elly’s plan to spend the rest of the day going over the bundle of letters they’d found in the display case backfired spectacularly, because Nick apparently had shit to do that didn’t involve trying to decipher Colonial-era penmanship and he refused to help.
He also refused to let Kelly do it, so Kelly was left with nothing to do but watch Nick fill out paperwork. He was so bored he could have cried.
Nick assigned the letters to Julian and Hagan instead, along with the contemporary diary that had been recovered at the scene. Nick and Kelly were sitting at Nick’s desk as Nick finished the report on their visit to the crime scene, and Kelly was still glaring at his lover.
Nick finally looked up, blinking at Kelly when he met his eyes.
Nick put his pen down and glanced around the squad room. He gestured for Kelly to come with him, and he stood, heading for the stairwell. Once in private, Nick trailed his fingers down Kelly’s cheek with a soft smile. “You’re pissed at me.”
“Irritated, yes.”
Nick’s smile was gentle, almost amused. “What’d I do?”
“You’re being a little more cavalier than I’m used to seeing you, it’s throwing me off.”
“I’m sorry,” Nick offered. He sounded sincere. “The letters are important, you’re right. But I want Cross off the streets, you with me? If he’s combing through letters, he’s not shooting up my city looking for Cameron.”
“Yeah, makes sense,” Kelly grudgingly acknowledged. “What about me, though? Why am I sitting and watching you do paperwork?”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “One, because it was you and not me who cut the tape at the scene and I needed you to give me the details.”
Kelly flushed and scrunched his nose. “Oh yeah.”
“Two… I need you to come somewhere with me.”
“To do what?”
“We need to buy JD a suit that’ll get him past security for the meeting tonight. And I don’t feel like living through a Pretty Woman scene today, so I want you with me.”
Kelly laughed before he could stop himself. “Wait so, Hagan and Cross are delving into historical mysteries, and we’re going shopping?”
Nick nodded, though he looked thoroughly disgusted with himself. Kelly grabbed Nick’s face and kissed him. “I love you, you know that?”
“I know. I know I’m lucky,” Nick rumbled.
Kelly kissed him again. “Does this count as a fight?”
Nick hummed deeply. “It does if you want to rack up makeup sex for next time.”
“We’ll count it as a fight then.”
Nick kissed him again, holding him tighter.
“Can I get a new suit too?” Kelly asked against his lips.
Nick bit him. “As long as I get to pick it out.”
The task didn’t take them particularly long. The suit they wound up getting JD wasn’t perfectly tailored or anything, but it was close enough to pass Nick’s rather critical inspection. He also got JD a few more items of clothing, because he’d been borrowing jeans from Nick and shirts from Kelly, and neither fit him particularly well. JD kept promising to repay him, but Nick shrugged it off in the way only Nick could.
JD certainly looked more comfortable leaving the store in clothes that fit him well.
Nick dropped Kelly and JD off at the marina and told them to spiff up like they were getting a chance to walk the high-dollar street corner, then left them. They were supposed to take a cab to meet up with Nick and Julian at the hotel that evening.
A few hours later, Kelly and JD were climbing out of a cab and gawking at the odd building that was the Liberty Hotel. It was made of brick, and laid out in the cross shape of an old prison, which Kelly knew it had once been. A huge decorative window graced the front entrance, and a smiling doorman greeted them as he held the door for them. Kelly craned his neck to take in the impressive lobby.
“Jesus, this is cool,” JD said. He was doing the same thing as Kelly, and they probably looked like chickens in the rain, staring at the wonders above them. The brick was all exposed, and so were the remains of the bars from the cells. The catwalks still encircled the lobby, where giant iron chandeliers displayed twinkling lights high overhead.
Kelly grinned. Of course Nick loved this place. It had everything Nick was drawn to: a dark history, a story of regeneration and retribution, luxurious surroundings, and alcohol. His breath caught when he saw the escalator that would take them to the main lobby floor and realized the man standing there watching him was his boyfriend.
Nick was wearing a sharp three-piece suit with a thin, green silk tie and matching handkerchief in his lapel pocket. It had likely been tailored, because it fit him perfectly. Kelly had never seen it on him before, but goddamn. Nick was watching Kelly with a small smile, one hand in a pocket.
Kelly whistled when he walked up to him. “Don’t you look fancy.”
Nick stepped into him and kissed him on the corner of the mouth, right where he knew it would send shivers through Kelly’s body. “Not so bad yourself,” he whispered into Kelly’s ear.
It took Kelly a few seconds to realize Julian was with Nick, and that he and JD were waiting for them to stop flirting long enough to get on with things. They both looked a little amused, though.
“Sorry,” Kelly offered.
Nick snorted. “I’m not.”
Though Nick was trying to keep an easy smile on his face, Kelly could feel the tension in Nick’s body. It was making him nervous again. He supposed anyone meeting with a famous mob boss would be tense, but especially someone like Nick, who had childhood ties to the organization and a job that was inherently opposed to everything the mob stood for.
He was a white knight, stepping into the shadows.
“Come on, he’s upstairs waiting for us,” Nick said.
A man was indeed waiting for them in the lobby when they reached the top of the escalator. He was attractive, with dark hair and kind eyes that seemed at odds with his job. He was dressed in a soft-gray suit, his sky-blue tie the only anomaly. Nick slowed when he saw him, coming to a stop a few yards in front of him.
They stood opposite one another, silent, their expressions stern. Kelly glanced uneasily at Julian and JD. This was going to go so wrong. He could feel it, they were going to destroy this beautiful hotel lobby in a firefight.
