Chapter Two
Brunch.Who the hell had I become that I was asking my one-time fuck buddy to brunch? Well, Patrick was way more than a fuck buddy. He was one of my oldest friends and partners in crime from way back in high school. True, we had fooled around and been each other’s backup sex partners for longer than I could remember, but something had changed the last year or so. We did less rolling in the sheets when I was in town and more hanging out at bars or having a nice dinner. The truth was, we were both getting too old for fucking around and wanted something more real. Neither one of us had a clue how to get it. So, we were having brunch. Damn.
“You look about as perky as I feel this morning, sunshine.”
I heard Patrick’s deep rumble from over my shoulder and turned to watch him walk up to our table. Damn, he was still so handsome. Pity, we had never had more feelings for each other than friends. Over the years as a PI, he had lost his polish and gotten rougher around the edges. And man, did it work for him. His dark hair was longer now, curling around his neck when he didn’t have it pulled back. The color was slowly turning a little more salt than pepper. It worked for him though, because his neatly trimmed beard was mostly salt at this point and the contrast made the glacier blue of his eyes pop against his darkly tanned skin. With his tight jeans, faded tee, and black studded belt, he could be much more at home in a biker bar than at this upscale bistro ordering a croissant. But that was what he was doing now, and somehow he made it seem completely normal. He blended in seamlessly wherever he went, no matter the occasion. That was what had made him one of the most successful PIs in the state. But he was still the little shit I had rescued from a bully in high school. I’d never let him live that down.
“Don’t call me sunshine, Trick. You know how much I hate that. And why the hell do you feel bad this morning? You bailed on me last night. I thought you had a hot date and decided to drop the old ball and chain for a prettier model.”
I gave him a fake smile with all teeth, to show my annoyance at being ditched, but the truth was I hadn’t had a bad evening. Going to the Swallow had been a last-minute idea since I only ever went with Patrick, but I always loved to go and spy on the cutest bartender in New Orleans. That I actually got to talk to him and help him out was a bonus I hadn’t counted on.
“Oh, so we’re resorting to high school nicknames now, are we, Jamie? Two can play that game.”
I cringed because he had me. I hated being called Jamie even worse than sunshine, always had. My name was James, dammit, and I resented anyone calling me anything but my given name. It usually just pissed me off, but today, I just couldn't be bothered. I wanted to find out about what had happened last night more than I wanted to bitch.
“Fine, whatever, you can call me Jamie all you want, but I went to the Swallow last night after you ditched me and something happened.”
Patrick glanced up from his coffee cup and narrowed his eyes on me. I understood how he was so good at finding out all the details he needed for a case because, under that gaze, even I felt the need to confess my darkest sins.
“This kid was beaten up in the alley behind the bar, but he was terrified to call the police and refused to go to the hospital. The bartender there, the cute one. Ethan?”
Patrick nodded his understanding of who I was talking about but didn’t stop his intense stare into my eyes. I had to break eye contact because it got too intense when I started to talk about the cute twink.
“Um, yeah, anyway.” I fiddled with my coffee now, adding my cream and sugar and avoiding Patrick’s eyes. “Yeah, so Ethan had asked me for my help to get the kid up and moving. I think he thought he might be dead from the way he was first acting. But he didn’t seem to want to call the cops either. They both seemed sort of scared, although I don’t know why that would be if the guy who hurt him were already gone.” I took a chance to glance up, and Patrick had gone even more intense than before. He seemed to be playing scenarios in his mind for a second before focusing back on me.
“Was the kid’s name Donnie? Short kid, a little rough around the edges, dark hair, dark eyes?” I nodded because that was exactly who it had been. With my acknowledgment, Patrick seemed to deflate right before my eyes. He seemed years older and much more tired than he’d been seconds before. “Fuck, that’s another one,” he said before picking up his coffee and gulping it down.
“Another one, what?” I asked because I hadn’t seen Patrick this upset about anything in years, maybe decades if we were being honest.
