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Randy yelled and tried to fight back, but Xavier, who’d always held back some of his strength when it came to fighting his brother, didn’t do so this time. The fact that Randy intended to sexually assault Billy—hopefully he hadn’t got that far, but if he had—combined with the cruel words Randy spewed served to demolish Xavier’s restraint.
Xavier howled and caught Randy in his soft stomach. Randy retaliated by dropping to
the ground and retching over Xavier’s shoes. Xavier drew back a foot to kick Randy in the head but some thread of reason prevailed and he stepped back as Randy fell over, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow.
Jesus, he’d almost killed his own brother! But Billy was like a brother too, sometimes even like…like a son, if Xavier were to be honest, and for Randy to go after
Billy
of all people!
Billy—
“What do you want to do now, boss?”
Xavier startled at Troy’s voice coming from right behind him. He turned and spotted
legs sprawled behind and to the left of Troy. Too many legs. “Why is there a man lying on the ground holding Billy?”
As he spoke, the man—he looked to be rather huge, Xavier noted—craned his neck and
gave him a confused look. Xavier recognised him then as the out-of-place customer he’d noticed earlier. The man sure didn’t look so starched and pressed now.
Troy glanced at the downed pair as well and shrugged. “I dunno. Dude,” he said,
addressing the stranger, “why are you even out here? Weren’t you at the bar a few minutes ago?”
The man twisted and grunted, pulling himself into a sitting position and cradling Billy’s head in his lap. Once apparently satisfied, he buried one hand in Billy’s hair and looked at Xavier and Troy with an expression that all but screamed they were idiots.
“Do you really think now is the time for this? Wouldn’t it be better to call an ambulance and the police? Although,” a wicked smile curved the man’s lips as he dug out his wallet.
Xavier’s stomach sank down to his ankles. This wasn’t going to be good.
“I am Special Agent Liam Stone, with the FBI,” he said as he held out his open wallet.
“Could this night get any more fucked?” Troy grumbled.
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Xavier gave him a dirty look and smacked him on the shoulder. “Do
not
ask shit like that! It’s like Fate sees it as a challenge when you do!”
Troy snorted but the FBI—
FBI!
—agent nodded as he tucked his wallet into his shirt pocket. “That’s been my experience as well. Now, about that ambulance…”
Xavier nodded at Troy. “Cops, too?” Troy asked, frowning at him. Xavier assumed it
was because Troy didn’t approve of calling the police, and truly, Xavier didn’t want to, but Randy had been crossing lines he shouldn’t for a while now, and something had to give.
“Yes, Troy, the cops too,” Xavier answered, giving the bartender a hard look. Troy
didn’t appear intimidated although he did finally nod.
Leaving Troy to handle the calls, Xavier crossed over to the two men on the ground and knelt beside Billy. Ignoring Liam, he felt for Billy’s pulse. He knew his friend was alive, but he wasn’t sure how badly Billy was injured. “Randy had a knife,” Xavier bit out, then promptly found himself shoved onto his ass.
Xavier opened his mouth to ask what the fuck, but stopped as he watched the careful
way Liam ran his hands over Billy’s prone form. The man was handling Billy like he was something precious, which was odd because Xavier knew the two men couldn’t possibly
know each other. Xavier knew everything about Billy’s life, even up to who he took into the bathroom for a blowjob on occasion, and he’d never heard a word about Liam Stone.
And Stone couldn’t have been in town for long. There was only one reason for the FBI to be here, and that had to be the whole mess Adam had told him about, the Rollins crap that had flushed its way down to Texas from Montana. Rollins Sr was dead, but there was still a man missing who might be in danger. That was something he didn’t want Billy involved in if he could help it, but Billy was a grown man.
Still, Xavier narrowed his eyes at the FBI agent—not that Liam noticed, he was too busy fondling Billy. Xavier thought the guy was enjoying it too much for the touching to be considered anything else, but he
was
protective of Billy, so he realised he likely wasn’t being fair, but oh well.
