A Bit of You (12 page)

He was nothing like the man Liam had read about. James Stratton had been a straight arrow employed by a crooked man, although once Stratton had figured out his employer, Mitchell Rollins II was a sadistic bastard, Stratton had set about putting an end to Rollins’

reign. Now it seemed Stratton had paid a very high price for his morals. From what little Liam had seen, Stratton didn’t seem sane, or lucid, but what did he know?

Nothing, except that Stratton was making sounds like a wounded animal would have, and he was crouched in the corner on the mattress, his eyes wild, the whites showing eerily in the low light, his lips pulled back in a snarl.

No, there was nothing here of the man Liam had read about in Stratton’s file. Even his red hair was gone, the colour dark either by dye or dirt. Liam was leaning towards the latter; Stratton was filthy.

“James Stratton,” Liam said softly as he approached, not questioning, but maybe reminding the scared man of who he was, or used to be. “We’re here to help you. Your family’s been looking for you. Your parents—” He stopped when James made a piteous sound. Liam didn’t want to frighten him, and James didn’t look reassured. In fact, he didn’t look as though he comprehended a thing Liam had said.. Liam risked a look behind him, keeping his voice soft when he spoke. He gestured at the man who’d tried to kill him and Shearing. “One of you check him for keys. The rest of you, go through the building carefully.

Make sure there’s not more of Rollins’ thugs lurking around.”

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A BIT OF YOU

Bailey Bradford

71

In short order, Liam had a ring of keys in his hand. The dead man had been removed, at agent Bonner’s urging when she returned. She was right. It wasn’t likely to make James calmer if the body remained being a sound piece of advice.

“Do you want me to try to talk to him?” Bonner asked, cautiously approaching Liam.

Liam studied James Stratton, trying to judge who he’d react better to. Considering the big dead guy had probably been his keeper here, Liam thought it might be best to let Bonner handle Stratton. But he wouldn’t leave her here. He stepped back and nodded, still watching Stratton, who was looking their way but seeing who knew what. “Yes, maybe you should try, but I’ll be right here.”

“Yes, sir.” Bonner didn’t hesitate, but she did approach the rank bed slowly, murmuring softly. Liam couldn’t make out the words, and he figured she was probably just making soothing sounds, coaxing Stratton as she would an animal. When Stratton finally closed his eyes, his thin form drooping, Bonner held her hand out behind her. Liam crept up and handed her the keys, slinking back into the darker recess of the room as she freed Stratton from the manacles.

He half expected Stratton to fight, scream, do
something
other than what he did do, which tore Liam in two. James Stratton crumbled in Bonner’s arms, and sobbed as if his soul was being wrenched from his body.

There had been a lot of scary times in Billy’s life, but right now, staring at the entrance to the college’s main building? Most terrifying, ever. He couldn’t get his feet to move another step closer. Just the idea of walking in and asking about registering and placement tests and transcripts… Holy crap, it seemed like the most impossible task he’d ever faced.

“Come on, you can do this,” Xavier urged. Billy resisted the urge to pout and just glared at him. Xavier only smiled encouragingly as he cupped Billy’s elbow. “Let’s just go see what needs to be done. This is what you said you wanted to do.”

“Maybe I was wrong,” Billy muttered, “I don’t think I can do this.” Not only the whole college thing, but moving away from everyone and everything he knew. “I should think about it more. I should—”

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Xavier stepped in front of him and tipped Billy’s head up with two long fingers. “You should quit doubting yourself. This is my fault; I should have encouraged you to go to college after you got your GED. I just… I didn’t want you to leave,” Xavier nibbled his bottom lip, then added, “but you should. You have to have your own life. I can’t keep watching out for you, keeping you close at the club. It isn’t good for you, and that’s what’s important. You deserve more.” Xavier dropped his hand and looked at the asphalt between them. “This whole letting your kid go thing sucks. I probably botched everything, but I swear I only did what I thought was right.”

