You Belong to Me – 87

 

Two days before he and Scott were to leave for Phil’s wedding, Corey called Kerry. He’d talked to him after the stalker had been arrested, to tell him what had happened. But he hadn’t mentioned anything about his and Scott’s budding relationship.

 

But I’d better. It will give us at least one person in our corner if the shit hits the fan.

 

With that, he punched in Kerry’s number and paced as he waited for him to answer.

 

“Hey, Corey. What’s up? And don’t you dare say you’re not coming to the wedding.”

 

“Wasn’t planning on it. I mean not coming. As a matter of fact, I’m bringing a friend.”

 

There was a second’s pause before Kerry said, “A male friend?”

 

“Yes. His name is Scott Reed.”

 

“The detective who went undercover to help stop the stalker,” Kerry stated. “Detective Foster told me about him.”

 

Puzzled, Corey asked, “Why?”

 

“After you called me to tell me about the murder, I wanted to find out what Foster was going to do about it. I reached him right after he’d decided to have Detective Reed go undercover as your ex. As a detective myself, and your brother, I wanted to be certain Reed knew what he was doing. Foster gave him a glowing recommendation.”

 

Corey chuckled. “Nice of him.”

 

“It did ease my mind a bit. Now, I’ll get to thank him in person. And vet him to see if he’s a suitable partner for you.”

 

“Don’t you dare! Besides which, we really haven’t gotten that far yet.”

 

“Have you slept with him?”

 

“That is none of your business.”

 

 

You Belong to Me – 86

 

“And that was the gist of it,” Corey told Scott an hour later when he called. “I hope I convinced him he was not to blame for what his brother did.”

 

“I’m sure you did. You can convince anyone about anything.”

 

“Meaning?” Corey asked a bit waspishly, unsure if that was a compliment or a criticism.

 

Scott laughed. “You persuaded me to take a chance on us.”

 

“Only because I didn’t want you walking out of my life.”

 

Corey could almost see Scott lifting an eyebrow when he replied, “Only?”

 

“Okay. I’d have been a broken shell of a man if you had.”

 

“Oh my God, Corey, could you be any more dramatic?”

 

Corey snickered. “Probably, if I tried.”

 

“You are feeling better. This is a side of you I haven’t seen before.”

 

“I’m happy, Scott. Happy to have my life back on some sort of even keel. Happy that—” He paused then spoke softly “—that you decided I’m worth taking a chance on.”

 

“That was an easy decision,” Scott replied just as softly.

 

“You say that now, but I know there was a time….”

 

“There was, but never doubt I was more than interested in you above and beyond keeping you safe, even then. I just wasn’t willing to cope with being—” He chuckled. “—undercover in your life. I get enough of that with my job.”

 

“Not happening now, and you know it. You were right. No one at work seems to give a damn that I’m gay. Now I can only pray my family will feel the same way.”

 

“That, we’ll find out in a couple of weeks. I got the lieutenant to give me two days off to go to the wedding.”

 

“Yes!” Corey pumped his fist in the air.

 

“Pumping your fist is so childish.”

 

“Is not. Wait, how did you know what I did?”

 

Scott laughed. “I would have done the same thing if the situation was reversed.”

 

“Making you childish too.”

 

“Well….”

 

They continued talking for a while before making a date to go out Saturday night. When they hung up, Corey smiled happily. He really does like me, as much as I like him. Now if only the family will accept that we’re together.

 

He looked up, praying. Please, God, make it so.

 

 

 

You Belong to Me – 85

 

Silas hesitated and then asked, “Would you hate me if I got him a good lawyer? One who could get him off on an insanity plea? He’d still be behind bars, so to speak, but maybe he’d get the help he needs.”

 

Corey hesitated, then nodded. “I think that wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

 

“Meaning not great, but….”

 

“But what he needs.”

 

“Thank you. Thank you for listening to me, and talking to me, and understanding.”

