Chapter Text
“Glad to see you finally got rid of that piece of crap.”
Andrew stopped in his tracks to stare at the stranger, his muscles tensing automatically for a fight. Everything about the guy carelessly shoving his groceries into his backpack screamed danger, from the riding leather jacket, the 1000cc racer bike that looked brand new to the scars pulling taunt across each knuckle and each finger as he organised his things.
“What, no sharp insult or quip about my mode of transport?” The guy huffed lightly, still not looking up at Andrew as he zipped up his bag.
Andrew was more caught with the long brown hair falling over his eyes and resting on more scars over his cheeks, and when the guy finally looked up at him, the sharp blue eyes that caught on his with amusement. The amusement quickly morphed into confusion as they stood staring at each other.
“You’re not Aaron.” He said absently flicking his eyes from Andrew to the GS he had stepped out of moments before. “Sorry.”
Andrew watches him pull the bag onto his back and grab his helmet, no longer paying Andrew any attention.
“How do you know my brother?” He demands before the guy finishes with the straps, trying to make sense of this strange encounter before he can leave. Andrew had vetted every possible person that might pose a threat to his brother when he had followed him out here. He had gone so far as to switch places with Aaron for a few of his classes to scope out the other students in his classes and judging for himself which students he needed to keep an eye out for. He had never seen this guy before and the idea that he was getting close enough to Aaron for such familiar dialogue didn’t sit well with him.
The guy looks over at him again, sizing him up and deciding whether or not to answer. “I’ve got a couple of classes with him.” The guy admits slowly. “I had heard of the brother,” he says gesturing to Andrew, “but I didn’t think you two were twins. I always got the impression that you were some kind of protective older sibling.”
That is not wholly unexpected, Andrew takes a fair amount of enjoyment watching people squirm when he warns them off his family, it’s only natural that people would assume the scary brother would be the older one. Truth was that neither of them knew who had been born first, and Tilda couldn’t tell them even if she knew, being six feet under tended to make getting information slightly harder.
“What is your name?” Andrew asked stepping forward, neatly placing himself on the other side of the guy’s bike so they looked like two friends chatting in a parking lot rather than Andrew getting ready to beat some guy to death with his own helmet. “Come on. You’ve heard of me, but I don’t know anything about you, it’s only fair.”
Something dark flashed behind the guy’s eyes and Andrew was sure that the threat of his presence was sinking in. Impressive. Most people thought that he was being friendly at this point, this guy seemed to know the difference and Andrew was now certain that he posed a threat, he just didn’t know what kind.
“Neil.” He said, gesturing for Andrew to move back and rolling his eye when he didn’t. “Neil Josten.”
Andrew took half a step back and watched as Neil threw a leg over the bike, pulling it upright and flicking the kickstand up, he managed to balance the powerful machine between his legs using the tips off his boots.
“You can’t even reach the ground.” Andrew stated torn between being impressed and amused at the sight of this pint-sized man on a bike several times larger than himself. Andrew might not be the tallest guys in the world, but he knew his limits and he knew that getting on a bike without being able to put your feet flat on the ground was a bad idea. Neil turned the key and winked at him as the engine roared to life.
“See you around.” He grinned flicking his polarised visor down and revving the bike before riding off. Andrew watched as those legs went from holding the bike up to sliding into place on the gears. It doesn’t register that he had been staring at the guy’s legs until he was out of sight and Andrew was still standing in an empty parking space. That slight pull in his gut just wouldn’t do.
-
Andrew sat at the breakfast bar of their apartment downing coffee and resisting the urge to scrub at the tired ache in his eyes. He had followed Aaron out here and gotten the apartment to save money on student housing as Aaron attended college. He had failed to get any scholarships or assistance thanks to the screwed-up grades he had left high school with, it would have taken another year for him to pick up his grades to a decent level after Andrew had forced him off the drugs, and Andrew was working his ass off trying to ensure that they could cover most of the expenses so Aaron wouldn’t be walking out with a massive student debt hanging over his head. The problem with this was that he rarely got the chance to see his brother outside of a few hours over the weekend that Aaron spent surrounded with textbooks, which made finding time to talk to him all the harder. Which was why Andrew was forgoing sleep to wait for his brother to haul his ass out of bed and get ready for the day.