Billy was glowing from the words. It was the first time Xavier had pretty much claimed Billy as family quite so thoroughly, and, even though they weren’t related by blood, he knew he couldn’t have had a better father. His own had been a total ass.

And maybe Xavier was right; he and Billy had clung to each other for lots of reasons, some good and some which hadn’t always benefitted them. It was easier to stay with the familiar, and to devote time and attention to someone who wasn’t ever going to be, well, a lover, a partner. They’d used each other to keep potential partners at a distance, hadn’t they?

Billy didn’t know where all these revelations were coming from, but for too long he’d been content to float along through life, safe in the cocoon Xavier had wrapped him in, or mostly safe except for Randy, but how could they have known Xav’s brother would go all psycho on them?

Sure, he’d messed around with a lot of guys for dubious reasons, but he was changing now, or he intended to. Troy was right, Xav was right. Billy deserved more, and shouldn’t keep thinking of himself as a worthless man who had to settle for scraps of affection, or who had to put out because it was easier than not putting out, even if he hadn’t been going all the way with the one-offs he used to hook up with.

Really, what the hell had he been thinking all these years? He hadn’t, because thinking would have been too hard. It would have required working out his issues. Well, it was past time for some changes! Billy took Xavier’s hand, uncaring of who might see them. They were, after all, in Fort Worth. Maybe people here weren’t so bigoted, but he doubted it. Billy squeezed Xavier’s hand and released it.

“You did good, Xav,” Billy murmured, relieved to see some of Xav’s misery drain away. “Better than anyone ever had done for me; better than anyone else would have. Not www.total-e-bound.com

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many people would have picked a kid up from the streets and taken him in, put up with his—my—shit and not thrown me out, or taken advantage. You never did.”

It wasn’t often he saw Xav blush, but he did so now. Billy grinned, his optimism perking back up as he nearly vibrated with it. He could do this, he would, not just for himself, but for Xavier, to show him he hadn’t fucked up Billy’s life.

But mainly for himself, because Liam had helped Billy to see that he wasn’t the sum of all his old sins. He was a decent person, and he didn’t have to sit back and let life trample on him. It was a good thought to keep in mind, he decided. Billy nudged Xavier’s shoulder playfully then found it wasn’t as hard as it seemed to walk in the main building’s door.

Funny, he thought, how a man he’d only known for a few days could have had such an influence over him. And he’d spent so little time with Liam—conscious, anyway.

Considering how much time Liam had spent with him in the hospital room, it was a toss-up as to whether he’d been awake around Liam more often or not. One thing was for sure.

Every cell in his body had been wide awake when Liam had made love to him.

Whatever the amount of time spent together and in whatever state he’d been, conscious or not, there was a definite link between them. Liam had called and texted him faithfully, his soothing voice tucking Billy into bed at night, and his texts just little bits of kindness and, well, tenderness, each one building Billy up in small increments.

Along with Troy’s words and Xavier’s belief in him, it’d all combined to bring Billy to the point where he was ready to do something for himself. He was pretty sure Liam would be surprised, happily so, to find out Billy wasn’t going to be content with a life spent working as a cocktail waiter. He couldn’t wait to get all this official stuff done so he could surprise Liam.

He wanted to be closer to Liam, as close as Liam would let him be. Billy didn’t think he was being too pushy, either. There was something strong between him and Liam, and it was time for him to take a chance. Hopefully everything would work out, and Billy could get into this little community college here. Fort Worth was a hop and a skip to Dallas, so maybe Liam wouldn’t feel Billy was pressuring him. Billy wanted to do so much more with his life than he’d ever thought he could even a couple of months ago, and he was almost positive he was on the right path. Now, if he could just keep from screwing it up.

Billy shut down the negative thinking—he’d done enough of dogging himself over the years already—and slapped a smile on his face as he approached the information desk. This www.total-e-bound.com

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was his future he was working at now, his and, hopefully, Liam’s. There was no room for anything but good thoughts there. Billy bounced on his toes and grinned even bigger at the older woman behind the desk. He
could
do this. And he would.