The man took a step forward, and Nick moved to meet him. Instead of violence, though, they embraced. The stranger patted Nick on the back and held a fistful of his hair as Nick hugged him. They broke apart and both men were smiling, although Kelly recognized the wistful glint in Nick’s eyes. This was a bittersweet reunion, at best.
“Damn, you look good, Nicky,” the man said, and he brushed at Nick’s shoulders, grinning.
“No one calls me that anymore.” Nick turned and waved a hand at Kelly, keeping his other hand on the man’s shoulder. “Mikey, this is Kelly Abbott.”
“The boyfriend?” Mikey asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kelly didn’t know how to answer that. He knew enough about mob and gang culture to know that having a “boyfriend” usually got a man killed. Mikey stepped forward to shake his hand, though.
“Word went around town a few years ago Detective O’Flaherty liked to play for the other team,” Mikey said with a sideways grin at Nick. “First thing Paddy did was lay down the law. No one touches him or his flavor of the month.”
“Is that right?” Nick’s tone sent a chill up Kelly’s spine.
Mikey nodded, still grinning at Kelly. “This one’s more than just a taste, though, huh?”
Nick met Kelly’s eyes, his expression guarded and a little frightened. He obviously hadn’t realized the mob had been keeping such close tabs on him, or that Kelly might have been in any kind of danger in the first place.
“These the two need the meeting?” Mikey asked with a nod at Julian and JD.
“Sort of,” Nick said. He introduced them, but he seemed a little thrown off his game now. Kelly was too. He stayed quiet, trusting Nick to lead them into the fray.
Mikey escorted them around the lobby, toward a hallway marking the ballroom and elevators to the jail hotel rooms. They piled into the elevator, with Mikey putting his back against the wall. He might have greeted Nick warmly, but the man wasn’t letting his guard down with them.
They rode to the second floor, which consisted of a private gallery bar that had once been the catwalk ringing the prison. When they filed out, Mikey took Nick by the arm and stopped him.
“You know what you’re doing here, Nicky? Boston police detective asking Paddy for favors? Oh, son.”
Nick gave him a curt nod. “I got no other options. Friend of mine is in trouble.”
“Life or death trouble?”
“That’s the one.”
A hint of sadness passed over Mikey’s dark eyes, and he nodded slowly. He walked by them, leading them past the hostess toward a point in the middle of the catwalk where chairs and sofas had been set up in an isolated lounge.
Two large men stood in their path, both dressed impeccably in tailored suits. They refused to let the group pass.
“It seems the sister organization in Boston is far better dressed than the ones in New York,” Julian commented. He sounded like he approved.
A man sitting on a sofa behind the bodyguards stood and greeted them with a crooked smile. Something about it struck Kelly deep in his gut, like it was familiar to him. “You dress like a thug, you get treated like a thug,” the man told them. He pulled at his bow tie and raised a glass to them. “Nicholas, join me a moment, won’t you?”
Nick stepped forward and held his hands up so Mikey could pat him down. Then the bodyguards let him by, leaving Kelly and the others unable to get to him if anything went wrong. Kelly shifted from foot to foot, not liking the way any of this felt.
The man they called Paddy handed Nick a glass of champagne. “To celebrate your safe return from war.”
Nick hesitated only briefly before touching the tip of his crystal glass to Paddy’s and taking a sip. Kelly was fascinated and confused by the ritual. It seemed almost like Paddy was taunting Nick for coming to him for help, forcing him to consort with the very criminal element he had sworn an oath to protect the city against.
Nick set his glass on the table after a small sip, and Paddy did the same. “Good then. Shall we take this upstairs?”
The bodyguards backed the four of them against the railing as their boss walked by. They fell into step behind Paddy, and Kelly and the others followed, with Mikey bringing up the rear. They were instructed to wait for the next elevator, then left without escort in the vestibule.
“What the hell?” Kelly asked as soon as they were alone. “Why not just have us meet them in the room?”
Nick cleared his throat, looking a little sick. “A lobby full of people just saw a Boston police detective having a drink with a mob boss. Did you see the tourist with the camera on the floor above us?”
Kelly shook his head.
“Added security,” Julian commented. “One hint at corruption and it could bring the police force to its knees. I like it.”
Nick scowled at Julian. “Try not to keep reminding me that you’re not a good person, okay?”
“I will do my very best.”
“I’m so nervous,” JD announced. “I might throw up on this suit.”
Kelly shook his head. “You throw up, I throw up. Nobody wants that in an elevator.”
JD laughed shakily.
“It’ll be fine,” Nick said. “Just keep your mouth shut unless they ask you a direct question. Don’t try to play them, just answer honestly.”
Kelly stood beside Nick, staring at his profile, waiting until he got tired of feeling Kelly’s eyes on him so he’d look at him. Nick’s jaw jumped and he swallowed heavily, but he never turned, never met Kelly’s eyes.
“What’s this going to do to you, babe?” Kelly finally asked him. “What does it mean, owing Paddy a favor?”
Nick licked his lips, a nervous habit he’d nearly broken himself of over the years but which had returned full force when he’d come home the last time. “It’ll be fine.”
“O’Flaherty,” Julian said softly. “I understand what you’re doing. I can assure you, the next time you call I will answer. No matter the reason.”
Nick glanced over his shoulder, but never actually at Julian. He returned his eyes to the elevator doors. “I do hope you mean that.”
The elevator opened up before they could say more. Nick’s face could have been cut from marble when Kelly finally saw it.