Aaron wandered into the kitchen rubbing the sleep from his eyes and still looking twice as functional as Andrew felt now the sun was pouring through the window. He stopped short at the fresh coffee sitting in the percolator before noticing Andrew sitting at the bench.
“Long night?” He asked smothering a yawn in his hand and reaching for a clean mug.
Andrew grunted and fought off the urge to repeat the yawn. “I need you to tell me everything you know about Neil Josten.”
Aaron paused in the middle of pouring his coffee. “Why?”
“Good question.” Andrew glared at him, wrapping his hands around his near empty cup and wishing that caffeine would was more effective at keeping him awake. “Why isn’t he on my list of people to watch? I thought I knew all the dangerous people around here.”
Aaron huffed a quiet laugh and finished making his coffee. “There is nothing dangerous about that asshole. How did you even know about him?” Andrew drained the rest of his mug and stared at his brother until Aaron rolled his eyes and started talking. “I don’t even know how he got into the school, I’m pretty sure he’s homeless, he’s walks or runs everywhere. He apparently has a place off campus, that no one has ever seen, he doesn’t have any friends and he wears the same three outfits day in and day out.”
“Then why does he know you?” He demanded spinning the mug on its edge as he considered the possibilities.
“I have two classes with him. The guy is some kind of math whiz that has all the professors wrapped around his fingers with his wounded puppy dog look. He keeps shoving his grades in my face every time we get our work back, I would consider that he’s sleeping with the TA if the guy had any chance of sleeping with anyone.”
“Are we talking about the same guy?” Andrew asked in confusion. The guy he had met was definitely not homeless and wouldn’t have any problems getting laid with a face and body like that. “Maybe he gave me a fake name.”
“Josten is hard to miss.” Aaron chuckled. “The guy has a bunch of fucked up scars all over him, even on his face.” Aaron drew a finger down his own cheek matching the lines of scarring Andrew had seen on Neils face. “There were rumours when he first showed up, about his dad being a part of the mob or some shit, but it’s all bogus. He’s a fucking moron, there is no way he could run from the mob and actually survive.”
The mob. Now that was more fitting with the guy he had run into, who else could tell them apart so quickly and register the subtle threat in Andrews bored movements before he pulled a blade, the mob was a much better explanation.
“Stay away from him.” He told his brother with a stern look as he got to his feet. “He is not what you think he is.”
“Ominous.” Aaron deadpanned as Andrew dropped his mug into the sink and headed down the hall without a second glance.
It didn’t matter if Aaron thought he was nuts, as long as he listened to his warning and stayed away from Josten, in the meantime Andrew had every intention of digging into Neil’s background to see just what kind of guy he was dealing with. But first, his nice soft bed was singing a siren song and he was helpless to fight it, already dreading having to get up in less than four hours’ time.
-
Andrew spent every spare minute putting his well-honed skills to the test tracking down information on the illusive Neil Josten, this is where his part time position working for Heritage Law as an independent investigator came in handy, he already had the contacts in place. Unfortunately, Neil Josten was just as illusive on paper as he was in person. It took Andrew a week to connect him to Nathaniel Wesninski, son of the Baltimore crime boss who had been gunned down the previous year and start to piece together the complicated life Neil led. What he couldn’t figure out is why the guy would be hanging around Richmond when his father’s former territory was so close by. If he had managed to get away from the mob, he would have moved as far away from them as possible rather than one state over. As it stood, he would never step foot into California again, different situations but same reasoning, why would you stay somewhere with nothing but awful memories. Unless Neil was more involved with his Fathers business than his information was leading him to believe?
