Oh, it wasn’t the dead who woke Graham, but his phone buzzing on the nightstand beside him.
In their rush to put the bodies back where they belonged, and the exhaustion that followed, he’d forgotten to put the phone on silent.
Reaching over, he saw a text had come in, and he wasn’t sure who it was from.
As soon as he opened it, his heart bottomed out in his chest, and he wanted to be ill.
It was from one of the men he’d slummed with in order to self-destruct—before Michael came back.
Oh, shit.
This was bad.
‘Word around the village is you have a new man, Laddie. We need to talk. Bring cash, and you can buy the photos that I took of me fucking that ass of yours. There’s also video. You know, just in case you ever tried to deny what a filthy whore you are. If you don’t show, I’ll make sure that video of you begging me to fuck your ass is on everyone’s phone. You’ll never have a moment of peace here. Come alone. Meet me in your favorite alley. Don’t make me angry.’
Oh, no.
This freaked him out.
He knew what Michael had said, but he was afraid to lose him and his job here.
There was no way the Blackhawks would keep him around if they heard about this. It was foul and disgusting, and he knew exactly what he’d done in that alley.
COUNTLESS TIMES.
Glancing over at his husband, he was out cold in bed. The long day and no sleep the night before had worn him out. Add to it they’d consummated their wedding night a couple of times.
What was he supposed to do?
Jesus.
This was his mess, and he needed to clean it up. It wasn’t fair to make Michael face this each time they went into the village.
This was their home now.
Slowly getting out of bed, he left his phone in case Michael woke up, and he needed to find him. It wasn’t that he wanted to hide this, but instead, he was going to handle it.
It was clean up in the alley time, and that was his job.
Pulling on his jeans and shoes, he stared down at the man he loved.
Oh, this wasn’t going to end well for the man who opted to blackmail him.
He wasn’t going to cower.
He was going to break someone’s face. There would be no payout. There would be no hiding. Graham wasn’t scared or willing to die.
What he was willing to do was fight for his marriage. Michael was worth it.
After his things were on, he crept out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. It was dim in there. Glancing around, he saw no one, so the coast was clear.
Graham pulled on his shoes, and walked out the door to enter the garage from the outside.
When he was gone, he hadn’t been paying attention. Because he missed him.
Gryphen was in the kitchen, tucked back into the shadows. He’d come down for a snack while Ian was all tied up.
Literally.