Kelly had always wondered about those tales Nick had told of barely escaping the grasp of the mob, if Nick had simply been a young man exaggerating about a rough past because it gave him that added air of authority among the other Marines, or if he’d been serious.
The look in his eyes now, of stark fear and resignation barely covered by steely determination, told Kelly he hadn’t been exaggerating all those years ago.
Nick would go to the ends of the earth, carve out little pieces of his soul, to keep a promise. Kelly could see him carving away right now, preparing another piece to throw into the fire.
“Hey,” Kelly whispered. “Whatever this costs you, I’m here to pay it with you. Got it?”
Nick’s green eyes shone bright in the lights of the elevator. He leaned closer and kissed Kelly, his hand gentle on Kelly’s cheek, his fingers trailing down Kelly’s neck when he pulled away.
The elevator lurched to a stop, and Mikey was standing there waiting for them when the doors opened up. He had seen the last bit of their kiss, and he was pursing his lips and frowning. “Got to tell you, Nicky, I’m good with it and all, but it’s still weird. You want to keep your face pretty, you might want to keep your hands inside the ride until you reach the exits.”
Nick huffed a laugh, and they followed Mikey down the hall. Mikey turned to Kelly and patted him on the arm. “This guy taught me how to kiss when we were kids,” he whispered. “Landed Mary Katherine McDowell on that lesson.”
Kelly laughed despite the nerves roiling through him. “How’s that work?”
“I’ll show you later,” Nick promised with an almost playful smile.
“Hey Nicky, does that make me gay by proxy?” Mikey asked.
“Yeah, Mikey,” Nick answered, deadpan. “Yeah it does.”
“Fuck.” They reached the room and Mikey turned his back to the door. He met Nick’s eyes, his expression sobering. “You know you’re even with him right now,” he said softly. “Still time to head back.”
Nick didn’t respond, merely returned Mikey’s stare.
Mikey sighed heavily. “If you hadn’t left, you’d be in that room right now, and I’d be screening your visitors. You know that, right?”
Kelly could barely restrain the shock, or his questions. He looked between the two men, wide-eyed. How the fuck would Nick have ended up in that position when his childhood friend was still basically a bodyguard?
Nick nodded curtly. “That’s why I had to leave.”
Mikey mimicked the nod, eyes melancholy and brow furrowed. Then he shook off the dark mood and gave the rest of them a grin that struck a little false. He pointed to Nick. “Most stand-up guy I ever known.”
Pure devastation flashed in Nick’s eyes as Mikey spoke. Kelly wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him somehow. But he didn’t think even he could make this better for Nick.
Mikey patted each of them down, being pretty thorough about it, and then he knocked on the suite door. It was opened by one of the bodyguards from before, who allowed them into the suite.
Kelly couldn’t stop himself from gawking. He could see more and more why Nick had wanted to bring him here for a little romance. Hints of the brick from the original jail structure showed along the outer wall, but the majority of the wall consisted of an enormous decorative window, just like the one that had greeted them at the front entrance.
The room had been rearranged, with more seating being brought in to accommodate everyone. Paddy sat near the window, smoking a cigar. He gestured for them to join him.
One of the bodyguards stopped them, though, stepping in front of Nick when he moved forward. Nick didn’t back away, merely side-eyed the larger man, jaw tightening. Kelly cursed internally and slid a little so he was in front of JD if things went south.
“Need to check you over one more time,” the bodyguard told Nick. There was something in his voice, though, a taunt perhaps. Enjoyment. Kelly got the feeling that Mikey’s attitude in regards to Nick’s sexual orientation was perhaps the outlier in this organization. Keep your hands inside the ride, indeed.
“Be gentle with that one,” Paddy warned, and he sounded amused.
The bodyguard sniffed, then grabbed Nick’s arm and turned him, shoving him against the wall. Nick hit hard, slamming his face and chest. The man kicked Nick’s feet apart, then pressed his hand against the back of Nick’s head and rammed Nick’s cheek into the plaster again. Kelly jerked to move, but Julian’s hand on his elbow stopped him. If they started a fight here, they’d all leave the hotel in body bags.
Nick’s face was turned away from them, so Kelly couldn’t see his eyes, couldn’t gauge his expression. Kelly gritted his teeth, preparing to watch this guy manhandle his lover and unable to do anything about it.
“Watch the suit, huh?” Nick said, and his voice was deceptively calm.
The bodyguard laughed. As soon as he took a step back and gave Nick enough room, Nick brought his elbow hard into the man’s temple, then spun and kicked him, grabbing for the holster under the man’s jacket and pulling the gun away as he stumbled back from the kick. It was all dizzyingly fast, even for Kelly, who had seen the move plenty of times before.
With a few rapid flicks of his fingers, Nick had pulled the slide off the Glock and dropped the magazine to the floor. He stepped on the magazine, then dropped the gun and tossed the slide toward Mikey, who caught it with a grin as wide as a cartoon cat.
The bodyguard got to his feet again, glaring at Nick and flexing his shoulders. His nose was bloody.
Paddy cackled gleefully. “Told you to be gentle with that one. Now get the fuck on that door, both of you,” he added, waving at the bodyguards. “Fucking useless bastards.”
They grudgingly took up their posts on the door, but not before the bloody one pointed at Nick and murmured a threat under his breath. Nick watched him, only turning back to face Paddy once he was between JD and the bodyguard.
