Page 32 of Blackmail
“No good camera footage, no reliable witnesses, nothing tying any of the people together aside from being in the same social scene.”
I huffed a laugh. “And they’ve all been clients of ours. Or the family member of a client.”
“They think that’s a coincidence.”
“Coincidence, my ass.” I sigh. “Whatever. We’ll talk when I get in there.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Lehman.”
“Look, I’m actually on my way home. I need to shower and shave and eat something that wasn’t delivered by a pimply kid driving a Prius. Little shit remembers my name. Started commenting on my restaurant choices.”
“Every minute counts in these situations.”
“I’ve already alerted the team who found Cam. They’ll let us know as soon as they find anything.”
I agree and hang up when Simon sticks his head out of Jacob’s front door. “Everything okay?”
“Not really. But that’s not your problem.” I shove my phone back into my pocket.
Simon looks at me with concern. For a moment, I’m torn. I’m angry and unable to solve the problem of all these twenty-somethings disappearing under a couple of hundred people’s noses. I hate the sense that I’m missing something—or worse, I’m missing the entire thing, and I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked for.
Looking at Simon, I want to take this guy who’s so fantastic with the lonely neighbor kid and who I have amazing sexual chemistry with, who begs for more when I hurt him, back to my bed and keep him there all night. But that’s not what this is.
“It’s getting late. I should probably take you back to pick up your car.” Until Lehman called, I hadn’t checked the time, but it turns out we’ve been playing video games for hours.
“Yeah. Yeah, I really should go.” Simon nods too enthusiastically and swallows as if he’s trying not to say more.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, or maybe I’m not the only one who doesn’t want him to leave.
Chapter
Twelve
SIMON
It’s after closing time by the time we reach the restaurant where I left my car. The ride has been mostly silent aside from road noise and the occasional ping of Sebastian’s phone.
For my part, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect to enjoy myself with Sebastian. I didn’t expect to laugh in bed with him, enjoy pizza and video games with his neighbor, or have the best sex in my life. This guy is married, and I’m…me. My usual method of saying “Thanks, I had fun” on my way out the door feels stupid and hollow. Anything else feels like too much.
The lights of Belle Argo are few and far between as we pull into the parking lot. Except for the downtown area and some of the larger resorts, most of the city shuts down early. Honestly, it’s one of the things I like about this town. While I’ve done some partying, it’s not how I prefer to spend my evenings. I mean, it sort of comes with the territory as a male escort, but I won’t miss it when I quit.
A part of me still feels weird when I’m up too late or sleep past dawn. I guess you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy. Or you can’t mess with his sleep cycle when he’s used to milking the goats at dawn. Or something.
Sebastian clears his throat. “Okay. I have the feeling you’re not going to want to hear this, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to see you again.”
“You mean like an actual date? Oh fuck no.” Okay I didn’t need to say it like that, but the words are out of my mouth before I’ve had a chance to even consider the request.
Which is for the best. This thing with Sebastian can’t go anywhere, even if I might wish differently. So I guess the answer is the same once I have considered it.
He turns off the car. Right now is my chance to get out and leave. I don’t know why I don’t.
“You’re right,” he says. “It’s a bad idea.”
“It’s the worst idea. I have sex with guys for money, and you’re still married to the last guy you kicked out for doing that.”
“I wasn’t mad at Tony for having sex for money. If he had been escorting, though, I would have had some questions.”
