Thunderstorms on the Horizon Read online

  Working with this tall hunk of man? “Hell, yes,” Colby said before he could think twice about it.

  Morgan handed the kid off to some waiting officers then held out a business card to Colby, “Be here Monday morning six a.m. to begin your training.”

  Colby had stared down at the card, “But, um, but what about our drink, um,” he glanced at the name on the card, “Morgan?”

  Morgan threw his head back and laughed, “Can’t now, bud. You work for me. I don’t sleep with my employees.”

  “Well, fuck,” Colby mumbled.

  “Could’ve been good. Guess we’ll never know. See you Monday, uh…”

  “Colby.”

  “See you Monday, Colby,” Morgan had said and then he’d climbed into his car.

  Colby had never both regretted and been thrilled at a job offer at the same time.

  He and Stacey had moved to Denver. They’d married and he’d worked for Morgan. He’d been surrounded by both gay and straight gorgeous men. And he’d managed to resist them for years. He hadn’t been happy but he’d resisted. He thought he’d managed to touch Stacey enough to make her happy but when she came to him four months ago and asked for a divorce, he wasn’t really surprised….or all that sad either.

  He’d given her the house, completed work on one more case for Morgan and then asked the man for a leave of absence. Because there was something he needed to do and he didn’t want to wait any longer.

  He’d walked into Spike’s shop three days later. The man had looked up at him from under the hood of the sixty-seven GTO he was working on, raised an eyebrow and said, “There’s coveralls in the bathroom. Get your ass to work, French.”

  Colby didn’t stop grinning until he finished work four hours later.

  Colby smiled slightly as that memory faded from his brain but then his smile turned to a frown when he remembered what he needed to do. He clipped his phone into the mount on his handlebars, brought the map to Jaden’s hotel back up, fired up the bike and turned around.

  It was long-past time to set things right.

  Four

  JD pulled his car to a slow stop and shut it off. Rowan looked out the window at the large, well-maintained Victorian home and then let his eyes wander around the property. “So, this all belongs to the team? All of those houses too?”

  JD nodded his head, “Yep. We’re a close-knit group, Rowan, you’ll see.”

  Rowan reached for the door handle but stopped when he felt JD’s hand clamp on his arm, “Life doesn’t always turn out the way we think it will, Rowan, but that doesn’t mean whatever happens is bad,” he said as he stared out of the windshield.

  Okay.

  Weird.

  And creepy.

  Rowan frowned, “Um, are we getting out?”

  JD turned and grinned at him, “Sure thing. Let’s go introduce you to the team.”

  Rowan frowned because this JD felt like a totally different man than the one who said that weird shit a moment ago.

  “Are you okay?” he said before he reached for the door handle.

  JD nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go get this over with,” he said as he pushed his door open and stepped out.

  Rowan did the same thing and then turned to rest his arms on the top of JD’s car, “Get this over with? Is this some sort of hazing or something? I gotta say, JD, you’re not giving me warm fuzzies right now.”

  JD smirked, “There is nothing warm and fuzzy about this job, Row. If you’re here because you think this will be a cakewalk then you’re here for the wrong reasons. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong, but it is by no means easy.”

  Row frowned over at JD, “I got kicked out of the military because I refused to do the easy thing,” he sneered with finger quotes, “and tell them who the two men hidden in the shadows were on their surveillance video, with one man pressed up against the wall while the other sucked his dick. I could’ve told them. I should’ve told them since one of them was supposed to be my fucking boyfriend and he was cheating on me, but I didn’t. I don’t do anything the easy way, JD. Fuck easy. It fucking sucks.”

  JD winced, “Oh man, that’s rough. I’m so sorry, Rowan.”

  Rowan waved his hand in the air, “Doesn’t matter now. I’m over him.”

  JD saw that for the giant lie that it was. “Are you, um, are you sure it was him? I mean, you said they were hidden in the shadows.”

