GRAY SHOOK Seb awake the next morning. “I got a text from Rig. Him and the boys are dismantling the place this morning after last night’s concert, and he wondered if we could stop by.”
“On a holiday?” Seb added with surprise.
“Yeah, the equipment has to be altered for another gig tomorrow.”
Gray solemnly handed Seb his smoothie. Seb took it without protest. He glanced to the windows, which forestalled Seb’s question about them exercising. It was raining really hard, and Gray thought about Seb’s original offer to use the dining room, but he’d opted against it. It was more about the benefits of being outside Gray was after.
Seb thanked him and took his smoothie into the bathroom. Gray followed him—or at least with his eyes… his feet he managed to keep rooted to the floor.
“THIS IS a human doctor, right?” Rig asked quizzically an hour and a half later, holding out his phone and the picture Gray had taken.
Gray frowned. “Of course, why?”
“Because, my friend, that small box there is a bat detector.”
Gray laughed shortly and looked at Seb, wondering if he had managed to read Rig correctly.
“A what?” Seb murmured as if he needed clarification before he made an embarrassing guess at what he thought the man had said.
“Yeah, you heard me correctly.” Rig frowned. “Sorry, saw me correctly?” Then he shrugged.
“What the fuck is a bat detector?” Gray snapped impatiently.
“Humans hear around 20 Hz to 20 kHz, sometimes slightly better, but that’s a good general rule of thumb. This thing”—Rig pointed to the photo—“includes sounds more in the range that bats can hear, anything from as low as 1 kHz to as high as 200 kHz, depending on types of bats. My friend said the only reason for having that equipment there is to test if Seb hears in a different range no regular humans could manage.” Rig looked with interest at Seb. “That your ability?”
Seb shrugged, seeming at a complete loss of what to say.
“That’s some pretty cool shit, man,” Rig added.
“Who was your source?” Gray asked immediately.
“My brother-in-law,” Rig replied immediately. He swiped his finger over his closed lips.
Gray nodded at the unspoken reassurance. “Keep it private for now.”
Rig held his hands up. “Like you have to ask?”
Seb was silent as Gray steered him to the car.
“What do you think?” he asked. Seb shook his head and didn’t reply, but a few minutes later, Gray was pulling into a Starbucks drive-through, and he looked inquiringly at Seb.
“Decaf latte, please,” Seb murmured, and Gray ordered it along with his own flat white and two sugars. Seb never said a word when Gray asked for the extra shot in his own. He must have thought Gray was going to need it. They got their coffees and then pulled into the small parking lot.
“What are we doing?” Seb said when Gray put the car in Park.
“Privacy,” Gray said and then took a breath. “I think your dad knows you can hear with the headphones on.”
Gray watched Seb stare at him with absolutely no reaction whatsoever. For a second, he wished there was some doubt in his mind Seb hadn’t read his lips properly, but the sinking feeling in his stomach told him the truth. Seb had arrived at the same conclusion he had.
“What makes you say that?” Seb asked lightly, but the slight wobble in his voice gave him away.
“The bat detector first and foremost,” Gray said. “I just don’t see any other reason for it.”
“But how would he know?” Seb asked, the distress now evident. “My dad hasn’t been in my room since I was sick from the implant, and before that, I can’t even remember.”
Gray frowned, knowing the answer was going to pain him. “There is the possibility Arron told him.”
Seb shook his head. “But Arron didn’t know everything. He….” Seb sighed. “He thought I heard vibrations. I guess that’s not so much of a stretch to echolocation.”
“Why do you think your dad wouldn’t just talk to you about it, though?”
“I don’t know. He’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on research just to help me. It makes no sense not to tell me he thought he might not need to.”
Gray opened his mouth but closed it immediately. He had his own theory, and it wasn’t pretty.
“What?” Seb asked.
Gray blew out a long breath. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re lying,” Seb said flatly.
Gray laughed humorlessly. He was. “Hear me out, remembering I don’t know your dad as a person and I could be completely misjudging it?” He could only call it as he saw it. “If you knew your dad was aware of your ability, there would be no reason to continue the research. He says he’s doing this to help you, but you can sign and read lips extremely well. You don’t need to be able to hear to do what you want to do.” Gray swallowed. “What if he’s doing this to, well, simply to make money? What if the doctors think there’s some way they can harness your ability?”
Seb winced but shook his head adamantly. “My dad only started all this to help me, and he’s got loads of money.”
“Then maybe… maybe there’s something else I’m not seeing.” It was like navigating a minefield. He was convinced Seb was deliberately burying his head in the sand, and he needed Seb to come up with the motives himself, although the lack of surprise on Seb’s part when Rig told them was very telling. “Why do you think your dad is so desperate for you to hear that he would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to make it happen?”
