped it around his first, and slammed it through the glass. It shattered inward. Reaching in, he felt the first officer's pulse and his heart almost stopped. He didn't have to touch the other man to know they were both dead.
"Son of a bitch!"
Before he got back to the front door, a frazzled Coach Jessops met him coming up the front. "What's going on?"
"Anderson was coming down the hall to our room and… Leo, he took Anderson!"
Leo growled. He paced before his former mentor, trying to keep the cry bubbling inside him down. A pain he'd never felt before surged within him from his heart, pulsated off his spine, and pushed him to one knee. Coach gripped his shoulder.
"Leo…"
"I tried playing by the rules," Leo whispered. He couldn't muster a louder voice for all his energy was going into staying in control. "I tried…"
"Leo, what are you going to do?"
Leo pushed to his feet and walked by the coach. He stopped with a hand on the door handle. "Do you really want to know?"
He said nothing else. He took a moment to call in the bodies then checked on Mildred. When he burst through the door, she swung a giant knife at him. "Millie! It's me. It's Kim!"
She hugged him, sobbing. Leo gritted his teeth, took a breath, and helped her to a seat. "I have to go. There'll be other officers coming to you. Don't open the door for anyone else other than the officers."
"Leo. Maybe you should hold off on going after this man. You're angry."
Leo looked at coach Jessops but shook his head. "The longer he's out there with Anderson, the more likely I won't get him back alive."
"You really love this man—this Anderson," Coach Jessops said.
Leo had no words for a reply.
"You be careful," Mildred told him. "I don't want to have to bury you."
Leo kissed her head but didn't say anything.
Chapter Sixteen
Everything was throbbing, starting from the very crown of Anderson's head to the tips of his toes. His head felt as though someone had held it under water then tossed him across a room. There was a burning sensation at the back of his neck but he lifted his head and tried to take a breath. Opening his eyes, Anderson tried looking around but the room was just too bright. Groaning, he tried moving his hands to cover his eyes but he couldn't. They were bound at the wrists against a cold, hard surface.
Anderson tugged at them because he knew what it all meant. It meant the man was going to use him as bait to get to Leo. He never thought he'd see the day when he got kidnapped because the man he was sleeping with was a cop and someone was out to get him. Either way, he had to get free and get out of there. There was no way he was going to let this joker get anywhere near Leo. But no matter how hard he tugged at the restraints, they wouldn't budge. Each movement jarred his body, sending pain shooting from his head down his spine. Anderson bit against his lower lip and held his breath.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed down and strained. The restraints cut into his wrist fiercely but didn't break. His chest heaved.
"You should stop that."
The voice sounded behind him. Anderson twisted his head as far as it would go to both sides but he couldn't see the face. He knew the voice though—it was so familiar to him. His hazy brain couldn't decipher from where. "Did you drug me?"
"Well, duh!" the man replied. "You wouldn't have come willingly."
"Man of understatement. What do you want?"
"For you all to die. Simple, right? Actually, that's what I want now. Before, my wants were only carnal."
The man stepped around then and Anderson frowned. "Daniel." Anderson's instinct told him to lurch forward and rip the man's head off and he tried forgetting he was tied down. His wrists snapped awkwardly forward and he cried out in pain. "You son-of-a-bitch!"
"Professor! Do you teach your students with that mouth? No wonder Leo likes you so much. You have the kind of mouth a man could get used to."
"Now you know what I can do with my mouth, why don't you untie me so I can show you what I can do with my fists?"
Daniel moved close to Anderson. For a moment, the cop just stood there staring at Anderson's face then down his neck. After a while, he caressed Anderson's cheek. He lifted Anderson's shirt and trailed a finger down his chest, over his defined abs, and stopped only at the waist of his pants. Though he tried arching away from the invasive finger, there was nowhere to go. Anderson felt dirty and violated.
"I'd much rather see what you can do with those beautiful lips."
Anderson shoved forward again but Daniel only laughed at his failure and stepped back.
"When I first met your father, I was a kid. He took me away from my father and sent him to jail. A month later he was dead—my dad, I mean. I had no one left in the world. Sure I was adopted by some wonderful people—but having your father dragged out of a courthouse kicking and screaming then having the same happen to you, changes a person."
"I'm playing the world's smallest violin for you."
Daniel growled and backhanded Anderson across the face leaving it throbbing along with his hurting head. Anderson grunted. "I'm the victim!" Daniel yelled.
