Summary: Drake has a theory on who killed Tariq, and Riley’s safety seems to be in more peril than ever.
Damien came running as soon as Liam called. Riley had summoned them both to her hotel room, insisting she had important information for the investigation.
Damien was skeptical, but grateful for an excuse to do something other than stare at the same pieces of information that were leading him nowhere.
Maybe I can stare at Liam for a while instead…
He couldn’t help but smile as he walked up to the hotel, even as he mentally scolded himself for being hung up on his very regal, very out-of-his-league client.
A one night stand. That was all. Not his style…but he was trying to enjoy the memory of it and not expect anything else.
…Which was going to be hard as long as they were working together.
A man he vaguely recognized from the stack of vapid gossip rags he’d studied answered the door of Riley’s room.
“Drake Walker,” he offered, holding out his hand. Damien shook it, still studying the man’s face. The name clicked into place. Not from the tabloids, although yes, it had been there. But his memory was of hearing it from Liam’s throat, croaked out in anguish, tears streaming down his face.
“Drake.” Liam’s best friend. Riley’s lover. The swell of emotion in his chest was difficult to pin down, but it gnawed at him already, a dull ache of betrayal felt second-hand.
He shook his hand anyway. “Damien Nazario. I’m a private investigator, hired by King Liam.”
“Damien.” Liam appeared behind Drake in the doorway, biting back a smile as their eyes met. “Thank you for coming. Let him in, Drake, he’s with me.”
Drake stepped aside silently, letting Damien join the others in the room. It was just Drake, Liam, and Riley inside, with no security in sight. Odd.
Riley sat against the headboard, knees pulled up to her chest, looking haunted. Damien sat next to her, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “Hey. Are you OK?”
She squeezed his hand back, giving him a small smile. “Of course. Thanks for coming.”
“You had some new information for me?”
“That was me,” Drake interjected. “I think I know who killed Tariq.”
“I’m listening.”
Drake took a deep breath, leaning against the closed door. “I don’t have proof, exactly. I barely got a look at him, but he was familiar. I’m at least 80% confident that it was Dennis Stathos.”
Damien frowned. “I have no idea who that is.”
Liam cut in. “You wouldn’t. But I do. He’s worked for the king’s guard for years. Often on my father’s personal detail.”
“Your father’s…not yours?”
“Not recently.” Liam shrugged. “I don’t generally involve myself in deciding who is on my personal guard. Bastien is primarily responsible, and he organizes the others depending on our security needs.”
Drake nodded. “But what you might not have noticed, Liam, is that Stathos has been on a leave of absence for the past three weeks.”
Liam’s eyes went wide. “He has? Why?”
“I don’t know. Bastien wouldn’t give me details.”
Liam frowned. “I’ll talk to him. Is that the only point of suspicion against him?”
Drake ran a hand over his face nervously. “That and…I saw him, Liam. It was dark, and he didn’t get close, but…I saw him. He was the right height, build, colouring…I could swear it was him. I don’t know if the police have any surveillance, but if they do…maybe an image would be enough to at least try to bring him in.”
“Absolutely,” Damien answered. “We should contact the police with this. They likely have evidence that we don’t know about that could possibly tie this whole thing to him. LAPD, too. If there’s evidence of him travelling to LA around the time of Tariq’s murder…” He scribbled some thoughts hurriedly in his notepad. “Thank you, Mr. Walker. This could be a huge help.”
“Or nothing at all,” Riley added, frowning.
“Well…yeah. But it’s nice to have a solid lead, to be honest.” Damien squeezed her hand again, giving her a small smile. She smiled back, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Liam stared up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. “If we work under the assumption that it was Stathos…that still leaves the question of why.”
Damien frowned. “Our working theory has always been that it was someone attempting to silence Tariq and eliminate Riley as a potential rival to Madeleine. We knew that it was likely someone powerful using a hired gun to carry out their dirty work. Our best bet is to find the hired gun and get him to give up whoever he’s working for.”
The room grew quiet as Liam began to pace anxiously. “Either way, this leaves us with the possibility that whoever is behind this has access to the king’s guard, so I’m left with no way to keep Riley safe.”
Drake spoke up softly. “You have me, Liam.”
Liam’s eyes caught Damien’s, a pained look crossing his face ever so briefly before he looked to Drake. “Of course. Thank you, Drake.” He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “This is certainly a lot to process…I think I’d like some time alone, if that’s alright.”
“Of course,” Drake answered, moving out of the way of the door. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” He turned back before walking out the door, his eyes latching on to Damien’s once more. “Detective Nazario, let’s review next steps quickly before you leave. Do you have a few moments longer?”
“Of course,” Damien answered, hopping down off of the bed. “Lead the way.”
“Liam.”
Liam’s lips were at his throat and his hands were in his hair as Damien nervously glanced around the elegant suite. “Mmmm?” His sparkling brown eyes looked up at him and Damien felt so weak in the knees he was thankful to be held up by Liam’s body pinning him to the wall.
“I feel like I shouldn’t be here.”
“No one is watching us, Damien.” He slid his hand under Damien’s shirt, lightly raking his nails against his skin as his hand slid up his back. “Even if they were, why shouldn’t we consult privately about this very…” his tongue traced the stubbled line of Damien’s jaw, “…sensitive…” his teeth nipped at the sensitive skin there, “…matter.” Finally he kissed his lips hungrily, Damien groaning into his mouth.
