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  “I know and what he did to you was wrong, Luca.”

  Luca swallowed again, feeling the emotional lump clogging his throat as he nodded at her. Tears flooded his eyes, and he broke eye contact with her, turning to look out the window at the busy parking lot and Santa Monica Boulevard in the distance. When he’d finally gathered himself enough to speak, he turned back to her. The expression of sadness and pity on her face didn’t help but he knew he had to get things off his chest and Kelly was the only one he could tell.

  “We were good for a while, you know? I don’t know how much he told you but the truth is… we were good.” Luca wanted to tell her that he’d been Kane’s first experience with a man and that he told him how good Luca made him feel. He wanted to tell her that he loved being held all night by Kane. He wanted to say how much he loved kissing Kane and that he knew Kane loved kissing him back. He wanted to tell her how beautiful they were together but nothing came out. Nothing important, anyway. Kane was gone from his life, deciding that he’d rather keep Luca locked away in his apartment as his dirty little secret. Last night when he’d seen him with the brunette, all Luca’s hopes and dreams for the future had vanished… just that fast.

  “Are you sure it’s over, Luca?”

  “He made his choice and I’m not the kind of man who’ll be happy in the shadows. I can’t be the guy Kane comes home to when he can’t find a nice woman to sleep with. I just can’t, Kelly.” His voice finally broke as the tears overflowed, running in rivulets down his cheeks. He swallowed again, trying to regain some semblance of dignity as he wiped them away. It was harder than he thought it would be to admit that he’d been dumped and that Kane no longer wanted anything to do with him. He took a deep breath and went on.

  “Anyway, I called you because you’re his partner. You can take my concern for Freddy to Kane because he knows this Slade dude. I don’t think Kane hates me enough to ignore his instincts to protect and right now, Freddy is in danger.” He stared hard at her. “Will you help me, Kelly? Will you, please?”

  Kelly reached across the table as Luca wiped at his eyes again. She took his hand and squeezed it until he was staring at her.

  “Listen to me, Luca. I’ll take this to Kane and we’ll both get on it. If Slade has Freddy in his clutches, we’ll figure all that out. As for my partner… I don’t know what to say about that. Personally, I think he has his head so far up his ass, he can’t see the forest for the trees. You are the best thing that ever happened to him and I told him so.”

  Luca’s eyes widened.

  “It’s true.” She paused, studying him for a minute. “You know, I think he’s going to realize he can’t live without you at some point. I just hope he figures it out before it’s too late. Someone will fall in love with you and treat you so much better than he ever did. He’s the one who should be sorry, kiddo. As for now, you have to live your life as you always have, honey. As for Freddy, I’ll take care of it with Kane and know this…” She paused and looked him right in the eye. “I’ll always have your back.”

  Luca nodded and forced a smile. “Thanks, Kelly. You have no idea what that means to me.”

  Chapter Three

  Kane was sitting at his desk staring at the FBI’s file on Martin Carlow when Kelly walked in the next day. It had been delivered that morning and he was paging through it. The man had been US Army and had been through munitions school in his youth, stationed overseas for a few years. That portion of the FBI file was heavily redacted in several places. That didn’t bode well. Clearly, some of his missions had been classified. That meant he might be Spec Ops. After he was discharged, he’d attended school and had gone through extensive computer training like they’d been told. Kane looked up when Kelly slammed the top drawer of her desk across from his. She greeted his smile with a frown as she plopped down in her chair.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” he said, feeling slightly wary. “Does someone need coffee?”

  “I had coffee.”

  “What’s up, partner?” he said, closing the Carlow file and leaning back in his chair to stare at her.

  “I had pancakes with Luca last night,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

  Kane felt his stomach roll. “Why?”

  “Because he was in trouble and he called me since he couldn’t call you,” she sniped.

  Kane’s eyes widened as he sat forward. “What do you mean he’s in trouble? Is he okay?”

  “You almost sound worried,” she remarked.

  “I am worried, Murphy. What happened?” Kane couldn’t keep the tremor of concern out of his voice.

  Kelly surprised him when she smiled and sniffed politely. “Good. You do care after all.”

