Page 14 of Hoodoo House
Declan looked at Charlie.
“It wasn’t me,” Charlie said.I wish it was.
Sinclair smiled. “It seems that you have an admirer.”
Declan looked around to see if he was being watched, but aside from the waiter, they were the only ones remaining in the bar. There was, however, a business card tucked under the rose. It was Roger Honeyfield’s.
* * * *
The limo ride home was quiet. Declan stared out of the window. Charlie assumed he was thinking about their new client. As the car pulled up to Charlie’s place, he turned to Declan and said, “Well, that was an interesting night. Thanks for taking me as your date. And we got a new case.”
He reached for the door handle but Declan stopped him. “Wait. I want you to know that I couldn’t have made it through the ceremony tonight without you.”
“Oh, it was nothing, really. It’s all part of the job,” Charlie said.
“No. It was more than that. If it wasn’t for you, I would have made a run for it before the evening got started.”
Charlie smiled. “Thanks.”
“And you surprised me,” Declan said. “You’re not a bad dancer.”
“Neither are you.”
Declan picked up the rose from the seat beside him and handed it to Charlie. “I want you to have this,” he said, staring into Charlie’s eyes, a gentle smile on his face.
Charlie took the rose then leaned in, intending to give Declan a gentle kiss on the lips, but once he’d started he found himself unable to pull away. A mechanical whir came out of nowhere. The screen which separated the driver from the passenger compartment was rising to give them privacy.
Charlie dropped the rose on the floor and launched himself at Declan, pinning him into the far corner of the bench seat, holding him by the wrists. Charlie kissed him more deeply, tasting the smokiness of the scotch that lingered in Declan’s mouth.
Charlie drew his knees up until he was straddling Declan.
Declan gently pushed Charlie back and looked him in the eyes. “If we do this, there’s no going back.”
“I don’t care,” Charlie replied then moved in again.
Declan began to kiss Charlie, then stopped and pushed Charlie to the other side of the seat. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I don’t want to screw this up. We had an amazing time tonight, but we’ve both had a lot to drink, and I’m not thinking clearly. You’re just swept up in the moment.”
Charlie gritted his teeth.In the moment? It’s been a whole evening. It’s been months. You started this!
“What’s wrong with you? I thought this was what you wanted,” Charlie said.
“I do but…I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I just can’t. Not tonight. Not this way.”
“Fine!”
Charlie straightened himself up, opened the car door and said, “I guess I’ll see you at work on Monday. It’s all business from now on.”
As Charlie got out of the limo, Declan held the flower out to him and said, “Charlie, I’m sorry.”
“You can keep your fucking rose,” Charlie said, then slammed the car door and ran up the walk and into the house.
Chapter Four
All of the next day, Declan was feeling uneasy. His life had always been in a state of flux, but his personal life was getting…complicated, in ways that he didn’t want to admit to Charlie.Declan had trouble focusing and even abandoned his Saturday work-out. By the time he finished dinner, he’d decided that the best way to calm his overactive mind was to make his way to sanctuary—Bar-None.
Declan drove over to the bar and walked through the door. Mickey the bartender looked up and smiled, then his brow wrinkled. He held out his hand and without being asked, Declan dropped his car keys into it. Declan had once joked that Mickey should have been in a circus sideshow as a mind reader.
Mickey had said, “I am in a sideshow. Just look around. Beautiful freaks and con-men everywhere.”
