Despite everything, they had yet to pick up on any leads they could follow.
That was until Walter had gotten a return call from the number he’d found on Seth Fisher’s caller ID. Seth’s friend Toby had agreed to meet with them at the diner in an hour.
In the meantime Walter and Kevin were finishing their dinner. Although, Kevin hadn’t taken another bite of his burger and fries since he’d asked about the other guys in the restaurant.
Walter made a show of looking at the men in attendance. “I haven’t been with anyone here. Well, you, if the bathroom at Seth’s counts.”
Kevin nabbed his fork off the table and stabbed at the fries on his plate one at a time. Without looking up, he asked, “It didn’t count?”
“I was joking. It most definitely counted.”
Kevin nodded and dropped the fork. The utensil clanked as it bounced on the edge of his plate. He sat back and swiped his phone from the table. He clicked on the phone for so long when he did speak, the sound of his voice startled Walter.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“What happened to you before you left the force? The papers said you had…”
“Domestic issues at home.” Walter scoffed. Polite words for the ugliest time of his life. “My partner got sick. Cancer. In his brain.”
Kevin slowly set his phone down. “Did he…”
“Yeah. I’m guessing you read about the shooting.”
“Yes.”
“He died right after that. Almost five years ago now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” The compassion on Kevin’s face moved Walter, and he hadn’t been moved by anything in a long time. He didn’t want to talk about this, but he couldn’t stop from asking, “You were checking up on me?”
“Did you expect me not to look?”
“No. You’re as curious as every reporter I’ve ever met, that’s for sure.”
They exchanged a look. The compassion was still there in Kevin’s gaze, but it blended with something more. A teasing playfulness? Anticipation?
This was such a bad idea. Walter had no intention of heading down this path again. Not with someone this young, someone just starting to accept who he was, someone who deserved to get out and enjoy life, not tie himself down to one man.
Which would mean Walter would end up with another broken heart. That had sucked too much the first time around.
“What do you do now?” Kevin asked. He probably already knew the answer to that, but Walter played along anyway.
“I own a security company. We handle high-end security, tech development, that sort of thing.”
Kevin picked up his phone and started texting. Was he taking notes? Sending his editor every word of their conversations?
“So why did you leave the force?”
“Stop.”
Kevin halted the texting. “Huh?”
“Just stop with questions you already know the answers to.”
“Sorry.” He set the phone down again. “It’s usually how I start an interview. A way to gauge how someone sounds when they’re telling the truth versus when they’re lying. I guess I’ve never learned to turn it off when I’m not working. Sondra said it was annoying.”
“Your questions aren’t annoying. I just don’t want you asking them to avoid talking about yourself.”
“I don’t do that.” Kevin watched him.
Walter stared right back.
“Okay,” Kevin finally said. “Maybe I do. But I really did want to know. I didn’t read anything about your partner or why you stopped being a cop.”
“Too bad it’s my turn. Did you always want to be a reporter?”
Kevin waited a moment, a defiant glare in his eyes. Then the expression softened. “No. At first I was premed in college.”
“Don’t tell me you were going to be a surgeon, because picturing you with a scalpel is just about the funniest thing I’ve ever imagined. And really damn scary.”
Kevin threw him another look, this one incredulous. Then he laughed with him. Eventually the laughter dwindled until they were both sitting there with lingering smiles on their lips, and Kevin said, “God, you have the best smile.”
That was a first. Most guys didn’t comment on anything about Walter. Not to his face.
“I happen to be quite fond of yours too.”
Kevin glanced away, a far-off look on his face. “Can’t remember when I’ve laughed this much.”
“Me either.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Walter knew when. More than five years ago, long before Gary’s death. He felt guilty just thinking that. Sarcastically he said, “So your mom must’ve loved it when you switched from medicine to journalism.”
“She didn’t mind, actually. She figured she’d never see me if I worked a doctor’s hours.”
“How did you get into writing?”
“It was a good fit at the time.” Kevin didn’t seem like he planned to say more, and then he added, “I met a reporter who became a mentor for me in college. He gave me my first job on a paper.”