  “Get to the point!” Kane growled loudly. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s worried. One of his friends may have gotten involved with a man you told him about. He said the guy’s name was Slade… something. He is apparently some sort of pimp. Sound familiar?”

  Kane frowned. “Yeah, I warned Luca about that guy weeks ago.”

  “So you do know this Slade guy?”

  Kane nodded. “When I worked down in San Diego, there was a pimp known as Slade Ruiz. He was a real piece of shit that was on SDPD’s radar for a long time. They had a pretty thick file on him. His MO was to approach a young guy in a club and seduce him with money and charm. Pretty soon, they were turning tricks for him and then soon after, he’d turned them into junkies. Some of them ended up dead from hot shots. Vice was ready to make a case against Ruiz for pandering, but homicide got involved when the ME ruled one of the overdoses was actually murder. They held off on arresting him on pandering until they could make the murder case. By the time another man died, it was too late.”

  “Too late?” Kelly asked.

  “By then, the word was out that if a witness talked, they’d end up dead so the case hit a dead end. Please don’t tell me Luca is involved with him. I warned him about Ruiz.”

  “He told me you warned him but you didn’t listen to what I said.” Kelly pointed at him. “Luca came to me because his friend might be involved with this man. He was worried and I got the feeling that if I did nothing about it, he was going to try to help his friend by himself. That would be trouble. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Kane nodded. “Yes. We need to avoid that at all costs.” The feeling of dread that washed over him was strong. Kelly was watching him closely.

  “What are you working on?” she asked, nodding at the file on his desk.

  “Snow and McCallahan sent over the FBI file on Carlow. I was just going through it,” Kane said, realizing it was the last thing he could possibly care about with Luca on his mind.

  “Anything interesting?” she asked.

  He stood up, grabbing the coat off the back of his chair. “Before going to school for computers, he was US Army, trained in munitions like I was in the Marine Corps. He might have been Special Forces, possibly an Army Ranger, though his file didn’t say.”

  “What makes you think so?” she asked.

  “A lot of it is redacted and that’s a sure sign. It made me think he might be the one who gave Brandon Moore the idea to use mercenaries for his robberies. He might have even been a mercenary himself. Guys with training like his don’t return to civilian life easily.”

  “Shit,” Kelly said, watching him closely as he pulled his gun out of his drawer and slid it into his holster. “Where the hell are you going?”

  “Get up, Murphy. We’re going to talk to Luca. You can tell me about his friend in the car.”

  “What about Martin Carlow?”

  “Martin Carlow will wait. Let’s go talk to Luca and find out more about his friend.”

  She smirked but rose from her chair, pulling out the gun she’d put in her desk only minutes before. As she followed him out of the bull pen moments later, Kane had already put Martin Carlow and the hacked WITSEC list at the back of his mind.

  ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

  Luca had just finished gi
ving Thelma a kiss on the cheek in front of his apartment when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and recognized Kelly’s number as he waved goodbye to his driving instructor.

  “See you next week, Luca,” Thelma said, climbing back into her Yugo.

  “Bye sweetie. Same bat time. Same bat channel,” Luca called as he swiped the phone to connect the call. “Kelly?”

  “Hi, Luca. Where are you?”

  “I’m at home. Just finished my driving class but I have to leave soon. I have another appointment.”

  “Okay. Can you stay put? I’m on my way over with Kane. We need to talk to you about Freddy.”

  Luca swallowed. The last person he wanted to see was Kane Delancey but Luca had known the ATF agent wouldn’t leave his partner to handle things on her own the moment he’d told her. As much as seeing Kane would be like rubbing salt in his wounds, Luca knew it couldn’t really be avoided. He could only pray he wouldn’t get more of the hostility he’d grown accustomed to. Luca wasn’t stupid. He’d figured out long ago that Kane’s anger wasn’t really directed toward him. Kane had been fighting his attraction to Luca so hard that he’d pushed him away at every turn, even diving back into dating women after dumping him. So be it. He couldn’t change the man’s mind. The truth was, there was never going to be a future with them as long as Kane was in denial.

