The family that preys together…- 54

Kent knew he’d dozed off when the sound of something in the driveway of the mansion made him jump in surprise. Rubbing his eyes he straightened with a low groan and stood up, peering around the corner of the garage.

An older van stood there, as close to the back door of the mansion as it could get. While he watched, a dark-haired man got out of the driver’s side, heading to the rear of the van. Seconds later Crispin slid out of the passenger seat to join him. Kent could hear the doors open and figured they were taking something out. Then Crispin reappeared, heading towards the mansion with a bundle that to Kent’s over-active imagination looked an awfully lot like a man slung over his shoulder.

The second man followed, opening the back door for Crispin and then returned to the van. As he started towards the garage the headlights flashed over Kent before he could duck down and away. The van stopped immediately and the man got out.

“Well, well, what do we have here,” he said as he approached Kent, one hand in his pocket.

“I…umm was waiting for Crispin,” Kent replied hesitantly.

“Were you now Mr. Tyler? Well I’m no so sure he wants to see you right now but since you’re here.” He smiled tightly. “By the way I’m his brother, Bryant.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just leave and call him,” Kent said, backing away slowly. Something about the man scared him down to the soles of his feet.

“Oh I don’t think so.” Bryant withdrew his hand from his pocket, pointing a small but deadly looking gun at Kent. “Put your hands behind your back and turn around.”

“Like hell.” Kent backed away some more then froze when he heard the man cock the gun. Slowly he turned to do as he was ordered. Seconds later cuffs encircled his wrists tightly.

“Now, into the house. If you make even the slightest sound I’ll knock you out and then gag you. Understood?”

Kent nodded as he turned towards the mansion. Once they were inside Bryant hesitated for a moment then pointed the gun towards a flight of stairs leading up from the pantry. Three flights later and they were in the attic of the mansion.

“Down on your knees,” Bryant ordered sharply. When Kent reluctantly complied Bryant took a second pair of cuffs from his jacket pocket. Lacing them through the ones on Kent’s wrists, he cuffed his ankles together. Then he told him to open his mouth. With little choice but to comply Kent did and Bryant stuffed a rag into it, binding it there with a piece of rope so that Kent couldn’t spit it out. With that finished Bryant said, “I’ll be back for you sometime. Until then you might as well catch up on your sleep. It will be your last one in this world.”

With a shove of his foot he toppled Kent onto his side, brought the butt of his gun down on Kent’s temple, and then left.

It's been a good week...

I received the cover art for 'Moving On', which comes out August 10th from Silver Publishing. ....

Blurb:

When his husband Darrin is murdered right in front of him and the killer vanishes into the darkness, Mitch Cavanaugh must learn to move on. As he tries to gather up the shattered pieces of his life, and the police search for the murderer, he's approached by a stranger who claims to know why Darrin was killed. Then the man disappears.
Six months later, and with the police no closer to finding the murderer, Mitch suddenly finds he may now be the man's next target. It will take the combined efforts of Mitch, the police and a new friend, Chad, to stop the killer before he strikes again.

And signed a contract for 'Nate-A Phoenix Rising Story' 

Very unofficial blurb:
Nate Beckett was once a Phoenix undercover operative until things went terribly wrong and his faith in his abilities was destroyed. As a result, for the last four years he’s been sharing his condo in New Orleans with an opinionated cat while working as a bartender at a local club. Then he is unwillingly drawn back in to the Phoenix operation when another operative vanishes and Gary Langley comes to the city, seeking Nate’s assistance to stop a drug cartel enforcer.
Can Nate, with the help of his part-time lover, Danny Walker, find the internal strength he thought was gone for good in order to put an end to the enforcer’s reign of death?
He’ll have to if he’s going to keep Danny safe and discover the ruling force within the drug cartel; the person who runs the cartel, and the enforcer, with an iron hand.

The family that preys together…- 53

The driveway leading to Crispin’s home was blocked at the entrance by a large gate, meaning Kent couldn’t drive straight up the front of the mansion. So he parked his car a few hundred yards away, past the ‘No Parking’ signs that lined half the street. Rich and powerful he thought as he did, to be able to get those signs up to keep people’s cars from marring the view.

Getting to the mansion on foot was no easier than trying to drive up he discovered. Behind the tall, decorative shrubbery that lined the edge of the property was an equally tall fence, well hidden from view. The only visible way to get past it was the pedestrian gate next to the driveway and it was locked and, Kent had a feeling, probably alarmed as well. But he was nothing if not resourceful and he had a quest to fulfill. 

Walking to the back of the property he found it less well-lit and searched for a spot in the shrubbery that he could get through without too much problem. When he found it and was facing the fence he touched it gingerly, hoping it wasn’t electrified. With a sigh of relief when he discovered it wasn’t, he scaled it, landing lightly on his feet on the other side.

Then he waited, timing himself. If the fence had been alarmed he figured it wouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes at most for the police to arrive. When nothing happened he moved through the shadows to the side of the wide back yard, getting as close to the large garage as possible then with a dash racing across the lawn to stand next to it, again deep in the shadows.

