Cross & Crown

“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 god damn. 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 hal way marking the ballroom and elevators to the jail hotel rooms.



They piled into the elevator, with Mikey putting his back against the wal . 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 al , 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 hal . 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 160 structure showed along the outer wal , 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 wal . 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.