Dirty Secret (9 page)

“Come,” Jae said. “I need to get pictures of David and Helena.”

I followed him closely, flipping on the light when he asked me to. We shadowed the couple, failed stalkers with a spotlight. They smiled and waved at people they knew, the picture of a happy couple in love.

And the entire time, Kwon circled us like a bloodthirsty shark swimming by a school of minnows.

It was interesting to watch Jae work. He walked a fine line between unobtrusive and corralling people together to get a shot. We skulked around the guests: Jae, a graceful figure gliding in and out of the crowd while I followed him with a lumbering stomp.

At one point, the Park brothers stood together with their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders. They both looked like their father, Shin-Cho less so than David, but their smiles were the same. I briefly wondered if Mike and I smiled that way with each other, but I doubted it. Our relationship was more a punch on the arm than a hug.

We lost Shin-Cho in the crowd a few moments later, but not before he gave me a wavering smile. Despite the crowd around us, it was clear he was being avoided by nearly everyone but a select few. My heart went out to the guy, even more so when I noticed Kwon close by, shaking hands and accepting congratulations on marrying off his daughter, all the while, his eyes on either David or Jae-Min.

Kwon was studiously ignoring Shin-Cho, his eyes sliding over the man as if he were nothing more than a shadow.

As much as it pissed me off to watch Kwon surreptitiously ogle Jae in front of his wife, watching the ping-pong match of his gaze drifting between my lover and David was pretty funny. Not funny enough for me to step aside when he finally moved in on Jae.

“Excuse me,” I said, bumping his shoulder when Kwon drew close. It was a simple, petty game, one played between men interested in the same person. He eyed me up, raking over me from head to toe with a hot glare. Kwon would have set me on fire if he could. I stood still, letting a smirk curl the edge of my mouth.

From his viewpoint, he had the advantage of wealth, influence, and culture, although I was taller, and was willing to bet I had a better body. A simple word from Kwon, and Jae could lose business. It was a risk to challenge him on his own turf. I was willing to take that risk. I’d wallowed in a bitter stew about Rick and Ben before I met Jae, and while I still hadn’t totally broken free of what I’d been soaking in, I wasn’t going to let Kwon edge in. From where I stood, I had more to lose than he did. Much more.

Kwon said something in Korean, and I smiled, shaking my head at my lack of comprehension. He smiled back, a slithering grin that did nothing to warm me to him. He repeated what he said in English, slowly, as if I wouldn’t understand him. “Have we met?”

“No, not yet,” I replied softly. Holding my free hand out to him, I smiled. “I’m with Kim Jae-Min, the photographer. We’re Scarlet’s friends. Pity she couldn’t make it today. She’d have loved to see Dae-Hoon’s boy.”

It was a masterful manipulation of the conversation. I was rather proud of it since it was something I rarely pulled off. My words got a range of effects, first a stiffening of Kwon’s shoulders and face when I mentioned Scarlet, then curiously, what looked like a slight fear creeping into his cold eyes. He got a hold of his emotions quickly, but his limbs betrayed his uneasiness, jerking awkwardly as he turned away.

I would have liked to enjoy that moment more, and I would have, if the shooting hadn’t started.

There was a clapping sound, a short reverb, and then screams, loud screams followed by terrified shouting. I caught the smell of blood and panicked, grabbing at Jae to pull him down under me. His camera tilted, falling from his hands and onto the grass. Grabbing at the edge of one of the tables, I yanked it onto its side, hoping the metal top would provide us with some sort of protection.

Like all shootings, everything happened quickly. There was no time to react with anything more than instinct.

And human instinct always seems to start off with panic.

I had the right to panic. I’d found Jae unconscious, and bleeding from a gunshot graze a few feet from his cousin’s dead rent-boy. I already had a bad track record with boyfriends and guns. Panic was fully within my God-given rights, right up there with the pursuit of happiness and extra cheese on my carne asada fries.

“I’m okay,” Jae murmured reassuringly. “I’m fine… I’m okay,
agi
.”

I started breathing again.