Paddy stood and came closer, opening his arms for a hug that Nick returned stiffly. The mob boss pulled him close like he was embracing a son, though, patting him on the back and then on his head like a proud father might before pulling him over to the couches. “Been a while, Nicky.”
“No one calls him that anymore, boss,” Mikey informed him with a cheeky grin.
Paddy gave Nick’s cheek an affectionate tap, then sat. He gestured for all of them to take seats. Kelly was confused again. Nick had been so tense, so worried, but this was a warmer reception than Nick received at his own home when he visited.
Paddy propped one leg on his other knee and reclined, arms on the back of the sofa. He surveyed the four of them. Julian had remained standing, his arms crossed. Mikey stood beside him, hands in his pockets, looking at ease. JD and Kelly flanked Nick on the sofa. They waited silently while Paddy looked them over.
“So,” he finally said. “You need my help again.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” Nick said, words coated in ice.
Paddy laughed. He pointed at Nick while glancing at Kelly. “So fucking stubborn. He ever told you this story?”
Kelly shook his head, then remembered Nick’s warning about being respectful. “No, sir.”
Paddy grunted. “First time I saw these two chuckleheads, they were sixteen, walking down the street from baseball practice. That one had a black eye.” He pointed at Nick again. “Looked so much like my son, Patrick Jr. Lost him to a goddamn drunk driver the year before. Saw Nicky and thought he was a ghost. I stopped my car, called to him, asked him how he got that shiner. And this fucking kid, he looks me straight in the eye. You know how many people look me straight in the eye, even back then?”
Kelly shrugged uncomfortably.
“No fucking one.” He looked back at Nick almost sadly. “Didn’t take a fucking genius to figure out his old man was knocking him around, so I asked him, big kid like you, why don’t you knock back? He meets my eyes again and he says, ‘’Cause I got people more important than me at home to take care of, Paddy.’ He fucking knew who I was. Wasn’t afraid of me.”
Kelly glanced at Nick, his heart aching. “With a father like his, why should he be afraid of anyone?” he asked softly.
“You damn right,” Paddy snarled. “Damn right. I told him I’d help him out. I’d protect his sisters if he’d protect me. He was good on his word, and I was good on mine. Even gave him a ride to the airport and paid for his fucking ticket to go to Parris Island when it was time. I had pride in my heart for this boy just like he was my own son.”
Kelly’s eyes widened. He’d never heard any of this. Nick was stone-faced, though, not reacting at all to the information being revealed, or to the almost kind words the notorious criminal was saying about him.
“He came back home and went to work for the other guy,” Paddy said with a sigh. “Always were the good egg no matter how hard I tried to boil you. So you come to me asking for help, I’m giving it to you. No questions asked.”
Nick swallowed hard. “Mikey told you what we’re looking for?”
“He did.” Paddy gave Mikey a nod.
Kelly didn’t like the fact that Mikey was moving around behind him, but he was trying not to be tense or appear nervous. He had to trust Julian to watch their backs for them, which was admittedly a little hard to do.
“You have a lead for us?” Nick asked, growing impatient.
“Better.”
Mikey set a reinforced suitcase on the table between them, and Paddy leaned over to put in a code, then prop the lid open. He turned it to display the contents to them with a flourish.
On the cushioned interior of black felt sat a sparkling piece of jewelry. Roughly four inches wide, with bright-blue enamel that was covered in diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. Kelly recognized it as the star brooch from Julian’s photo.
“Jesus Christ,” Julian blurted.
Nick lowered his head, rubbing his hands over his face. He’d just been shown stolen goods and was powerless to do anything about it. It had to be killing his sense of duty. Kelly put his hand on Nick’s knee.
“A replica, of course, of the one stolen and smuggled into Boston a century ago,” Paddy said cheekily. “I keep it to… honor our Irish roots.”
“Right,” Nick grunted. He sat forward, looking but not touching.
“What exactly is it you need from this?” Mikey asked.
Nick gave him a wary glance. “It’s supposed to point to a location.”
“Like a treasure map?” Mikey asked.
Nick nodded.
JD slid off the sofa to his knees, his fingers gripping the table. “May I touch it?” he asked. It was the first thing he’d said since the elevator. He’d obviously forgotten he was scared.
Paddy merely chuckled. He waved for JD to go ahead.
They crowded around it, scowling at the priceless piece like it was a Rubik’s Cube instead of a treasure that had gone missing over a hundred years ago. The emeralds were stunningly green, and they made up a clover in the center of the field of diamonds. Brilliant red rubies formed an X behind it. But there was nothing else. Just precious gems. No message, no sign. Nothing that would point in any way to a location or clue.
“I don’t understand,” Julian said. He was leaning over the back of the couch, breathing down their necks. “They said it would be there.”
Nick massaged the bridge of his nose. “Is it possible these people wanted you to locate this instead of something more?” he asked.
“Good luck to them, if that’s the case,” Julian said with a salute toward Paddy.
“Why did they think it would be here?” Kelly asked.
“The man responsible for the design was a descendant of the soldier who hid the stolen goods,” Julian explained. “There were several accounts, private accounts, that the clues to its whereabouts were passed along.”
JD tore his attention away from the star to turn it to Paddy. “Do you have a loupe?”
Paddy rubbed his finger across the tip of his nose, nodding. He gestured for one of the men at the door to retrieve it.
Nick still had his head down, his thumbs massaging his temples. “This treasure hunt is just as pointless as the one we send those kids on every summer.”
Kelly patted his knee, trying to offer some sort of comfort. Nick had just sold his soul to get a look at this thing, all for nothing. The memory of Nick’s notes for that treasure hunt flashed through Kelly’s mind. Then it hit him.