Andrew was pondering that thought, standing outside a shady motel on the outskirts of the business district, phone in one hand and coffee in another just waiting for his mark to step out of the suite with his expensive lady friend so he could grab a few photos and call it a day. The guy in question was one of the DA’s that had married well above his pay grade and had not paid much attention to the pre-nup he had signed. The wife had been generous and supporting of her husband’s career choices right up to the moment she found a box of condoms in the glove compartment of his car. Andrew had read the file and he couldn’t blame her for seeking out her lawyers, she had been planning on surprising him with a new car as an anniversary gift, transferring all his possessions between them so he would have everything he needed to jump in and drive it to work the next day. Instead, she put everything back where she found it, drove the new car to her parents’ house and called her lawyer, who called him.
He had already gotten the Motel logs, snagging a few pieces of stationary along the way, and pictures of his car in the lot, using the same fake name and credit card each week, all he needed was a usable shot of the man himself and his friend coming out of the room. He tossed the coffee cup in the trash beside him and adjusted the baseball cap on his head as his mark finally stepped out of the room with his tie loose around his neck and his jacket hanging from his arm. The guy turned in the doorway and made a show of pulling his friend in for a hands-on smooch that gave Andrew a stream of perfect shots to finish his day with. He was already planning his final report when he got a text from Aaron.
Aaron
SOS! Car won’t start.
Stranded at school.
It’s gonna rain soon!
Andrew looked up at the sky and smirked at the dark clouds rolling past as he pressed the call button on his way back to the car. The report would keep until he got home.
“Tell me you’re somewhere close?” Aaron pleaded the moment he picked up the call.
“I’m 20 minutes from campus depending on traffic. Where are you parked?” He asked sliding into the GS and starting the engine.
“Behind the library. Should I open the bonnet and… I don’t know, check something?”
Andrew put him on speaker and pulled out into traffic, shaking his head at the idea of Aaron staring blankly at his cars motor as the skies opened up and dumped buckets of water on his head. “Don’t touch anything!” He ordered calmly. “You’ll only fuck it up further, just wait for me to get there.”
“Alright. I’ll just sit here looking like a dick.” Aaron sighed, tapping on something in the background.
“Shouldn’t be hard for you.” Andrew agreed, hanging up on his brothers startled snort.
It took him less than twenty to make his way to campus, but it took another five to navigate the secure roads to find his brothers car at the back of the library. The small group hanging around the open bonnet made him sigh. Aaron was standing beside the car watching two other guys look over the engine and Andrew was glad that no-one would ever see that level of confusion on his own face. A giant of a man stood in front of the car, a hand on the top of the bonnet, doing more to highlight the massive difference between himself and Aaron than actually helping with the car. While a smaller man had both hands deep in the engine bay, half disappearing into it, looking at something with his baggy grey hoodie obscuring his face.
Andrew got out of the car two spots down and shot a look to the darkening sky as he made his way over.
“You had one job.” He called making the giant jump as Aaron turned to give him an embarrassed grin.
“And I did it so well that people took pity on me!”
Andrew stepped up beside his brother, ignoring the giant and peering into the bay, grunting as he recognised the scared hands adjusting the alternator belt. “The wrong type of people I see.”
“What the fuck?” The giant demanded. “You didn’t tell me your brother was racist!”
Andrew looked up at the man, recalling every detail in the guy’s transcripts that he never officially saw. “I wasn’t talking about you, Boyd.” He gestured lazily to Neil, still trapped in the engine bay. “I was talking about the trouble magnet here.”
“Aww.” Neil cooed, extracting himself from the car and pushing the hood back to look him in the eye. “What did I ever do to you, Andrew?”
Andrew glared at him, leaning both hands on the edge of the bay in the same way Neil was on the other side. “I don’t want my brother caught up in whatever shit you have hanging around.”
Neil smiled at him in a way that would be sweet if it wasn’t for the hard glint in his eyes. “Why? He’s already caught up in yours.”
“Mine won’t get him killed, Wesninski.” He retaliated. Everything he did was to make sure that his family was safe and when violence was needed, he kept it well away from his brother. The twitch in Neil’s face wasn’t as satisfying as he had hoped it would be, but the cold hard glare he was levelled with told him that the name had hit the mark.
“Are you sure about that, Doe?” Neil asked quietly, eyes never leaving Andrew as his scarred knuckles turned white against the engine bay.
