Three Hearts Beat as One (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (20 page)

Anger was rising in the pit of Devin’s stomach. He did
not
like to be thwarted. What was Alessi driving at? That they had no hope of pinning any of this on Ben Pearson? “Could it at least lead to a search warrant? Maybe they’d find the turpentine can with Pearson’s fingerprints on it.”

“Of course Ben’s fingerprints would be on it. He bought it yesterday. Maybe he was making furniture wax, or was thinning some paint. See where I’m going with this?”

The mayor did have a point. Devin had been to Ben’s stupid yogurt shop a couple of times where Ben had bragged about hand-tooling some goddamned bar stools or something. So he did work with wood. Devin frowned. “So you’re telling me it’s a futile effort to nail Pearson for this harassment? What about when he tries to get the referendum on the ballot to shut down Positive Vibrations? He’ll have to sign his name to something
then
.”

“That’s why I asked you here. Anyone is perfectly free to attempt to get any referendums they want on the ballot. You could still never tie Ben to any of this criminal activity.” Alessi paused, and the air was heavy with importance. Devin waited for what came next. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Alessi’s rod twitch underneath his jacket. Alessi lifted his chin with arrogance. “I can block that referendum, Devin. I don’t agree that Positive Vibrations is a menace to this town. To each his own, right?”

“Right,” Devin said, unsure where this was heading.

“Between me and my buddies, we can make sure that referendum never sees the light of day. We can block it before Pearson so much as writes a draft. I can get Pearson off your back forever.”

“Well, that’s excellent, Mayor,” Devin said cheerfully. He waited for the other shoe to drop.

Alessi narrowed his eyes. “You’re one hot hunk, Devin. You know it was me last night in front of the Delight Hardware window. Now we share the same secret. We both like cock.”

Devin laughed, once. “It’s not a secret, Mayor. Chase and I don’t try to hide it. We don’t try to flaunt it, either—” Devin stopped, realizing how ridiculous it sounded. They had been tag-teaming in a fucking storefront window, for crying out loud. So he shut his mouth.

Abruptly the mayor dropped to his knees in front of Devin. Devin jumped back a few inches in the chair, but Alessi’s hand was out like a shot, gripping his crotch directly over the zipper. Zeal was in Alessi’s eyes, and he wore the same unfocused, horny expression as last night, as though drool was about to slide from the corner of his mouth. “You’re one hot stud, Devin,” he snarled. “I haven’t slept since watching you perform in that window last night. You’re driving me to distraction. I can’t focus on anything until I get your cock in my mouth. Watching you shoot against that glass just made me crazy. I’ve been jacking off all morning remembering it.”

Oh, God. That’s not a mental picture I want. I must bleach my eyes.
But Devin didn’t dare move for fear the mayor would turn against him. If he rebuffed Alessi, wouldn’t Alessi team up with Pearson and come down on Positive Vibrations even harder?

Alessi’s thumb traced the outline of Devin’s cockhead. Devin could practically feel the steam from Alessi’s breath warming his dick. “I can’t get that image out of my mind, Devin. Your girlfriend fucking you up the ass is right where I want to be.”

Devin finally found his tongue. “But you
can’t
, Mayor. I have
two
partners now, partners who would be very upset if they discovered someone else had his pecker up inside me.” He tried to keep his tone light as he gently pressed against the mayor’s shoulder to get him to back off.

But the mayor was a dog. His eyes were shining with such lust and admiration you’d think Devin was the world’s sexiest man. Right now he felt like the world’s biggest loser, put in an impossible position as he was. Of course he’d do anything to help Chase’s store. He had to feel out the mayor, see how determined he was in his quest.

The mayor squeezed Devin’s dick. Devin was mortified that it had actually lengthened under the mayor’s ministrations. Of course, it was just physiology, a natural reaction. Devin got hard by brushing against a rack of lingerie or rubbing against the mattress. Who didn’t? “You’re a god, Devin, an absolute god. Every time I see you walk down the street, I become distracted. You’re so built and you move like a leopard. Watching you come against that glass I nearly fainted. I wished there was no glass between us so I could swallow your tasty load.”