Maybe it would be a good idea to look further into Armitage’s finances.
“Can we go home?” Seb almost whispered.
Gray started the car. He spent the next ten minutes or so trying to think of something to take Seb’s mind off what must be a completely shitty situation for him. They slowed just after the lights and in another five minutes turned into the driveway, the gates swinging back as they pulled forward.
Gray and Seb both climbed out after he stopped in front of the house. Seb jogged to the front door, but Gray quickly caught him. “I go in first always, you—”
The sudden rev of an engine and squealing tires had Gray jerking and glancing back just in time to see a black SUV crash through the gates. Gray’s brain switched gears in less than a blink, and both guns were in his hands and firing before he took another breath.
Suddenly it was imperative to get Seb into the house and protected from the men who poured out of the car. They were too exposed, and Gray did his best to shield Seb as Seb, quickly seeing the problem, tried desperately to unlock the door with fumbling hands. Gray had a second to wonder why the fuckers weren’t returning fire but ducking from his as Seb yanked the door open and Gray practically shoved Seb through it.
Another second later, a grenade was lobbed through the door with only a fraction of an inch to spare before Gray managed to close it. Gray had barely a moment to react and threw himself at Seb, landing on him as his whole world seemed to explode and noise and light ripped through him.
Still alive was his single thought as Seb struggled underneath him and roughly pushed Gray to one side, scrambling for something because Gray couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and was useless as fuck. Stun grenade. He’d been on the receiving end enough times to recognize it and wanted to laugh at the person who was trying to yank him to his feet, because it would be pointless as he couldn’t stand. Wouldn’t be able to stand for more minutes than it would need to get to Seb.
He tried to fight off the hands pushing at him, but it was useless. Stumbling, legs like jelly, eyes unseeing, hearing full of white noise, he had no choice but to let himself be maneuvered and fell more times than he could count before being yanked up again. Then, blissfully, it was quiet for a few seconds. Gun? Where was his gun? Hands cradled his head, and he tried to think. That was wrong. He wasn’t being dragged or beaten or shoved into the trunk of a car. He was in a dark space and realized when his head stopped spinning that the hands were still holding him. He couldn’t see for shit, and just as he recognized the faint minty smell of the breath that wafted over him, his brain registered the small space and he panicked and struck out. The resulting yelp was enough to jerk his head again and this time to knock some sense in there.
His vision cleared a little, and he saw Seb holding his jaw. “Fuck. Seb,” he groaned.
“Can you hear anything?” Seb hissed, the panic evident in his voice. Gray pushed himself up to a sitting position and blinked. The light from Seb’s phone was above him, and looking around, it wasn’t the dark enclosed space he hated. It was also larger than he thought. Freezing cold, but dry. Gray thanked Seb’s quick thinking to use his phone as a flashlight.
“How the fuck did we get in the cellar?” Because that was where they must be. He tried to sort out what had happened after they’d pushed in the door, but his head was full of exploding lights and noise. “It was a stun grenade.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Seb answered dryly.
“You got us down here?” He counted slowly to ten to clear his head.
“It was the only thing I could think of. I haven’t been down here in years.”
Gray squinted and looked at the stone steps. He could see the old door at the top.
“It’s bolted, and the door’s ridiculously old and thick. They haven’t worked out we’re here.”
“How are you not affected?” Gray’s vision was all but back to normal, and he had just a slight ringing in his ears. A side effect of being on the receiving end of a stun grenade too many times to count meant a faster recovery time. Then he wanted to slap himself. “Of course.”
Seb smiled slightly. “I never thought being deaf would give me an advantage in a stun grenade attack. I couldn’t see either for a few seconds, but I managed to kick the front door shut. I don’t know whether they got in or not, because I dragged you in here. And my cell’s got no signal,” he added. “I just checked it.”
“Get mine,” Gray croaked. His would work. Rawlings had gotten hold of a good one not on the open market.
Seb raised his eyebrows when he pulled Gray’s phone from his pocket.
“Dial pound 666. You don’t have to say anything.” Gray blinked again, trying to push the last fuzziness from his head, and he stilled, trying to listen. “Please tell me you have my guns?”
“I had my arms full of you,” Seb snapped. “I think you dropped them both when the grenade went off.” Gray listened again and then noticed Seb’s hand—resting on his—was shaking slightly. Then he became aware of Seb’s hurried, choppy breathing. Shit. Seb was probably scared to death, but he’d kept his cool and managed to get them both to safety, however temporary it might be. He had protected Gray, not the other way around as it should have been.