“Fuck, you’re sexy.”
“Mmmm.” Liam pulled him backwards to the bed, falling down onto it without breaking their kiss, Damien landing on top of him. “Is this OK?”
“It’s OK for me, Liam,” he whispered, reaching down to stroke his cheek gently, “but I don’t know if it’s such a great idea for you.”
“It’s…you…” he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. “You’re the only thing that feels good right now.”
Damien kissed him gently. “I can’t even imagine how crazy your life must be. I don’t mind being your escape from it, but…I don’t want that to come at the expense of your real happiness.”
Liam looked away, uncharacteristically shy. “Maybe you make me happy.”
“Right now, maybe. But you need something more than a good lay. You need to sort things out with Riley, or work something out with Madeleine or…something. You can’t just keep avoid–”
“Stop.” Liam pressed his finger to Damien’s lips, quieting him. “If you’re suggesting I’ve forgotten that my love life is a complete mess and an entire nation is depending on me to find an appropriate wife, I can assure you that I absolutely have not.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“Please. I know we’re not going to ride off into the sunset together. But I need this right now…I need you.”
Damien studied his face for a moment, hoping that somewhere in his eyes he’d find the answer as to whether he was doing the right thing. But all he saw was his own lust reflected back at him on the most beautiful face he’d ever seen.
“It’s Constantine, isn’t it.”
Drake crawled onto the bed where Riley was curled into a ball, looking distant. He pulled her against himself, pressing a kiss into her hair. “We don’t know that.”
“A member of the king’s guard tried to kill us, Drake. You said so yourself he wasn’t new. He’d worked close to Constantine for years. He lied to my face when he said he’d support me in clearing my name. He’s still conspiring against me and he’s not afraid to kill to put Madeleine on the throne.”
“We can’t know that. He’s Liam’s father, Riley. He was like a father to me too.”
“He deliberately had me violated, humiliated…”
Drake leaned back against the headboard, covering his face with his hands. “I don’t know what to say, Riley. It’s hard to defend him. But something doesn’t feel right. I can’t believe that after everything that’s happened, Constantine would still be so blindly determined to keep you away from Liam.”
“Maybe…” Tears welled up in her eyes as she bit her lip anxiously. “Maybe I should just get away from Liam. What if someone else dies because of me? What if I die because I’m with him? And I don’t even…I’m not even sure anymore if he…if we…”
“Riley.” Drake kissed her soundly, holding her face in both of his hands as he pressed his lips gently but firmly over hers. “You know how I feel. But I don’t want you to choose me because you’re too scared to go for what you really want.”
She looked up at him, eyes sparkling with tears. “What if I don’t know what I want?”
“That’s OK. We’ll figure this out. All of us. Together. I…I like you a lot. And you know how much Liam means to me. I couldn’t live knowing I was part of whatever ugly forces tore you two apart.” He stood up with a sigh, putting space between them as he sat in the chair across the room. “What I can do is to keep you safe, just like I promised.”
“Oh my god, Damien.”
“Yeah? You like that?” He grinned down at Liam from where he sat straddling him, enjoying the feeling of his strong hands gripping his hips as he moved on top of him.
“I like…ooooh my god I-I’m…”
“That’s right, Your Majesty. Come for me.”
Liam’s eyes went wide as he shouted Damien’s name, his body exploding and shuddering with pleasure. He muttered something in a language Damien didn’t understand as his body went limp, sinking into the luxuriously soft mattress.
Damien carefully rolled off of him and laid down next to him, staring at the ceiling. “I’ve told you before that you’re incredible, right?”
Liam was still panting, struggling to catch his breath. “You have. But don’t call me Your Majesty, for fuck’s sake.”
Damien laughed, snuggling against Liam’s body as his arm wrapped around his shoulders. “It felt right in the moment.”
“Hey…” Liam turned on his side to look at him, propping himself up on his elbow. “What are you up to tonight?”
“Um…this?” He glanced around for a clock: 4:38 pm. “Unless you needed me to leave?”
“I have a ball to attend. I thought maybe you’d want to come with me. For the case. Or…whatever.”
Damien frowned. “Won’t Madeleine be there? And Riley?”
“Of course. I’m not uh…I’m not asking you on a date, unfortunately. I just thought it might be useful for your investigation…and it might be nice for me to see another friendly face in the crowd, so to speak.”
He considered it for a moment. It sounded awful, if he was being honest with himself. But it definitely could be useful to meet some of the players face to face and maybe get some more information on who could be conspiring against Riley. “I guess…I can do that. It could be useful.”
Liam’s face lit up. “Perfect. I’ll text you the details. But for now…”
“…You need me to leave.”
Liam winced. “Sorry. My schedule is unforgiving. But thank you.” He picked up his hand and kissed it gently. “This helped. More than you know.”
“I am more than happy to be of service, Your Majesty.”
Liam sat up, throwing a pillow at him. “I need a shower. Your clothes are somewhere. I’ll see you tonight, OK?”
Damien nodded and shamelessly ogled Liam’s form as he disappeared into the bathroom. He listened for a moment as water started to run, and her Liam groan softly with pleasure as the hot spray hit him.
He barely even thought twice before running into the bathroom to join him.