Atonement (The Protectors 6)

“I can’t move,” I said breathlessly, a chuckle escaping my lips.

“Good,” Dante said softly. “Don’t.”

I smiled and kissed the curve of his shoulder. “We need to get cleaned up eventually.”

“Eventually can wait,” he responded tiredly and then his lips were searching out mine.

Chapter Twenty-One

Dante

Remy was a mess. Pure and simple. He’d looked bad the last time I’d seen him, but now he looked like death warmed over.

“Who is this?” Remy snapped impatiently when Magnus and I entered the alley next to the coffee shop. We’d been expecting Remy to come inside the warm shop to escape the bitter cold, but when he’d spied us through the window, he’d motioned to us with a jerk of the head to join him outside.

“This is my boyfriend, Magnus,” I said as my eyes skimmed Remy’s long, skinny body. He’d lost a considerable amount of weight and the clothes he was wearing weren’t a good fit for the cold weather. He had a half-finished cigarette in one hand and he kept running his other hand over his shorn head. There were scabs on his face and hand like he’d been picking at his skin and his entire body was twitching. A large bruise covered his lower jaw and his lip was split. One eye was also blackened and he was constantly looking around and shifting back and forth on his feet like he was preparing to take off at any moment.

“Hi, Remy,” Magnus said, but Remy merely nodded his head at him.

“Remy,” I said, hoping to get the young man’s attention on me. “Where’s Aleks?”

He shook his head and took a drag on his cigarette. “Don’t know.”

“You said-”

“I’m gonna need some cash,” he interjected. “A couple hundred bucks so I can get out of here.”

Shit, had he lied to me just to get some money out of me?

“Remy-”

“He was at this party,” Remy cut in. “The night before I called you.”

“Where?”

He shook his head. “Don’t know. They blindfolded us before taking us there. It was a house – old looking and kind of creepy. But not old like run down…”

“Gothic?” Magnus offered.

Remy nodded. “Yeah, maybe.” He took another drag on his cigarette.

“You said they blindfolded you? Who?”

“Some guys. Les hired us out as entertainment to some party. Me and a few other guys.”

“Les is your pimp?” I asked gently.

Another nod. “Said we were there in case any of the guys got overly excited by the merchandise.”

I stiffened because I knew what he meant by merchandise. “Kids?”

“Yeah, I saw maybe five or six kids, but there could have been more. The party was spread out to different rooms. Kids were between ten and twelve, I guess.”

“It was an auction?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I didn’t hear anyone bidding, but some guys were taping the whole thing. “Viewing party, maybe?”

I felt like I was going to throw up and I shot Magnus a glance. He was outwardly calm, but I saw the tick in his jaw and knew inside he wanted to rip someone limb from limb. I was right there with him. But I needed to focus.

“You saw Aleks there?”

Remy tossed his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out and immediately fished another one out of his pocket. I forced myself to be patient as he lit it up and took a puff.

“This guy wanted to party with me. I guess one of the kids got him all worked up. But once we were alone, he couldn’t keep it up…guess he just likes ‘em young. ‘Course, he blamed me. Turns out he liked it rough too ‘cause after he hit me a few times, he…”

Remy’s voice dropped off and his eyes dropped to the ground. My heart went out to him for all he’d suffered. I absently wondered if there was anyone out there desperately searching for him the way I was searching for Aleks.

“After he was done, I went to a bathroom to clean up…I forgot to lock the door, so someone came in.”

“Aleks,” I breathed.

Remy nodded. “I saw the birthmark right away, but even without it, I would have known he was your brother.” Remy’s eyes traveled up and down my body and he shook his head. “He looks just like you…except his hair’s shorter.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“He started to leave when he saw I was in there, but he stopped when he saw my face. Didn’t say anything to me, though. He wasn’t alone.” Remy took another drag on his cigarette and then stubbed it out, half-finished. “Some big fucker was with him…all dressed in black. Kind of stood back in the doorway like he was giving your brother privacy, but not letting him out of sight. Anyway, Aleks came up to me – I was standing by the sink cleaning my face…I was upset,” Remy hedged.

I suspected ‘upset’ didn’t even cover the young man’s state after he’d been brutally assaulted.