“Or they’re leaving early.”
Chase nodded slightly. “Maybe. I’d think they’d go see James every day if possible, or every few days if he wasn’t within a couple hundred miles.”
Xavier edged up beside him and nodded at the car. “Could have taken something else.
Mr Stratton might not want to risk that beauty on a road trip or in a big city.”
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It was Chase’s turn to snort then. “Mr Stratton has that thing insured to the gills, and he always told James there was no point in owning something you couldn’t use. He drove that thing all over the damned place. No,” Chase looked up at the second storey of the mansion.
A light shone through semi-sheer curtains of a small window. He pointed up at it. “See that light? Now, I could be wrong, maybe they just leave it on regardless, but that’s their bathroom light. Mrs Stratton has a fear of the dark, and that light stays on all night when she’s in bed.”
“You seem to know a lot about them.” Xavier sounded curious rather than suspicious,
which almost made Chase smile. It was a good feeling, having someone believe in you.
“Been friends with James a long time,” Chase pointed out. “And even though his folks hate me, James wouldn’t let me get out of coming with him here more than a few times. His parents wouldn’t toss me out with him around, but they really don’t like me.”
“They’re idiots then,” Xavier muttered. “So, what now?”
Chase raised a hand signalling the need for silence. He tipped a finger towards the far corner of the home where a dark-clad figure was turning the corner. The guard was talking on a cell phone, his deep voice becoming discernible as he drew closer.
It didn’t take long to figure out he was speaking to another guard once Chase could
hear the man. Chase glanced out of the corner of his eye at Xavier, relieved to find him being as still as possible.
Once the guard cleared the front and side of the house, Chase touched Xavier’s hand
and began backing away. Only when they were several blocks away did Chase finally speak.
“I think they may well have more guards than two. If they’ve gotten this paranoid, they could have someone, or a few people, inside. I just don’t know, and it’s not worth risking yet.”
“By ‘yet’ you mean if you can find another alternative.”
Chase nodded. “Yeah. I want to keep an eye on them, because I’m betting they’ll head out to see James, maybe even in the morning. How early, I don’t know.”
Xavier cupped Chase’s elbow as they walked, seemingly uncaring that they were out
and about in the middle of Montana. Granted, it was late, but still. Chase didn’t pull away, though.
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“What do you want me to do to help, then?” Xavier asked.
Chase knew what he wanted to do, needed to do. He stopped and Xavier did as well,
looking down at him with a patient expression. “I need to go back and…and if you could check us out of the hotel, load up our bags and wait somewhere not too far from the
Stratton’s so we could follow them…”
Xavier sighed but nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll sit up at the diner we passed and wait for you to call. Do you want coffee or anything first?”
Chase would about kill for some coffee, but he shook his head. “No, I don’t want
anything that might distract me or get in the way. I’ll text you as soon as they get in their car.
Sooner, if I’m sure they’re leaving.”
“All right, but—” Xavier looked around then pulled Chase into a shadowy area
completely clear of the smallest trace of the street lights. Chase grinned, knowing what was coming, and Xavier didn’t disappoint. Chase was kissed to within an inch of his life, his lungs burning with the need for air by the time Xavier lifted his lips from Chase’s. It took him a few minutes to recover and start making his way back to the Stratton’s, and he couldn’t wipe the silly grin off his face, aware as he was of Xavier watching him as he walked away.
Rosseaux Retreat and Rehabilitation
was not only more than a few hours away, it was in Provo, Utah. Xavier had never been to Utah before, and hadn’t intended ever to go there, yet here he was, with the man he loved glowering beside him. They were both tired, and Chase was more than a little snarly. Xavier arched a brow at him and waited while Chase cursed again. “Finished yet?”
Chase glared and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I’m
just…angry.”
Xavier nodded. Chase was angry at a lot of people and things that had happened in his life, but he didn’t think that was what the man was referring to. “Well, with any luck we’ll be inside in no time.” Although the gates would be a problem, maybe. And there’d be nurses’
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stations and crap to get past. And doctors. And the building was three storeys and freaking huge. But they’d find James somehow. “I’m going to park in the lot.” There were cameras there, but he was certain there would be inside the place too. He didn’t see how they’d avoid them all.
“No,” Chase snapped then he rubbed at his forehead and gripped Xavier’s thigh right
above his knee. “Sorry, sorry, I’m being an asshole and I know it. I’m sorry. But don’t park here. I’d rather you park on the street or at that store a mile or so back.”
Xavier glanced at the medical facility then back in the direction of the store. That was more than a mile. “All right, but we could—shit!” he snapped when something banged on his window. Chase’s cursing kicked up again and they both gaped at the big older man scowling at them through the window.
“Feebie,” Chase said with a heavy dose of disgust. “Fucking Liam must have narc’d!”
Xavier looked at the dark suit, the red tie, the black sunglasses and short silver-grey hair and had to agree. The man looked like a stereotype…he wondered if the guy did it on purpose.
He rapped again on the window and Xavier scowled back at him and made a shooing
motion with his hand.
The man whipped his sunglasses off and glared through the window. His peridot eyes
sparked with enough anger that Xavier was surprised he didn’t burn from it. Another smack on the window and Xavier unbuckled and shoved the door open, barrelling out of the
Porsche only to slam chest to chest with the older man. He was acutely aware of the
slamming of the other door, of footsteps pounding the pavement.
“Stay back!” Xavier said, his need to protect his lover stronger than his irritation with the asshole trying to intimidate him. He reached a hand out to his side, hoping to prevent Chase from doing anything other than stopping. The older man tensed more then took a half-step back. He ran his fingers through his hair and narrowed his eyes at Xavier, then Chase as well when he reached his side.