“Your school’s paper?”
“A local city paper.” Kevin made like he was going to pick up his phone. Walter cut him off with a hand over his.
“I know this is hard for you, but one more question.” He sat back and waited.
Kevin removed his hand from the phone. “Go ahead.”
“Why is this story so important to you?”
Sadness fell over Kevin’s features as he stared at the stream of traffic and pedestrians out the window beside their booth.
Bingo. A question he cared about.
Just when Walter had almost given up he’d get an answer, Kevin said, “People need to know.”
Walter picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Know what?”
“That the Haven is dangerous.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, I do. We may not know all the details, but that club is at least part of why those men are missing. People have a right to know they’re in danger there.”
Walter deposited the coffee mug on the table with a sharp
clank
, and the cheap metal table rocked with the force. The people in the booth across the aisle halted their conversation and looked over at them. He couldn’t care less, but there were better ways to have this discussion. He stood. “Come on.”
Kevin slid to the end of the booth. “Where are we going?”
Walter gestured toward the bathroom and didn’t wait for Kevin to move. He led the way, pushed open the door, and waited there as Kevin approached. He gave Kevin’s arm a tug until he went inside, then followed him in. “I want the truth. Why are you hell-bent on destroying the club? Why do you hate the place?”
Kevin halted on the other side of the bathroom and faced him. “It’s not just that one place. It’s all the clubs and bars…they make it look like all we care about is sex. They give people another reason to hate us. To hurt us. To discriminate and attack.”
“Just because that’s what some homophobes think doesn’t make it true. And it doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to live our lives the way we want. Just like every straight person does.”
Kevin stared him down but didn’t say more. There was definitely something driving him on this point. Something from his own life. How far would he go to discredit the Haven? Walter crossed the room, ignoring his own reflection in the mirror over the sinks. The lone lightbulb flickering above the mirror gave him a crazed look. Too much of a match for the frustration surging through him for his tastes. He calmed his voice with his next words. “You made me a promise you’d wait to print anything until we knew the whole truth. Are you going to break that promise?”
Kevin glared at him. He looked hurt. And pissed. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Walter knew that. As if he’d known Kevin for years. He drew in a steadying breath. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I think more is going on than you want to believe. Those men may have been encouraged to join the club for a specific purpose. And that’s the reason they’re missing.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Pornography. Human trafficking. You name it, and people have thought up a way to use others to their own advantage. I don’t know why they were there or what happened to them, but I’m going to find out. I can’t know something’s going on and watch someone else get hurt.” Kevin paced the room and ran a hand through his hair. The action had his light brown hair stuck up all over, leaving him looking five years younger than he had a moment ago.
Great
. Like Walter didn’t already feel ancient next to him.
Only he usually didn’t feel that way with Kevin. In the past forty-eight hours he’d felt younger than he had in years.
Kevin kept pacing along the back wall, his shoes scuffing the gray-tiled floor with each step. His hands were balled into fists, his strides picking up speed the more he charged back and forth.
Walter moved to stand in his path. “You can’t put all that pressure on yourself. Besides, we don’t know for sure anything happened to Seth and the others.”
The look Kevin threw him demonstrated how naive Walter would have to be to believe that. Then suddenly that look was gone. Kevin stepped closer, and his body visibly relaxed. Without another word, he touched the skin under Walter’s eye, a tender swipe of thumb to flesh.
With that one touch, the moment changed. The frustration and tension were gone.
“It looks worse in this lighting.” Kevin ran his thumb over the skin again. “I’m sorry I punched you.”
“You already said that.”
Kevin’s cheek twitched right before a smile spread across his lips. “It was a good punch.”
“It was.”
“Feels good to know I can take down a cop if I need to.”
Walter considered reminding Kevin he hadn’t actually taken him down, but all of a sudden that distinction didn’t matter. Kevin leaned into him and pressed his lips to Walter’s neck.
The moment changed yet again.