“I don’t feel or see any knife wounds,” Stone murmured, more to himself than to
Xavier. Xavier wasn’t thrilled with being ignored, not when he had so many questions.
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“Why are you in town?” he asked, not sure he cared for the way the man was devoting
all his attention to Billy. Sure, Xavier wanted Billy settled and happy, but this Liam was going to be leaving, going back to wherever he lived. Xavier most definitely didn’t want to see Billy broken hearted.
Liam didn’t waste a look on him. “That’s not really your business, is it?”
“Billy is my business,” Xavier bit out, using a voice that brooked no arguments. That got Liam’s full attention and Xavier continued, almost bristling under the man’s angry glare.
“And you’re someone who is passing through. Billy probably doesn’t even know your name, does he? Did he manage to slip away and blow you in the bathroom or something like that?
Why are you out here treating him like…like he means something to you?” He faltered a little on that last bit, because Billy meant a lot to him, and the idea of the perky little blond being played and discarded by the FBI agent hurt, especially since those big hands had yet to cease touching Billy.
Liam’s expression shifted into something dangerous. Xavier wondered if he practised
that ball-chilling look in front of a mirror.
Or maybe they make all the agents learn that in FBI
school.
“First off, whatever has happened or will happen between me and Billy is not your
business—” Liam began hotly.
Xavier slashed his hand through the air and was surprised when Liam promptly shut
his mouth. “You’re wrong. Billy is my responsibility, and certainly if he’s having sex on the clock, that’s my responsibility.” Not that Xavier was a stickler there, but if it got Liam to talk…
Liam dropped his gaze back down to Billy. He brushed a chunk of hair off Billy’s
smooth forehead with fingers that trembled. “What do you mean, he’s your responsibility?
Are you saying the two of you are…are together, and you let him screw around? Does he mean so little to you, then?”
Damn, he didn’t need this tonight! Xavier scrubbed his hands over his face then glanced over at Randy and Troy. The former was still unconscious and the latter was rambling off into his cell phone. Facing forward again, he wasn’t surprised to find Liam still petting Billy.
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How hands that big can deliver such tender caresses… But that doesn’t mean those hands will stay
gentle, that Liam wouldn’t hurt Billy…
God, he was so tired, just emotionally worn to a nub. He couldn’t figure out what was going on between Billy and Liam, and Randy was…a disaster, a heartbreakingly personal one. He and Xavier had never been the closest of brothers, but they used to at least get along.
And Billy… As much as Xavier wanted Billy to have what he needed, the idea of not seeing the man’s impish smile every day was kind of depressing. In the six years since he’d taken Billy in, the little bugger had burrowed deeply under his skin, and while neither of them had even considered a sexual relationship with each other, they did both love one another.
Well aware he’d been silent for too long, Xavier looked up from Liam’s hands and into his pale green eyes. “Billy means more to me than you can know, but not in the way you’re thinking. Our relationship isn’t sexual and it also isn’t your business.” Then he relented, remembering the way Liam had looked at Billy. “Are you coming to the hospital or leaving?“
“Okay,” Liam said, sounding a little rough around the edges, “and thank you. I
appreciate the opportunity to get to know you both.”
Xavier snorted and stood up to greet the police and EMS workers as he heard the sirens blaring in the parking lot.
Figures that Liam Stone would have to go all polite and sincere and
completely demolish my determination to run the man off.
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As exhausted as he was, Xavier knew it’d be hours before he got to sleep. His friend Les was a police officer, and had managed to have Xavier’s statement taken at the hospital instead of making Xavier go to the police station. Since Randy had a history of assault, and had been wielding a knife, chances were that Xavier wouldn’t have any charges brought against him. He’d been defending not only Billy but himself. Randy had been out of his mind, raging against Xavier as if he’d wanted him dead. It hurt, knowing his brother hated him so much, and Xavier didn’t know how to deal with it.