 

“You’re welcome. I only have one request of you. Do not blame yourself.”

 

“I’ll try not to.”

 

“Good. And if you need someone to talk to….”

 

Silas actually managed a smile. “I’ll call my local shrink.”

 

“I meant me,” Corey said, smiling back. “But yeah, that would probably be better in the long run.”

 

“Probably. For now though, I should let you go home. I’ve kept you way too long, and to be honest, I’m beginning to freeze to death.”

 

“Do you need a ride?”

 

Silas shook his head. “I’m parked over there, but thanks.”

 

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. And Silas, this conversation was just between the two of us, I promise.” And Scott, he added silently.

 

“Thank you… again.”

 

“No problem.”

 

 

You Belong to Me – 84

 

“Damn,” Silas whispered, looked distraught.

 

“Do you think I’m wrong?” Corey asked.

 

“No. I was just thinking. Whenever I found a girl I liked, he did his best to break it up. He’d point out how she wasn’t good enough for me. That he was older and wiser and he had to keep me from making a fool of myself over some female.”

 

“He wanted you all to himself.”

 

“Yes. Not… Not like that sounds. He just…. He had no one else in his life but me.”

 

“You told me he was egotistical, domineering.”

 

Silas nodded. “He thought he was the perfect brother. The one who knew what was right for me and God help me if I disagreed.”

 

“Then as you said—when you implied, at least to his way of thinking—that you wished you were me, everything got mixed up in his mind.”

 

“This is crazy,” Silas said forlornly. “He’s crazy.”

 

“Not to sound callous, but I think at this point, that’s a given.”

 

Silas looked at him, tears in his eyes. “Can you ever forgive me for… for what I caused?”

 

“It wasn’t your fault! Whether we’re right about the reasons behind what he did or not, you had no way of knowing he’d take a few drunken words from you and turn them into an obsession.”

 

“I… suppose not. Corey”—Silas looked down, wiping the back of his hand over his eyes—“I didn’t know. I swear it. I didn’t know it was him.”

 

“How could you have? You didn’t have any idea what was going on.”

 

“True… I guess.” Silas smiled weakly. “You did keep it to yourself very well.”

 

“Well, as I told the police after my friend was murdered, I had no proof I was even being stalked. Luckily they believed me and….”

 

“And stopped him before he killed someone else—or you.”

 

         “Yeah.”

 

 

You Belong to Me – 83

 

 

An hour later, Corey found out that was pretty much the case. Most of the people he worked with were more upset that he hadn’t told them that the murder in his building had taken place in his apartment than they were about why the stalker had targeted him. Not, as he had to explain more than once, that he knew why he'd been targeted. “After all,” he told Mr. Zimmer when he asked, “I never even met the man.”

 

Silas wasn’t due to work until Wednesday, much to Corey’s relief. He wasn’t certain how he’d be able to face him, all things considered, or what he’d say. But at least he’d have more time to figure that out. So when he got to the parking lot that evening and saw Silas leaning against his car, Corey stopped dead. His first thought was that the man had come to finish what his brother Travis had started.

 

Silas must have seen the fear in Corey’s expression, because he held his hands out from his sides as if to show he wasn’t armed. “I just want to talk to you,” he called out.

 

Cautiously Corey approached him. “I’m listening.”

 

“I feel awful about what my brother did to you.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Corey protested, again feeling sorry for him.

 

“In a way, it was.” Silas began pacing. “He’s, well, crazy. He’s also very protective when it comes to me, because we’re the only two left in our family. Over Christmas, while you were gone, I said some things to him.” He stopped pacing, staring down at the ground. “It was Christmas Eve. We celebrated by going out to a club. One of the ones he liked. I got very drunk and started talking about how lucky you were to have parents and… and siblings to celebrate with and all I had was him.” He looked up at Corey. “I was jealous of you being able to sit down to dinner with people you loved, open gifts given to you by people who cared about you. And there we were in some damned bar getting plastered on cheap beer.”