Walter held Kevin by the back of the head. “God, I love that mouth.” He tilted his head and let Kevin access more of his skin. “You have no idea how much I want to feel it on my cock.” He really needed to shut up.
Kevin nipped his flesh and continued exploring with an open mouth and a wet tongue. His warm breath as he spoke sent a tingle down Walter’s skin with each word. “I have this fantasy. Since I was in college. It starts in a public restroom and ends with me on my knees and cum on my face. A tall, dark-haired man standing over me, his spent cock in his hand.”
“Fantasies like that in college and you’re just now figuring things out?”
“Not just now.” Kevin pulled back. “I didn’t want to cheat on Sondra.”
“And there was something else?”
Kevin nodded but didn’t offer an explanation. With a determination Walter hadn’t seen from him before, Kevin spun them and backed him to the wall beside the row of sinks. “I want to blow you. Right here, right now.”
A very bad idea.
Lucky for Kevin—lucky for both of them, really—Walter was done thinking with his brain. He glanced at the door over Kevin’s shoulder. He hadn’t had a blowjob in too long to consider rational thought. He reached for his belt. “Do it.”
Kevin went to his knees before him. That move sent a thrill of power and anticipation thundering throughout Walter. Kevin finished opening his belt for him, but his hands were shaking with the action. That was more than nerves.
Walter didn’t have a chance to explore that train of thought.
The bathroom door swung in. A man stood in the doorway. Dark-haired with a well-trimmed beard. He had too much bulk under the business attire for Walter’s tastes, but he was definitely good-looking. And young. Probably just the kind of guy Kevin had been picturing in his fantasies.
“Dudes, you should lock the door.” The man stepped inside and let it shut behind him. “I came for a quick bite, but looks like I’m getting a show too.”
“Get out of here.” Walter’s voice held more fury than he’d intended.
“You’re not into an audience? Well, that’s disappointing.” The man turned to leave. His hand on the door, he paused. “Hey, kid, fifty bucks for a go after him.”
Kevin staggered to his feet. “What?”
Of course this guy thought Walter was paying Kevin for it. Given their age difference. “Get the fuck out of here.” He gripped Kevin’s arm, not sure why he felt the need to hold him back. Kevin wasn’t the kind of guy to walk across a public bathroom and blow some stranger who’d just walked in, no matter what sorts of fantasies he’d had.
“Fine,” the guy said. “But I’ll be back in ten, kid, if you want that fifty.” He left, the door slamming shut behind him.
Kevin no longer looked as freaked as he had when the guy entered. Or when he’d been on his knees about to suck Walter’s cock. There was something there Walter still hadn’t learned about him.
“You know what?” Kevin said. “You’re the first person I’ve met who curses as much as I do.”
“You’re a bad influence.”
Kevin cocked his head to the side. “Am I?” That gesture had him looking even younger than the mussed hair.
The door opened, and another guy walked in.
“How about we finish this later?”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, a confident expression locked firmly in place like he had to prove a point. “We’ll definitely finish this later.”
* * * *
Kevin dropped into the booth and nabbed his coffee. Still warm. With the way things had heated up in the bathroom, something warm was the last thing he needed. He went for the ice water and guzzled it down.
“Easy,” Walter said as he slid into the opposite side of the booth. “Don’t choke. I have plans for that mouth later.” He draped his arm over the back of the booth, looking casual and not at all like he’d just been about to get someone’s lips on his dick. Why wouldn’t he look like that? He probably got blown all the time.
“Do you get a lot of blowjobs?” Kevin snapped his mouth shut and slumped in his seat. What the hell was wrong with him? He really needed to stop with the ridiculous newbie questions. “I meant gay guys. You know, I hear guys give each other head more than girls will do it.” He darted a peek at the diner’s nearest patrons around their booth. “Shit.” Thank God no one was paying attention to them. “Forget I asked that.” He tugged his phone out of his pocket and checked his e-mail.
Apparently Walter didn’t mind the question. “It all depends on the guy. I’ve been with a few who hated doing it. And some who’d do it every time you were in bed together.”