  Rowan glared at him, “I gave him that fucking hat as a joke and he wore it everywhere. Did I make a mistake coming here?” he snapped.

  JD sighed, “Maybe,” he whispered as he began walking towards the house.

  Maybe? What the fuck did that even mean? Rowan wondered as he followed the man towards the house.

  He stepped inside and waited for JD to close the door. “Do you want some coffee or something before you meet the guys?”

  Why did the guy seem to be stalling?

  “What the fuck is going on here? Did you call me here for a job or for something else? ‘Cause right now all of my instincts are screaming at me to walk out that damn door and never look back,” he said as his finger pointed at the front door.

  JD shook his head, “Mine too.”

  That statement surprised Rowan, “What?”

  “We usually get this right, we always get this right but this time I’m not so sure,” JD mumbled to himself almost like he’d forgotten Rowan was even there.

  Okay, this was now seriously fucked up.

  “Look, can you just drive me back to the airport and we’ll forget this ever happened?”

  “Is there a problem in here?” a deep voice said from behind Rowan. He turned around and almost groaned when he saw the gorgeous hunk of man standing at the end of the hall.

  “Who, who, who…..” Apparently Rowan had been possessed by an owl…a really stupid one.

  The man grinned at him and Rowan felt his knees buckle. Luckily he was next to the counter and it kept him from collapsing to the ground.

  “Babe, introduce me to the owl,” the man said.

  JD sighed, “Brent, Rowan. Rowan, my husband Brent.”

  Rowan’s mouth fell open as he looked between the two men, “You two are, are…”

  “Married, yeah. Coming from Vegas and all, I would’ve figured you’d heard all about marriage,” Brent said with a smirk.

  “Oh, I know about it. I’m just hoping the two of you have a website where you post your sex videos,” Rowan blurted out and then immediately clamped his hand over his mouth, “Holy fuck, I’m so sorry. That was completely inappropriate.”

  Brent held out his hand for Rowan to shake it, “Completely inappropriate is my middle name. Nice to meet you, Rowan.”

  Rowan clamped his hand over Brent’s warm, soft, strong one. “Are you for real? You two are really, you know, like a couple?”

  “We aren’t like a couple, we are a couple,” Brent said with a smirk.

  “Fuck,” Rowan whispered.

  Brent’s sparkling eyes looked over at JD, “We do that. A lot. Sometimes right here in this kitchen.”

  “Brent,” JD mumbled.

  Brent’s grin got bigger, “Come on, babe. You know everyone needs to be warned.”

  “Warned about what?” Rowan whispered, although he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle the answer.

  Brent leaned closer to whisper, “We have a tendency to forget there are other people in the house. It’s all his fault though. He’s so damn sexy I can’t keep my hands off of him.”

  A shiver shot down Rowan’s spine.

  “Oh god,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, JD says that a lot too,” he said as he pulled back and then he winked at Rowan….and Rowan damn near came in his pants.

  Brent wrapped an arm around Rowan’s shoulders, “Come on back and meet the guys,”

  “Brent,” JD said from behind them.

  “Come on, babe. Everyone is waiting.”

  With a heavy sigh, JD followed them down the hall.

  The
second they stepped into the room that had a large table with every chair filled and all eyes pinned on Rowan, he felt his anxiety ratchet up a few notches.

  But when his eyes landed on one man, a familiar man with piercing blue eyes the color of a sparkling sea, with hair, longer now than he had ever seen it but still the color of a sun-kissed wheat field….the man who had shattered Rowan’s heart, he remembered with a stabbing clarity as he slammed his invisible shields down and once again became the robot he’d been for almost a year now.

  Five

  King noticed it the moment Rowan’s shields dropped down into place. Nobody else saw it, but he did. Because he knew this man better than he knew himself.

  He knew the moment that those shutters fell, cocooning the man’s heart in their icy grip so that Rowan wouldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t be happy, he couldn’t be sad, he couldn’t be scared, he couldn’t be angry – he was just on autopilot, he was a robot. King knew the signs because he had taught Rowan how to be this way.