“Oh my God, it’s a pigpen cipher!” he blurted.
Nick raised his head, blinking rapidly at Kelly then glancing at the star in JD’s hand.
“Look it,” Kelly said, reaching to take it from JD. He drew his finger across the rubies, then pointed at each tip of the clover so they could envision it. It formed a perfect piece to a pigpen cipher, with the shapes of the clover creating the message.
“Motherfucker,” Nick breathed.
“What does it mean?” Julian demanded.
“Pigpen ciphers are usually dots, but this is shapes,” Nick told him. “Three circles and an arch. I know arches are supposed to represent power, monarchy, manliness… sometimes the warrior class. But this one’s on its head, I have no idea what that means. And circles, I don’t know.”
“You said there were more pieces stolen when this was?” Kelly asked. “I bet together, they form a complete cipher.”
Nick nodded toward Paddy. “Any ideas?”
“The other pieces, I can’t help you with,” Paddy told them. “You can imagine that stealing the Irish Crown Jewels brought enough attention; keeping them together as a collection would have been…”
“Stupid,” Nick provided.
Paddy gave them that crooked grin again, and again it made Kelly uneasy.
“Where the other pieces ended up, I don’t know. You could speak to our… brethren in New York. Chicago. But even I can’t get a cop through their doors for a treasure hunt, kiddo.”
Nick’s jaw tightened and he nodded.
“Maybe there’s more etched in the stones,” JD said. He pointed to the jeweler’s loupe Nosebleed was bringing them. They were all silent as JD examined the stones for markings. After a few minutes, he sighed and set the star brooch and the loupe down on the cushion. “Nothing.”
“Where does that leave us?” Julian asked.
“With a very expensive… copy,” Nick answered, voice gone soft with defeat. His eyes were locked on Paddy’s.
“Well,” Paddy said, and he clapped his hands together. “It seems our meeting has come to an end.” He climbed to his feet, and they all stood with him. He reached for Nick’s hand, shaking it warmly, and a moment later he pulled Nick into another hug. For an infamous mob boss, he sure did seem fond of the police.
This time, Nick returned the embrace a bit more sincerely. “Thank you,” Nick said, almost inaudible.
Paddy tapped Nick’s cheek with the tips of his fingers. “Don’t be a stranger, kiddo.”
“Don’t hold your breath, old man.”
Paddy barked a laugh. “This make us even?”
“I got one more left,” Nick told him. “Mark it in your damn book so your boys know it.”
Paddy was still chuckling when the door closed behind them.
“One more?” Mikey asked Nick as he led them to the elevator. Nick was silent, but Kelly wished like hell Mikey would press him for details so Kelly wouldn’t have to later. Mikey stopped him in the middle of the hall, standing in front of him with his hand on Nick’s chest. “You telling me Paddy owed you a solid? Owed you two solids?”
A slow, crooked smile spread across Nick’s face. It was his only response.
“Jesus fucking Christ, you fucking fucker,” Mikey said affectionately, and he stepped aside so they could continue on to the elevator. Kelly punched the button. Mikey pulled Nick into a hug, squeezing him tightly. “You be careful out there, huh? You left Boston to save your fucking life and then spent every fucking day trying to die.”
“Watch your fucking mouth.” Nick patted him on the back of the head, and then they released each other. “You get in trouble, you know who to call.”
“Anybody but you.”
“That’s right,” Nick drawled, and stepped into the elevator with the others. Mikey stood there grinning, his hands in his suit pockets as the doors closed.
“How the bleeding hell do you acquire not one, but two favors from the Irish mob?” Julian demanded on the way down.
Nick remained silent. For one, he kind of enjoyed frustrating Julian. And two, you acquired favors from the Irish mob by keeping your damn mouth shut about how you did it.
They reached the bottom floor and Nick led the way to Alibi, the restaurant situated amidst the remains of the old jail cells on the bottom floor. As in the lobby, the walls were brick and the iron bars were still set into the windows and doors where the cells had once stood. The room was littered with little pods of comfortable chairs and love seats, and the tables were just big enough to set a few glasses and a plate of appetizers on.
They took up residence in a corner, where the lights faced away from them and no one would look their way.
“That’s funny,” JD said as soon as he sat down. “Alibi.”
They all stared at him.
“You can’t tell me that’s not funny. I don’t care,” he insisted. “Irony.”
Nick finally chuckled.
“I lied,” JD blurted, and though he kept his voice at a whisper, it was obvious he had been desperate to say the words.
Nick looked up from his menu, eyes pinning JD before he could speak again. JD met his stare and flinched. He was astute enough to see the distrust in Nick’s expression. He looked wounded, but he continued. “The star,” he said quickly. “It did have something on it.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked.
“The diamonds inside the clover, there were symbols etched on them.”
Nick sat back, a mixture of relief and irritation flowing through him. “You didn’t want them to know.”
“No, I figured the less people who know about this, the better. Especially people who steal priceless treasures and hoard them in suitcases.”
“Fair enough.” Nick cleared his throat. “Do me a favor and never Google your real name, okay?”
“What? Why?”
“No reason.” Nick raised his hand for a waitress. “I need a fucking drink.”
When the first round came, JD took one of the napkins from beneath his glass and drew the cross and clover on it. Inside each leaf of the clover, he wrote the symbols he’d seen.
Kelly had his phone out, frowning at the screen.