My hands skimmed over his body, searching for any injury. Speckles of blood dotted his cheekbone, and my heart froze. My thumbs smeared the blood, raking the spray into uneven lines. Cradling the back of his head, I held him to my chest, waiting for my heart to start up again, willing it to catch a beat… anything to begin feeling again. My fear chilled me down to my bones, and I couldn’t keep my fingers from trembling as I ran them through his hair.

Even hidden behind a patio table, I felt exposed, but he lay on the ground under me, letting my hands touch his chest. I needed to hear his heart… to feel it pumping under my fingers.

I must have looked insane, because he cupped his hands to my face, ignoring all of his rules and fears.

“
Agi
, I am okay,” he said again in that husky purr that warmed my guts. “We have to help. I think Helena’s hurt. I saw her bleeding, I think. Maybe David… I don’t know.”

There was silence around us, broken by whimpers and gasping cries. I slid off Jae and peered carefully around the upended table. Kwon was stirring nearby, his legs tangled up in one of the mission-style folding chairs set on the patio. Other party guests were hiding behind what they could, most taking cover behind tables and the potted juniper trees lining the outer edges of the patio. A few feet away from us, Helena Kwon lay in her fiancée’s arms, blood turning her crimson dress nearly black. David rocked her, his hands ineffectively pressing against the wound in her side.

The diamond bracelets on her wrists were splattered with her blood, the gems now as dim as her glazed-over eyes. David’s shirt was soaked through, and he shook her slightly, urging her to stay with him until someone came. There was more than blood on his hands. A pink-gray froth poured from the side of Helena’s shattered head and onto the sleeve of his coat. A thin, bloody film dripped from his fingers, and David’s shoulders shuddered while he tried to catch his breath. He glanced up at me for a quick moment, his eyes wild with fear and pain, then back to his lover, begging me… anyone… to help her.

There wasn’t anyone coming who could put Helena Kwon back together. He just wasn’t ready to hear that yet. I knew how that felt. Nothing hurts as much as your world falling apart in your hands. Nothing.

J
AE
and I were separated by the cops once they arrived. An ambulance crew checked over the rest of the guests. A total of five bullets were fired. Two hit Helena, two grazed other guests, and one went wide, striking one of the boulders and ricocheting back toward the patio. The detective on the scene, a stern-looking middle-aged blonde woman named Brookes, was particularly interested in my conceal license and what a private investigator was doing doubling as a photographer’s assistant at a rehearsal dinner.

It was a conversation that went nowhere useful for her. I had no answers, other than I thought the gun had a silencer and the shots came from the house. The look she gave me was sour. I gave her one back, slightly less tart but disgusted all the same.

“Can I go?” I’d lost sight of Jae. He’d disappeared inside of the house along with a few of the other guests, accompanied by a few uniforms. The number of cops called onto the scene was staggering. “I need to find Jae-Min.”

“I’ve got your contact info.” Brookes didn’t look pleased to let me go, but motioned me toward the house. “I don’t know if he’s done yet. If not, you can wait by the front door. We’re closing up the rest of the house.”

Spotting Shin-Cho comforting his brother, I nodded at him, hoping my expression could convey my sorrow. Sitting on one of the lawn chairs, David looked devastated, and his older brother hovered next to him. A couple of detectives stood in front of them, asking questions. I didn’t need to hear Shin-Cho to know he was reaching the end of his rope. He snarled in Korean at one of the men poking at his brother. I didn’t need to understand the language to know Shin-Cho was telling them to fuck off. Either they understood him, or realized they’d pushed things too far, because the detectives were making their apologies when I hit the stairs.

I found Jae in the main foyer, sitting on a spindly looking French chair and sipping at a Styrofoam cup of coffee. He’d gained a pinstriped gray suit jacket from someone, and it was tossed over his shoulders, its arms dangling down his sides. His face was clean of blood, but his shirt had a light spray of spots along his chest. It chilled me to realize how close he’d been to Helena when she’d been shot.

“You okay?” It was hard not to touch him. I had to shove my hands into my pockets to stop myself from pulling him against me. He nodded and handed me the coffee. It was hot and sweet, but not the hot and sweet taste I wanted in my mouth. “Are they done with you?”

“I think so.
Hyung
’s here somewhere. He spoke to the cops first, before they could talk to me. They weren’t happy about it.”

