CHAPTER TEN
Cam shrugged on his suit jacket and clipped the leash to Gidget’s harness. Today was D-day for hiring a new executive chef, and the last two interviews were part of his and the senior manager’s responsibility. He had a hand in every major decision in this hotel; nothing happened without him knowing, and the things that could have slipped by, Six had a handle on.
“Ready?” Six asked from the door. “Esther is already down in the kitchens.”
“Ready.” They left the apartment and headed for the elevator. Cam heard the elevator ascend, tracing his hand over the ornate doors while he waited. The Stafford coat of arms, or at least what his grandparents had created as the coat of arms—a lion and a crown befitting Chicago aristocracy—was everywhere. From the stylized design he could trace on the elevator doors to the soft embossed logo on napkins and in the carpet. When he’d decided to take a leap of faith and run this place, his inheritance, himself, he’d gone with tradition. If a person stayed in any of the Stafford Hotels, they would see the same coat of arms, but his had the touch of luxury, and he was damn proud of the feel of it even if he couldn’t see it.
The brand that he was integral to, despite the fact that no one had wanted him to be.
He’d worked damn hard to overcome everything, and he had Six to thank for a lot of it. That gave him pause, and he reached out to touch Six on the arm.
“Thank you,” he said. “I never say it enough.”
“What for?” Six asked.
“For everything,” Cam said expansively.
The soft ding of the approaching car made him jump enough to stop the conversation, and when the door opened he made to step in, only for Six to grab his arm and yank him back.
“Fuck,” Six cursed. “Jesus,” he added with feeling.
“What?” Cam snapped. “What is it?”
“Cam?”
That was Gabriel’s rough voice; he’d know it anywhere. “Can you help me?”
“Out of the way,” Six snapped, and shoved at Cam a little before pushing past him. “What the fuck happened to you?”
“I just need to borrow some money.”
“Fuck off, he’s not giving you money.”
“I’ll pay him back. Please, I wouldn’t ask—”
“I said no. Get out of here. Take yourself to a hospital, or a street corner, I don’t fucking care, but get out of this hotel.”
Cam couldn’t follow this. Gabriel sounded…wrong…and Six was shouting and saying things for Cam that he wouldn’t have said at all.
“Stop!” Cam snapped. The doors of the elevator tried to shut, but he was in the way and they moved back. “Someone tell me what’s happening.”
“What’s happening is this street trash needs to get his ass out of the hotel.”
“I just need to borrow enough to get some help,” Gabriel pleaded.
They spoke at the same time.
And then there was a thump and everything went quiet. Had Six hit Gabriel? Gidget was agitated, whining at his side.
“Six!”
“Move back, Cam,” Six ordered, and then there was more grunting, and noises that Cam couldn’t make out. “In your apartment. It’s Gabriel, he looks like he’s been mugged. Call 9-1-1.”
“No…” Gabriel said on a groan. “Jus’ need money.”
Cam pulled the door shut behind him. “Talk to me, Six.”
“He’s bleeding, not sure from where. Hold still, fuck’s sake.”
“Get off me.”
“Whatever,” Six snapped, and there was another flurry of activity, and Cam focused in on the sounds and scents. Antiseptic, soft curse words, the coppery smell of blood, and he stepped forward into a spot he knew was between Gabriel and Six, holding up his hands, Gidget right close to him.
“Six, give me a report.”
“One cut above the eye, bleeding through a bandage that looks like a child stuck it there. He’s bent over a bit, I’m thinking bruised ribs, a lot of marks on his neck, I can’t make them out. We need to call the police.”
“No police.” That came from Gabriel.
“Jesus, he’s spitting blood now.” Six yanked at Cam, who nearly toppled and righted himself with a hand to Six’s chest.
“Stop, Six. Gabriel, talk to me.”
“I just need to borrow some money.” There was the sound of something, material, Gidget moving, and then some soft words. “I’ll do anything.” Gabriel’s voice had moved. It was lower. Gabriel was lower.
“Six?” Cam asked a little desperately.
“He’s on his fucking knees in front of you.”
“What happened?” Cam asked. He wanted to see this; he desperately wanted to be in control of what was happening here.
“Probably took some other guy’s corner,” Six grumbled.
“I didn’t. Please, Cam, I’ll pay it back.”
“What do you need it for?”
“A bus, a cab, anything.”
Cam followed his instincts and went to a crouch, reaching for something to balance on, finding Gabriel’s shoulder. Gabriel hissed at the touch. “How much do you need?”
“I have an address I need to get to,” Gabriel said, and his voice was thick with tears. He coughed, and the motion moved Cam’s hand.
“Do you need a hospital?” he asked, but Gabriel stayed quiet. “Six, does he need a hospital?”
Six was suspiciously quiet as well.
“Someone fucking talk to me,” he snapped, and had to place a reassuring hand against Gidget, who whined again. He knew how Gidget felt; he didn’t understand what was going on either.