Nick leaned toward him. They were sharing a love seat, so he scooted closer, sliding his hand between Kelly’s thighs so it would look like they were merely lovebirds on a date rather than a group of men who’d just met the most notorious criminal in Boston and were now here drinking so Paddy and his boys could slip out the back of the hotel without being seen. “What are you doing?”
“Looking up what circles mean.”
Nick tightened his grip, squeezing his thigh and pulling him closer. He whispered in his ear. “No beginning. No end.” Kelly tried to turn his head, but Nick nudged his cheek with his nose, refusing to let him move just yet. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Kelly’s temple. “Like a wedding ring. Represents eternity.”
Kelly finally leaned away and turned to meet Nick’s eyes. Nick couldn’t tell what color his eyes were tonight in the low light of the restaurant. He thought they might be gray.
Nick kissed him before Kelly could speak. “I love you,” he whispered. His words came out almost desperate and he wasn’t entirely sure why. Kelly had just seen a part of him he’d hoped no one would ever see. He didn’t know what Kelly would do with that.
“Do you two need to go to your room?” Julian asked with a long-suffering sigh.
“Soon,” Kelly answered, his voice hoarse and serious. He gave Nick a barely perceptible nod and they both sat up straighter. Kelly cleared his throat. “This says the circles can represent anything from eternity to fidelity to the meeting of the spirit and matter.”
“Spirit and matter?” Julian repeated. “Why?”
“The solid line encircling the inner part that’s made of nothing,” Kelly summarized as he read what he’d found on his phone. He clicked it off and put it away.
“The sideways arch?” JD asked.
“It’s probably just an arch,” Nick guessed. “They had to work in the confines of their task, which was to make it look like a clover. Instead of a straight line, though, they chose to curve it to make it an arch. What numbers did we end up with?”
JD handed him the napkin. He had drawn the star, with circles representing each gem. He’d shaded in the pieces that were red or green, and copied the writing on the diamonds. They weren’t numbers after all, but more symbols.
“You’re sure this is right?” Nick asked.
JD nodded, looking a little perturbed that Nick would question his memory.
“Seriously, you’re giving me a bitchface for doubting the memory of someone who can’t remember his own name?”
JD tried to maintain his frown, but he finally snorted and gave Nick a sheepish smile. “It’s correct. I promise.”
“This isn’t a pigpen cipher,” Nick said. “There aren’t enough letters.”
“How many are represented?” Julian asked.
“Just eight. You have the four symbols in the cross that are represented by the emeralds, then he has four more here within the diamonds.”
“So eight symbols. With no point of reference as to what they mean,” Kelly concluded. “Great.”
Nick was still shaking his head, examining the napkin. He was at a complete loss. “I… I don’t know what to do with this. I don’t know where we go from here with this.”
“Hold on,” Julian said with a wave of his hand. “You’re not giving up, are you? This is information the others don’t have, information they won’t get unless they intend to go to the bloody mob for it. Not many people have the stones to do what you just did. We’re finally a step ahead. And we have him now; they don’t.”
JD was nodding his head with Julian’s words. “I don’t remember any of the important things, but I sure as hell remember this stuff,” JD told them. “We can do this. We can get there ahead of them.”
Nick narrowed his eyes and cocked his head at JD. “You’re very eager to get to this treasure.”
JD sighed heavily. “You still suspect me? My motives? That’s fine, Detective, because I do too. I don’t remember why I was there with people who would rob and kill. I don’t know why I hid those things from the people I was supposed to be working with. Maybe I was a hostage like his boyfriend. Maybe I was there of my own free will and I decided to cheat them out of something I found. I don’t know. But you know what, Nick, I know there’s at least one person out there who does know the answers to those questions. And that person is looking for this same treasure. That’s who I want to find, that’s why I’m eager. If you want to arrest me and put me in a cell, you go ahead and do it, but one thing I know for damn sure is that I’m your best shot at this, and no matter what my motivation was for being there, I’m here right now for the three of you. Because you’re the only people in the world I know well enough to care about right now.”
Nick and the others stared at him, stunned by his outburst. It was the first hint of real heat Nick had seen from him.
JD stood and straightened his suit, closing his eyes. “Am I under arrest, or can I go to the room and get some sleep now?”
Nick was torn between respecting the man for standing up to him and being upset with himself for not hiding his suspicions better. He nodded, and JD turned away without another word.
Julian tossed back what was left of his drink and stood. “I’ll try to calm him. Keep an eye on him. Good night,” he added with a nod to them both.
Nick sat forward and held his head in his hands, groaning softly. Kelly’s fingers were tentative on his back, at first. Then he placed his palm on Nick’s spine and left it there.
“Your instincts are telling you to trust him. He’ll be here in the morning.”
“Only people he knows well enough to care about. Jesus Christ, just stab me in the heart already.”
Kelly chuckled. “He sounded a little like you there. All self-righteous logic and sass. Let’s go to bed, huh?”
Nick looked back at him, and Kelly gave him an exaggerated leer.
“You know what, fuck it,” Nick growled. He held up his hand for the waitress, ordering another round of drinks.
“What are you doing? I thought we were going to bed.”
“No, we’re not. I’m having drinks with my boyfriend at one of my favorite places in the city.” Nick sat back and slipped his hand over Kelly’s thigh again. He squeezed and pulled Kelly closer, sliding him on the leather love seat.
Kelly laughed and ran his teeth across his lower lip. “Does that make this a date?”
“It’d be our first real one if it is.”