Devin squirmed, which didn’t help. How far was this twisted horndog going to take this, especially seeing as how they were sitting in his damned office? All Devin had to do was yell “Fire!” and his entire admin staff would know what he was up to. On the other hand, how far was Devin willing to go to save Chase’s store? Alessi was right. He probably
did
have the power to make Ben Pearson go away. It
was
a stupid referendum and Ben was only on the warpath out of spite, because he was the loser in this affair. Ben had lost Lacey to Devin and Chase through his own immature idiocy, and his plot of vengeance would never ultimately succeed.

But it could cost Chase a lot of agony, hassle, reputation, and money in the short term.

Devin said the first thing that came into his mind while pressing back on the mayor’s shoulder. “It was a lot of fun, yeah, sure, Jared. But that was all it can be—just a memory.”
Hoo doggie. I’m sounding like one of my worst country and western songs.
“I’m a faithful sort. You can appreciate that, can’t you, Jared? I could never mess around behind Chase and Lacey’s back. I’m sure you can appreciate that. You probably wouldn’t want your wife to—”

“Oh, dear Lord!” cried Alessi, and jammed his face between Devin’s thighs. Rubbing his face all over Devin’s embarrassing erection, he seemed nearly out of his mind, like some religious convert who had seen the light. He enthusiastically mouthed the length of the cock like a puppy worrying a squeaky toy. “Give me that meat! Dear sweet boy! You have made me the happiest man in the world!”

What?
Devin pressed harder, but the excited mayor was all over him like a hobo on a ham sandwich. “Mayor!” he cried, his voice becoming quieter the more urgently the official mouthed him. He could see the opaque door from here, but no one had approached it since the mayor had entered the office. He desperately prayed for an interruption of some kind. “This isn’t proper. It isn’t right!”

Alessi raised his beatific face to Devin. “I don’t care!” he said maniacally. His eyes were even swimming in his head. He was deranged with lust! “I’ve wanted you since high school, Devin. Watching your ass in your football uniform, jealous of the cheerleaders you dated, imagining what it was like taking your big cock out of—”

Devin tried to laugh it off, as though they were just making small talk over a martini. “Oh, you must be confusing me with someone else. I didn’t graduate because I had to take care of Hardscrabble—
someone’s at the door!
”

The mayor kneeled upright, alert like a rabbit at the sight of the shadows moving behind the door glass. A woman’s voice, presumably his assistant, was saying, “Now, I don’t know how this got locked. Did he have an appointment with you?” while fiddling with a key in the lock.

Devin was able to scoot his chair back a foot and escape from Alessi’s hammy clutches. Lurching to a stand, he staggered backward until he hit the wall. As relieved as he was to be saved by the bell, Devin immediately started panicking that he no longer had the mayor on his side. If Alessi would get Pearson off their back for the gift of a blow job, Devin shuddered to think what havoc Alessi could wreak when crossed.

Alessi sprinted for the cover of his desk, practically diving into his rolling desk chair. He rolled a few feet, stopping himself by grabbing the corner of the desk, just as the assistant opened the door, saying, “I don’t have you on my appointment schedule—”

“
Devin!
”

Lacey came forward with wide open arms. Her expression was either that of extreme joy or extreme amazement, and immediately guilt at his nonexistent crimes knifed through Devin. He hugged his girlfriend tightly, as Chase and a short, squat woman entered the office behind the assistant.

“Mr. Mayor, I tried telling them that you were busy—”

“It’s all right, Sarah!” Jared Alessi was overly cheerful, waving a generous arm. “These fine citizens of Hell’s Delight can enter my office any time. Sarah, you know Chase Moran, the owner of Positive Vibrations. This here is Lacey Pearson of Delight Hard—”

“Lacey Dvorak,” Lacey corrected the mayor politely.

“What are you doing here?” Devin whispered to Lacey. How had his partners known he was at the mayor’s office? Or were they there to see the mayor, by coincidence?
And who is that grey-haired woman who is wider than she is tall?

