"Look, you've got two choices here. You work with me or you go back out on your own." Lacey Aguado stood in the small hotel room with her arms crossed and a look of superiority on her face.

Logan sat on the edge of the bed. He'd slept soundly, gotten a good shower, and had cobbled together a decent breakfast from the groceries that Pescado had left him last night. All in all, it had been shaping up to be a good day. Until Fuentes had showed up with Lacey in tow.

Judging by the look on the Detective's face he wasn't well pleased by the situation. Lacey had shouldered past him almost as soon as they were through the door and taken over the conversation without a second's hesitation. Pescado had brought up the rear and shut the door behind them.

Either Fuentes hadn't told her about his demands or she hadn't listened to them. Whatever the case, Logan couldn't help the smirk that touched his lips as he looked up at her. He liked informing people of the reality of the situation. Especially when reality swung in his favor.

"Go ahead," he said, cocking an eyebrow as he leaned back on his elbows. "Kick me out on the streets again. You seem to think that I need you, but the fact is that you're the one that needs me. I decided to help you out of the goodness of my heart, but if you don't want it then that's fine with me."

"They'll kill you." Lacey seemed to think she still held all the cards.

"Why?" he sat up with a quizzical expression on his face. "I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't turned anyone in. As far as the rest of the rabble knows, I'm just something pretty that Julio kept around for fun. They have no idea what I know and, let's face it, neither do you. I'm safe. They won't touch me without reason."

"You seem awfully confident." Lacey hesitated before continuing. "You think you'll still be wearing that smile when we leak the news to the prison population that you're talking? How long do you think it would take before that news gets to the outside?"

"Aguado!" Fuentes snapped at her.

"Go for it," said Logan, rising to his feet. "You seem to be forgetting something incredibly important here." He stood toe to toe with Lacey and looked her in the eye. His smirk was still firmly in place. The only way to deal with overconfident people was to exude confidence of your own. You needed to unsettle them. No one was better at that than Logan. "No matter what you do, you don't get my information unless you cooperate with me."

"It's in your best interests to talk to me, why can't you see that?" Lacey seemed to be growing annoyed. She furrowed her brow as she spoke and there was an edge to her voice that sounded like she was fighting the urge to snap at him.

"No, it really isn't," replied Logan. He stretched lazily and shrugged his shoulders. "My demands are simple; protection, better accommodations, and I'll only talk to Fuentes and Pescado. That's it. That's all I want. Give me those things my information is yours."

"You'll have protection and better accommodations but the last point is non-negotiable. You talk to me or no one." Lacey took a deep, shuddering, breath as she moved her hands to her hips. She probably thought she was being intimidating.

"Then I guess I'm heading out. Thanks for the room." He nodded to Lacey and moved towards the door. For a moment he thought Pescado would block his exit, but the detective stepped aside without a word. He laid a hand on the door knob and pulled it open.

"Wait, stop, just...shut the door," said Lacey as he stepped out onto the patio. "Let's...let's just not rush anything. Okay?"

Logan looked back at her. "We've said all there is to say on the matter. You've got two options. Give me what I want, or let me leave. That's pretty much it."

"Fine," she relented. "I'll make the arrangements. You'll deliver your information to Pescado and Fuentes, but your better accommodations and protection will have to wait until you've given us something we can work with." Lacey looked like she was reaching the end of her rope.

"That's fine," said Logan. It was the arrangement he had wanted, and expected, from the beginning. She may have thought she was making things more difficult for him, but ultimately she had lost this sparring match. He closed the door and moved back into the room. "If I can offer you some advice, Lacey, find another career. This isn't for you."

She looked like she was going to reply but thought better of it. Without another word, Lacey left the room in a huff.

"You shouldn't antagonize her like that," warned Fuentes.

"She's too uptight," shrugged Logan. "Besides, I like putting people in their place." He grinned up at Fuentes as he dropped back onto the bed.

"I'll bet," muttered Fuentes. He met Logan's gaze with his storm-cloud eyes.

Logan felt his heart skip a beat. His mouth went dry and for a moment his mind was blank. He licked his lips and struggled to think of something to say, all the while unable to break eye contact with Fuentes.

"Nacho, get the tape recorder from the car, will you?" Fuentes was the one to break away first. He rocked back onto his heels and turned back towards his partner. "We might as well get this started."

Pescado bobbed his head in response and left the room.

"Well, now that we're alone..." Logan let his voice trail off as he climbed to his feet once again. There was something about the detective, an electric magnetism, that got under his skin and made him want to close the distance between them as much as possible.

"Behave," warned Fuentes without looking back at him. The detective was pulling the small table away from the wall.

"I'm not the one that was getting all breathy yesterday," teased Logan as he stepped closer to Fuentes so that there was only about a foot between them. Fuentes must've sensed the proximity because he stopped moving but didn't look back.

"You need to stop," said Fuentes after a moment of silence.

"I know Pescado will be back soon," pouted Logan, turning away reluctantly. He paced across the room and flopped back onto the bed.

"It's more than that," said Fuentes, finally turning to look at him. "You just arranged for us to work together. You're an informant now. I'm your contact. You can't act like that around me. We can't do that. It's not professional, it's not the kind of relationship a cop should have with an informant."