“First date includes stolen treasure and the mob. How romantic. And fitting.” Kelly leaned closer, smirking. He kissed Nick before Nick could come up with any clever responses. Kelly’s hand found its way into the pocket of Nick’s tailored suit pants.
“Don’t,” Nick warned. He knew he’d jump on the chance to vent his frustration, and he didn’t want to be banned from this bar for indecency.
Kelly grinned against the kiss. “Why, Detective? You don’t mind making me come all over my sweatpants in the car.”
“You didn’t pay a thousand dollars for your sweatpants,” Nick gritted out as Kelly’s fingers brushed against his thigh. “I could hire a high-class hooker cheaper than I could replace this suit.”
“Are you offering to pay me?” Kelly asked, eyes sparkling.
Nick growled in the back of his throat and fished Kelly’s hand out of his pocket. “No, but I will fuck you into oblivion as soon as we get to the room.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, just keep your hands out of my pants.”
Kelly laughed. The sound was like a balm on Nick’s fraying nerves. He squeezed Kelly’s thigh tighter, keeping his fingers between Kelly’s knees as they drank and talked for the next hour. Nick would have given anything to have left as soon as Kelly’s lips had touched his, to take him upstairs and just take him as many times as they could handle.
But they were here for a reason. He had to be seen tonight.
“How do you earn a favor from the mob?” Kelly asked after his seventh or eighth drink.
Nick almost spit his alcohol all over the table. He had to struggle to swallow, and he set his drink down before he could spill it. He leaned closer to Kelly, his voice full of gravel. “You keep your fucking mouth shut in public, that’s how.”
Kelly blinked at him, then nodded obediently. He stared into Nick’s eyes for another few seconds, and then a smile spread over his lips. “That actually made me shiver. Can you do that again?”
Nick’s lips twitched.
“No seriously, that was the hottest you’ve ever been. Will you threaten me when you’re fucking me later? Or better yet, will you just fuck me right here?”
Nick laughed, and he stood to straighten his suit. He picked up his glass and finished off his drink, then held his hand down for Kelly. Kelly wavered when Nick pulled him off the couch.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Nick hissed in his ear as he guided him between the chairs and the table.
Kelly slowed enough that Nick pressed into him from behind. “I’m not going to make it to the room.”
“You’re not that drunk.”
“No, but I am that horny. This place is dark, I bet no one will notice.”
Nick shoved him ahead, ushering him out of the bar. It took every ounce of willpower Nick had to not pull Kelly close and grind against him on the escalator. Kelly obviously didn’t give a shit about decorum, because he stepped into Nick’s space and tugged at his belt.
“Control yourself,” Nick ground out, trying to keep calm. The entire lobby could see people on the escalator. He didn’t want to give anyone a show. Actually, he did. But he wouldn’t.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Kelly challenged. He stuck his tongue between his teeth, grinning, then he hopped off the escalator when they reached the top, pulling Nick by his belt.
Nick finally pried Kelly’s fingers off the belt and held Kelly’s hand instead.
“I like this,” Kelly said as they strolled across the lobby, fingers twined. “Holding your hand. Walking around. You in that suit, Jesus Christ.”
Nick pulled him closer, bringing his hand up to kiss it. “I’ll remember that.”
They got to the elevator without incident, and without public indecency, but as soon as the elevator doors closed, Kelly grabbed Nick and shoved him against the wall. His hand worked at Nick’s belt and the buttons of his vest, and he kicked Nick’s feet apart so he could slip himself between Nick’s thighs and press their groins together.
Nick grasped at Kelly’s hips, holding on to him so he wouldn’t fall on his ass as his shoes slid against the marble floor. Kelly kissed him messily, his movements just sloppy enough to turn Nick on even more. He fucking loved when Kelly got like this. It went rough and messy and loud.
He grunted a warning that he was about to move them, and Kelly moaned in response, wrapping his arms around Nick’s neck. Nick spun them, pressing Kelly against the array of buttons.
Kelly grabbed two handfuls of Nick’s hair and yanked.
“Fuck,” Nick hissed. He rubbed his hardened cock against Kelly’s. “You couldn’t have waited five more fucking minutes to start this?”
“I’m sorry,” Kelly gasped. “I am, but I couldn’t fucking help it. You went all fucking badass evil mastermind on me with the Irish mob. Then you were talking about beginnings and ends and eternity and rings and that fucking tone of voice you use when you get all hard and drunk. God! This is your fault!”
The elevator dinged, and Nick slammed his palm against the emergency stop button. The lights flickered and the elevator shuddered to a stop. He pressed closer.
Kelly blinked up at the emergency lights. “You’re really going to fuck me in the elevator, aren’t you?”
“No,” Nick hissed. Although he did want to. Badly. “Not enough lube to go half as hard at you as I want to. I’m going to take you back to our room. I’m going to bend you over the end of our fucking bed, and I’m going to fill you so full of me you’ll be screaming in a Boston accent. Make you forget everything you saw and heard tonight.”
Kelly licked his lips slowly. “Promise?”
Nick closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before hitting the button again. The doors slid open, and Nick escorted Kelly out with a hand on his lower back. Thankfully there was no one there to see their disheveled suits or flushed faces. He’d had his share of exhibitionist moments, and most had been well worth it. He didn’t want that with Kelly, though. He wanted Kelly all to himself.
“You’re such a fucking white knight when you start drinking.” Kelly flopped against the wall beside their door, nestling into the corner of the part that jutted out around the doors. “Your alcohol tolerance sucks for you, but it’s awesome for me.”
Nick blocked him in and bent to kiss his neck. “Just means I get to take advantage of you.”