“Are you two
trying
to get arrested?” the man snarled.
Xavier narrowed his eyes back. He knew that gravelly voice. “I wasn’t aware we were
breaking any laws. This is a public road—”
“And a
private
facility
you”—
he pointed at Chase—“aren’t supposed to be at!”
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Xavier started to reply only to stop short when Chase tried to step between them.
“Shearing, right?” Chase said, so calmly a smattering of goosebumps danced down his spine.
The older man nodded once. “What are you going to do, arrest us for trying to see my best friend? You won’t ever convince me James doesn’t want to see me. You don’t know anything about our relationship.”
“I know enough,” Shearing gritted out as he glared at Chase. “You have some serious
hero worship going on, but maybe James is tired of it or unable to deal with it. Either way, it doesn’t matter. His parents have the authority to make the decisions about his visitors and everything else in his life, and right now that includes refusing to allow you in this facility.”
Xavier waited for the explosion but Chase only seemed to relax, his shoulders dropping from their squared positioning. “And has anyone asked James if he wants to see me?”
Shearing put his sunglasses back on and arched his brows. “I believe you’ve asked that and been told—he said no one. That includes you.”
“But he sees his parents? And you?” Chase pressed, still sounding all too calm and
understanding. Xavier was almost more nervous than he’d have been had Chase dived at the man.
“His parents…only when he can’t beg out of it.” Shearing seemed to slump over as he
peered at the ground. “He had to sit for a couple of interviews, and I almost never got that done. He wouldn’t talk to the agents that went while I was in—” Shearing stopped and pressed a hand to his stomach. Xavier remembered then the man hadn’t been out of the hospital all that long himself, and he was glad he hadn’t lost his temper and punched him.
Despite his rather robust behaviour, Shearing couldn’t possibly be up to fighting form.
“Anyway, I think he only talked to me because I was there that night, and you heard how one of those conversations went.”
“Yeah,” Chase said with a nod, “I did. And he lied to you. Don’t you want to know
why?” Xavier bit back a grin; he hadn’t thought for a minute Chase was giving up just because Shearing was trying to keep them out.
Shearing tipped his head down and looked at Chase over the top of his glasses. “Are
you trying to tell me you can get James to tell you the truth?”
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“Probably. Or I can read it in his movements, the way he averts his eyes or tenses, you know.” Chase shrugged. “I know James better than you ever will, better than his parents do.
I’d say I’m probably your best chance at getting the truth.”
Xavier hadn’t missed Shearing’s scowl and wondered about the man’s feelings for
James. He seemed rather possessive for an FBI agent just doing his job, in Xavier’s opinion.
Shearing crossed his arms over his chest, then, perhaps thinking it a defensive pose, dropped them back to his sides before tucking his hands in his front pockets. “And how do I know you’d tell me the truth? You might try to protect James instead.”
Chase shrugged again. “James is my first concern here, not you or your investigation.
Y’all can’t even see fit to get back what Rollins took from me; I don’t see how knowing what happened to James is going to change anything about your investigation. Rollins is dead, James is free…sort of, though not really, and you’re still hounding him about what
happened.” Chase’s voice dropped to a lower tone that sounded dangerous in itself. “Tell me, why do you want to know? Why not just accept what he says and file your fucking reports?”
Shearing blanched then his cheeks flushed. “Because I want the
truth
in the reports, and I want the men who helped Rollins. I want the man who took James, who beat him, and you, and I want them to be held accountable for what they’ve done.”
Chase grunted and craned his neck to look at Xavier before turning back to Shearing.
“Did Liam tell you we were coming?”
“No, and I should have his ass for it but I won’t.” Shearing looked surprised at his own words. “I had someone else keeping an eye on things down there since I had a feeling you’d be showing up despite the conversation with James. My agent followed the two of you…all the way
here.”
Xavier’s stomach dipped and Chase went rigid in front of him. Shearing’s smile was
only slightly evil looking. “That’s right. She wanted to know if she should have the two of you arrested last night, or should I say early this morning. Maybe I’m a little pissier than I would have been otherwise had I got any sleep at all last night. Instead I was up waiting for each of her reports back on you two, hoping neither of you did anything criminally stupid.”
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Xavier couldn’t help but close his eyes and say a silent thanks to whatever whim of fate had kept them from breaking into the Strattons’ last night. Had they not come
home…Chase’s soft sigh told him his lover was pretty much on the same wavelength. He peeked at Shearing and decided the smile wasn’t quite so much evil as amused, and maybe a little impressed. Xavier put a hand to Chase’s hip, urging him to relax. They were safe. He thought. “What now?”
“What indeed,” Shearing muttered. He rubbed at his stomach and huffed. “Let
me…let’s go have some coffee, if you to think we can manage that without there being a fight. Maybe we can figure out something that will work for us all.”
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Chase tugged on the cuffs of his suit jacket then messed with his tie. He hated the damn things, but this was for a good cause, he reminded himself. Still, it felt like a noose around his neck.
“It’ll work out fine,” Xavier said as he rubbed at Chase’s back. Chase tried not to glare at him, but he was so agitated and on edge he couldn’t quite manage it. Xavier narrowed his eyes and something in those dark depths heated, passing from Xavier to Chase and coiling low in his belly before spreading to his groin. Xavier tipped his head down and whispered in Chase’s ear. “If Shearing weren’t here, I’d bend you over and fuck some of that excess energy out of you. Let you claw and bite at me, cuss and yell while I drove you out of your mind.”
He traced the length of Chase’s spine, right down to his crack, then lower still to press blunt fingertips over his hole.