“Dude!” Cal Zhukov squeaked into the office in his high-topped tennis shoes. “You’re going to want to hear this, Mayor. Devin! Dude!” He gestured at the beaming woman in the black leather motorcycle vest. “Doris Hooks here has something important to tell you. Doris, tell ’em!”

Devin was vastly relieved for the focus to be on someone else. He watched the mayor from the side of his eyes. Alessi, hands on hips, grinned like a moron at the visitors as though they had brought him a free pepperoni pizza. Alessi was luckily very skilled at covering up his feelings, as a good politician should be. “Well? Bring it on, Doris!”

“Well,” said Doris, setting the scene by placing her hands on an imaginary table. “My roommate is a clerical person over at juvenile hall. She was there when Stormy Smithson came to pick up his son Dean.”

“They let him go?” Devin said, outraged.

“Yes,” admitted Doris, “but listen to why. Stormy Smithson was a bit on the irate side, too.” She looked around at everyone in turn, pausing dramatically for her big moment. “
Because his son confessed that Ben Pearson had paid him to try to burn down Positive Vibrations.
Stormy is about ready to go and
lynch
Ben Pearson for getting his son into so much trouble.”

“And Stormy will, mark my words,” Chase assured the group. “Last year, he was arrested for assaulting a seller at the farmer’s market for having avocadoes with brown spots.”

There was a general silence in the room, each person struck mute for their own reasons. Doris probably waited for praise and kudos. Devin, for his part, stared dumbly at an acrylic oriental rug, letting the ramifications of what Doris said sink in.

Devin finally looked at the mayor. “But like you said, Alessi. Is a child’s word enough to charge anyone? Kid could be trying to get out of taking his punishment, or has something out for Pearson. Any one of a number of things.”

“Now, now,” said the mayor. “There must be something to it. You all suspected it first, and now the kid’s backing you up. Let’s hear them out.”

Devin nodded at the mayor. Maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed they shared an understanding then. The mayor would not try to take down Chase and his store or continue to blackmail Devin. Devin could only hope he was interpreting this correctly.

Cal stepped up to add his proof to the mix. “
And, dudes!
I totally went back through my point of sales system for yesterday, finding the order at two-thirteen in the afternoon that contained the turpentine. Well, fuck me dry! Same order also had a can of spray paint…
Competition Orange
spray paint. You can tell by the naked eye, but analysis can prove it’s the same paint used in the tagging on Chase’s wall.”

Alessi clapped his hands together. “Well, then! It sounds like we’ve got a pretty airtight case. Congratulations, Devin!”

Lacey beamed up at her boyfriend, hugging his arm to her breasts. “Did you come here to convince the mayor to help you fight Ben?”

“Uh, yeah,” Devin said uncertainly. He had never been a good liar. When he was fourteen he’d tried to tell his father that he’d been stuck late in class in detention, when he’d really been making out for an hour with a girl. His father hadn’t bought it, knowing he was a good student. The worst part was having to listen to the birds and bees lecture. “We were discussing the evidence against Ben,” he said truthfully.

“Well, I’m just here to tell you,” said Doris firmly, standing with folded arms like a security guard. “Me and all the ladies of the Cultured Pearl are a hundred percent behind you. We’re already boycotting Ben’s yogurt shop, even though Lila and Regina really like his Filbert Lesh flavor.”

“Excellent, excellent!” cried Alessi, overly hearty. “So where is Pearson now, Doris? Has an arrest warrant been sworn for him yet? Wouldn’t want him to run,” he chuckled.

Lacey said, “He might run, but he wouldn’t be gone long. His father and friends are his entire life. He’d die after three days on the lam.”

Doris announced, “Ben Pearson should be in custody by now.”

Alessi told Chase, “You should go down to the station, give Castillo your evidence. You, too, Cal. Give him whatever you have on the paint and turpentine.”

“I’m on it,” said Cal, squeaking out the door.

Devin couldn’t wait to hustle his lovers out of the office. It seemed that Alessi shot him a look of understanding as they left, but only time would tell. Alessi held no sway over Devin anymore, now that Ben Pearson was busted—Devin hoped.