 

“He took that to heart,” Corey said softly.

 

Silas nodded. “I didn’t know it. He never said a word. But he must have. Why else would he have gone after you like that? I think… I think he saw you as competition for my… affection, for lack of a better word. He’s the one who brought me up, and there I was saying—implying—that I wished I was you.”

 

“So he decided to make me as miserable as he felt.”

 

“Maybe. I don’t know. I wish I did.”

 

“He said I belonged to him.”

 

Silas frowned. “He did?”

 

         “Yeah. I wonder….” Corey leaned against the car and drummed his fingers on the fender in thought. “He was angry at what you’d said, but he couldn’t take it out on you because he loves you. You said he raised you and protected you. You ‘belong’ to him because of that. But he also couldn’t let his anger out on you—because of that. So he transferred it to me. He made me, in his mind, the ungrateful brother who deserved to be punished. Then, when he saw me with someone else, they had to be eliminated. I was his and no one else’s.”

You Belong to Me - 82

 

Corey and Scott were definitely compatible in bed. They proved that twice before falling into an exhausted sleep. So when the alarm went off much too soon on Tuesday morning, Corey smacked it so hard it fell off the nightstand. He told it to shut up when it kept beeping.

 

Scott laughed. “Easy there.”

 

It took Corey a moment to realize the voice didn’t come from next to him. He cracked open one eye enough to see that Scott was dressed already. “Up and at ’em,” Scott told him, coming over to ruffle Corey’s hair.

 

Corey grabbed his wrist, grumbling, “Don’t wanna.”

 

“Tough, little boy. If I have to go to work, so do you, so move it.”

 

With a sigh Corey sat up, muttering, “I’m not a little boy.”

 

Scott grinned. “Then quit acting like one. If you get your butt in gear, I might be persuaded to take you out to breakfast.”

 

“Now there’s an offer I won’t refuse.”

 

Twenty minutes later they were out the door after arranging to meet at a breakfast place close to the shelter, since they were both driving. They arrived virtually at the same time and walked together to the restaurant.

 

As they neared the door, Corey saw the headline of the paper in the news box. Swearing softly, he inserted a quarter in the slot and took one. “Well, I guess I’m getting my fifteen minutes of fame, like it or not.”

 

Folding the paper under his arm, he waited until they were inside and seated before reading the article. “Poor Silas,” he murmured when he finished the story about the capture of the stalker.

 

“Did they mention him by name?” Scott asked.

 

“No. Just Travis… and me.” Corey grimaced. “They even kept your name out of it.”

 

“Better have.”

 

“You’re called ‘Mr. Byrne’s friend, who was targeted by the stalker’ and other words to that effect. They did tie it in to Brad’s killing at my place.” Corey blew out a breath of frustration. “I don’t think I’ll have to tell anyone at the shelter I’m gay. They would just have to read this to know.”

 

Reaching across the booth table, Scott took his hand. “You’ll be fine. I’m betting other than some surprise, no one’s really going to give a damn.”

 

“Please, God, make that true.”

 

You Belong to Me – 81

 

“You have to make sure they don’t give you an assignment over the first weekend in February,” Corey told him.

 

 “Oh? Why’s that?”

 

“Because if I’m going to break things to my family, I need you there giving me courage. That weekend is when my brother Phil is getting married.”

 

Scott laughed. “So you think you’ll defuse your… revelation… by doing it when everyone is concentrating on that happy event?”

 

Corey nodded. “Is that crazy? Or asking to spoil it?”

 

“No. I think it’s probably the perfect time. I’ll talk to my lieutenant. After all, that’s only a couple of weeks from now. I still have time coming after my last assignment, so I should be able to wrangle a day or two off.”

 

“Thank you!”

 

“Hey, for you, anything.” Scott kissed him again.