For now, he’d settle on a distraction from those kinds of thoughts. Xavier eyed the FBI agent pacing the length of the waiting room. The man looked like he was ready to pounce—
and he looked dangerous, big. Taller than Xavier, who was six-three, and bulkier. Although the extra few inches made Liam appear lean, his shoulders were broader than Xavier’s, and there was a controlled strength in Liam that carried a silent promise of danger. But would he use that strength against Billy, or for him? That was the question Xavier really wanted an answer to.
Liam stopped pacing and turned towards him so quickly Xavier thought it was a
miracle the big man didn’t topple over. “How is he?”
Xavier leaned against the door frame and tucked his thumbs into his front jeans pockets as he studied the FBI agent. Liam’s mouth pinched tight at the blunt appraisal, but he didn’t puff up or protest. It was kind of impressive, actually, because so many men bristled when they knew they were being judged with a look, but other than those two small changes in his expression, Liam didn’t so much as tense up. It spoke well for his self-control.
If this was just about a casual fuck, Xavier wouldn’t have been so intent on figuring Liam Stone out. But Liam had been clear that he was interested in something more with Billy.
If, once he was in the shape to do so, Billy returned Liam’s interest, what then?
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That would mean Liam had the power to hurt Billy in more ways than one. Xavier
wouldn’t let that happen if he could help it. So he continued watching Liam for several minutes until the bigger man suddenly chuckled, then laughed outright.
Xavier was so surprised he could only gape at the man for a second before snapping his mouth shut. He felt the ridiculous urge to laugh along with Liam. The man’s laughter was rich and deep, and Xavier just knew it’d melt Billy into a puddle of devoted, lusty goo. The impulse to laugh died when he realised he was, very likely, going to lose Billy to Liam Stone.
Before he could consider just what that meant and why it worried him, Liam stopped
laughing and walked up to him. He clamped one big hand on Xavier’s shoulder and
squeezed. “I don’t know whether or not I passed your test, but I will tell you this—I don’t know what will happen between me and Billy, but I won’t deliberately hurt him, physically or any other way. And…” Liam bent his neck and brought his face to Xavier’s, almost nose to nose. Xavier could see every gold fleck in the man’s hazel eyes, and he couldn’t have missed the promise in those depths, either “Whether you like it or not, I
am
going to do everything I can to get Billy to give me a chance—for something more than a fuck or whatever. I don’t know what or if we can have anything permanent between us, but I would like to try. I think Billy needs me, and maybe…” Liam looked up then took a step back. His gaze, however, never left Xavier’s.
“Mr Talbot?”
Xavier reluctantly turned from Liam and found a short, rather squat doctor standing
behind him. “Yes?”
The doctor bobbed his head and gripped the clipboard in his hands as he glared up at Xavier. “I’m Dr Nichols. I don’t know if I should bother telling you anything about your brother, since I was told you’re the one who beat the crap out of him.”
That explains the short shit’s attitude.
Xavier carefully kept his expression blank as he watched the doctor. Once the man twitched nervously, Xavier spoke. “Not that it’s your business, but my brother was trying to sexually assault another young man who is also being checked out. He was also threatening that young man with a knife, and had previously forced him to perform sexual acts. So, you can sneer and be a judgmental ass if you want, or www.total-e-bound.com
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you can do your damn job and tell me—the person with the right to make medical decisions for Randy—what is going on.”
Xavier sighed internally as the doctor’s attitude shifted into something almost
professional, then he forced himself to listen to the damage he’d done to his own flesh and blood.
“Can I see him?” Xavier was torn between loathing what his brother had become and
loving the boy he used to be. He couldn’t seem to merge the two. It was as if the present-day Randy were an entirely different person from the brother Xavier used to play with when they were kids. But surely there was something good left in Randy?
The doctor shook his head and sighed, his brown eyes filled with sympathy instead of judgement. “No, I’m sorry. He did make it clear that he didn’t want to see you.”