When the Dead Speak, Bailey Bradford [new ebook reader .TXT] 📗

Sev held on to Laine after he stopped shuddering, after the awful sounds had ceased and Zeke and Brendon had quietly slipped away. Sev had seen the understanding flare in Laine’s eyes, knew the moment his lover comprehended that, more than likely, the psycho who had broken in yesterday was the same man who had killed Conner. And he’d known the exact second when Laine had tried and convicted himself, condemning himself for Conner’s death. But Conner didn’t blame him. Laine hadn’t known, any more than Conner had before the sick fuck torturing had told him, that Laine was the man’s target, his obsession—just his.

Even then, Conner had blamed no one other than his killer, but he’d known what it would do to Laine to discover the truth. He’d known, and for that reason, Conner had done his best to hang around, so to speak. Conner just hadn’t been able to make contact with Laine, not until recently. Sev suspected it had become possible when Laine had acknowledged the existence of Zeke’s mother’s ghost. Once Laine had accepted that ghosts, spirits, were real, that had made it possible for Laine to be receptive to other spirits. Namely Conner’s.

Laine’s breaths were steady when Sev leaned back and waited for his lover to meet his eyes. The pain in that silvery gaze would have brought Sev to his knees had he not already been on them.

“I meant it, you know, he meant it. Conner has never blamed you and didn’t want you to blame yourself. That’s why he couldn’t go to…wherever it is souls go.” Sev had to take a steadying breath himself before he continued. “That, and…he didn’t want you hurt. He didn’t want his murderer to kill you, too. Conner loved you, Laine.” It hurt Sev to say it, but it was the truth, and Laine needed to know it, remember it. Believe it.

The fact that this strong, good man was looking at Sev with such a need to believe those words buried the pain it caused Sev to speak them. He would do anything to take away the guilt and anguish his lover felt, and, while Sev might be new to the whole concept of possibly loving a man instead of just fucking around, he was surprised he didn’t feel threatened by the knowledge that Laine had loved Conner and vice versa. Laine had done nothing to make Sev feel like he was second best.

Sev brought one hand to Laine’s cheek and cupped it, drawing his lover closer for a kiss. The soft press of hard lips, the warmth of Laine’s breath as he opened and allowed Sev’s tongue to slip inside, nearly undid Sev right then and there. If he’d had any doubt about how Laine felt for him, that kiss would have eradicated it instantly, but Sev didn’t doubt, nor did he doubt himself. When the kiss ended, Sev felt a tingling that went from his head clear to his toes. He wanted nothing more than to take his man back to bed, but doubted it was possible.

“Do you have to go in today?” He tried not to plead when he asked, but didn’t think he’d been very successful. Laine’s eyes seemed a little less pain-filled, though, and that gave Sev hope that his lover would not let himself be buried in guilt.

“I do.” Laine’s voice was scratchy and rough, as though it hadn’t been used in years. “I have to talk to Deputy Nixon since I called him over to the scene, see if he sent off the evidence we gathered, and…” Laine’s lips tipped down and Sev started to ask what was wrong, well, what else was wrong, when Laine continued. “I’m pretty sure he figured out that you and I… That I’m gay. It may be okay with him, might not, but there will be other people who have a problem with it.”

Somehow, Sev had managed not to think about that, but the reality of the complications for Laine started manifesting themselves in Sev’s head. It wasn’t pretty, and it would be much worse for Laine than for him. Sev scrambled for a solution.

“We can say that I didn’t have anywhere else to go, that you slept on the couch or in the guest room, or—”

Laine clamped a big hand over Sev’s mouth. “No. I am not ashamed of who I am. Maybe I was afraid of what would happen before you came along,” Laine moved his hand to stroke down Sev’s cheek and his neck, resting at the top of Sev’s shoulder. “And I didn’t have any reason to let anyone know besides Zeke and Brendon, but I won’t hide. I did that with Conner, we both did.” Laine shook his head, his eyes never leaving Sev’s. “Never again. Not for my job, not to make some bigoted people happy, not for anyone or anything. We clear?”

Sev thought his heart would burst with happiness even as his head tried to argue. “But you will probably lose your job at the very least, and—”

A hard kiss cut him off. “And nothing. I was voted in to this position and, unless it’s legal to do a recall election, I can’t be fired easily. No matter what happens, the decision on how to handle it is mine. People can accept me or not, I will deal with them accordingly.” Another kiss, this one only marginally gentler. “Now, I need to get ready for work. You stay with Zeke and Brendon, and I mean with them. I don’t want you alone any more than is absolutely necessary, okay?”

Now Sev felt happy and mushy, and he was pretty sure there was a sappy-ass smile on his face as well, and he didn’t mind at all. “Yeah, okay.”

Chapter Nine

To say he felt raw inside would have been an understatement, but Laine didn’t let it interfere with his job, or the reality that he would be facing within moments of walking into his office. Even though Deputy