  They’d both had to do it, both on the dangerous missions they were on and to protect each other from anyone in their unit finding out about the two of them.

  It was before don’t ask, don’t tell was abolished and things were different in the service for men like them. They didn’t want to face the hassle of getting caught, of having to face their commanding officers and telling them that yes, they were in love with each other. They didn’t want to worry about getting kicked out.

  But that’s just what had happened, wasn’t it? Even though it had been after DADT had been erased from the books, it didn’t matter. Because they had a videotape. A videotape showing sexual activity when those men were supposed to be on duty. And both Kingston and Rowan had disobeyed direct orders to disclose who was on the tape.

  Oh, at first King had thought that Rowan had said something. He’d even accused him as such when Row came back from yet another interrogation session and began angrily packing his bags. He’d yelled at him. Shouted, ‘You told them it was me, didn’t you?’ even though he knew the second the words had left his mouth that they weren’t true.

  Though Rowan had every reason to rat him out. Because Rowan thought that it was Kingston on that tape. He’d really thought that King had cheated on him, would cheat on him….like that would ever happen.

  But before King could tell Row that he didn’t mean those words, that he was sorry and that it wasn’t him on that tape even though it looked like it was, Row was gone. He never had time to tell Rowan that his hat had been stolen when he was in the shower, that he suspected who it was getting their dick sucked but still wasn’t sure. He hadn’t said those words because he’d been frozen with hurt.

  Hurt that Rowan could ever think him capable of that in the first place.

  Didn’t Rowan know that the sun rose and set because he loved King? That in King’s eyes, no one else even existed except for Row? How could he not know that after four years together?

  King had just emerged from his freeze and opened his mouth to tell Rowan everything when the sharp knock at their barracks door stopped him. And then those MPs walked in and took King away for questioning, during which he didn’t answer any one of their questions. He’d received his discharge papers and when he returned to his barracks to finally talk to Rowan, the man was gone.

  And Kingston had been trying to talk to him ever since.

  But the man steadfastly refused to let King anywhere near him.

  He could write a letter or an email but he knew that Rowan wouldn’t believe a word of it without looking into King’s eyes.

  But the man stubbornly refused to do that.

  Until now.

  “Guys, this is Rowan Bates. He’s thinking of joining us by way of Vegas, where he was working as a cab driver while waiting for a position with the local sheriff’s office to open up. Before that he was an MP in the army.

  One guy’s eyes snapped over to Kingston’s, “Hey, you were an MP too, correct?” the man said.

  King dipped his chin, “I was.”

  “That is so cool. You two should partner up, since your work styles would be similar,” the guy said.

  King’s eyes snapped over to Row’s and the man was glaring at the other man so hard he was surprised the guy couldn’t feel it like a punch in the face.

  King glanced back at the man (Bob? Brian?) across from him who’d said it and he saw the guy next to him reach over to clasp his hand on the table, “Billy, babe, I’m sure Drake and JD will make the right decision on who should partner up.”

  Billy’s eyes lit up as he smiled, “You’re right Ben. After all, they did stick us together didn’t they?”

  Ben brought Billy’s hand up to his mouth and kissed it, “That they did, my love.”

  Billy’s head dropped onto Ben’s shoulder with a sigh.

  “Okay, enough with the lovefest. I think…”

  “Brent,” JD said.

  Brent turned and frowned at JD but went right on talking, “I think that Ben…”

  “BRENT,” JD said louder.

  Brent frowned again, “What?”

  “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

  “But we’re in the middle of…”

  “Please?”

  Brent let out a huff, “Fine. Talk amongst yourselves for a moment. We’ll be right back,” he said as he turned towards the door. Just before he stepped out said over his shoulder, “Oh, and Billy’s right. I think you two would make perfect partners.”

