“I’m not sure if I should yell again or say fuck it and let you do what you want,” he replied.
“I like my job and I’m damn good at it. Forest isn’t part of that. Outside of this, he has no reason to be. There’s no separating him from the threat on me though. They’re tangled together.”
“I know. Goddamit, I know. The problem is, we have no idea who this is. Worse, they could be after me or another one of us and are using you as the scapegoat.” Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t think they are. Honestly, you’ve done a lot for me, so this isn’t surprising. Every threat against you is one against the whole goddamn organization. Vinnie, call Lawson and have him review our list to identify who has a grieving spouse, significant other, parent, who the fuck knows. Then have him take that list and dive deeper into their online presence to see if they’re still mourning.” That was a good idea, one I hadn’t thought of before. Either this person was still in mourning or just supremely angry. I took away a loved one.
I didn’t kill innocent people. Not once had that happened. Every person I’d given an eternal nap to deserved it. Fuck those people. They’d either tried to hurt one of us, frame us, cheat Jordan, take over what Jordan had, or do something stupid in the city. There were many ways to find themselves in one of the warehouses around here, waiting for death.
“Go home,” Jordan said. “It’s Friday afternoon. You have the weekend off. I’ll let you know what Lawson finds.”
“Yes, sir.” I no longer argued with time off. It used to bother me when I had no reason to be home. There was only so much pacing a person could do. With Forest in bed with me, I was more than happy to have time with him.
Leaving Jordan’s home, I decided to take the stairs. It gave me a few minutes to think. Forest would ask for an update; one I didn’t have. Every time I said I had nothing new, I had a pang of guilt. Shouldn’t I have been able to figure this out by now?
I was almost to my floor when my phone rang. I reached into my pocket to retrieve it and saw it was a call from the prison, an employee, not the asshole who was related to me. After all, I needed to be notified when he finally died.
A little ball of excitement formed inside me. I kept hoping someone would kill him. Of course, I could pay for that to happen. Many skilled murderers on the inside would be more than happy to do a favor for the mafia boss of East Dremest. That was who it would be for. Jordan had offered to make it happen time and again, but I couldn’t take him up on it, or do it myself. I kept hearing my mom say I wasn’t that kind of person. Except, she didn’t know me as I was now. She died before she could find out who I was outside of that hellish upbringing.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Mr. Copeland, this is Officer Walker from the Dremest Prison. Your father has taken a turn for the worse.”
“He’s not dead yet?”
“No.”
“Call me back when he is.” I hung up.
Unless he died, I didn’t care. There would be no making amends, not that he was. I’d heard some people developed a sudden interest in righting their wrongs when they were nearing death. Not that I believed in Heaven and Hell, but I hoped the devil himself, or whoever his equivalent was, stared my father in the eyes and told him they couldn’t wait to drag him to the afterlife. Burn, baby, burn.
I entered the code for my apartment door and turned the knob. Forest looked up from where he was perched at my dining table, papers spread out in front of him. He was delicious in his T-shirt and cotton shorts.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Apparently, I didn’t mask my irritation at the phone call. Then again, the longer Forest and I were together, the better he was at deciphering the subtle tells Ihad that no one else had ever picked up on besides Oleander. He never told anyone about them. If he did, the other guards would know my moods, and I didn’t want that.
“The prison called. My father is still breathing, so it’s a disappointment.”
“Would it help to go down there and see him barely hanging on?” And this was why Forest was meant for me. Instead of suggesting I get closure or say to my father all the words I’d never told him, he asked if I wanted to view the asshole’s failing body to know the end was almost here.
I walked to him and planted a hard and fast kiss on his lips. “Thank you.”
He was breathless by the time I pulled back, his eyes half-lidded. “For what?”
“Being you.”
The grin he gave me was stunning. “I don’t know how to be anyone else. About that kiss though… It wasn’t nearly enough.”
“Are you done working?”
“Yes. I was just doing more now, otherwise I’d sit and worry until you were back.”
“Good.” I closed the lid of the laptop and took Forest’s hand in mine, bringing him to his feet. “I’d really like you naked in my bed right now.”
“Yes, please.”
A groan tore up my throat. Forest was so willing to hand his body over to me. There was no fear in him, no trepidation that I might hurt him. He knew I’d care for him.
We hadn’t gone further than using our mouths and hands. I couldn’t deny how much I wanted a deeper connection to him. Whether it was me fucking him or him fucking me, I needed us joined. There would be no voicing that though, no pushing Forest further than he was ready to go.
The moment we were in the bedroom, Forest took off his clothes, and I did the same.