"You can't say it, can you?" Logan tilted his head to one side and grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Fuentes frowned and returned to arranging the chairs around the table.

"Sex."

Fuentes kept his eyes focused on his work and remained silent. Even from halfway across the room it was clear that he was blushing.

"You've never had it, have you?" Logan sat bolt upright, now intensely interested.

"I've had sex," retorted Fuentes a little too quickly.

"With a man?"

Silence.

"How does an alpha like you never have sex with another man? Omegas must've been throwing themselves at you your whole life." Logan watched Fuentes for any sort of reaction that might give away something.

Fuentes was like a wet newspaper, almost unreadable. He had clammed up and wasn't giving anything else away. Pescado returned before Logan could probe for more information.

Before now, Logan had been interested in Fuentes simply because he was thought he was hot and seemed sexually frustrated. The fact that he had shut down so quickly only made him more interested, however. There was more to this detective than he had thought at first and now he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

The interview lasted for about fifteen minutes. Fuentes didn't have to ask many questions. Logan had already decided what he was going to give them to start with. Just a small collection of thugs that Julio had hired to process illegal passports down near the port. He'd heard Julio chew them out over lost revenue several times. They were one of the smaller side groups that Julio had in operation but they would be a good representation of what he knew.

If Fuentes and Pescado were surprised, they didn't show it. The tape recorder was running, but Pescado was still dutifully scribbling down notes while listening to Logan speak.

After they finished up, Pescado gathered up the recording equipment and headed out to the car without waiting for a word from his partner.

Fuentes paused and grabbed a bag he'd left by the front door earlier.

"These are the clothes I promised you," he explained as he passed it to Logan. "I wasn't sure of your size so I guessed. I hope they fit."

Logan glanced in the bag. Looked like blue jeans and some t-shirts. He'd been spoiled by Julio over the last year. It had been a long time since he'd worn jeans. If he was being honest, he missed more casual attire. Living every single day as Julio's living doll had been tiring.

"It'll be fine, I'm sure," said Logan, setting the bag aside. "Did you manage to get my phone?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow and smiling slyly.

"Not yet," said Fuentes, shoving his hands in his pockets and stepping back towards the door. "The tech department is swamped going through all the phones we picked up."

Logan sighed. "So I guess I'll just sit here and wait then?" He didn't like not having anything to do. Sitting around watching TV or staring at the wall wasn't exactly his idea of fun. He was going to get bored, fast.

"For now," said Fuentes. "Do you want me to bring you anything? Magazine? Books?"

"Some nude photos of you would be nice." Logan shot him a playful grin as Fuentes turned red once more.

"I told you..."

"I know, 'behave.' But I can't help it. I like watching you blush. It's pretty adorable." Logan was smiling from ear to ear now.

"I'm not adorable." Fuentes' voice was barely audible as he looked away uncomfortably.

"Whatever. No, there's nothing I really want," admitted Logan. "I just don't want to sit around here alone all day." His smile lessened somewhat as he looked away at the wall.

"I'll try to stop by when I can," said Fuentes as he turned towards the door. "Until we get you a security detail and better accommodations, I don't want to risk coming by too often. Someone might see."

"No one is going to see," Logan tried to reassure him. "Julio never got into the hotel business and there's no way his guys would stay in such a crappy joint."

"I'll try to stop by when I can," repeated Fuentes, glancing back at him. His expression looked almost apologetic. "Stay away from the windows and--"

"'And don't open the door for anyone but you or Pescado.' I got it, don't worry," Logan forced a laugh. "You better go before your partner leaves without you."

Fuentes hesitated for a moment. Logan caught himself wishing that the detective would turn around, cross the room, and kiss him forcefully. That kind of spontaneous, needy, passionate kiss you saw on the movies. The mood was right for it. Unfortunately, Fuentes had a stick shoved so far up his ass that wouldn't let himself relax enough to actually do it.

The detective ripped the door open so quickly that a gust of wind blew into the room. Without a second look back the broody, self-denying, impossibly desirable alpha left.

Finding himself alone once more, Logan flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling in frustration.

Turning in Julio's henchmen was a bad move for him. It was the sort of thing people did when they had a death wish. With Julio out of the picture he was as good as free. So why then was he doing this? Why go through all this trouble when there was no real benefit to him? Was it some sort of penance for the life he'd lead this past year? Did he hope that, perhaps, by doing this he could somehow redeem himself?

That was the sort of internal, self-discovery that he usually tried to avoid. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was allowing himself to change in fundamental ways. Ways that were completely contrary to how he had been accustomed to living. He'd gotten tired of stealing and taking advantage of people, so he'd gone to Julio. At Julio's side he'd begun to question who he was as a person. He'd stolen for survival before. The life Julio lead was a different sort of crime. The sort that ended up with a lot of people getting hurt. He'd wanted out for a while. Now he was out and he'd found himself face to face with a man who was so starkly different than Julio had been it was like night and day.

Yet this man, Ramos Fuentes, was so different than Julio that he couldn't see a world in which the two of them were ever more than cop and criminal.

Logan's thoughts screamed to a halt. Did he want that? To be more than cop and criminal with Fuentes? He barely even knew the man. How had he gone from wanting to jump his bones to wanting to be "something more?" Logan groaned, rolled over, and stared at the wall. Why was his life so complicated?