Chapter Fifteen

Roy chose an Italian restaurant one of the drug squad guys recommended for dinner, although he could barely keep his eyes on the menu. He’d adored Clive in his biker gear, loved him in nothing more than a pair of boxers with his chest hair gleaming with sweat, and naked was his favorite sight. But seeing Clive in a button up shirt and dress pants was drool-worthy material. His blue shirt was crisply pressed, and his pants had knife edge creases. Clive had even given up his biker boots for the night, settling for a brightly polished pair of black shoes.

Yes, those tattoos were still showing beneath the rolled up cuffs of his shirt, but with a jacket on, Clive could have walked into any CEO’s office and commanded the room. It made Roy wonder what his mate looked like in his uniform and then he had to make sure the table cloth was hiding the sudden surge in his groin area.

“Have you decided what to order, babe?” Clive tilted his head to indicate the pretty waitress waiting with her pen poised above her pad. “Or do you need a few more minutes to collect your thoughts?”

“I can come back.” The waitress had a cheeky grin and a twinkle in her eyes.

“No, no, it’s okay.” Dropping his head, Roy quickly glanced at the menu. Choosing three items, he wasn’t even sure what they were, he rattled them off and as soon as the woman confirmed his order, he focused back on his mate. “You look amazing this evening.”

“So do you and this is a delightful place. Thank you for convincing me to come out tonight. It’s our first official date.”

“The first of many more. My boss knows about us. I handed in my notice and I have leave until that comes through. I want to be seen with you. I want everyone to know I’m with this amazingly sexy man.”

“It makes a change from barbecue,” Clive agreed. “At least there’ll be no glass in this meal. I didn’t know you were a fan of squid.”

“Squid?” Roy gulped.

“Calamari Imbottiti alla Griglia. Stuffed squid.” Clive chuckled. “I didn’t think you read the menu.”

Roy would stomach squid every night if Clive kept smiling like that. “I love you.” Gods, did I really just blurt that out like a school boy?

“I love you too,” Clive said, taking his hand and stroking his fingers over Roy’s knuckles. “And if that’s what the thought of squid does to you, I wonder what you’ll say when you’re eating it.”

“Bad timing?” Roy didn’t know what it was about Clive’s cool, sexy manner, but it seemed to turn his brain to mush every time.

“It’s never a bad time,” Clive said gravely, his eyes still twinkling. “I was going to say the same thing tonight. I wanted us to be out, I wanted to show you I was happy to be seen in public with you, before I said anything.”

“Is there a story there?”

Clive nodded and then proceeded to tell him all about Trent and Marly’s mating and how Trent, despite being so much older than Marly, couldn’t get his head around being seen with his flamboyant mate. And how, as it seemed to with matings, things came together for the pair of them at the end. The food arrived. The squid was succulent and the stuffing burst across Roy’s taste buds like a well-balanced symphony. The waitress popped by every now and then to top up their wine glasses and all in all it was a wonderful evening.

When the last plate was cleared, Roy called for the check. “Do you fancy going for a walk around town before we decide what to do with the rest of our night?”

“I’ve got a fair idea on how the night will end.” Clive winked. “A walk will be nice. It’s still warm out and I haven’t been in the downtown area for ages.”

“Will you?” Roy held out his hand.

“Definitely.” Clive took it and his gentle strength pushed through their bond making Roy feel prouder than ever. “If anyone starts to mess with us, I’ll stand back and let you handle it.” He pushed closer and his breath tickled Roy’s neck. “I know your bear gets all possessive and protective.”

Truer words had never been spoken. But it was pride, love, and a sense of contentment from being with his mate that followed Roy as he escorted Clive out of the restaurant.

/~/~/~/~/

Clive hadn’t wanted to mention the email from Bobby over dinner, but he knew he was going to have to say something soon. The email had been rambling for the most part and not a lot of it made sense. But what concerned Clive was the implication behind some of the half-disjointed sentences. Things like “you’re my entire world,” “you can’t throw what we have away,” and more ominously, “you’re mine and I’ll kill anyone that stands in our way of being together.”