Feeling safe from discovery for the moment, and just a bit like a cat-burglar on a job, Kent studied the rear of the mansion. Lights showed from several of the windows. He found, when he inched forward enough to see the side of the mansion, that windows there were also lit behind the closed curtains.

Now he was betwixt and between. He was a trespasser with no rights at the moment. If he just went around to the front of the house and knocked on the door there were two possible scenarios. One, he could just say he was there to see Crispin and hope that whoever answered accepted that without question. Two, he could be summarily thrown out on his ass and even end up in jail.

There was a third choice he suddenly realized. If he could see into the garage he might at least be able to find out if Crispin’s car was there and know whether he should continue to the house or wait it out until the man returned. He started to move around the garage, looking for a window, when he heard sounds from the rear of the mansion.

The back door opened and two people came into view. Huddling in the shadows again he listened and soon learned from the servants’ talking that Crispin and his brother had left together for the evening, going out to dinner from the sound of it. As the servants disappeared from view around the far side of the mansion Kent wondered if it was worth sticking around or if he should just leave and try again some other time. But he’d come this far, so after a moment’s hesitation he went back behind the garage and settled down to wait it out.

The family that preys together…- 52

Bryant sat in the van in a dark corner at the back of the lot while Crispin paced by the rear entrance to the restaurant, waiting for it to close. They’d watched the place for the last two nights and knew the habits of the waiter they were after, the one who had given them such awful service and then had stood there with a scowl on his face while Bryant had pointedly paid the bill, in cash, and not given him a tip. It wasn’t the first time they’d dealt with the man and his dreadful attitude, but it was going to be the last.

The only reason Crispin wasn’t in the van with him was because Bryant hadn’t been able to take any more of his brother’s angst. So he had suggested he wait by the door for the waiter and then lure him back to the van.

At one point earlier in the evening he’d been ready to abort tonight’s game but his father had refused to allow him to do that.

“Crispin needs it,” Gerard had said. “His tension level is through the roof, and much sooner that normal. The game should help alleviate some if not most of it. If it doesn’t,” he’d paused, taking another sip of wine. “If it doesn’t then we do something about that boy. Something fatal that looks like an accident. That way, after Crispin has grieved, which he will do, he’ll return to being the brother and son we both know and love.”

“He’d better,” Bryant had growled while agreeing with his father. “I don’t want to end up in jail or worse because he can’t concentrate on what we’re doing.”

“I’m not afraid that he’ll loose his concentration while the game is being played out, he needs it; it’s in his blood just as it’s in yours. Between times however…” Gerard had shaken his head. “If he looses his control and says or does something---that is what worries me most. Especially if he does, somehow, get the boy back in his life. Because then he’ll find it difficult if not impossible to keep our secret.”

“So we get rid of Mr Tyler before that can happen.”

Gerard had nodded slowly in agreement.

The family that preys together…- 51

Two weeks passed.

Kent had stayed away from the health club despite his desire to see Crispin again. Everything from their first meeting through to the incredibly hot kiss that Crispin had instigated in the pool. The kiss he had so negatively reacted to moments later because it had been visible to the other members, if they had been paying attention. Kent knew showing up there and running into Crispin would only reinforce the problem Crispin had about their…relationship, not negate it.

He also forced himself not to call Crispin, mostly because he wasn’t certain what he’d say if the man answered. Apologize for his last angry words? It was too late for that. Act as if nothing had happened? Not really an option. Suggest they get together and just talk. He knew he couldn’t handle it if Crispin were to brush that idea aside.

But he had to do something because the last two weeks had been interminably long and miserable. When had he begun to care so deeply for a man he really barely knew? The first time he’d seen him sitting alone and looking so lonely at the health club? During that first tentative kiss Crispin had given him? Somewhere in between when they were slowly working on a friendship that he for one had prayed would become more? He didn’t know the answer but he did know that he cared very much for the strange but enticing Crispin Hill. Probably, obviously when he thought about it, too much for his own good.

So he’d rattled around the apartment or gone out to the clubs when Rick had pushed him into it. Although his roommate was as straight as they came, he was the best friend Kent had and Kent could tell he was worried about him. Rick had commiserated when Kent had needed to talk and urged him to get out of the apartment if only to see that there was still a world outside of work and home; a world where men found him attractive and wouldn’t lay a guilt trip on him if he reciprocated their interest.

Finally, knowing he had to do something before he went crazy, he’d decided to bite the bullet and go to Crispin’s home. He was aware that the man lived with his father and brother because Crispin had mentioned it briefly in passing during one of the meals they’d shared. Given the size of the place, which he’d seen only from the outside on the morning he’d driven Crispin home, it could have held several families comfortably. It was quite obvious that Crispin had meant it when he’d said he was comfortably well off.

It took Kent an hour, after coming home for work and showering, to decide what to wear. He vacillated between going casual in jeans and a T, and much more formal in one of the suits he owned for work. Finally he took the middle road, settling on nice slacks and a button-down. And shoes, not sandals, which when he thought about it made him smile.

By the time he was set to take off it was already past seven. He figured he’d get to the house soon after eight, traffic willing, which on a Friday night it might not be. He just prayed that when he got there he’d find Crispin at home, and that he’d consent to see and talk to him.