  “Fine, but I have to leave here in half an hour,” he said.

  “Okay, we’re not far. See you in ten minutes.” The call disconnected and Luca walked into his building. In his apartment, he changed into his yoga clothes and then went into the kitchen, pulling out salad greens to make himself a meal with a small scoop of the curry chicken salad he’d prepared the day before. He couldn’t eat anything heavy before his appointment later on. He was just setting the food on the table when his doorbell rang. He opened it and smiled at Kelly, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek as she walked by.

  When he lifted his head to look up at Kane, he felt his heart do a flip-flop in his chest. The man looked almost haggard. Then again, he’d never looked anything but beautiful to Luca before now. He really hadn’t been certain what to expect when he saw the federal agent again but the dark circles under Kane’s eyes, were the very last things he expected to see. In the dim light of the men’s room at Carina’s, Luca hadn’t even noticed the dark grooves but in the clear light of day, the man looked shockingly tired.

  “Hey,” Kane said. His deep voice sent shivers down Luca’s spine. He wondered at how the man could make him feel helpless with just one word. He was sure this conversation was going to be a nightmare.

  “Hey,” he parroted, shutting the door behind Kane. He walked past them, over to the table and held his hand out toward his bowl of salad. “I just made myself a salad because I have to eat before my appointment. If you guys are hungry, I can make you some.” He knew he was babbling but he couldn’t help it. The look on Kane’s face was dark and almost sad as he glanced around the apartment. He wondered what the man could be thinking.

  Does he remember the last time we had sex here?

  “If you’re hungry, I have more curry chicken salad. It’s good,” Luca offered.

  “I ate,” Kelly said, smiling. “But thank you, Luca.” She turned to her partner. “Kane?”

  “No thanks. I cooked an omelet before I left the house this morning.”

  “You cook worse than your son and he’s still in your sac,” Luca blurted out before he could stop it. He slapped a hand over his mouth as he felt his face flush with heat. Kelly burst out laughing and the corners of Kane’s mouth turned up in a half smirk. His light eyes twinkled and if Luca hadn’t been so mortified by what he’d just said, he would have dug a hole and crawled in. “Um… sorry,” he said, sinking into the chair in front of his food. Kelly sat across from him, still giggling, and Kane leaned back on the room divider between his front door and small dining area. Kane pulled a small note pad and pen out of the inner pocket of his suit coat.

  “We’re sorry to bother you. We know you have another appointment so we’ll get to the point,” Kelly said.

  Luca nodded, relieved to be able to turn and look at her. He could feel Kane’s gaze on him regardless. He shoved the uncomfortable feeling down and forced himself to focus on what she was saying. He stabbed into his chicken salad and suddenly felt no appetite. He lay his fork down and looked back up at Kelly.

  “You were saying that you had some questions about Freddy?” Luca asked.

  “Yeah. First, what’s Freddy’s last name?” Kane asked, his pen poised over the paper.

  “Freddy Lombardi… Fredrick Jules Lombardi,” Luca replied. Kane scribbled in the notebook before looking up again.

  “Okay, Kelly told me that you think Slade Ruiz has targeted your friend,” Kane said, drawing Luca’s attention. “What makes you think that?”

  Luca looked up at him, forcefully working to keep the tremor out of his voice. Just having the man loom over him had him on edge. He took a deep breath.

  “I asked Kelly to talk to you about that guy because you said he was a really bad guy.”

  “He is.”

  “So you said.” Luca turned to Kelly, frowning. “You were supposed to talk to him about this so you could handle it. I asked you to handle it.”

  “Look at me, Luca,” Kane demanded.

  Luca dragged his gaze away from Kelly’s apologetic expression. Kane was frowning at him… again.

  “What?” he asked, shrugging.

  “Kelly did tell me but I wanted to hear it from you directly so I could ask my own questions, okay?” Kane said, quietly.

  Luca thought he sounded like he was walking a tightrope, not wanting to make a misstep with him which was just funny when that seemed to be their default state since their relationship was always in flux. Luca nodded sharply.