It was strange, in a way, that Clive had no problems when Roy got possessive and said similar things. Loving a shifter had none of the minefields that plagued human relationships. It didn’t mean their lives together were perfect of course – Roy was uncommonly messy around the house for starters and Clive was set in his ways. But there were no lies, no emotional game playing. Knowing Roy would never leave him played a huge part in how easily Clive accepted their togetherness. He never realized he had abandonment issues, but now they didn’t seem important.

But if the email was any indication, Bobby was unraveling mentally, and Clive had no way of knowing what he’d been planning or thinking in the three days since the email was dated as being sent. Levi mentioned seeing Bobby hanging around the compound, sometimes with Troy and Donny – more often alone. He didn’t try to enter and the few times Levi had seen him, he’d told him to piss off. Another aspect about the whole situation that worried Clive was that Bobby wasn’t wearing a Skulls patch. Clive had been sure, given Bobby’s professed closeness with Jeff, that he’d have become a member of the Skulls as soon as he lost his Epitaph patch. So why hadn’t he?

“What do you think of these?” Roy asked, tugging Clive towards a small jeweler’s window. The shop was closed for the night, and there was only a small display, but the window was brightly lit.

“I didn’t know you liked shiny things. I thought that was only bird species,” Clive teased.

“I was looking at these.” Roy pointed to a small tray of men’s wedding rings with his free hand. “I know you mentioned marriage before, but with us having to get new IDs, I’m not sure how long it will be before we can actually have the ceremony. I’d like to buy you something special you could wear all the time.”

Clive stared at the circles of gold, some with diamonds in, some sturdy and unadorned. He was struck dumb. Yes, he’d been the one to mention marriage, because in his head that’s what a shifter claiming was. But to know Roy wanted him to wear a symbol of their commitment, one recognized by human and paranormal alike brought him close to tears.

“I don’t suppose you can wear one.” Clive kept his eyes on the window display, blinking rapidly and clutching Roy’s hand just a little tighter.

“I can’t wear one all the time,” Roy moved closer, their shoulders touching. “But you can hold it for me when I shift, or I can get a tattoo ring which seem to be popular with many mated shifters.”

“It’s a damn beautiful idea.” Clive rested his head against Roy’s shoulder. The day Jules walked out of his life and into the arms of another Clive shut off his heart and kept it shuttered against anyone or anything that wanted a piece of him. In just one short week Roy had smashed those barriers down and Clive finally felt free to live again. “We can come back tomorrow, and I’ll let you choose the one you want me to wear. Right now, we need to get home. There are things I want to do to you that aren’t fit for public consumption.”

“Gods, I can smell your arousal,” Roy growled in a low voice. “I’m not sure….”

Anything else he was going to say was cut off by a hysterical voice screaming, “Get your hands off him or I’ll shoot.”

“Bobby?” Clive turned, shocked at what he was seeing. Crazed bloodshot eyes met his. Bobby’s face was pale and covered in bright red spots. His tangled hair and three-day scruff, as well as the blood, mud, and goodness knows what else was smeared all over his tatty clothing gave him the look of a homeless man. But there was nothing shabby about the gun held in shaking hands, pointed straight at Roy.

“Bobby, whatever you think you have to do….”

“You didn’t answer my email. I poured my heart out to you. I waited and waited, and you never called.” Bobby’s whole body wavered, and Clive’s heart leaped into his throat, but the man didn’t fall. “I’ve done everything for you, given up my whole life, just for you.”

“Bobby….” Clive could feel Roy’s tension beside him, but the man didn’t move. Unfortunately, Bobby was on a rant and didn’t want to be interrupted.

“SHUT UP! You don’t get to speak. It’s my turn. Six years I’ve worshipped you. Six fucking years and you never gave me so much as a passing glance. You were part of the club, so I fought my way into a patch. You wanted gun runners, so I ran guns. You didn’t like gays and while it killed me inside, I fucking went out and beat up every gay I could find. I knew you could never want me the way I wanted you, but I could be near you every day. And then Trent got pretty boy and you accepted them. That gave me hope, don’t you understand. It gave me hope.” Bobby’s gut wrenching sob resonated with Clive. He knew only too well what it was like to be rejected.

“Bobby, please. This is no way to talk about things. There are people around. Innocent people. Let’s go to the club and talk about this in private.”