 

Corey was so relieved, he said, impetuously, “Even letting me find out if we’re compatible in… all ways?”

 

Scott obviously got what he meant and his lips turning up in a grin, “Well, it’s pretty late and you do have to work in the morning.”

 

“Trust me, I’ve done that on only a few hours of sleep before. I think I’ll survive.”

 

“In that case….” Scott stood, waiting for Corey to join him. “I think your ‘compatibility’ test is in order. After all….”

 

“We do need to know,” Corey agreed as he headed to the bedroom, knowing Scott was right behind him.

 

You Belong to Me – 80

 

Releasing his hold on Corey, Scott took his hand and led him to the sofa. “I’ve come to a decision.”

 

“Which is?” Corey asked after sitting down.

 

“I want there to be an ‘us’.” Scott sat, looking gravely at Corey. “There’s a string attached, though. You have to be you all the time, not just in private or at a club.”

 

“Meaning I have to admit to the world I’m gay. I’m… I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet.”

 

“Then I guess I should leave, because I’m not willing to keep what I feel for you secret.” Scott put his finger over Corey’s lips when the younger man started to reply. “I’m not saying I’m in love with you. We haven’t known each other long enough to have gotten to that stage. But… I do like you more than a little, and I want to see if there could be something more than friendship between us. Of course”—he smiled ruefully, moving his finger away—“this could all be one-sided. You might not see me as anything other than a man you had to pretend to like so we could catch your stalker.”

 

“How can you say that?” Corey asked, dismayed Scott thought it could be true. “Okay, yeah, maybe at first it was playacting. That changed fast. I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to….” He worried his lip with his teeth. “Yes, I teased some, but only because I knew you’d disappear once you wrapped up the case. I teased rather than letting you know how I really felt.”

 

Scott blew out a relieved breath. “Then you’re willing to see if we can be more than friends?”

 

Corey nodded. “Yes,” he whispered.

 

“Even with the proviso that I won’t be your deep, dark secret?”

 

Corey looked directly into Scott’s eyes. “Yes,” he said resolutely. “No more hiding who I am. From anyone.”

 

“Thank God!”

 

Corey’s reply to that was to wrap his arms around Scott’s neck, then meld their lips together. The kiss began slowly, just a brief exploration of each other’s lips. Soon, though, Corey wanted more. He urged Scott to open to him, then began an in-depth exploration of his mouth. Obviously not intending to be outdone, Scott delved into Corey’s mouth. Their tongues warred as the kiss heated, until it became necessary for them both to breathe.   

 

Pulling away, panting slightly, Corey managed to get out, “I have a proviso too.”

 

Scott leaned back and looked at him. “What?”

You Belong to Me – 79

 

Corey had just stepped out of the shower and was drying off when he heard his phone ringing in the bedroom. Panic spiked.

 

What if it’s the cops calling to tell me the stalker… the stalker was waiting for Scott when he got home and killed him? What if it’s the stalker calling to gloat that he’s eliminated Scott and he’s coming for me now?

 

Then common sense took hold. The police would show up in person if anything had happened to Scott. As for the stalker, if he had killed Scott….

 

Shakily, Corey wrapped the towel around his waist and went to answer the phone.

 

“I’m downstairs,” Scott said. “I buzzed, but you didn’t answer.”

 

“I was in the shower. Are you? Is everything okay?”

 

“I’ll tell you when I get up there.”

 

Quickly Corey went to buzz him in before hurrying back to the bedroom to put on jeans and a sweatshirt. By the time he was finished, Scott was knocking on the door.

 

One look from Scott when Corey let him in told Corey something had happened. The first words out of Corey’s mouth were, “Are you okay?”

 

Scott nodded seriously. “I’m alive, so yeah.”

 

“Meaning? Oh hell. He was there. At your apartment. Did you…?”

 

“He’s under arrest, and in the hospital right now being treated for his wounds.”

