Kevin shook his head. “You can’t expect him to keep it quiet for long. It could get back to the wrong people that we’re looking into this.”
“The entire police force is not corrupt.” Even though Walter had seen some nasty shit in his days as a cop, he believed in the system. “I’m going to keep looking into this, but I need to know if what you’re saying about a cover-up is true. My friend can help us figure that out.”
“Okay. You’re the expert.” There was a sarcastic bite to Kevin’s tone.
Walter pulled out a pen and notebook from his pocket. He handed them over.
Kevin wrote down three names.
“And the dates they were last seen.”
He added the dates and gave the paper to Walter. Three men whose names he didn’t recognize.
Kevin said, “You didn’t answer my question. Why didn’t you or Vargas call the cops?”
Walter should’ve known a reporter wouldn’t take a hint. “We don’t know for sure Seth’s missing.”
“He’s missing.”
“You can’t just call the police and say you have a hunch something happened to a guy who visited your place of business the night before without any evidence or family members to back you up and expect them to take it seriously. There wasn’t enough in that room at the Haven to suggest foul play, not at a sex club.”
“I’m also guessing Vargas doesn’t want to involve the police because of…” Kevin waved a hand through the air and returned to examining the darkness outside, his back to Walter again. He mumbled his next words so low Walter had to strain to hear. “Because of the type of establishment he runs.”
Walter clenched his jaw, waited a moment before answering, waited until Kevin finally turned his way.
“Over the years some of the police have given Vargas a hard time. The club has been searched more times than I can recall. There have been drug raids, undercover cops sent in, inspections for fire code violations, you name it, but Vargas and the club have weathered it all. He’s an upstanding guy. If he knew something had happened to any club member, he wouldn’t have hesitated to call in the authorities.”
Kevin held up his phone like he wanted to text more but lowered it to his side just as quickly. “What about the drugs?”
“Illegal drugs aren’t allowed on site.”
“I’ve read the membership policy. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any there. From what I hear, there isn’t anything you can’t get.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“I talked to a guy who’s on the waiting list. He has a number of friends who are members.”
“That sounds like a lot of secondhand rumors to base a story on. If it’s true about the drugs, Vargas doesn’t know anything about it, and when he finds out, he’ll kick to the curb any members buying or selling.”
“Right. Because he’s an upstanding guy.”
“I’ve known him for years. I’ve known you for four hours. Don’t push your luck.”
Kevin watched him for a long moment. He must’ve seen something he trusted. “All right. Can I ask you questions now, or is this an interrogation?”
“Go ahead.”
“Did Vargas always have a lot of money? Or did he get it from the club?”
“Are you looking into Vargas or the missing men?”
“I’m following the money. That usually leads to the truth.” Kevin didn’t say more right away. He obviously also knew the value of silence. Most people rushed to speak and fill the void. Walter didn’t. He folded his arms over his chest and waited.
Finally Kevin continued. “In the past year Vargas has been offered a shitload of cash to sell the club. The kind of money no one turns down, and yet he hasn’t considered selling as far as I could find out. I figure that means he’s already set up for life.”
“So, what? You think he’s found a way to supplement his income with something illegal on the side?”
“Just asking the question.”
“You won’t find what you’re after by focusing on Vargas.”
“I plan to focus on whatever gets me to the truth.”
“So do I.” They stood close again. Walter wasn’t sure when he’d started moving. Or when Kevin had.
Walter took a steadying breath. “Let’s look around the place. Try to find the names of friends or family we can contact. Look for any sign of trouble Seth might’ve been in.” He turned and headed for the hall. He swiped aside the array of beads blocking the doorway. The tiny beads clinked together as they moved. They sounded mystical. Like he was about to head into a strange world unlike the one he’d spent his life in. Kevin’s next question stopped him in the doorway, his arm still holding the beads aside.
“How did you find out I was a reporter?”
Walter flipped on the hall light with the pen and dropped his arm. The beads made the same musical clicking as they settled into place. He spoke without turning toward Kevin. “I followed you to your office.” He heard Kevin move in behind him.
“You followed me tonight?” Kevin’s voice was low when he said more. “I thought you were meeting someone at the Haven.”
