Page 108 of Gunner

“Alan’s waiting inside,” he said, his gaze landing on our joined hands. “Follow me.”

Ben tried to tug his hand away, but I held on tight. “What’re you doing?” he hissed as we followed Zak inside.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re acting like a jealous psychopath. Again.”

“Good.”

He glared but gave up trying to release himself. His steps slowed, and I caught him staring at the walls in the hall. Pictures of the men who lived here—Zak and Booker—hung on the wall. A large frame of their boy Fable lying across both their laps, wearing heels and nothing else, took up a good portion of the wall. He had a trail of XXY tattooed down the center of his back.

“Now who’s staring?” Ben asked. “If I can’t look, neither can you.”

I had never taken kindly to anyone trying to lay claim to me, but I grinned at Ben. “Deal.”

After all, neither the boy in the picture nor his partners did anything for me.

The day Ben realized the vise he had on my balls, I was screwed.

“This way.” Zak beckoned to us and disappeared into the living room. A young man with a round face wearing glasses smiled and stood.

“You must be Chief Witter.”

I had to release Ben’s hand so he could shake the other man’s. “I am. And you must be Alan. This is my…Gunner.”

What was he about to say? His boyfriend? His man? The pain in his ass? I liked “my Gunner” much better. It sounded a lot like us.

“Do you guys want anything? Beer?”

I requested water. So did Ben while Alan and Zak settled down with cans of beer. I stared at the can in Zak’s hand as Ben explained to Alan about the copy he’d made of the notes Paddy had given him.

“The guys at the station have been trying to locate these wire transfers, but they’ve come up blank. We can’t even figure out which institution they wired the money through.”

“More than likely through crypto. I can scan and run the notes through my system to see if anything turns up, but it’ll take a couple of days for me to manually locate these transfers. Is that okay?”

“You sure you don’t want a beer?” Zak asked me.

“Nah, I’m good. But I could use your john.”

“Go straight down the hall. It’s immediately on your right.”

“Thanks.” I rubbed the back of my hand over Ben’s stubble. “I’ll be back.”

He nodded without looking at me, engrossed in whatever Alan was saying to him.

When I walked out, I didn’t go to the bathroom. Three other men lived here, but this had been his house.

Why did you never invite me here, Mason?

He’d always come up with an excuse. His house was off-limits. I couldn’t meet his son. I’d been such a fool to go back to him every time he left me, then returned with a sob story of failing to let me go again. Of how much he missed and couldn’t forget me no matter how much he tried.

Ben would never do something like that. I just knew he wouldn’t. He was the sort of man who, once he said it was over, he meant for good. Maybe that was why I tried to be more flexible with him than anyone else. Because I couldn’t afford for him to walk away. With him, I felt more fulfilled than I ever had in my life. Even with Mason.

Then why are you still thinking about him? He’s dead.

He might be dead, but he’d left me with so many unanswered questions. Had he cheated on Ben or me? Had he even cared for either of us?

No answers were to be found as I silently moved along the hall, taking in everything I could. The one time I’d been here, I’d been too drunk to take notice of much of anything.

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