“Can you breathe?” Six asked, his voice calmer but still firm. He moved past Cam and lifted Cam’s hand from Gabriel. “Does it hurt when you breathe?”
“No.”
“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you,” Six snapped when Gabriel hissed.
Cam had to stay calm; Six was a trained professional and had to have seen firsthand his share of battlefield medicine. Right?
“When did this happen?” he asked, and Gabriel mumbled something that sounded like one a.m. After he’d left here last night? On his way home? Six ran through a whole gamut of questions and Cam stood up, a head rush making him sway a little. He listened to the answers. Yes, he’d lost consciousness. No, he hadn’t been sick. He didn’t have a headache, and please could he just have some money.
“You need to see a doctor to be sure,” Six said in conclusion.
“After I get where I need to be,” Gabriel snapped back.
Cam made a decision. “Six, get the car; we’ll take him where he needs to go.” He held up a hand, because he knew Six would hate that, and that Gabriel wouldn’t be happy. He didn’t have to know Gabriel well to assume that something huge enough had happened that he wouldn’t trust anyone.
The chaos around him made his head spin, but at least neither man said anything. God knew what kind of expressions they had on their faces right then, or what sort of death glare Six was giving Gabriel. The door slammed, and Cam crossed to the desk phone, pressing for reception and connecting to the hotel manager. He explained that he wouldn’t be at the meeting. Finally, he was back with Gabriel, who as far as he knew was still on his knees.
“What happened, Gabriel?” he asked gently.
Gabriel said nothing, but he did move, and his soft exhalation of pain cut Cam to the core.
“He didn’t like that I didn’t tell him where I was. I let him down.”
“Who?”
“Stefan. He’s my…” Silence.
Pimp? Friend? Lover? None of those labels sat well with Cam.
“He’s your what?”
“What am I doing? I can’t leave here. I need to go back to him. I don’t know what I was thinking… I can’t…”
Cam crossed to the door and stood with his back to it. “You’re not going back to the person who hurt you.”
Gabriel was pulling at him, but his movements were weak, and that didn’t bode well. “Let me out. I have to go back to him.”
Six knocked and said it was him, and Cam eased away from the door, keeping a hand on Gabriel’s arm.
“I’m taking you somewhere, anywhere but back to him.”
And Gabriel sagged against him, his fight gone. But, only when they were in the car did Cam relax a little.
“Where are we going?” Six asked.
“Legacy Ranch. It’s part of the Double D,” Gabriel murmured.
“I want it on record that I insisted we take Gabriel to the police.”
“Noted,” Cam agreed. “Is that the Campbell-Hayes place?”
“Kyle,” Gabriel murmured. “And Mistry.”
Cam felt a weight leaning against him, then the soft sounds of breathing. Had Gabriel fallen asleep on him, or was he unconscious? Whatever it was, Cam was worried, and he shook his shoulder a little.
“Sorry,” Gabriel murmured. Not unconscious or asleep, then, in which case he’d been looking for comfort; that Cam could do.
He searched for Gabriel’s hand and held it firmly, then tugged so Gabriel was leaning on him again.
“No need to be sorry,” he began, then thought he’d try one more time. “A doctor seems like a good idea.”
“No.”
“Or the cops?”
“No. Just Kyle.”
Whoever this Kyle was, he hoped that meeting the man would make sense of what had started as an ordinary day.
The Double D Ranch wasn’t that far out of Dallas, but enough of a distance for Gabriel to fall into a fitful sleep.
“I don’t like this,” Six said from up front. “This isn’t something I signed up for. I’m supposed to protect you, look out for you, not get pulled into crazy hooker shit.”
“Six—”
“Don’t, Cam, just don’t. This is the worst fucking idea I’ve ever been party to.”
There was a sign a few hundred yards past the main Double D ranch pointing a visitor to something called Legacy, which seemed to fit what Gabriel was looking for. Six clearly thought the same thing, turning off and parking up at the far end of the road. Cam could see a structure through the tinted windows—a long, low-slung building and some figures standing outside.
“Gabriel?” He gently shook the sleeping man, who curled closer to Cam then seemed to come awake in an instant.
He let out a moan of pain, but that was it, and it didn’t last long. “We’re here?” he asked. He gripped Cam’s hand.
“Yeah. You want to get out?”
“Not really,” Gabriel murmured, then he pulled himself away from Cam. “But I need to.”
Six opened the door on Cam’s side and Gidget jumped down. Cam followed her, his hand on the handle of the harness and Gabriel following.
“You don’t have to stay,” Gabriel said. But there was something in his tone that screamed fear, and right now, Cam didn’t want Gabriel being scared.
“I won’t go until I know you’re okay.” Cam wanted to find out who Kyle was, what he meant to Gabriel, and why the hell any kind of connection made Cam feel a twinge of jealousy.
For a hooker, for god’s sake.
Gabriel took his hand and began to walk, and he led Cam with him.
And suddenly Gabriel wasn’t a hooker that had crashed into Cam’s dark world and turned it on its head.
Gabriel was a friend.