“What did he want?” Zane asked.
Arsen spit on the body. “He was warning Ever to keep his mouth shut about his and Jennika’s ‘arrangement.’”
“She had a partner?” Felix murmured.
“And a boss,” Ever said quietly, flushing when they all looked at him.
“A boss?” Jericho asked. “What do you mean?”
Ever wrapped his arms around himself, and Nico and Levi stepped closer instinctively. “He said his boss could think of a lot of things to do with someone like me. He didn’t specify what, but”—Ever shuddered—“I can guess.”
Atticus’s lip curled in disgust. “We all can.”
“So, they’re running a human trafficking ring,” Asa said.
“In my fucking neighborhood,” Jericho muttered. “That shit pisses me off.”
“He’s a Jamesville cop,” Nico said.
“It’s not our territory,” Levi reminded him. “Besides, we usually wait until someone asks us to get involved.”
“If we didn’t, we’d never stop working,” Nico said.
Jericho shook his head, his mouth a grim line. “Jennika lived in our neighborhood. Ever lived in our neighborhood. He was ours to look after.”
Asa sighed, sounding more put out than disturbed. “If there’s a trafficking ring and the cops are involved, it’s our job to take out the trash.”
Asa didn’t say that due to any sense of responsibility. He didn’t have the ability to feel guilt or remorse or empathy. Right now, Arsen envied that about him. He was swimming in guilt. Not about killing that piece of shit, but because he almost didn’t get there in time.
“Yeah, Dad will insist on it,” Zane said.
“If he came here to deliver a message, they’re going to notice pretty quickly when he doesn’t come back,” Asa pointed out. “Killing a cop is…problematic.”
Heat rushed through Arsen’s veins at Asa’s words. So what if it was problematic? He was hot all over, his blood whooshing in his ears, drowning out everything but his sudden rage. Every time he thought about Ever and that asshole touching him, it made him crazy. It made him want to revive the man and torture him slowly. It made him want to hear him scream.
“I wasn’t going to let him rape Ever,” Arsen snarled. “He had his hands all over him.”
“Whoa. Easy, killer. Nobody is saying you did anything wrong,” Jericho said. “We’re on your side.”
Felix gave a low “Mm,” then glowered at the corpse. “I fucking hate rapists,” he said, placing the heel of his boot on the man’s nose. It gave with a sickening, wet crunch.
“Gross,” Zane muttered.
“We can get rid of the body and we can clean up the evidence, but they’re going to know this was the last place he came and they’re going to come knocking,” Asa said.
“Good,” Atticus scoffed, drawing their attention.
“Good?” Avi echoed, giving his brother a curious look.
Atticus wasn’t a fan of the wet work. Everyone in that room knew he preferred to leave the murder to his husband.
“Yeah, good,” Atticus repeated. “They’ll come straight to us. If other cops come sniffing around, we’ll know exactly how deep this cover-up goes. If it’s just low-level thugs, we’ll know it was a gang paying off a cop. One is infinitely easier to clean up than the other.”
“You just want me to wait around and see who tries to hurt Ever again?” Arsen snapped. “That’s your plan?”
Arsen jumped when arms wrapped around him from behind. “They’re just trying to help,” Ever said quietly against his back, his warm breath puffing between Arsen’s shoulder blades.
Arsen’s hands covered Ever’s, all but engulfing them. He gave them a squeeze, hoping Ever knew that he didn’t think any of this was his fault. After a moment, he pulled Ever to stand before him, needing to wrap his arms around him, needing to feel the heat of his body and smell the shampoo in his hair. He needed to reassure himself that Ever was alive and well.
