Blackbird Fly Home (Doyle Global Securities Book 1) Read online

  Blackbird Fly Home

  Doyle Global Securities #1

  By Kendel Duncan

  Acknowledgements

  For my readers – I do this for you, always.

  And for my wonderful family & friends– thank you for all of your support, encouragement and love. And for those out there searching for love – it’s out there, just keep your heart and your mind open because it just might surprise you when it shows up

  Books by Kendel Duncan (pen name for Dara Nelson):

  Drake Malone: Black Ops Heroes #1

  Storm Clouds Ahead: Black Ops Heroes #2

  Hurricane Force Winds: Black Ops Heroes #3

  When Tornadoes Collide: Black Ops Heroes #4

  Hazardous Weather Conditions: Black Ops Heroes #5

  Wind Chill Less Than Zero: Black Ops Heroes #6

  Dense Fog with No Visibility: Black Ops Heroes #7

  Severe Side Winds Ahead: Black Ops Heroes #8

  Books by Dara Nelson:

  Love in the Aftermath – Healing Hearts #1

  Love After Chaos – Healing Hearts #2

  https://www.facebook.com/DaraNelsonsBooks

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kendel-Duncan

  Published by Kendel Duncan

  Blackbird Fly Home© Copyright 2017 by Kendel Duncan

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the author except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. If you enjoyed this book, please recommend it to your friends and give positive feedback on Amazon & Goodreads. And I encourage you to reach out to me with your feedback on my website http://kendelduncan.wixsite.com/kendelduncan

  I’d love to hear from you!

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Warning – Contains adult subject matter, including graphic language, mentions of past sexual and physical abuse and rape. It is NOT suitable for younger readers – parental discretion is advised.

  Cover Design by: Dara Nelson

  Cover photo: Dan Skinner Photographer

  Editing/Formatting: Dare Press

  Published by: Dare Press

  Author’s statement

  These are trying, difficult, scary times in the world and I wanted to take a moment to say, no matter how you feel, how scared you are, how hopeless it seems, please know: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Don’t give up, don’t be silent. Together we have a voice, together we have strength and together we are one. I am with you, I stand with you, I’m here for you. And I will not be silent.

  Some places to find help/to help:

  List of International and US LGBTQ Youth Organizations

  The Trevor Project

  National Safe Place

  ACLU

  Table of Contents

  Author’s statement

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Epilogue

  Dedication

  To Tammy, Lauren, Donna, Christy, Ashleigh, Sha, Kim, Chris, Jyn, Cathy, Lilly, Debbie, Tracy, Bonnie, Fiona, Fee, Sian and all of my favorite ladies –

  ♥This one is for you ♥

  Jesse –

  Thank you for showing me how to fly.

  ~Noah

  Prologue

  Noah Pierce looked at the young man’s eyes over the rim of his glass as he took a drink. He knew that look, he’d seen it a thousand times when he looked at his own reflection in the mirror over a decade ago. That haunted, hopeless, resigned look. The one that said this man truly believed he had no hope of escaping the hell that he was currently trapped in.

  Noah had been there, fuck, he’d almost died there with the very man who currently had his proprietary hand resting along the back of the young man’s neck as he seemingly ignored the young man while he held a conversation with what appeared to be work colleagues. Noah knew differently though. That hand, those fingers, were there as the young man’s reminder of who he belonged to. Those fingers that seemed to be gently caressing and playing with the man’s hair, would actually stop to squeeze the neck or pull a little harder on that hair – the older man’s reminder that he owned the younger man, that he controlled his every fucking move.

  Fucking Jacob Knight.

  Noah had met him when he was in college in his senior year. Noah was majoring in Business Law, not with the goal of becoming a lawyer but more with the hope of maybe one day going into law enforcement. Jacob Knight was a top corporate lawyer who had been asked by the University to teach a semester course on Legal Ethics. Noah jumped at the chance to sign up for his class. He’d regretted that decision ever since.

  Oh sure, Jacob had acted like a complete professional at first, Noah would expect nothing less of the man. But on the day Noah took his final exam, Jacob had pulled him aside afterwards, struck up a conversation with him and, to Noah’s complete shock, began flirting with him and had asked him out. Despite Noah’s reservations about their age gap, Noah was just shy of twenty-two and Jacob was thirty-three, they began dating.

  At first it was wonderful, beautiful actually. Jacob took him to five-star restaurants, he introduced him to the symphony, and he made Noah feel like he was the most special man in the world. And for six months, he was. Until Noah graduated, got a job and Jacob asked Noah to move in with him.

  Then that dream life turned into a nightmare. Noah could do nothing to stop the memories other than grip his glass a little tighter as they washed over him….