Interesting. “You thought I was hooking up with someone?” Walter faced him, surprised by the true disappointment in those eyes staring back at him. He gripped Kevin’s chin in his hand and ran a thumb along his jawline. “And you didn’t like the idea of me fucking someone else.” He couldn’t help himself. He added the press of his thumb to Kevin’s lower lip. “Or did you like it? Did it get you hot to imagine my dick plowing into some guy’s ass?”
Kevin sucked in a sharp breath, and Walter couldn’t keep the smirk at bay. God, he hadn’t had this much fun just talking with someone in a long time.
Kevin parted his lips and, with a tilt of his head, took the tip of Walter’s thumb into his mouth.
Okay, that touch was better than the talking.
Kevin sucked and sucked, then slowly released Walter’s thumb, keeping the contact going with his tongue for a moment longer. “You’re teasing me.”
“Maybe,” Walter said. “But you’re teasing right back.” His breath hitched as Kevin took his thumb into his mouth again, sucking like he could make him come from that one contact alone.
How had things shifted so quickly from talking to Walter standing there panting like he’d run a marathon?
Then Kevin’s mouth was gone. “Did you know when you first saw me that I was lying?”
“With one look.”
Kevin nodded and, in a swift move, stepped away.
This back and forth was going to kill Walter. Time to get things back on track. This wasn’t about his dick. This was about finding Seth and the others.
He swept the beads aside and started down the hall, then stopped and pointed at Kevin, who was back to looking over the bookshelf. “Don’t touch anything.”
Kevin gave another nod, and Walter forced himself to continue on to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
He didn’t find much. Seth’s clothes were all neatly hanging in the closet. Except for a few pairs of subdued pants and dress shirts, most everything was brightly colored. Purples and pinks and lime greens. Sparkly T-shirts and a bright blue rhinestone cowboy hat. No designer labels. Nothing you wouldn’t find at Walmart. Possibly in their teen girls’ section.
Using the penlight for assistance, he maneuvered the clothes around and checked all the pockets. Nothing.
He examined the closet walls and floorboards for a hidden compartment where cash or drugs could be stored. He came up empty again.
He continued on to the bathroom down the hall. The light from the hallway offered enough illumination to see inside. A long, narrow room. Kevin stood at the far end before the mirror. The towel with the ice sat on the edge of the sink. He had something in his hand. A bottle.
“Did you miss the part where I said don’t touch anything?”
Kevin jumped. He dropped the bottle into the sink. It bounced, and he fumbled several times as he tried to catch it. Finally the bottle settled at the bottom of the sink. “I, uh…I was just…”
Walter moved in close so he could peer over Kevin’s shoulder into the sink. A bottle of Slick It. “That’s good shit.”
“It is?” Kevin leaned backward. Whether he meant to do it or not, the top of his ass connected with Walter’s dick. Then that incredible pressure was gone as Kevin spun around to face Walter. “What’s it like?”
“The lube?”
“Sex. With men. You know…anal sex. Oh God. Never mind. Forget I asked that.” He went to turn away, but Walter stopped him with a hand on Kevin’s hip.
“You mean, what’s it liked to get fucked up the ass?”
Kevin’s lower lip trembled. “Yeah.”
Chapter Nine
The inspiration running through Walter’s brain was probably not the best idea. Not here. But Kevin had asked a direct question.
Walter spun Kevin to face the mirror and leaned in against his back and ass, pinning him between the edge of the sink and his own body. “If you and I were doing it right now, I’d start with getting you good and hard.” He watched Kevin in the mirror as he glided his hand down the front of the blue shirt, then over the top of the leather pants, finally cupping the bulge the pants did nothing to hide.
He shifted his hips forward and back, putting a touch of pressure on Kevin’s ass again and again, and Kevin returned the stare in the mirror.
“You’d feel how hard I was too.” Walter cupped Kevin’s chin and turned his head to the side. “Then I’d kiss you.” Their lips met. Nothing slow or soft about this kiss. Walter opened his mouth and forced Kevin’s wide. Their tongues connected in an instant and moved in a rhythmic give-and-take of pleasure until Walter made himself pull back.
