Cade Creek 11 - Race Against Time (10 page)

Race was terrified, and yet, he wasn’t. He felt safe standing there between Ari and Vinnie. He trusted them to keep him safe, and that unnerved him more than watching Terrence sputter in Harvey’s grasp. He knew next to nothing about the two men standing beside him. There was just something about them that set Race at ease.

Having Harvey there helped as well. The man might not have been part of the Dirty Dozen for long, but he had always been nice to Race, and he was Dorian’s baby brother. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the sheriff or his deputy being there. In his experience, the police weren’t always the good guys.

“I think we all need to calm down here,” Sheriff Riley said. “Harvey, let go of this gentleman and step back.”

Harvey grumbled under his breath, but did as the sheriff directed.

“Now, what seems to be the problem here?” the sheriff asked as he glanced at each man standing there.

“This man assaulted me,” Terrence said as he pointed at Harvey. He then pointed at Vinnie and Ari. “Those two men kidnapped my lover and assaulted him. If I hadn’t come along, who knows what they would have done to him. I want them all arrested.”

Sheriff Riley’s eyes swung back to Vinnie and Ari.

Race’s jaw dropped when Vinnie rolled his eyes. “Ari, Race, and I were here on a date, minding our business when this man”—Vinnie waved a hand toward Terrence—“came in and started shit. He’s the one who should be arrested for assault. He’s the one who broke Race’s arm and beat him up.”

“Is this true, Race?” Sheriff Riley asked.

Race trembled as he nodded. He leaned on Vinnie, wanting to hide inside of him. He felt a little better when Vinnie wrapped his arms around him, but not much. When he felt another body press in behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“That is preposterous!” Terence shouted. “I have an alibi.”

“Seems awful convenient that you have an alibi when we haven’t even said when the assault took place.” Vinnie’s voice turned sardonic. “Let me guess, you were busy any night we say Race was attacked, no matter what night it was.”

Race’s eyebrows shot up when one of Terrence’s goons chuckled. The guy quickly schooled his features as if he knew he had fucked up by the harsh glare Terrence shot in his direction. Race knew how he felt. He didn’t like being on the receiving end of one of Terrence’s looks either.

Race lifted his neon-green casted arm. “This wasn’t the only time Terrence beat me up. While the authorities dismissed it as a lover’s tiff, I filed reports the other two times he knocked me around. There’s got to be at least a police report somewhere.”

Sheriff Riley’s eyes narrowed as they turned on Terrence. “I do believe you will need a lawyer, sir.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Terrence sputtered. There was a sense of disbelief in his tone as if he couldn’t quite understand why a police officer was listening to Race instead of him. “Whatever he is saying, he made it up. I barely know him. I have no reason to assault him.”

“If you barely know me, then why won’t you leave me alone?” Race asked, growing tired of this all. He just wanted to be left alone. “I don’t like you. I don’t want you. I want nothing to do with you. Go away and leave me alone.”

Race jumped back when Terrence snarled and raised a hand in the air. Before the blow could land, Race was swung around out of the man’s reach, Vinnie and Ari moving to stand between him and Terrence.

At the same time, Sheriff Riley grabbed Terrence’s arm and swung the man around, pinning his arm behind his back. The unmistakable sound of handcuffs being clicked closed filled the air, echoing in Race’s mind.

Terrence was being arrested?

“Get him out of here, Deputy,” the sheriff directed.

“You have the right to remain silent,” the deputy began as he started escorting Terrence toward the entrance. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.”

Race pushed between Vinnie and Ari, refusing to miss out on watching someone finally believe him. The sight of Terrence being led away by the deputy was one he thought he’d never see. Terrence was shouting and struggling the entire way, his two goons following behind him.

“Is it over?” he whispered.

“You’ll have to go down to the station and give a statement,” Vinnie said. “And I’m pretty sure the sheriff will want to know about the other two times Terrence beat you up, but yeah.” Vinnie grinned. “I think it’s over.”

Race didn’t realize how much he had been waiting for those words. The second they were out of Vinnie’s mouth, Race let out a sob and collapsed against the man. Once again, he felt Vinnie’s arms close around him and then Ari pressed into him from behind. They were both trying to comfort him, protect him. It wasn’t something Race was used to.

“We’ll need Race to come down to the station and give a statement.”

Sheriff Riley’s voice broke into the comfort Race had found in Vinnie and Ari’s arms.

“He’s pretty upset, Sheriff,” Vinnie said as his arms tightened around Race. “Can he come down in the morning?”

The sheriff gave a little huff that brought a smile to Race’s lips. “Fine, but I expect to see him first thing in the morning. I can only hold this idiot for seventy-two hours without charging him.”

Race inhaled as he raised his head to look at the sheriff. “You’re going to let him go?” Race didn’t know if he could go through this again.

“Not if I can help it,” the sheriff replied. “That’s why I need your statement. Tomorrow, I’ll contact the authorities where you filed your previous reports. Hopefully, with them, and what I personally witnessed tonight, we’ll be able to get a judge to hold him over to trial.”

Race gulped. “Trial?” There was going to be a trial?

“Look, Race, I’ll be honest with you. Unless we have concrete proof that Terrence Flannery was the man who attacked you, I doubt we have a case.”

“But he—” Race snapped his mouth closed when the sheriff held up a hand.

“While we may not have a solid case without evidence, and your word alone won’t cut it, that self-important jackass doesn’t know that.” The sheriff sounded about as disgusted with Terrence as Race was. “Once we take all of our reports, pictures of those injuries you got there, and present them to Flannery and his attorney, I imagine the man will take a plea.”

“I have pictures,” Race said. “Every time he beat me up, my friend Aldrin took pictures.”