 

“So it’s over,” Corey said quietly, a wave of relief washing over him.

 

“All over but the cheering. And the trial. And his ending up in prison… hopefully.” Scott wrapped his arms around Corey and held him tightly. “For now, though, yeah, it’s over. You can go back to your normal life without looking over your shoulder or being afraid to answer the phone.”

 

“So can you,” Corey replied, savoring the embrace while he could. He had the feeling it might be the last he’d ever get from Scott. “Well, minus the phone bit. You probably look over your shoulder most of the time, just in case. Do you have another job, now that you’re done keeping me safe?”

 

Scott shook his head, saying softly, “Nothing yet, although I’m sure there’s something or other in the works. There always is. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. We need to talk about us.”

 

“Us?”

 

         “Yes, us. You and me.”

 

 

You Belong to Me – 78

 

 

Unlocking the door, Scott entered first, dropping to one knee, his gaze and his gun moving right to left. He saw Travis standing in the kitchen doorway, holding a pistol and a large knife. Just as Scott shouted, “Drop your weapons,” the stalker fired. Scott rolled to the side at the same instant, shooting back. His bullet hit Travis in the thigh. A second one, fired by one of the officers, caught the stalker in the shoulder.

 

That didn’t stop Travis from firing one more time as he fell. The shot went wild, shattering the coffeemaker on the counter.

 

“Damn, I just bought that,” Scott growled as he got to his feet.

 

Screaming with rage, “He belongs to me, not you!” Travis tried to lift his gun, only to have Scott wrest it from his grip, along with the knife.

 

Seconds later Darin and the officers with him descended, their guns trained on the stalker. Darin was on the two-way, and in two minutes, EMTs entered the apartment.

 

While the EMTs worked on Travis’s wounds and eased him onto a backboard, Darin read him his rights. Then, under heavy guard, the EMTs loaded Travis onto a gurney and rolled it out of the apartment.

 

Finally Scott relaxed—marginally—muttering, “Now I need a cleanup crew” as he looked at the blood on the floor and spattering the wall beside the kitchen door. He smiled slightly. “I’d offer everyone coffee, but….” He waved a hand toward the shattered glass carafe on the counter.

 

“Better that than you,” Darin pointed out. “He had plans for you from the look of it. There’s rope and another knife on your coffee table.”

 

“Was he stupid enough to think I’d just walk into his waiting arms? He had to suspect I’m a cop once he found the drawings at Ms. Stewart’s place.”

 

Darin shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. As Corey pointed out this afternoon, he followed you there. Perhaps he thought you’d spotted him, called the police, and they sent you to her. Since you and Corey were seeing each other, you’d obviously know what was going on. Either way, Mr. Harford was obsessed with eliminating you, just as he did Mr. Reynolds. It will be interesting to find out why he was so fixated on wanting Corey all to himself.”

 

“You won’t know if you don’t go question him.”

 

“That won’t happen until he’s in recovery, in a well-guarded private room at the hospital. You know that.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I’m just—”

 

“Reacting to all that’s happened. Understandable. You might want to call Corey and let him know it’s over now.”

 

“Call? Hell, I’m going over there.”

 

Darin chuckled. “I thought you might.”

You Belong to Me – 77

 

Although he hadn’t told Corey, Scott knew the stalker had been to the apartment he was using. His alarm system notified him via his cell phone that someone had disarmed it. That was the call he’d gotten just as he was about to leave Corey’s place. He was certain, since it hadn’t been rearmed, that whoever had done that was still there.

 

Now he took the service stairs up to the apartment, approaching the rear door very cautiously, gun drawn. He knew there was a fifty-fifty chance the man would be watching that door rather than the front one. The only thing in his favor was that the stalker couldn’t watch them both at the same time.

 

Scott was well aware he should call for backup. But this had become personal. Still….

 

Discretion and training—the better part of valor or some such, he thought as he eased back down the stairs and out the back door of the building.