  At first it was subtle things, Jacob saying that he worried about Noah too much so he wanted to be the one to drive him to and from work. Then he began asking Noah for his phone when they got home. He said it was so he could charge it for him, but Noah soon realized that he never got it back until the next morning when he left for work. And when he asked about it all he got was the question, why do you need it?

  Then there was the Wi-Fi at home. One day after eating dinner, he grabbed the laptop, tried to sign into the internet and found that the Wi-Fi password had been changed. When he asked Jacob what the new one was, Jacob said, “Anything you need to do on the internet, we can do together.”

  “But what if I want to log into my Facebook account?” Noah had said.

  “Oh, you don’t need that anymore, I set us up for a joint one. You can just shut that one down.”

  Noah had just stared with his mouth open. He wanted to argue, he really did, but what was the point? Up until now, Jacob had made it abundantly
clear that whatever Jacob wanted, Jacob got.

  And then the hitting started.

  Face slaps came first, always followed by profuse apologies and an, ‘I swear it’ll never happen again.’

  Those ‘it’ll never happen again,’ statements became so frequent that Noah got fired from his job after calling in sick more than he was actually there – because the bruises were too hard to hide and he hated the disbelieving looks he got from people after he told them he fell or some other lame-ass lie.

  Jacob had been happy that Noah got fired, saying that he made more than enough money for the both of them. And when Noah had said that he wanted to work, that he actually liked knowing that he contributed equally to the household, well, that hadn’t gone over very well with Jacob, who’d yelled at him that he was being a selfish prick and only thinking about his own needs. He needed to start thinking about Jacob’s needs for a change, the man had yelled. Noah had woken up with a black eye and a bruised, sore ribcage.

  A week or so after that, Jacob had gotten mad about something stupid, the laundry not being done on time or some such shit, and he’d twisted Noah’s arm behind his back so hard that they both heard it crack.

  Noah swore to himself while his wrist was casted, in yet another ER visit, that this was it, that he was going to leave Jacob as soon as he got home.

  But when they pulled into the driveway, “Where’s my car?” Noah mumbled, a little whacked out on pain killers.

  “Oh, since everywhere we go we’re always together, I figured we’d save the extra insurance costs so, I sold it.”

  “You sold my fucking car? How can you legally do that Jacob?”

  “You gave me legal authority to sign for you last month, remember?”

  “No, Jacob, I don’t remember.”

  “Yes, it was right after, um, right after we got home from the hospital after, uh, after slipped and fell into the coffee table.”

  “You mean, after you pushed me so hard that I broke my ribs. So, you had me sign a legal document when I was high on Percocet?”

  Jacob bit his bottom lip and looked out the window, “I wouldn’t go that far. You seemed lucid to me. You even wanted me to fuck you despite the broken ribs.”

  “No, you forced yourself on me when I was too whacked out of my mind to say no.”

  Jacob turned an angry glare to Noah, “Do not make me angry, Noah.”

  “Or what, you’ll break my other wrist?” he yelled as he held up his bandaged arm, “Why not? Let’s just head back to the ER right now and you can do it in the parking lot. It’ll save time.”

  “Noah, get in the goddamned house. We’ll talk about this inside,” Jacob said in that tone of his that left no room for argument.

  Noah threw open his car door, slammed it shut and stomped into the house, resolved in his decision to end this madness.

  When he walked in the door he announced, “I’m sleeping in the guest room,” because car or no car, he was breaking up with Jacob and leaving as soon as he got these meds out of his system.

  “Of course, babe. Where ever you feel most comfortable. I’ll go make your favorite cocoa with whipped cream,” Jacob said as he turned towards the kitchen.

  Noah stopped in his tracks and frowned at Jacob’s back because, no fight about the guest room? That made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. But they’d given him a shot of Demerol at the hospital and he could feel it in his system, making it hard to stand and feeling like he was floating on a cloud. He really needed to lie down.

  He walked into the guest room, stripped down to his boxers and climbed under the covers.

  When Jacob walked in a few minutes later with his hot chocolate, he said, “I don’t want to take any of the Vicodin they gave me, okay? I want to have a clear head for when we talk later. I’m just going to take a nap until this shot they gave me works out of my system and then we’ll talk. And we will talk Jacob. You broke my wrist, that is not okay.”

  “I know, love. But you really gave me no choice now, did you?” Jacob said as he smoothed his hand down Noah’s hair.

  “No, no, no choice?” he mumbled and then he turned away with a sigh because he really needed a clear head to have this argument.

  “Here, drink your cocoa. I didn’t make it too hot, so you can have it now,” Jacob said as he handed the cup to Noah.

  Noah took a few sips, “This is really good, thank you.”

  He finished it in just a few sips and handed the empty cup to Jacob.

