Part Forty-Two
Lindsey stepped into the lobby and glanced around, looking for Jesse. He was curled up in a miserable-looking ball on one of the chairs. Lindsey headed for him and laid one hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Jesse.”
“Leave me alone,” sobbed Jesse, moving away from the touch.
Lindsey knelt by the chair. “Jesse, I have to talk to you.”
“Why?” Jesse turned his tear-streaked gaze on Lindsey. “So you can tell me more lies?”
“No!” Lindsey was in agony, he had caused Jesse so much pain. “I want to tell you exactly what happened. Will you please listen?”
“Fine. Talk.”
“Not here.” Lindsey tugged on Jesse’s arm, trying to get the boy out of the chair. “We have to go to the House of Caffeine.”
“Why there? Why not here?” asked Jesse, wrenching his arm from Lindsey’s grasp.
“Because we have to meet Eoin there.”
“I don’t wanna go.”
Lindsey stood up. “Fine, then go home. I’m sure Vincent will be happy to see you.” He started to move away.
“Wait!” cried Jesse. He got out of the chair. “I’ll come.”
“You bet you will,” Lindsey winked at Jesse, who blushed.
“Lindsey!”
Lindsey put on his most innocent look. “What?”
Jesse nearly giggled but stopped himself. “Nothing.”
Faith watched Druscilla twirl happily in the sunshine. How long had it been since the last time she’d felt so free. Turning to one of the other officers, she sighed and mentally resolved herself. “Get me the number for Liam O’Malley. And be quick about.”
Eoin waited impatiently at the coffee shop, deathly worried for his brother. What kind of place was Lindsey working at where they bugged the offices. And why in the hell was he allowing that man to rape him. Absently, Eoin sipped his cup of coffee as he thought about everything he had just seen and heard.
Lindsey was involved with the sixteen-year-old son of his boss. This alone was causing Eoin a great deal of worry and suspicion. How on earth had Lindsey ever gotten involved with this boy? And why? And then the boy had been extremely upset that Lindsey had lied about what that older lawyer was doing. “Slimy bastard,” whispered Eoin in angry confusion. “What in the hell has he been doing to them that Lindsey would ever stoop to doing something like this? There’s got to be a good reason.” At least the boy hadn’t been aware and accepting of it. “And who would?” he asked his cup of coffee. “Who the hell would?”
Liam stared numbly at the receiver of the phone for a few minutes before placing it in its cradle.
“Li,” said Giles worriedly, “what’s wrong?”
Turning to look at his lover, Liam took a deep breath to steady himself. “Dru,” he said hoarsely. “They found Dru.”
“They found her?”
“In LA. She…” Liam’s voice cracked and he stopped to regain his composure. “She’s alive.”
“That’s good news then,” said Giles, worried at how shaken Liam looked.
“She… Oh, god, Rupert…” Liam turned away, unable to say what was wrong.
Giles stepped forward and pulled Liam into a tight embrace. “It’s alright, Li. Whatever it is, we can deal with it.”
“Can we?” asked Liam bitterly. He pulled back a bit and looked Giles straight in the eyes. “She’s not all there, Rupe. Whoever took her, they… they…” Liam trailed off, unable to finish.
Unable to respond to this, Giles tightened his embrace and held his lover.
Lindsey glanced over at the passenger’s seat where Jesse was curled up. “Jesse, baby?”
“What?” came the miserable response.
“Will you listen to me now?” Lindsey pulled the car into a parking lot and turned the ignition off. He turned so that he was facing Jesse.
Jesse glanced over at Lindsey, careful not to look into bottomless blue eyes. “Fine. Tell me why you let him do that. Make up some pretty excuses. Lies.”
Lindsey cupped Jesse’s chin in his hand. “I won’t lie to you, Jesse. You know that.”
Jesse pulled away sharply, pushing Lindsey’s hand away. “But you did! You said he wouldn’t do anything. And then you-you let him…”
“To protect you, baby. It was to keep him away from you.”
“I wish you hadn’t! Better me than you! I don’t matter!”