 

As soon as the lieutenant answered the phone, Scott told him what might be going down. “Yes, sir,” he replied at one point, almost but not quite smiling at the lieutenant’s astuteness, “I did consider doing this on my own.”

 

The lieutenant told him that backup, including Darin Foster, would be there ASAP. “Until then, you stay put!” he ordered.

 

Just get the hell over here before he decides to vanish.

 

With that thought, Scott moved swiftly to the side of the building next door, staying deep in the shadows. From his position he could—barely—watch both the front and back entrances. Now I just have to be careful not to try to take out a tenant who’s decided to run out to get cigarettes from the convenience store.

 

After what seemed like forever—although he realized when he checked the time that it had only been seven minutes—Scott saw dark figures converging on the building and stepped out of the shadows. Darin was beside him immediately, asking quietly, “Are you certain he’s inside?”

 

“Unless he left out the front while I was out back calling the lieutenant. Okay, amend that. Someone disarmed the security system about twenty-five minutes ago. What they don’t know is that I set it up so that when that happens, it alerts me on my phone. Best guess is, they’re still inside. If it’s the stalker, Corey and I gave him reason to be very, very pissed at me.”

 

Darin nodded. “Given what he did to Mr. Reynolds, who was only a casual friend of Corey’s, I suspect he’s got something comparable or worse planned for you.”

 

“Exactly. Okay, if everyone’s in position, let’s do this. You take the front.” Scott handed him the keys he’d need. “I’ll lead the way up to the back door of the apartment.”

 

Darin was on his two-way radio seconds later, issuing instructions. “We don’t move until everyone’s in place,” he said once he’d ended the call.

 

Scott nodded sharply. “That’s a given.” He walked swiftly to the back of the building, joining the two officers who were waiting for him. Silently they made their way up to the back door. Then he texted Darin they were ready. The detective acknowledged and gave the order to move in.

 

You Belong to Me – 76

 

 

“Stay behind me. In fact, stay there,” Scott told him, pointing to a spot well away from the door to Corey’s apartment. “Wait, what’s the access code?”

 

After Corey gave it to him along with the keys, Scott unlocked the door and slid inside, his gun in one hand. It took him only a moment to disarm the security system, all the while scanning the entryway and what he could see of the living room for any sign the stalker had been there.

 

After searching the rest of the apartment, he went out to tell Corey it was safe to come in. He smiled when Corey heaved a sigh of relief before entering the apartment.

 

“Now you’re leaving,” Corey said, looking as if he hoped Scott would say no.

 

“Yep.” On the off chance the stalker was listening, he pointed to the locks and the alarm box and handed Corey his keys.

 

Corey took them, then gestured to a chair in the kitchen, miming putting it under the doorknob. Scott chuckled softly. Putting his arms around Corey’s waist, he whispered, “Have you been doing that every night?”

 

“Yes,” Corey whispered back. “Stupid maybe, but….”

 

“It can’t hurt.” Scott studied him for a long moment, saying aloud, “I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”

 

“I’ll be here. Come over for supper tomorrow?”

 

“You bet. What time?”

 

“Sevenish?”

 

“Sure.” Cupping the back of Corey’s head in one hand, Scott gave him a kiss, using the moment to murmur, “Pushing buttons again?”

 

Before replying, Corey returned the kiss with more than a bit of enthusiasm. “Yep,” he whispered when they broke apart. “Is it working?”

 

“Too damned well, but that’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

 

Corey grinned, mouthing, “I know.”

 

“I’ll be here at seven on the dot,” Scott said in a normal tone of voice as he went into the entryway. He felt his cell vibrate. Knowing who the caller was, he ignored it for the moment.

 

“Supper will be waiting,” Corey replied.

 

“Come here.” When Corey did, Scott kissed him again. “To hold you until tomorrow.” With that said, he left, waiting until he heard Corey lock up before going down to the elevator.