"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," Creed added. “And thanks for stopping by.”
"Maybe you should go with him too," Winter said, surprising himself.
"What?" Creed said in shock. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
"You obviously don't trust me enough to tell me you think my friends were murdered by two people I trust, or you would have confided in me. But instead, you went to Riley. I thought...I thought we were moving forward, but I guess I was wrong."
“That’s not true, you’re misunderstanding the entire situation,” Creed shouted.
“Really? You run to another man to talk to him about something that doesn’t concern him in the least. Richard and Caroline weren’t his friends. They were mine!”
“Take that back,” Creed demanded.
“No, he’s right, Creed,” Riley started.
“I don’t need you to come to my defense,” Winter snapped. He knew he was directing his anger to the wrong person, but having Riley in his home unnerved him. Winter could only think Riley wanted to be with Creed which was why he made himself available to him. The thought that Creed turned to the other man hurt in more ways than one. “Why don’t you both just…”
"Winter, don't do this," Creed said stepping closer to him and reaching for him, but Winter backed away.
Tears clouded his vision, and his heart ached. Deep down, Winter knew his jealousy was overriding common sense, but it hurt that Creed didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on.
"Please, just go." He turned and went back up the stairs and to their bedroom, closing the door and leaning against it. He slid to the floor letting go of his pain.
* * *
"Aren'tyou going to go after him?" Riley asked.
"No, he needs some time to calm down, and so do I as a matter of fact. So, fill me in on what you've found," Creed said looking away from the stairs.
"Creed, I..." Riley started.
"Don't say you told me so, not now. Just tell me what you found out."
Riley nodded. "All right. I couldn't find much on Terry Hicks. It’s like he doesn't exist."
"What about your contacts?" Creed asked.
"None of my contacts could find out anything on him either. It’s like the guy’s a ghost.” That bothered Creed, and it brought back what Richard said in his letter that Terry was someone he couldn't pinpoint.
"What about Jarrod?"
"As for Jarrod, I've found a few things that I'm not even sure Richard knew about."
"Like what?"
"He has a six-year-old child?"
"What? He has a mate?"
"She isn't his mate, from what I gather, just a drunken one off. They agreed they'd go their separate ways and Jarrod wouldn't contact them again."
"And he agreed?" Creed asked in shock.
"Yeah."
"How did you find this out?"
"I spoke to the mother of his child after I found out about her."