  “Get some rest, love, we’ll talk when you wake up.”

  When Noah finally peeled his eyes open, that’s when he knew that the look of resigned hopelessness had shown up in his eyes, the same look that he saw in the eyes of the young man currently sitting next to an older but still handsome Jacob Knight.

  Because that following morning Noah had woken up not in the guest room, but in the master bedroom, naked and held tightly in Jacob’s arms, and his ass was sticky with come, come that he had no doubt Jacob had put there when he had fucked Noah while he was passed out. Passed out, Noah knew without a doubt, on too many pain drugs because Jacob had slipped his Vicodin into his cocoa. Nothing was beneath the man currently pressing his morning wood to Noah’s back. Nothing. Not even drugging the man he supposedly loved. How the fuck was he supposed to escape this?

  “How did I get in here?” he whispered, though his voice cracked like he’d been sleeping for days.

  “I carried you in here after you wet the bed, love.”

  Noah squeezed his eyes shut, “I, I, Jesus, I pissed the bed?”

  “Relax, babe, these things happen. You were hurting and weak, it’s understandable. Of course, I’ll have to throw out that mattress now but we can replace it later.”

  Noah opened his eyes and stared at the far wall as his heart and body went numb, “Of course we can.”

  They never did. Why bother when Jacob never let Noah leave his side for a second except when Jacob went to work?

  Nor did they ever have company that needed to stay over. Their company came and left…..literally.

  “Do you mind love?” Jacob whispered into his neck as his hard-on pressed between Noah’s cheeks.

  “Not at all,” Noah mumbled like a robot as he lifted his top leg.

  After all, it was better to give in than put up a fight…..right?

  One

  “Fuck,” Noah whispered as he tucked back farther into the shadows and rubbed his hand over his face, as if he could scrub those memories away with a swipe of his hand. Like that was ever going to happen.

  He should walk away. He should just fucking walk away. Walk out of this club and leave Jacob Knight behind, like he’d done ten years ago.

  But he couldn’t.

  Because Morgan hadn’t.

  And because he knew this kid, with those blue eyes that were so striking you could see them even in the dim lights of the club, would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  He pulled out his phone and dialed.

  “Hey there. How are you doing? I heard the Op you did was a little intense,” Morgan said when he answered the call.

  Fucking Caleb.

  Noah squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. Yeah that Op had been intense. He hadn’t been expecting that. It was supposed to be easy: pose as an escort, get fucked by the mark – Cole Gillette and place the listening device. Easy in, get laid, easy out. No problem, right? But then he’d felt Cole’s turmoil, his pain, his….the way he was so haunted by the man that he’d stared at on his TV screen while he’d fucked Noah, the man whose name Cole had called when he came in the condom in Noah’s ass: Kelly. Yeah, it’d been intense.

  He chose to ignore Morgan’s comments, even though he knew the man would want to revisit them later. Time was of the essence here.

  “I need your help,” he said, getting straight to the point.

  He heard Morgan suck in a breath, “Anything Noah, tell me what you need.”

  “I’m at Brubakers right now.”
/>
  “Brubakers, the club? Yeah, I know it. Are you drunk? Did something happen?”

  “He’s here, Morgan.”

  Dead silence answered him for at least half a minute. Noah had no doubt that Morgan would know exactly who Noah was talking about without saying the man’s name.

  After a mumbled curse, “Has he seen you?”

  “No.”

  “Get out, Noah. Leave by the back door if you have to but get the fuck out.”

  “I can’t.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “He’s got someone with him, Morgan and he looks, fuck, he looks just like me,” he said, the last word coming out like a choked sob.

  “You mean like a twin?”

  “No, I mean like a shell, like a robot, like a dead man walking. He can’t be more than twenty-five, Morg. I can’t leave him here with him. I have to help him.”

  There was a quietly growled curse from Morgan and then, “Okay, I’m on my way. But do not do anything until I get there is that understood?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “If he sees you, do not confront him. Just run. Am I clear?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Do not engage in any way, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Morgan, I’ve got it,” Noah said with an eyeroll. Like he’d ever disobey any order or request from Morgan. He and Morgan both knew that. The idea of it almost made him snort out a laugh.

  “I’ll call you when I’m in my car. I should be there in about fifteen.”

  “Okay, and Morgan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hurry.”

  The call ended and Noah continued to watch the young man for a few minutes.

  When someone tapped him on the shoulder, he gasped and jumped in his seat.

  “Relax, I’m a friend of Morgan’s. I’m Jake Brubaker, this is my place. He just called me. When he asks for my help, I don’t question, I just say yes. What do you need?” he said as he gave Noah’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

  Noah opened his mouth to say nothing but then he noticed that some of the servers were walking around with Brubakers ball caps on.