“You kicked me out of the club.” Bobby’s face twisted into a snarl and the grip on the gun tightened. “You took the patch I slaved my guts out for and ripped it off my back. The one thing apart from you that gave me meaning in life. And now I see you walking around town hand in hand with a fucking cop. A male cop. You were gay all along. You betrayed me!”

“I….” Clive didn’t get a chance to say anything else. All he heard was a loud crack and a blistering pain ran along his shoulder, causing him to slump back against the brightly lit window. “That bastard shot me.” He looked up at Roy’s face; his mate was livid. “Secure the gun.”

/~/~/~/~/

Roy had frozen in impotent anger as Clive confronted Bobby. He wanted to move. He wanted to do a lot of damn things. But his animal half was fighting for control – his bear’s method of handling things was easy, messy and final for Bobby at least. But he couldn’t. They were in a public street. There weren’t many people around, but there was enough with cellphones to cause a stink if a grizzly bear suddenly appeared where a man had been. Not to mention fucking CCTV cameras which could be anywhere.

So, he’d frozen, listening to Bobby rant, barely managing to stop his fingers turning into claws as he’d texted his now ex-unit, alerting them of a drugged man waving a gun around in the downtown district. Bobby was high, that much was clear, and Roy learned a long time ago not to underestimate a deranged man with a gun. Now the scent of Clive’s blood filled his nostrils and all he wanted to do was pound the man responsible until he was nothing more than a smear on the sidewalk. But Clive’s words reminded him of his duty to protect others. Easing Clive onto the pavement, stripping off his shirt to press to the wound, Roy glanced around to see where Bobby was.

The gun was on the sidewalk. Bobby was just standing there, his mouth gaping open, his eyes fixed on the blood welling up on Clive’s shirt. He must have sensed Roy watching him and his mouth started to work frantically. “You were holding hands in public… I’d never… I didn’t… oh my god, I did… I never meant to… Ouff.” His face met the pavement.

“I’ve got no time for homophobes,” the burly man with a bald head said, sitting on Bobby’s back. He looked quite fetching in his black leather harness and pink tutu billowing above his leather pants. “Did you call the police?”

“They’re on their way,” Roy said faintly, looking down at Clive whose eyes were closed, but he was breathing regularly. “I couldn’t call the paramedics till they’d cleared the scene. Can you?”

“Can’t carry a phone in these pants. Got to be tight enough to show the assets, right?” The man grinned showing a gold tooth at the front. “Tootie, the danger’s over. Call for the medics, will you?”

A slender elegantly dressed dark-haired man appeared, taking in the scene. “Oh my god, Clive, is that you?”

“Do you know the shot guy, Tootie?” The bald man didn’t seem upset about it. If anything, he was totally laid back about the whole scene, as if sitting on a druggy’s back in front of another man with a bullet wound was normal for him.

“That’s Clive. He is, he was….” Tootie looked at Roy. “We met once at Glitters. I’m a good friend of Marly’s. Do you know him?”

“And his partner Trent, yep.” Roy nodded as Tootie pulled out his phone.

“Clive doesn’t know me as Tootie, of course,” the man continued as he dialed a number and waited for the call to be answered. “That’s my fiancé’s pet name for me. But you can ask him about Cat when he’s up to talking. I swear nothing happened. He was a perfect gentleman all night.”

“I bet that upset you, Tootie,” his fiancé laughed. “We both know the thing you have for daddy types.”

“Shut up, Frank.” Tootie/Cat wrinkled his nose in an adorable fashion. “The only daddy I want now is you. Yes, hello, there’s been a shooting….” He wandered away, chatting to the emergency call center animatedly.

“My fiancé will want to thank you when he does come around,” Roy said, looking down at Clive and wishing he could hold him tighter, but his hands were busy. At least the blood flow was slowing down. “I really appreciate all your help.”

“Staking a claim, aye, big fella?” Frank laughed as Bobby groaned and stirred. Frank casually slapped his head back into the pavement. “I know my baby’s been around the block a few times, but his heart is true and if he says your man was a gentleman, then I believe him.”

“That’s the kind of man he is. He means the world to me.” Roy blinked suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. Their bond was strong, he could feel it pulsing in his soul like a shining beacon. But that one split second, when Bobby fired the gun, reminded Roy of how fragile and precious human life was. Holding himself together with a strength of will he didn’t know he had, Roy waited silently for help to arrive.