“Andrew?” Aaron asked nervously, knowing how much he hated that name.
Andrew forced his muscles to relax as he pushed back and straightened, the last thing Aaron needed was to explain why his brother was beating a man to death on campus, it wouldn’t do him any favours. “I came here to sort out your car, didn’t I?” He shot a look at Aaron before turning to Boyd. “If you’re not planning on bench pressing that, how about you back the fuck up?”
“What the fuck, man?” Boyd demanded in frustration, but he dropped his hand from the bonnet and took a step back and over to Neil’s side.
“You are genuinely good at two things, Boyd, and neither of them are car repairs.” Andrew said slipping into his spot to have a look at the belt Neil had been adjusting.
“You don’t know anything about me!” Boyd grumbled, searching the back of Neil’s head hoping to be able to leave soon.
“I know you should have taken that football scholarship in Maine.” Andrew shot back, unable to contain all of his annoyance at having these people touching Aarons’ car. Boyds’ jaw dropped as he stared at him. Neil huffed a laugh, his bright eyes darting between the two of them in amusement.
“What else have you touched?” He asked Neil.
“Why would you trust anything I told you? Skip the middleman and ask Aaron.” Neil challenged, leaning into Andrews’ space enough for him to see every dark fleck in those blue eyes and distinguish the brand of deodorant he was wearing.
“Were you born with a death wish, or are you just bored now?” He glared, wishing he wasn’t so interested in hearing the answer. Neil sent him a sharp grin, all pointed teeth, before leaning back out of his space. “Aaron’s knowledge of cars is even worse than Boyds-“
“Hey!” Boyd complained loudly as Aaron threw his hands up but didn’t argue.
“-Are you going to tell me, or do I have to check the entire car?”
Neil chuckled darkly. “Something tells me you’ll check the whole thing anyway; how else would you know if I cut the break lines or not?”
Smart, Andrew thought, not even the investigators had pegged Tilda’s faulty break lines as a deliberate act of sabotage. It looked like Neil really did his homework on that one.
“I graduated from cutting break lines a long time ago,” he sent him a smile of his own, cold and calculating, the only type to grace his face willingly. “Or is that why you don’t ride the bike to campus?”
Neil studied him long enough for Boyd to start shifting nervously behind him before responding. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“And you answer very little of them.” He returned with calm indifference as the first droplets of rain hit his back.
“Can we hurry this along?” Aaron sulked staring at the sky. “I’d rather not get drenched.”
Andrew slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper he had swiped from the motel earlier and written the next two books in his quest on, holding it out to Aaron with a significant look as Aaron frowned between him and the library.
“Have you even finished with the last ones?” He demanded, snatching the paper from his fingers, and unfolding it to look at the new titles.
“Two days and I will be.” Andrew noted with a shrug.
“Are you ever gonna tell me why you’re reading your way through the entire legal section of this library?” Aaron asked pulling his bag out of the car and slamming the door shut.
“One day.” Andrew conceded.
“What, checking how many laws you break on a regular basis?” Neil snarked beside him.
“Always a good thing to know.” Andrew deadpanned.
“If I’m getting you the books, can you actually fix my damn car?” Aaron cut in with a sharp look.
“Keep it up and I’ll make you call triple A next time.” He slipped past Aaron and reached into the car to turn the key in the ignition, listening to the empty clicking the car produced instead of turning over.
“You’ll be the one paying for it.” Aaron said turning on his heel and walking towards the library.
“Out of your tuition!” He called before Aaron was out of hearing range and receiving the bird from his brother.
Andrew ignored the curious look from Neil and walked off to retrieve the tool kit from his own car. He would likely have to replace the spark plugs but he was hoping that they might just be dirty, if they were then he could clean them up enough to get to the auto store to buy the pieces he needed and get the car home to fix it up. Hopefully the spark plugs were the only issue with it.
Neil hadn’t moved from his spot by the time Andrew came back, setting his toolkit down and searching out what he needed to remove the engine cover, Boyd had moved closer to his friend whispering about getting out of there and leaving Andrew to it. It would be the smartest option, in his opinion, but Neil didn’t look like he had any intention of moving, his attention was fixed on Andrew.