Lindsey pulled Jesse into his lap, holding him close. “You matter, baby. You’re everything to me. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him from even laying a finger on you. I don’t care what he does to me, as long as he doesn’t touch you.”
Tear-filled brown eyes met blue. “I love you,” whispered Jesse just before Lindsey captured his lips in a tender kiss.
Dru tired of spinning in the grass and wandered over to where Faith was leaning against a building. “Hi. Miss Edith says you want to come play with me.”
Faith’s eyes widened for a second, then she smiled. “What did you have in mind?”
“Do you like tea parties? You can be the guest of honor,” giggled Dru as she batted her eyes at the police officer.
“Sure, I like tea parties. We can have one of the other officers run out and get us some things for it if you like.”
Dru smiled widely, all innocence, “That would be wonderful. Miss Edith was right. You’re a pretty person, inside and out.”
Daithi finished reading his book and dropped it to the floor by his bed. He listened to the noises that were still coming from across the hall and shook his head in mild amusement. He knew Whitney would probably kill him if he ever said anything, but he thought Devon was really good for Aiden. His grin widened as he remembered what they had been doing just a little bit ago. No one could say Aiden had ever really been a shy one to begin with, but some of the things Devon came up with made Aiden look positively timid.
Then Daithi’s thoughts turned to their other brothers and the reason he was here. Lindsey was in trouble. Again. Daithi stifled a sigh as he thought back on all the different scrapes Lindsey had had to be gotten out of over the years. But this time… This time it looked as though he’d gotten in way over his head. Flopping back down on the bed, Daithi tried to picture what would happen when Eoin found their errant little brother.
Maybe he’d rant and rave a little. Or a lot. A smile twitched at the corners of Daithi’s mouth at that thought. And Lindsey would definitely yell back. He’d never had a problem getting into Eoin’s face during a tirade. But Daithi knew it was Lindsey’s pride that made him do that. “It’s his pride that gets him into this shit,” whispered Daithi. “Bring him back safe, Eoin.”
“Daithi, you in there?” came Whitney’s voice from outside his door.
“Yeah, I’m in here.”
“Pizza’s gonna be here any minute. Could you do me a huge favor and see if you can get the other two to actually put some clothes on.”
Daithi snickered quietly before replying quite seriously, “Oh, I’m not sure if that’s possible. Did they even bring any?”
“Daithi!”
“Sorry. I will.”
Heaving himself off the bed, Daithi walked over to his door and stepped out into the hall. From the sounds coming across the hall, they were on round two. “Or three, or four.” He stopped in front of their door and opened it, popping his head into the room. “Should have brought my camera. Caid’d love to see this,” he said to the two on the floor. Aiden’s eyes widened until Daithi thought they were going to pop out of his head, while Devon whipped his head around and gaped at the older MacDonald. “Couldn’t you even make it to the bed?”
“Daithi!” came Aiden’s choked reply. “Why are you in here?”
“Whit wants you guys to get dressed and come get something to eat.”
“You could’ve knocked,” came the indignant reply.
“Where’s the fun in that?” snickered Daithi under his breath. He gave the pair an innocent look when Devon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Well, would you have answered?” he asked, putting just a bit of a puppy dog pout on his face.
Aiden grumbled something quietly, while Devon reluctantly got off his lover. “No, I guess not,” said the singer sheepishly.
“Well, then, there you go,” said Daithi as he closed the door, snickering quietly as he headed out into the living room.
Once he was out of the room, Aiden stayed flat on the floor covering his face with his hands and moaning about brothers who had no sense of decency.
Devon eyed his lover curiously. “So are Daithi and Whitney the only ones who can do that pout, or is that a family thing?”
Aiden sat up and stared at Devon in shock. “My brother just interrupted us when he knew perfectly well what we were doing. Not just interrupting but actually coming into the room, and all you can think about is him pouting?”
Devon grinned widely. “You betcha.” He headed toward their suitcases while Aiden glared at him. “So, I suppose we’d better get dressed before he comes back, huh.”