Gray’s vision and head cleared of the last remaining effects, and he covered Seb’s hand with his other one. “You were great. If you ever get tired of singing, I bet Rawlings would have an opening for you.” He tried to make it into a joke, and the haphazard grin from Seb told him it was working.
“I don’t know how we’re not dead, as exposed as we were out there.”
Gray sighed, but Seb had to know. “They weren’t trying to kill you, and they couldn’t risk a shot at me because I was shielding you.”
Seb’s confused expression vanished. “They were going to kidnap me?”
“Yes, I think so. They didn’t shoot back. I don’t think they were expecting the gates to be reinforced. The speed at which they slammed into them should have had them coming off their hinges. As it was, it gave us the extra second or two we needed. The stun grenade was a last desperate measure as we shut the door.”
“But why would anyone want to take me?” Seb echoed in a small voice. “Sorry,” he added quickly. “Dumb question, I guess. Anyone with money is a potential target.”
Gray hoped that was all it was. A quick opportunistic grab for a rich kid would have made his life so much simpler, but he had a feeling it was more than that.
His phone lit up, and Seb read the text. “It says five minutes.”
“That was fast. They must have got the chopper up.”
Seb frowned, and Gray repeated it. “Helicopter.”
“They have a helicopter?” Seb asked, and Gray chuckled at the awe apparent in his voice. Then he shook his head, because it was nuts. The door could open any second, but he still couldn’t hear anything from the house and sat up higher, glancing around to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon. He looked at the wine rack in the corner. Throwing a few of those bottles wasn’t really going to help. “Is there another way out? Another room?”
Seb shook his head. “No, this is it. It’s just what my dad uses as a wine cellar.” He shivered, and Gray pulled him close until he was resting against his side, his brain skimming through as many scenarios as possible of what he could do if they got the door open.
“Why now?”
Gray looked at Seb, trying to rub his arms. The shivering wasn’t getting any better, and Gray was worried he was going into shock. None of his health issues and the fact the man barely had any fat on him to keep him warm were helping either.
“Why now what?” Gray clarified and hugged him tighter.
“I mean, why did they come to the house? Wouldn’t it have been easier to snatch me so many times in the past? The clinic, my piano lessons….” He trailed off.
“You can’t always put a rationale on crazy,” Gray pointed out, having no intention of voicing his own suspicions. Not at the moment.
Then they heard a noise, and Gray lurched to his feet, pushing Seb behind him as the door swung wide. He tensed and balled his fists.
“Jericho.” The shout came from the top of the stairs.
“Burning,” Gray shouted back. Then the cellar was flooded with light, and Gray squinted in relief as two men he recognized jogged down the stairs.
“We need to get you out. Cops are around five minutes away. The neighbors opposite called it in.” Gray let Seb go and got to his feet. Ringo looked him up and down. “Can you drive?”
“Yes,” Gray replied quickly and took the three guns Ringo and Mac—the other members of Rawlings’s crew—handed him. He quickly checked the Glock 26, the Ruger .38 Special, and the 9 mm M&P Shield. Satisfied with all three, he nodded at Ringo.
“They were gone when we got here,” Mac supplied. “Danny’s trying to pull CCTV, but it looks like they never attempted a breach.”
Ringo held out an envelope. “Sarge says get lost for a while as they try and piece things together.”
Gray took the envelope and grabbed Seb’s hand. Seb was looking from one to the other of them, and Gray doubted if he’d managed to read even fifty percent of the rapid-fire conversation when all of them were talking at once. Gray pulled on his arm to get Seb to look at him. “We have to go now. Stay with me, and I’ll answer all your questions once we’re in the car.”
Ringo headed for the cellar steps, and Gray pulled a shocked Seb behind him. “There’s a car at the coordinates. We’ll collect yours. Jay’s switching plates now, and everything you need is in there.”
“I’ll be in touch.” Gray didn’t so much as glance back but headed for his Mercedes, knowing the spare key would be in and the engine running.
“Gray, don’t I need—” Seb tried.
“No time,” Gray bit off. Whatever he needed, Seb would have to manage without. They needed to be gone before the cops arrived. He knew Ringo, Mac, and Jay would be as well. Rawlings would do the clearing up and smoothing feathers when everyone was safe. Gray pushed Seb to the car as sirens wailed in the distance. Seb seemed to catch his urgency and quickly got in. With a last glance toward Ringo, Gray slid behind the wheel. Another ten seconds and he had joined the traffic heading onto I-75.
