Page 65 of Fatal Temptation

Gravel crunching under shoes had them both snapping their heads up to see Chris and Diesel heading their way in a run. Diesel’s face and clothes were covered in blood splatter and Chris didn’t look much better. He probably didn’t himself, either.

He reluctantly released Akio so his brother could pull him up into a tight embrace, Chris wrapping his arms around them both.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Diesel asked, fear evident in his voice.

“I’m fine,” he heard Akio mumble.

He wasn’t sure which of the three sighed, but he felt that sigh deep into his bones. It was finally over and they were all in one piece.

“He’s gone,” Akio said and glanced at Lucas with a small smile on his lips. “We’re safe.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Lucas

HE’D BEEN given another week off work after everything that went down with Kuroki and to recover from his barely-existing injury. While it sounded nice in theory, he’d spent most of it worrying about the outcome of Gemma’s case and Akio’s state of mind. Neither of them had gotten out of that shit show without more scars to the soul but at least it seemed Akio had finally let go of his guilt. Most of it, anyway.

He’d hated the days Akio had gone home with Diesel and Chris, unable to sleep without the man next to him, without hearing his soft breaths and feeling his warmth against him. The apartment was so empty without him and all he’d been able to do was stare at that broken window that still needed replacing. At least Edmunds had made sure the place was free of bodies and blood before they’d returned home.

When he’d opened his door and found Akio on the other side, he hadn’t gotten a word out before Akio tackled him and they ended up on the floor, just holding onto each other for a long time. They had cried as much as they had laughed, relieved that it was all over and they got to start their life together for real.

As much time as they had spent in bed, Akio had spent double that on catching up on his missed classes. He had decided yesterday that today was the day he returned to college. He’d only been gone for a few hours when the doorbell rang, which was why Lucas was frowning as he headed down the hallway.

He opened the door and blinked at his coworkers. Mo had a six-pack in each hand and was grinning as he pushed past Lucas to step into the apartment. Evan was carrying an armful of pizza boxes while Tahir had a grocery bag he suspected was filled with sugary shit. He nearly keeled over when he saw Sanchez standing behind them.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Tahir scrunched up his face and said, “What’s it look like? We’re taking care of you.”

Lucas’ mouth dropped open though no words found him.

Mo placed a hand on Lucas’ shoulder, a soft smile on his lips.

“You’re always making sure everyone’s okay. We figured with Gemma gone, it was up to us to make sureyou’reokay. Sorry we’re a little late on that front.”

Just the sound of her name had his stomach squeezing. He wished he could’ve done more. That he could’ve seen what was going on in time to at least save her career.

“You really didn’t have to,” he muttered.

“Hey, we all have our thing,” Mo said with a shrug.

“And this is supposed to be my thing?”

Mo grinned. “Yourthing is human contact.”

He blinked at Mo as a lot of things fell into place for him. He’d never really thought about what his thing was. He’d never had a physical thing like Mo’s mugs or Tahir’s socks because his thing waspeople. It was contact. It had been Gemma’s and his friendship. It was Akio. And now, it seemed, it was becoming the rest of his team as well.

He knew better than to complain.

“Kitchen?” Mo asked, holding up the six packs.

Lucas motioned in the general direction and watched as Tahir and Evan followed Mo. He took a breath before turning to face Sanchez.

He shook the man’s hand and said, “Sir, if you’re here under duress, you don’t have to stay.”

He didn’t expect Sanchez to smile or grasp his hand with both of his.

“I’m not. I wanted to be here for you, Davis.”

---