"No. My father is the victim! All the people you've hurt, or worse, are the victims! You are just a cold-blooded, egotistic asshole."
"Why couldn't he have looked at me the way he looks at you? That may have been the one thing to save all of us."
Anderson blinked blankly. That question caught him off guard. "What? Who are you talking about?"
"Leo."
"What are you talking about? You're not gay. You're married."
"That means nothing." Daniel walked across the room to where a stool was and pulled it across to him. He sat on it and rubbed his hands against his thighs. "When I became a cop, it was to get close to Jazmon. I had every intention of becoming a court cop. But then I found out the best way to get in there was to work a few years with the NYPD so I could get first pick. I didn't have that kind of time. I did some digging and found out Leo was like a son to him. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. I'd get close to Leo and get my revenge at the same time. But I was going to make Jazmon watch as I dismantled his life the same way he had mine. I was going to start with Leo, then a few of his friends, then you. But I broke into Jazmon's place and he caught me, so I had to recalibrate my plans. Life just got complicated the moment I graduated the academy. I had the wife, you see, and then I before I knew what was happening, I fell into the friend trap with Leo. Then you came along…"
"It's not my fault you didn't man up about it. You chose to stay in the closet, right?"
Daniel gritted his teeth and Anderson simply glared harder. "I saw the two of you once. You were facing the wall and he was behind you, holding your hands to it and fucking you hard. I thought—that should have been me. I mean, I've loved this man since the very first day I laid eyes on him. His hair was longer then and he had this body that made me think of that guy from the new TV show
Hawaii Five-0
. But here you come with your hard body and big brown eyes and he just gets caught up in you and your ass." Daniel stopped and pushed some air out his mouth. "No matter. I'm back on track now. My plans have been altered somewhat but now I'm back and I've made the changes necessary to carry them out."
"You think Leo is going to come after me."
"Oh, I know he will." Daniel eased from the stool and pushed it back against the wall. "There is no way he's not going to come, especially knowing you're in danger. Oh yes, he'll definitely come to your rescue. He's just that kind of man. He fights for those he loves."
"Well, you're wrong. Leo doesn't love me. It was just sex."
"You know, for a professor, you sure are dumb."
Daniel walked around him then and Anderson twisted to see him.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Anderson hollered. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you!"
When the only reply he got was the slamming of a door, Anderson wanted to scream. This wasn't working as well as he thought and he was fresh out of options.
* * * *
"So let me get this straight," Byung Ho Yung said, hands on his hips, pacing Leo's living room. "Your partner—a man who was tasked to serve and protect—is a homicidal maniac who wants you dead so he's using
my
best friend as bait?"
Leo cringed but nodded. It'd taken him a while before he decided to actually contact Byung. But he had to. When it was spelled out the way it was, the whole situation sounded so horrid. "I was such an idiot. He was my partner. I should have seen something was off about him."
"This is not your fault, Kim," Isha said.
"Then whose fault is it? I was trained to see when someone is bullshitting me and this asshole weaseled himself into my life and just completely blindsided me. Now he has Anderson. He has the man I love and I'm sitting here feeling like my world is exploding and there's nothing I can do about it."
Isha picked up a folder and opened it. "I didn't see it coming either. But there's no other explanation. I can't get a hold of Daniel at all and this would explain those times when you asked for him and we didn't know where he was. Now we just have to find him."
Leo rose and placed his cup on the counter in the kitchen. Folding his arms across his chest, he took a breath and turned to look at Isha. "Here's the plan. We're going to Daniel's place and talk to Mary. Maybe she knows him better than we did."
"Who's Mary?" Byung wanted to know.
"Daniel's wife." Isha handed him a photo of Mary. "I never knew what she saw in him. He always gave me the creeps."
Byung handed the picture back. "And we think she's involved?"
"I don't know." Leo adjusted the badge now digging into his side.
"What do I do?" Byung asked.
"You're coming with us," Isha said simply. "He has Anderson and who knows who else he's going to go after. Kim, do you want me to call the Captain?"
Leo shook his head. "No. He holds us in such high regard. If we tell him now, it'll kill him."
Isha nodded. "I did that background you ordered on Daniel."
"And?"
"Well. turns out Jazmon Williams put away his father." Isha handed Leo another file and he opened it to read. "His name is actually Cole Daniel Astrid. Fergis was his mother's maiden name. I don't know how he got into the academy, Kim—I just don't know."