  “Fine. As she probably told you, I ran into my friend and he looked higher than a kite. He asked me to go home with him which he never does. I’ve also never known him to be a drug user but he was definitely on something. When I asked if I could get him some coffee, he said he had to have a couple of dates. Since you’re not familiar with gay culture, that means…”

  “I know what dates mean. I know that he meant he was going to pick up a couple guys and be a trick. Gay or straight. It’s the same. I get it. I’m not an idiot,” Kane barked at him. He was scowling again. Luca hated that expression on the man’s face.

  “Fine. Sorry. Anyway, I got the overwhelming impression he was hustling. When I mentioned it to Corey after the encounter, Corey said Freddy danced with Slade after you dragged my ass out of Barcelona that night. I just figured there was a problem which is why I asked Kelly to talk to you.”

  “Okay, so, this Freddy guy. Did you ever sleep with him?”

  Luca frowned. “No. We’re just friends, man.”

  “Okay, and he’s not a hustler?” Kane asked, scribbling in his pad before looking up. “I mean ever?”

  “Luca told me he’s a paralegal,” Kelly added.

  Kane glanced at her before looking back at Luca. “That doesn’t mean…”

  “It does for Freddy. He makes great money at the law firm,” Luca said, interrupting. “And he just looks bad. He’s lost like twenty pounds and he was slender to begin with. I mean he was toned from the gym but now he just looks bad.” He glanced at his watch and then looked down at his untouched salad before looking up at Kane with a sigh. “That’s all I know and I’m really gonna be late for this appointment.”

  Kelly started to stand up when Kane put his hand out to stop her.

  “Hang on. I have more questions,” he said. “Can you cancel your appointment or change the time?”

  “I-I… well, I guess but Leaf is super busy.” Luca pulled out his phone.

  “Leif?” Kelly asked, smirking.

  “Yeah. Leaf.” Luca looked at Kane. “That’s L-E-A-F, not L-E-I-F, in case you’re writing that down, Delancey.”

  Kane was writing but he stopped and loo
ked up at him. “Who the hell spells their name L-E-A-F?”

  “Leaf is my potbelly pig yoga instructor,” Luca said, daring to smile at Kane for the first time that day.

  “Your yoga instructor is a potbelly pig?” Kane asked, frowning back at him.

  Luca snorted. “No. Leaf is my instructor. The potbelly pig is named Vanna White,” he replied.

  “Do I even want to know what the fuck you’re talking about?” Kane asked.

  Luca looked at Kelly who was silently laughing into her hand. Luca squared off with him, shrugging and feeling a little embarrassed. “Do you really want me to explain this now?”

  “Yeah, because I have no idea if you’re really sane.”

  “Rude.” Luca paused for a moment when Kane waited and then finally went on. “Okay, so, imagine if your body was a flat pancake. You could draw a grid pattern on it that looks like the light board on the Wheel of Fortune. Vanna White turns over the squares in the puzzle,” Luca explained.

  “I know that. What the hell does that have to do with a potbelly pig light board… whatever?” Kane said, finally looking truly interested.

  “She’s not the light board. I’m the light board in this explanation,” Luca said.

  “Okaaaaay,” Kane said, drawing out the word.

  “Well, it’s really simple. Leaf’s potbelly pig—Vanna White—climbs onto my back and walks around, stopping and putting weight in certain places. It feels really good and works out all the kinks,” Luca said.

  Kelly burst out laughing and Kane’s jaw dropped.

  “Bullshit,” he said.

  Luca just shrugged his shoulders, ignoring him as he picked up his phone and dialed Leaf’s number. The phone rang three times and Leaf picked up.

  “Tell me you’re not going to cancel, babe,” Leaf said.

  “I don’t want to, babe, but something came up. My neck is killing me, though. Does Vanna have time later today?” Luca looked up at Kane as he waited. Kane was staring at Kelly and he could see the smile playing around the man’s full lips. A pang went through his heart. It was almost painful to see him here, knowing how much Kelly probably had to twist his arm to get him to pay any attention to Freddy’s case. He had to drag his gaze away when he felt his eyes beginning to fill with tears as Leaf finally answered.