“Aaron didn’t have the tools for me to check the spark plugs.” Neil offered gently, leaning on the edge of the bay to watch him.
Andrew shot him a look as he undid the bolts, dropping them into his pocket as he went, and pulled the cover off. “He wouldn’t know what to do with them if he did.”
“Neil?” Boyd stepped in, gesturing to the parking lot. “I can give you a ride.”
“I’m fine, Matt.” Neil looked at his friend. “Go home, you don’t have to wait for me.”
“You can’t run home in the rain.” Boyd pleaded.
“Andrew could give me a ride.” Neil shrugged causing Andrews hands to still on the engine as he looked over at the man in surprise. “It would go faster if you had an extra pair of hands.” Neil adds to Andrew.
Andrew tossed him a spare rag and passed the spark plug over, turning back to pull the next one out and looking over the black oil that had blown around the plugs. He added new seals to the mental list of things he would need to grab from the auto store and started cleaning his own plug as Matt continued to stare at his friend in concern.
“You can’t go home with the monster!” Matt hissed at him, shooting Andrew a cautious look like he expected him to lash out, as the rain became a steady stream on their backs. “You know what they say about this guy.”
“I know what they say about me too.” Neil warned with a sharp look at his friend. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Matt.”
“Or do.” Andrew suggested, keeping his eyes on the engine, and letting them fight it out on their own.
It took several minutes of quiet comments being exchanged between the two before Matt walked off looking distinctly displeased with the situation. Neil didn’t look bothered by sending his friend off in a huff, turning back to Andrew with a curious but confident grin.
“I never said I’d take you home.” Andrew commented drily, hoping to wipe the grin off his face but it just got wider.
“I don’t mind running in the rain.” He handed back the plug he was finished with and picked up one of the remaining dirty ones to start on, Andrew assessed his work closely before deeming it fit enough to put back in its place. “He’s been trying to get me to invite him over for months.”
“And you’re keeping up your mysterious, homeless vibe by refusing to invite him over?”
“Something like that.” Neil chuckled, scrubbing the plug down and eyeing Andrew as they worked. “I guess you already know where I live though.”
“That was the easy part.” Andrew agreed, intrigued by the honest turn in conversation. “For some-one who hid for years of their lives, you’ve lost the ability to drop off the grid.”
“I’m trying to have a real life. No more dropping off the grid.” Neil admitted slowly, leaning in to say quietly, “My Uncle thinks I’m mad.”
He didn’t know what to make of that comment. “Real people invite their friends over to their houses, not promote the idea that they’re homeless and in need of help.”
Neil chuckled lightly. “I did say ‘trying’. I’m not very good at it yet.”
Andrew hummed in thought, mostly wondering why the guy hadn’t walked away yet, was he trying to get on Andrews good side, if so, why? What benefit did Neil get by trying to befriend him after he had warned him off, it wasn’t like he and Aaron were actually friends, he wouldn’t suffer by staying away from Andrews’ brother in any way.
“What’s with the legal books?” Neil asked as Andrew started putting the plugs back in. “How do they help a bartender? Problems with your employer?”
“I do more than just bartend.” Andrew studied him curiously, if he hadn’t learned about his gig with the law firm than his information was severely lacking. “And the law books are a third date question. Minimum.”
Andrew finished putting the cover back on and moved to check over the rest of the engine, looking for anything that might need maintenance, the oil was getting low and could use a change, the whole car could use a service if he was honest. He added what he would need to his mental list as he continued to check. Neil’s adjustment to the alternator belt would hold, but that needed replacing as well, he tightened it anyway.
“What’s the verdict?” Aaron asked, joining them beside the car and looking over the engine, not that he would understand what he was looking at.
“Turn it over.” Andrew instructed, dropping the tools into his kit, and scrubbing the grease off his hands with the dirty rag. Aaron slid into the drivers’ seat and turned he key, Andrew nodded in satisfaction as he listened to the engine stutter to life, belts squeaking but running well enough to get it home. Aaron grinned at him as he dropped the bonnet back into place.