“Another kid missing. There have been nine kids in this town who have gone missing in the last few years. They’re all small guys, hustlers, street kids, rent boys. Kids that were working the streets to survive, basically, but they had friends. When they just up and disappeared, they were reported missing. The cops haven’t done anything because most of them just don't care. There are some newer members of the NOPD who are trying to change things, but the old school thinking is that the homo street trash kids aren’t worth the trouble to find. I learned about it from a friend on the street and started looking into it a few years ago. I’m narrowing in on who I think is responsible, but I think it’s a cop, and I have to be careful. A contact called me this morning and said Donnie never came home last night. That it wasn’t like him, and he was worried. And with what you just told me, now I think I know why. Whoever did that to him last night, might have finished the job, or got to him somehow. What time did you see him last?”
I couldn’t speak for a second because I was so shocked by everything I had just learned. Yeah, I knew the world was a dangerous place, but I had been completely deluded that bad things like this didn’t actually happen. My mind went back to Ethan in the alley, and I was immediately concerned about his safety. Could he be in danger because he was involved last night? What had really happened in that alley before I got there?
“I saw him at about one or two this morning. After he left, I came back to the hotel to try to get some rest. Rhett texted me yesterday and said they were ready to confront Connor’s ex later today, so I needed to get some sleep for the drive home this morning.”
Patrick nodded his understanding because he was well aware of the situation with my nephew, Ladd, and his new boyfriend, Connor. Connor’s ex had been a growing annoyance lately, and with Ladd’s anxiety issues, all of us in the family were worried that this might cause him too much stress. We were worried if it got too intense, he might bail on the relationship. I and my other nephews, Rhett and Remy, had decided that we would figure out a way to make this guy go away so Ladd could relax and concentrate on this new relationship. I had asked Patrick to look into the kid, Troy, for me last week and Rhett had done some research, too.
“Yeah, I talked to Rhett yesterday about it. I’m really glad Ladd has finally found somebody. This Connor seems like a great guy from what I’ve learned from Rhett. He told me his plan for getting Troy to back off. At first, I wasn’t really happy about it, but then he explained his reasoning. Has he told you the details?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know anything about this whole plan other than they wanted me back there to be included for some reason. “I have no idea what it is, but I know Rhett never does anything without a plan and a reason.” That was beyond true. Rhett never did anything he wasn’t one hundred percent positive would be the best course of action.
“Yeah, Rhett knows what he’s doing. He looked into this kid, and something about him caught his interest, I think. He doesn’t want to make him go away. He wants to help him, sort of scare him straight. Now, don’t tell him I told you this, but I think he likes the kid. He said Troy was smart, and that he had everything going for him, but he just never had the support or structure he needed. Now, those were his exact words. Said the kid needed discipline and structure, and he could do anything he put his mind to.”
Both Patrick and I probably had the same look at that, eyebrows raised and eyes making pointed looks. Rhett never talked about anyone like that, except for once before. That had been an unmitigated disaster, but he was a little older now, and wiser. Rhett had always been older than the numbers on his birth certificate. Aunt Lillian liked to say he was an old soul. He loved structure and control, just the opposite of Remy, his twin. Even though they were both twenty-three, and identical according to their DNA, they were actually different as night and day.
“Wow, okay, so what’s his plan then? Why didn’t you like it?” I had never known Rhett to do anything distasteful, so Patrick saying he hadn’t liked the idea made me curious.
“He wants Connor to Skype with this guy and get him in a compromising position on camera so he can film it and use it for blackmail if he doesn’t leave Connor alone.”
I sat back in my chair and grabbed onto the edge of the table with both hands as my eyebrows once again hit my hairline. He couldn’t be serious.
“You can’t be serious! Rhett would never do something like that. If they got his permission, it wouldn’t be illegal, but it would damn sure be unethical. He’s a lawyer and a decent human being. You have to be wrong.”
Rhett would never do that, but Remy…
“Wait, was this Remy’s idea?”
Patrick smirked and shook his head.