“I love it when you do that.”
“I know you do,” Nick purred against Kelly’s ear. Kelly shivered all over, and Nick held him tighter so he could feel it.
Kelly rested his head against the wall, clumsy fingers working at Nick’s belt. “Eternity rings and manly soldiers. You Irish really know how to seduce a guy.”
Nick hummed against Kelly’s neck as he kissed and nipped. His entire body thrummed with bourbon and electricity. Kelly’s hands on him were kicking him into overdrive.
Kelly’s words finally sank through the haze, though, and Nick lifted his head.
Kelly spread his hands over Nick’s stomach, bunching his fingers against Nick’s vest as he worked the buttons loose. “What? What’s wrong? If you don’t have the room key I’m going to kill you. Or give you a sloppy blowjob in a hallway, whatever.” He gave Nick’s dress shirt a yank, and buttons went flying.
“Motherfucker,” Nick hissed as Kelly laughed raucously. Nick fought past the allure of Kelly’s hands on him and asked, “What did you say before?”
“I said if you don’t open the door and fuck me, I’m dropping to my knees right here in the hallway.” To emphasize his point, he pulled the zipper on Nick’s pants and popped the button free. “Actually I like that plan, key or not.”
The image tore through Nick, almost wiping his mind clean of any other thought. He even reached up to grab Kelly’s hair, his fist tightening in preparation of holding on while he thrust into Kelly’s mouth later. But he shook his head, fighting the niggling feeling that he was missing something. “Before that,” he said, and his voice was hoarse. “What’d you say?”
“Uh, about the Irish?” Kelly asked. “White knights? Circles and arches and eternity and warriors? I don’t know, I talked a lot tonight, you shouldn’t let me do that when I’m drunk.”
Nick grabbed Kelly’s face with both hands. “Eternity. Spirit meeting matter. Archways. Warriors.” They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Nick made a sound like an animal in pain as he backed away from Kelly and slapped himself in the forehead. “God! Why the fuck couldn’t I have figured that out an hour from now?” he shouted.
“What, figured what out?”
“It’s a cemetery,” Nick hissed. “The star points us to a cemetery.”
Nick zipped up his pants and stalked off, heading toward JD’s and Julian’s room.
“Hey,” Kelly called after him. “Does this mean I’m not getting fucked, because I don’t like this new plan at all!”
Nick stopped in the middle of the hall and turned. Kelly was standing in front of their door, his hair mussed, his suit awry, his cock obviously hard, his hands out like he couldn’t believe Nick had just walked away. But he was still smiling. Kelly was always smiling.
Nick glanced at the door of the other men’s room, then back to Kelly. Kelly deserved better than being abandoned for a treasure hunt. When it came right down to it, if Nick had a choice to make, he’d always choose Kelly. “Fuck it, it can wait ’til morning.”
He fished the key out of his pocket and headed back to his lover. Kelly’s grin widened and he began to unbutton his own shirt in anticipation. Nick grabbed him around the waist, kissing him, then lifting him to his toes to deepen the kiss. Kelly’s hands were once again in his hair.
“You trying to sweep me off my feet?” Kelly asked, a little breathless.
Nick grinned. “No. But I am going to take you up on that sloppy blowjob you offered.”
Kelly cackled as Nick dragged him inside. “Who says romance is dead?”
Nick attacked his clothes, dropping the expensive material here and there. They both kicked clumsily out of their shoes, and Kelly wasn’t even out of his briefs before Nick tossed him onto the bed. Kelly stretched out, pushing his briefs down as he scooted closer to the middle of the king-sized bed. Though he’d seen Kelly’s hard body a thousand times before, he still nearly stumbled over his own feet when his eyes raked over the ornate six-shooter tattoo spanning from the juncture of Kelly’s thigh to his lower ribs and highlighting the muscle beneath it.
Nick tossed his last piece of clothing away and stood at the side of the bed, admiring his lover. Kelly’d had that six-shooter ever since Nick had known him, and Nick had always loved it and not quite known why.
“I thought I was going to get on my knees and let you fuck my mouth like a cheap whore,” Kelly drawled. “I mean, since you can’t afford a high-dollar escort with your pants.” There was a sparkle in his eyes. He knew exactly what he did to Nick when he started talking like that. When he laid that tight body out for Nick to gaze upon.
“You were, but plans change,” Nick growled. He dug in his overnight bag and pulled out two things, showing them to Kelly for him to choose which would come first: a tube of lubricant, or the little red flip camera they kept for… special occasions.
“Camera,” Kelly gasped. “Oh God, yeah. The camera.”
Nick crawled onto the bed, wrapping Kelly’s hips in his arms and pulling him closer. He handed him the flip cam, and Kelly scrambled to turn it on so he could catch the first touch of Nick’s tongue to his cock.
Ten minutes later, Nick was on his back, Kelly straddling his chest and fucking his mouth as he filmed it. He wasn’t going easy; he was far too drunk for that. But the rougher he was with Nick, the harder he pulled Nick’s hair, the deeper he thrust even after Nick nearly gagged on him, the more he bruised Nick’s lips, the more turned on Nick became.
Kelly arched over him, gritting his teeth and shouting Nick’s name. He cried out again and met Nick’s eyes, fist clenched in his hair. “If I came all over your face, you’d take it out on my ass, wouldn’t you?”
Nick dug his fingers into Kelly’s hips, nodding.
Kelly turned the video camera to face him, and gave it a sly smile. “Not usually recommended, but this is going to be worth it.”