“You fixed it!” Aaron celebrated as he got out again.
“Not yet, but it’ll make it home.” Andrew pulled the keys to his GS out of his pocket and handed them over to his brother.
Aaron stared at them in confusion. “You’re letting me drive the GS?”
“Would you know what to do if your piece of crap stopped working on the way home?”
“Nope!” Aaron grinned, spinning the keys around his finger.
Andrew resisted the urge to roll his eyes and glared at his brother who was more than happy to remain helpless around cars. “Park it on the street. I am not working on this in the rain.”
Aaron gasped dramatically, clutching the keys to his chest. “You want me to park it in the rain!”
Andrew pulled the baseball cap off his head and slapped his brother on the shoulder with it, before pushing his hair back and replacing it. “Get out of here before I make you deal with your car by yourself!”
Aaron chuckled and took several quick steps backwards, heading to the GS with a bright grin. Andrew watched him slide into the driver’s seat and pulling the car out of the space carefully before driving off.
“Upside to being a twin,” Neil commented in amusement beside him. “You’ll never have to adjust the seat after they’ve driven your car.”
Andrew studied him closely. The way he leaned on the car beside him, one hip against the car, arms folded loosely and hoodie up, growing darker with each passing minute as the fabric absorbed the rain that continued to fall on them. His eyes sharp on Andrew as his hair fell in his face, brushing his cheekbones in a way that made Andrews fingers itch to push it out of the way.
“Why are you still here?” He asked, reminding himself that this guy was still a potential threat and certainly more dangerous than most of the guys he ran into on any other given day. “Don’t you have some-one else to annoy?”
“Nope.” Neil grinned at him in amusement. “Are you asking me to leave.”
Andrew considered telling him to do just that as he dropped the bonnet down and picked up his toolkit. “Get in then.”
Andrew spent the drive to the auto store steadfastly ignoring the holes Neil’s stare was boring into the side of his head and trying to convince himself that he had let Neil get in the car to keep an eye on him, not because he was intrigued by the guys company and certainly not because he liked the way he looked at him. No. He just wanted to keep the guy close so he could figure out what kind of threat he posed to him. That was all.
Neil followed him into the store without comment, perfectly content to follow Andrews lead as he picked up a basket and made his way through the aisles. Andrew pulled out his phone, slowing his pace to a steady wander to give himself enough time to make the calls he needed. The first on the list was Jefferson, the lawyer handling the cheating DA case, and Neil’s attention sharpened on him as he placed the call, sparking his curiosity about the guy further.
Jefferson picked up on the third ring. “Andrew,” he said brightly, “What do you have for me?”
“Everything you need to move forward with the case.” He replied, cutting straight to the point. “I’ll have the final report ready for you by the end of day tomorrow.”
“Come on, Andrew. You know I need that asap.” Jefferson put on that charming voice that managed to land him so many high-profile clients. “Can we make it tonight?”
“Jefferson,” Andrew countered blandly, reminding him that he couldn’t sweet talk him in the same way. “You are not my only client. The best I can do for you tonight, is to send the shots through and a quick off the record run down of my information, but the final report will not be ready until tomorrow. Your choice.”
“Okay, okay.” Jefferson resigned quietly, knowing how this would play out, it wasn’t the first time they had a similar conversation. “Send me what you can so I can set up a meeting with the wife and e-mail me the final report the moment you’re done with it! I get the feeling she wants to move quickly with this.”
“Done.” Andrew agreed, noting the way Neil was watching him out of the corner of his eye as he examined the guidebook mounted in the aisle for quick reference about what part could be used on what model car. “You’ll have the report and my bill tomorrow.” Andrew hung up the phone and picked out the belts he needed to replace into the basket.
“Are you sure you got the right ones?” Neil questioned, still searching through the book.
“By all means, feel free to double check, while I move on.” He said walking off, not in the least surprised when Neil followed close behind him.
“I thought you were a bartender?”
“I do that too.” Andrew agreed, eyeing Neil and enjoying his confusion. “In fact, that’s the next call.”