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A BIT OF YOU

Bailey Bradford

75

Exhaustion had clung to Liam for the past several days, but it melted away as he parked in the lot at The Xxchange. Maybe he should have been nervous; after all, he and Billy had only spent a very short amount of time together before Liam had had to leave. Yet he was none the less assured of his reception. He and Billy had spent every spare moment Liam could find either talking on the phone or texting.

So maybe, he mused, the whole distance thing had been good. They’d had a lot of time to get to know one another—well, more time than if Liam had been here with Billy. Despite wanting more than just a sexual relationship with the sexy blond, Liam knew he’d have been all over the man had he been here. Besides Billy’s good looks, there was an innocence—as unlikely as it may have seemed to anyone else—and Liam found such a sweet surprise irresistible. It called to something deep inside Liam, and his dick seemed to confuse that inner attraction with the need to fuck. Luckily he was smart enough to not let his little head lead him around.
Hopefully
.

There was something else bothering him, though. During their numerous calls, their late-night tuckins, Liam had been aware of the fact that Billy never talked about his past, or rather, about his past before Xavier. While Liam would tell stories of growing up with a house full of terrible siblings he wouldn’t trade for anything, Billy had offered reminisces of his life as a teenager with the owner of The Xxchange. Liam had talked about his parents, his family’s involvement in law enforcement—one of his brothers was a Texas Ranger, another a State Trooper, and both of his sisters were also with the FBI, from which their mother had retired. Liam’s dad was still working for them as a consultant.

Billy had talked about not wanting to go into the same business as Xavier, and had even shared some earlier memories of Randy, before he’d gone off the deep end for whatever reason.

But nothing about his life before Xavier found him. It was as if Billy had been born at fifteen, straight into Xavier’s arms. Liam knew Xavier had taken Billy in from the streets, had given him a home, safety and security, and someone to look up to, things that had enabled Liam to believe he could have some sort of friendship with the older man. He had no www.total-e-bound.com

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illusions about whether or not he’d have ever met Billy if Xavier hadn’t plucked him up off the streets.

And Liam also knew Billy might not want to talk about his life on the streets. Maybe he’d had to do some things he might never want to discuss, may have been hurt, abused.

Liam remembered Billy’s outburst at the hospital, his hurt look as he said he didn’t trick any more.

Liam didn’t know how long Billy had been on the streets, or what circumstances had landed him there, but he knew Billy was lucky to be as well-adjusted as he was, lucky to be alive even, really.

Life on the streets was dangerous for adults; for kids it was doubly so. Too many bad people took advantage, and the things that could have, might have, happened to Billy ate at Liam. He wanted to take it all away, but Billy hadn’t confided in him and Liam hadn’t pressed. He hadn’t even used the resources available to him to dig into Billy’s past.

The temptation was there, but just because he could do it didn’t make it right or excusable, and he was hoping, with time, that Billy would trust him enough to confide in him. Liam couldn’t help but think Billy was hiding a world of hurt under his sunny façade.

But he wouldn’t push—unless he thought Billy needed it. “Just remember, his well-being comes before your need for answers,” Liam reminded himself as he shut the car off and unbuckled. Liam was used to bulldozing his way through questions, dragging the information he sought from people, albeit they were usually criminals. This whole being patient thing was not exactly natural to him, but for Billy he’d do his best.

Liam got out of the car and shut the door, pressing the button on the fob to lock the vehicle up even as he was striding towards the club doors. He wasn’t surprised to find Xavier outside waiting for him. Liam had needed to make sure of Billy’s schedule, wanted to know where to surprise him, and Xavier had been the only one he could think to ask about Billy’s whereabouts.

Xavier grinned as Liam approached then offered his hand for a shake. “Y’all aren’t going to do anything disturbing in my office, are you? Billy’s in there going over the accounts for me. Busy work, since I have an accountant, but he’s got the storage room so organised Troy can’t find a damned thing.”