“Then I’d trace your body with my mouth, lower and lower until I could feel how hard you really were—with my lips. I’d take you deep into my mouth until you forgot how nervous you were. Until all you could focus on was every stroke and flick of my tongue.”
“Oh God.” Kevin gripped the edges of the sink in both hands.
“Then I’d release your dick and move in behind you.” Walter opened Kevin’s leather pants, then slipped his hand between their bodies and inside the back of the pants. Kevin spread his legs wider.
Beautiful. The way he gave in to his desires.
Walter kept his hand moving down Kevin’s ass until he had his middle finger pressed between Kevin’s ass cheeks. He ran his finger over Kevin’s hole and continued to rock his own body, adding more pressure to Kevin’s ass with each shift of his hips. “I’d get my cock slick. I’d lube us both up good, work your ass a little to loosen you up, get you used to the sensation of something inside you. Then my cock would be at your tight hole.” He thrust against Kevin’s ass and held still.
He lowered his voice and whispered in Kevin’s ear. “My dick would stretch your asshole open, and there would be no denying what was happening to you as I worked the head of my cock inside your body.”
Kevin’s breath hitched, and he dropped his head forward. His fingers went pale as his grip on the edges of the sink tightened.
“Once the head of my dick was inside you, I’d stop, wait, let the burn ease, let you really feel my thick cock penetrating your body.” Walter held still, keeping his achingly hard dick snug against the back of his own hand at Kevin’s ass. “Then, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, when the tight heat of your body drove me absolutely crazy, I’d wait one more second, and then I’d thrust. Over and over until I had my cock buried inside you.” He shifted his hips harder, forward and back, pressing his finger over and around Kevin’s hole again and again, desperately wishing he’d taken the time to get Kevin’s pants down and his own out of the way. But that would’ve been too much. For both of them.
Walter leaned down and licked along the nape of Kevin’s neck, savoring the taste and scent of him.
“Then I’d bend you over so my dick would hit that spot inside you that drives a man wild. With every thrust I’d milk the pleasure from your body. Your cock would be leaking like crazy. It would be the most intense, drawn-out sexual experience you’ve ever known. And when I came in your ass, when you felt my heat inside you, then, and only then, would I stroke your dick until you came, your body alive and on fire. It’d be like nothing you’ve felt before.”
“Oh God.” Kevin snapped his hips and moaned.
Walter picked up the pace of his finger and his thrusts. Kevin bent forward over the sink, his hands sliding along the surface on each side. His right hand knocked over a can of shaving cream.
The can bounced on the floor, the metal smacking the linoleum over and over. The banging snapped Walter out of the trance he seemed to be in since entering the bathroom.
Oh God
was right.
He was seriously losing it. Practically fucking with their clothes on in the bathroom of a stranger’s apartment while they looked for clues to find said stranger. He’d never been so out of control while working on a case. Kevin’s hunger just called to him. In a way no one else ever had. Not this fast. Not with this much intensity.
Walter pulled his hand out and drew back, easing up on the pressure against Kevin’s ass, but he kept his grip on Kevin’s hip. He glided his lips along the side of Kevin’s neck to his ear, letting his tongue swipe at the flesh along the way. “Did that answer your question?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Good. Because we need to finish taking a look and get out of here.” Then why was he still touching Kevin? He ran his hand up the other side of Kevin’s bare neck, cupped his chin, and tilted his head to make more room for his mouth’s explorations. He licked the length of Kevin’s earlobe, then down his neck.
“Yeah,” Kevin said. The word came out with a long exhale. Despite his agreement, he spun around, gripped the back of Walter’s neck in both hands, and tugged him down. The kiss that followed was beyond passion, beyond desire. Like an essential need. Like holding your breath too long, then sucking in a gulp of fresh air.
Slowly, like he was ready to dive in again at any moment, Kevin inched out of the kiss, his lips still parted. He ran his tongue over his upper lip. “We should go.” He didn’t make a move to leave. Instead he leaned in. Walter met him halfway until they had their mouths locked. This time Kevin’s lips moved leisurely over his, his tongue taking long-drawn-out tastes like he couldn’t get enough of Walter. Like a man swallowing down a gallon of water after wandering for a week in the desert. Like he wanted more and more and more.