He held up his phone and started dialling in the next number from memory. He only had a single number saved in his phone, Aaron, and that was simply for cases of emergency. If he got into an accident and they needed to find his next of kin. Everyone else he dialled from memory, even Nicky who was happily living in Germany with his husband to be. This simple act seemed to pique Neil’s curiosity further as he held the phone to his ear again.
“Danny.” The guy picked up on the second ring.
“What happened to ‘You’ve reached Redemption, this is Danny speaking.’?” Andrew snarked, wandering down the next aisle absently.
“We haven’t even opened yet.” Danny groaned and Andrew could hear the clink of glasses in the background as they got ready for the night. “What do you need, Andrew?”
“Aaron’s car finally crapped it, I need you to call Marcus in for a few hours.”
“Got it. You’re still coming in though, right? I can’t back the bouncers up if some-one starts trouble again.”
He nodded to himself, thinking about a few of the fights that had broken out over the past few months, a few gangs trying to make a name for themselves and disrupting everyone else in the process. Andrew had been working to keep them out of the business district as much as possible.
“I’ll be in as soon as I can. Tell Toby to give me a call if he needs backup sooner.”
“Will do. Hey, while I have you, Joe has been hanging around the back for the past few hours.”
“Shit.” Andrew scrubbed a hand over his face. Joe was a good kid, but he was having issues at home and Andrew had to step in a few times to keep him out of trouble, the biggest problem was he didn’t have anywhere to go after the youth centres closed for the night. Home wasn’t an option for him, and the gangs were becoming an increasingly temptation.
“Is he still there?”
“Nah, disappeared about an hour ago.”
“Okay.” He sighed already thinking about what kind of trouble the kid would find next. “If you see him again, try and get him on the phone to me, will you?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks, Danny.” Andrew said hanging up the phone and tapping it against his leg in thought before shoving it in his pocket.
“What kind of bartender are you?” Neil asked, leaning against the shelves and studying him.
“One of a kind.” He countered softly.
The best and worst thing about it was Neil managing to situate himself right next to the air filter that he needed. Andrew held his gaze and slowly stepped into his space until there was only a couple of inches between their bodies. Neil didn’t object but he did drop his head neatly holding Andrews’ gaze without shying away. He would blame his next impulsive move on the combination of Neil’s blue eyes and his deodorant invading his senses. He reached out, brushing his fingers lightly along Neil’s arm as he grabbed the filter behind him, Neil’s expression quickly turned to confusion as Andrew stepped away, dropping the filter into the basket and rubbing his hand on his jeans trying to erase the tingling feeling left by Neil’s skin.
This time when Andrew walked away, Neil wasn’t following on his heels. He started to think that he might have pushed too far with that move when Neil finally caught up to him in the last aisle, hood down and hair pointing in different directions as if he had just finished running his hands through it. He had no right for his first thought to be about how good he looked with his hair in disarray. None at all. Not when Neil’s eyes caught on his with a strange intensity before quickly flicking away as his brow furrowed.
Andrew paid for his items, shooting glances at Neil who stuck by his side through the transaction, and carried the bag outside. Neil slid quietly into the passenger seat as he dropped the bag in the back.
“Where to?” Andrew asked him when he slid into the drivers’ seat and started the car up again. He wasn’t asking direction, he already knew where Neil lived, he was asking if he was taking him home or not.
Neil shot him a curious look before answering slowly. “You’ll be done faster with a second pair of hands… Unless you want me out of your hair?”
Andrew ignored the quickening of his pulse at the idea that Neil wanted to stick around with him and put the car into gear, instinctively pointing it in the direction of his own home.
He spotted the GS parked on the street and nodded in satisfaction as he pulled into the parking garage of their apartment complex. The place wasn’t anything flash and renting a two-bedroom apartment meant that they were only entitled to one secure parking space. Usually, the GS would be neatly parked inside and Aarons’ car would make do on the street, but the rain had gotten heavier after they left the auto store and the sound of thunder cracking overhead let him know that the storm was just getting settled in.
