Not on his watch.
Arik left the bathroom and quietly walked across the room. All the effort to remain silent wasn’t even necessary. Kellus slept so deeply, he never even budged when the light from the hall filled the room and cast shadows across the bed. Arik gave him one more glance before heading straight to his office to contemplate his options.
He hadn’t known Kellus long, but that didn’t seem to matter to either his head or his heart. Actually, Kellus already held his heart. Arik smiled at that thought then shook his head. At this point, Arik’s only option was to protect Kellus in order to keep his heart from getting crushed in the process.
Pulling up his contacts, he sent a quick text to Mac. Luckily, the man texted back right away, making Arik grateful for the long hours his employee put into his job. Instead of having this conversation through text, Arik walked back to his office door and closed it tight before picking up his landline and giving his head of security a call.
“Yes, sir.” He liked that. Mac didn’t require any polite pleasantries. He stuck to the point, exactly how Arik preferred to operate.
“I’m checking in. Anything happening in Fort Worth?” he asked.
“I was just looking over reports. It’s quiet. Nothing’s happened.”
“Umm, good. Listen, I want to keep twenty-four-hour surveillance on the place. Anything undesirable and we need to get involved and then contact the authorities,” Arik stated matter-of-factly, anchoring the phone on his shoulder. He lifted the laptop and typed his password, before opening Google to search for information about John.
“All right. We’re looking for more than one guy?”
“Yes, probably. I’ll send you a picture when I get it. I also want you out there today. We need a better security system and probably an upgrade on the studio in the backyard. Whatever you think, but it has to be significant. This guy easily dismantled the current system and broke in night before last,” Arik explained, typing into the search engine the very little bit of information that he knew about John.
“I can make it out there this morning. It’s probably just a basic home security. Do you want us to monitor the home or someone else?”
“Tie it in with us. We can react faster,” Arik said and leaned back in his chair when a picture of a younger Kellus appeared in images. It was from the Deep Ellum Arts Festival three years ago. Kellus was holding a trophy, and a good-looking man stood next to him, grinning big. That caption listed the other guy as John—the shot taken before meth had taken its toll. They were a handsome couple. Kellus’s hair was close to shaved and he didn’t have his beard, but he was just as gorgeous then as now.
Arik stared at the youthful glow both men had. Jealousy slithered across his heart.
“No problem. Anything else?” The sound of Mac’s voice on the other end of the line only drove home how screwed up this whole situation was. He silently stared at the photo, shocked at what a good-looking guy John had been and resenting the history he shared with Kellus.
“Yeah. I’m gonna send over all the information I have on this guy. I need a full background report. I don’t have much to go on, so it’ll be tricky, but I found a photo of him online with just a Google search,” Arik explained, still staring at the picture.
“Send what you have. We’ll find him.”
“I’ll send you an email now. Keep me updated. I’ll be in the office a little late today, but this is priority. Call my cell if you need me,” he said and saved the image to his computer.
“Got it,” was all he heard before the phone went dead.
Arik quickly fired off an email with the details he knew of John. When done he sent a quick message to Iris stating, first, he’d be late coming to the office this morning—she should clear his morning schedule—and second, he wanted a meeting today with a counselor at the Tarrant County Department of Health. He needed to ease Kellus’s worry about their sex. Maybe if he could get ahead of all this, he wouldn’t have to keep starting over every time he parted company with Kellus.
~?~
Kellus woke slowly, opening his eyes to the dark bedroom. He’d slept really well last night. As he stretched, he scanned the room for a clock. Instead of that, he saw a note lying over the alarm clock, and a coffee carafe and a mug set out beside them. He scooted closer to that side of the bed and reached for the button at the base of the lamp. When the light flickered to life, he took the note then rolled to his back as he read.
You needed the sleep. Come to my office when you wake. There’s a robe at the end of the bed.