  “Brent!” JD hissed at him from the hall.

  Brent stepped out, closing the door behind him, “What is wrong, babe?”

  “I’m pretty sure there’s a history with those two, a really bad history.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. And I’m not sure putting them together is the best idea.”

  Brent frowned as he looked at the closed door. He looked like he was trying to use x-ray vision to see through the wood…and he was concentrating so hard it was almost laughable.

  “No,” he finally said.

  “No?”

  “No. I think this will be good for them. They’ll work their shit out.”

  “While they’re on the clock? What if they fuck up an Op because they’re fighting? What if someone dies because they’re too busy not communicating.”

  Brent shook his head, “That won’t happen.”

  “How do you know, babe?”

  “I just do.”

  “How?”

  “It’ll work, babe.”

  “Brent, how do you fucking know?”

  Brent’s head whipped around, “I just do, okay? Can’t you trust my gut, for once?”

  “For once? For once? I always trust your gut, Brent, always.”

  Brent grinned and slid his arms around JD’s waist, “You love my gut,” he said as he kissed JD’s cheek. “You love everything about me,” he mumbled as he trailed those kisses down JD’s neck.

  JD groaned, “I do but this time…”

  “This time, what?” Brent said as he pulled back and looked at JD.

  “Are you sure, Brent? Are you really sure?”

  “I’d stake my reputation on it, babe,” Brent said as he leaned back in and pressed a kiss to JD’s collarbone.

  JD snorted a laugh, “That’s not saying much. Fuck, you need to stop or we’ll be fucking in the hall.”

  “Again?” Brent said and JD could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Shut up,” JD said with a chuckle as he shoved Brent’s shoulders, “come on, let’s go see if this gut of yours was right.”

  Six

  Jaden was walking out of the tiny bathroom drying his hair with a towel when he heard the rumble of a motorcycle. He froze for a moment and then smiled as it brought back warm memories of a certain tall, handsome, black-haired man pinning him against the wall and fucking him stupid. But then he remembered what that man had done afterwards, not that he should’ve expected anything more, but it had still stung when Colby had refused to swap
phone numbers, instead giving Jaden some cryptic I’ll see you around Jaden, you can count on that bullshit and driving off.

  Fuck that noise.

  Jaden was better than that, he deserved better than that.

  He walked over to his bag to grab clean clothes when a shadow passing by the window of his room made him freeze again.

  And then a hard knock on his door echoed throughout his room.

  Frowning, he tied his towel around his waist and walked over to the door.

  “Who is it?” he said without opening it since there wasn’t a peephole and he knew better than to open a motel room door to a stranger.

  “Can I come in, Jaden?”

  It couldn’t be. There was no fucking way. Jaden had never told Colby where he was staying.

  Still not taking any chances, Jaden slid the door latch closed and then unlocked the deadbolt and slid the door open the few inches that the latch would allow.

  His eyes went wide when he saw Colby standing there staring at him.

  And then they narrowed in suspicion, “How did you know I was here?”

  “If you’ll let me in I’ll tell you everything, Jade, I promise.”

  Jade.

  The man had called him Jade.

  There’s only one other person in the world who had called him Jade and that was his brother, Westley.

  “You knew my brother,” he whispered on an exhale as his heart constricted painfully in his chest.

  Agony washed over Colby’s face, “Please, Jade, just let me in,” he said, his voice cracking almost as if he were trying to keep from crying.

  Despite his pounding heart, shaking hands and every instinct in his body telling him not to, Jaden unhooked the door latch, pushed the door open farther and stepped back to let Colby inside.

  The man walked directly over to one of the vinyl sling-back chairs at the small round table in the corner, slumped down in it and leaned his elbows on his thighs, staring down at his hands.

  Jaden closed and relocked the door and then walked over to sit on the end of the bed. And then he just stared. He didn’t want to get Colby’s attention or ask him any questions because, because, well, because he was terrified.