“Yeah, cops get pissed off when someone steps on their witness,” I said. “That where you got the jacket?”

Jae murmured something that sounded like a yes or
hyung
. It could have been grilled cheese sandwich for all I knew. He looked tired, and I hooked my hand under his arm, gently pulling him up. He stumbled forward, catching his toes on the carpet runner. “What?”

“Let’s take you home,” I whispered into his ear. I didn’t care who was watching us or even if the cops were done with him. I wanted to get Jae home and scrub the evening from his body and mind. He gave me a bit of a struggle, looking over his shoulder and down the hall to where I assumed Seong, Scarlet’s lover, was holed up with his own gang of cops.

I gave in to my desires.

Pulling him against me, I looped my arms around his waist. He twisted a bit, looking around him, but I held him tight.

“No one’s watching,” I whispered into his ear. “And even if they are, I don’t want you to care. Not now. Not after… this. Time for me to take care of you, Kim Jae-Min. Now shut up, and let’s get the rest of your stuff so we can go home.”

I
RAN
a hot shower, stripped Jae, and shoved him under the water. It was hard to keep my head on straight, especially with the sight of his naked body imprinted in my mind as I headed downstairs. Tossing his shirt into a bag, I knotted it up before throwing it into the bin. The cat wound between my ankles. I stepped over her, thwarting her plans for my death.

The teapot was on the stove, and there was a collection of tins Jae’d lined up on the kitchen counter. I grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s instead. Snagging a couple of cold Cokes from the fridge, I took the stairs up two at a time. Neko tried to trip me on the landing, and I edged the cat away from the bedroom with my foot.

She complained loudly, a pitiful wailing sound that warned of air raids and tsunamis. Dancing past me, Neko jumped up on the bed and screamed again. She wanted to be with Jae… with me… or just wanted to take up space at the end of the bed. Either way, she was throwing a shitfit about it.

I left the door open.

I’m not always stupid. Sometimes, it’s easier when the cat wins.

The water was still running when I set the bottle and cans down on the nightstand. Slipping past the bathroom door, I caught Jae staring at me with hooded eyes, through the glass shower door. He was leaning with his hands against the wall and his legs spread slightly apart, letting the showerheads’ flow hit him full force. His black hair was plastered down against his skull, its wet length coursing down the span of his neck.

He didn’t move when I opened the door. He didn’t blink when I walked into the shower fully clothed, and came up behind him to wrap my arms around his stomach. I held him, letting him shake in my arms while the water ran over both of us.

For some reason, Jae
did
it for me. There was something about him that made me ache for him. His long legs, narrow hips, and wide shoulders made my mouth water. His round, tight ass and sensual mouth made me hard. Even at the worst of times, he made me hard. My dick wasn’t listening to my warnings that it didn’t need to be buried deep inside of the man against my chest. It could wait. It could fucking wait forever, if that’s what Jae needed.

Eventually, the heater struggled to keep up with the demands on it, and the steam from the showerheads thinned. The water was going lukewarm when Jae laid his head back onto my shoulder. Turning his face into the crook of my neck, he sighed and leaned on me, letting me hold his weight up. Reaching past him, I shut off the valves, and opened the door to grab a towel from the rack.

“I’m okay,” he reassured me, trying to take the towel from me, but I pushed his hands away.

“Let me,” I scolded him softly. His head was bent, and his eyes were nearly hidden by his hair, falling forward wet and long around his cheekbones. I touched my fingers to his chin and tilted his face up. “Let me do this.”

I rubbed him down with the soft bath sheet, taking my time with his hands and feet. I handled his balls and cock gently, feeling their heft in my palm as I dried them, before moving up his torso and ass. His shoulders and chest were next, then his hair, which soaked through the towel. I tossed it into the laundry basket and grabbed another, wrapping it around Jae’s hips.

“If you pick me up, I’ll kill you,” Jae grumbled.

“My shoulder hurts too much, or I would,” I groused back.

The cat was warming our bed, and I pushed Jae onto the mattress to keep her company. The Cokes were still cold, and I popped them open, passing one to Jae. I reached over for the Jack Daniel’s, which earned me a faint smile.

Jae sipped his soda. “Did you bring any food?”