“We’ll need those pictures.”

“I can call Aldrin and have him e-mail those pictures to you.”

The sheriff pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it over. “Tell him to e-mail them to the e-mail address on that card. Have him put your name in the subject line so I know to look for them.”

Race breathed deep as he stared down at the card. “I will.” Maybe it was finally going to be over and he could start to build a life without fear. “I want this to be over with. I’m tired of being scared all of the time.”

“It’s over, baby,” Ari said. “The sheriff has Terrence in custody. Once all of the evidence gets to him, he can build a case against Terrence and put him away for a very long time. You don’t have to be scared of him anymore.”

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Vinnie said. “I think we’ve about worn out our welcome with Harvey.”

Race glanced over to see the massive bar owner standing near the bar, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. Race would have been worried about the deep frown on Harvey’s face if he didn’t know the guy pretty much always looked that way.

“How mad do you think he is?” Race asked as they headed for the front door. He was glad Vinnie kept an arm around him because his eyes were on Harvey, wondering if he would ever be allowed to visit The Rust Nail again. It wasn’t looking promising.

“Harvey doesn’t like shit started in his bar,” Vinnie said. “He likes it to be a place where people can come and relax, let their hair down, so to speak. He hates people making trouble.”

“Oh man,” Race groaned, “he’s never going to let us in here again.”

They had pretty much done nothing but make trouble since they walked into the place two hours ago.

“It’ll be fine, Race.” Vinnie chuckled. “Harvey hates bullies even more than people making trouble.”

“Yeah, but…” Race grimaced as he raised his eyes to meet Vinnie’s. “We made a lot of trouble.”

“Honey,” Ari said, “we weren’t doing anything wrong. Terrence Flannery caused the trouble. Not us. We were just enjoying our dinner together.”

Race didn’t think it was that simple, but what did he know? His instincts were screaming at him to run, and yet he walked calmly out to the truck with Vinnie and Ari. The idea of leaving Vinnie and Ari felt worse than staying to deal with Terrence, and Race didn’t understand that. Any logical person would be running for the hills.

Obviously, he had lost his mind.

“Do you want us to take you back to Dorian and Artie’s place?” Vinnie asked when they reached the truck. “Or do you feel up to coming home with us?”

Was that even a legitimate question?

“We’ll make sure you are safe, Race,” Vinnie added when Race hesitated.

Ari stroked the back of his hand down the side of Race’s face. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Race. We’ll protect you no matter what.”

Race swallowed hard. “And if I wanted to do something?”

Because really, he had been thinking of not much else since they day he met the two men. He would be stupid to turn down this opportunity now that it had been presented to him. He didn’t know what his future held, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be pretty. Just once, before it went totally to shit, he wanted to experience all that these two gorgeous firemen had to offer.

“Can I go back to your place with you two?”

Vinnie’s eyes widened just a bit before he yanked open the door, lifted Race up onto the bench seat, and then climbed in after him. Not more than a moment later, the passenger door opened and Ari climbed in, sandwiching Race between the two big men.

Race felt a smile come to his lips as Vinnie peeled out of the parking lot. “I take it this means yes?”

Vinnie chuckled as he stopped driving as if they were headed for a fire. “Yes,
passerotto
. This means we are taking you back to our place.”

When Race glanced at Ari to see how he was taking the news, the man was just grinning, but it was a grin of someone who thought they had just won the lottery. Race wasn’t sure what that was all about, but he sure didn’t want to burst the man’s bubble. Happy was a good look on Ari.

The need to be close to one of them, or both of them, was riding Race hard. He didn’t know if it came from his overwhelming attraction to the two sexy firemen or if it came from his need to have physical contact with someone that wasn’t going to knock him around. He just knew he needed it, so he went with it.

Vinnie was driving, so Race leaned in toward Ari. After a moment, Ari’s arm wrapped around him, pulling as close as they could get while seat belted in. It was pretty close.

Race tilted his head toward Ari’s neck and drew in a lungful of the man’s heady scent. It went straight to his head, making his head spin. “You smell really good,” he whispered.

“Yeah?”

Race breathed in again, shuddering. “Oh yeah.”

Ari chuckled.

Race stiffened when he realized what he said. He quickly sat up, trying to sit as straight as possible so he wouldn’t be leaning into either man. He couldn’t believe he had let himself voice what was in his head. While there had been some innuendos there, neither man had outright said they wanted him.

When they finally pulled up in front of a nice two-story craftsman-style house, Race was ready to run. He kept trying to remind himself that Vinnie and Ari were a couple—even if they didn’t broadcast the fact—and they didn’t need Race butting into their relationship. And even if they did invite him into their bed, it would only be for the night.

Race didn’t want just one night.

His heart felt heavy as he climbed out of the truck and followed Vinnie and Ari into the house. He was kind of surprised at how nice it was. He wouldn’t have expected it from two rough and tumble firemen.

The white wainscoting was a surprise, as was the matching trim lining the walls. The walls weren’t white, which Race liked. A bit of color—even some shade of blue-gray—was nice. Even nicer still was the beautiful hardwood floors. Race could just imagine how hard it was to keep them looking so shiny.

“Are you hungry at all?” Vinnie asked once they were inside and the door was closed.

Race shook his head, speech beyond him at the moment. He couldn’t get over how nervous both men seemed. Ari kept shooting Vinnie looks Race couldn’t decipher. A niggle of unease began to work up Race’s spine.

“Do you need anything to drink?” Vinnie asked.

Race glanced between the two men. There was an anxious tension thickening the air. Race swallowed again only to realize how dry his throat was. “Some water would be nice, thank you.”

Vinnie walked away, as if thankful to be doing something.