He took a breath and turned up the heating in his car, knowing full well where he was heading. He didn’t even bother glancing at the envelope and the safe house address he knew would be in there. He made a quick decision that he hoped he wasn’t going to regret, but the stark fact was that Seb wasn’t some celebrity or some diplomat. He was far more important to Gray in all sorts of ways, and Gray would do anything to protect him, including the one thing he had been avoiding for four years. He risked a quick glance at Seb’s pale face. “We’re going to somewhere safe.”
“And then what?” Seb nearly wailed the question.
Gray heaved out a sigh. “We’re gonna eat some turkey.”
SEB HUNCHED lower in the Mercedes. He hadn’t asked many questions because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answers, even if he really wanted to know what the fuck was going on. He risked another glance at Gray, who met his gaze.
“Are you warm enough?”
Seb nodded, not trusting his voice not to sound like a five-year-old girl.
“There’s water in the cooler.” Gray gestured to the back. “You need to drink some.”
Seb gazed at Gray, sudden rage bubbling up before he forgot he wasn’t going to speak. “Drink some water? Drink some water? We’ve just been shot at, someone tried to kidnap me, and all you can say is drink some fucking—” Seb snapped his mouth closed, as he knew he sounded hysterical if his words weren’t all slurred together. He closed his eyes in horror and shuffled down in the seat.
He didn’t even open them as he felt the car slow and pause, or when Gray put it in Park and leaned over.
Seb shook his head futilely, knowing Gray would have said something, but refusing to look. Gray very carefully, very gently, tightened his fingers around Seb’s wrists and slowly made him lower the hands covering his face.
“Hey,” Gray said, obviously for the second time, his breath warm. “That was shit, and I’m sorry that A, you had to go through it, B, that I didn’t look after you, and C, that I haven’t had a chance to explain anything.”
Seb wasn’t going to cry. He wasn’t some child. He swallowed and tried to summon the calm he could feel leaching from Gray’s skin. For a stupid second, he was a storm-tossed boat and Gray was his harbor. He desperately wanted to lean in, for Gray to become his shelter. He fell into copying the same deep breaths Gray was taking. “You don’t have to apologize to me. If you weren’t so quick, we wouldn’t have been able to get in the house fast enough.”
“If you hadn’t kept it together when the stun grenade went off, I would probably be dead,” Gray pointed out. “Bodyguards that fail aren’t usually just out of a job, you know.” Then he smiled, and suddenly in the middle of everything, Seb just wanted to kiss him. He leaned over quickly and had a second to recognize it was desire that widened Gray’s pupils and not alarm, before their lips met.
Seb was lost. Gray’s taste. Gray’s smell. Warmth wrapped him up along with the two arms Gray slid around him. He was very nearly dragged over the console as Gray’s arms tightened, and he melted right into him. Gray pressed in and Seb opened his mouth in answer to the insistent tongue that swept inside and forced aside all his fear and doubts.
He couldn’t help the whine of protest as Gray broke off and just rested their foreheads together, his breaths coming hard and rapid. Gray tilted his head back until Seb could see him. “We need to get going.”
“Where?”
Gray blew out a long breath. “My sister’s.”
Seb frowned. “But I thought you never saw her.” Seb cringed, knowing that was probably one of the stupidest things he had ever said. He barely knew anything about Gray. Gray turned to glance out of the window, but he didn’t seem to look at anything particularly before turning back as Seb said, “But won’t it be putting her in danger?”
“Rawlings has the safest house I know of. He has armed guards patrolling twenty-four seven.”
“But….” Seb was confused. “Do you mean Rawlings, as in your boss?” Gray nodded. “But I thought you said we were going to your sister’s?”
Seb watched Gray’s lips tighten imperceptibly. “Diesel Rawlings is now married to my sister, Pink.” Gray carried on as if he was expecting the next question. “Pink married my buddy Aubrey as I told you, and they had a little girl. Aubrey died over four years ago. She knew Rawlings, and they married last year.”
“But you said you hadn’t seen her?”
Gray shook his head. “I haven’t been to Diesel’s home in nearly two years.”
Seb’s mind was whirling a mile a minute. “I’m not complaining, but what made you decide now?”
“Because you’ll be safe,” Gray said implacably. He took another breath. “We need help figuring out what’s going on. I’m not just going to take you to some random hotel. We need access to information, and Danny and Rawlings are the best there is.”
Seb was intrigued, even though he quite liked the idea of being in a random hotel with Gray.
Gray put the car in Drive and checked the road, waiting for an opening to pull into traffic. “It wouldn’t hurt you to just shut your eyes for a few minutes. We don’t need to ditch the car now, and it will take us nearly two hours.”
Seb relaxed back into the warm seat. He kept his eyes open and on Gray for as long as he possibly could.