“What else do you do?” Neil asked after they had split up the tasks and were both hands deep in Aarons’ engine bay. “You said you weren’t just a bartender, and I have four bars that list you as an employee, what else do you do and how do you manage juggling more than four jobs?”
Andrew sent him a considering look as he worked the spanner in his hand. “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
“You’re some kind of entrepreneur?”
“I know how to make myself useful, and irreplaceable, hence the four bars. But my position doesn’t restrict me to just serving drinks.” He found himself explaining. “What it does do is allow me to set my own hours, for the most part, and since all my employers are on good terms, it allows me to bounce between them as needed and help the bouncers out by cleaning up the unruly customers.”
Neil applies his focus to the job at hand, stripping of one of the loose, frayed belts and adjusting the settings to fit the new one, using the time to think over what Andrew was telling him as they worked in steady silence.
“Some kind of Jack of all trades, with a side of private security.” He says it carefully and Andrew picks up on the subtle undertone that suggests more, but he isn’t quite sure what Neil is alluding to. “Do they pay you per act, or have you negotiated an hourly rate?”
He shrugs his shoulders at the question, not being one to discuss his income usually, but it was a fair question when you considered the complexity of the role he had adopted. “Hourly rate, depending on what’s needed. Plus tips, obviously.”
“Obviously.” Neil chewed on his lip and sending him a strange look after several silent minutes before asking. “Every hear the title, ‘Law man’?”
“What, are you a fan of old westerns or something?” Andrew deflected casually.
Yes, he had heard that term before. It was something a few of the kids he had helped out over the past couple of years had taken to calling him behind his back. Never to his face. Andrew thought it was a stupid nickname, but after stepping in to help them out of the occasional charges and making sure they got lawyers that knew what they were doing, coupled with the fact that he was known to read his law books in an old pub on his nights off, the name had stuck.
“No.” Neil rolled his eyes and seemed to relax. “It doesn’t matter.”
Andrew paused his movement for a minute to watch him. Neil brushed of the comment as a passing thought and Andrew found himself wondering how and why Neil had managed to come in contact with that name. As far as he was aware, the name only existed amongst a small group of young adults that had directly benefitted from Andrews’ interventions. Had Neil been involved with any of the kids he had been helping? Had the name spread further than he realised? Was Neil asking for assistance in some roundabout way? At the beginning of the day Andrew had been convinced that Neil posed a threat, with the possibility of following in his fathers’ footsteps and trying to bring organised crime back into the area. Something Andrew had been working tirelessly to keep out, he had found that the easiest way to ensure Aaron wasn’t tempted to go back to his drug habit without monitoring him 24/7, which was impossible to do, was to clean out any drug dens in the area and push out the dealers that Aaron or his college friends might come into contact with.
Which was also how he had made a name for himself among the youth here. Getting groups of kids away from gangs, helping them out with a few petty charges thanks to his pull at the firm. It was a win-win situation for those involved. Andrew convinced the firm to get their greenest recruits to do some pro-bono work, largely assisted by Andrew preparing the cases, the kids got decent lawyers and a chance at a fresh start. Andrew got to put his knowledge into practice and build a working relationship with the top lawyers in the city and the firms new lawyers got a few easy wins and the benefits of adding pro-bono work to their portfolio’s.
Now, Andrew found himself considering all the possibilities that Neil might still be hiding. Using the one area free from organised crime to build a normal life without being pulled back into his fathers’ crumbling empire. It was a working theory, one he wasn’t entirely satisfied with yet, but he had to admit that there might be more to Neil Josten than he had originally thought.
“What the hell, Andrew?” Aaron demanded around a mouthful of pasta as Andrew walked into the apartment with Neil trailing behind him. “You tell me to stay away from the guy and then invite him over?”
Andrew shot a look at his brother, sitting with his legs folded beneath him on the couch surrounded by open textbooks and his laptop perched precariously on the arm as he ate, and made his way to the kitchen. “Bathroom is down the hall, second on your right.” He said to Neil with a quick gesture that had Neil nodding his thanks and disappearing to get cleaned up. “He made a good point about needing another set of hands if I wanted to make it to work some time tonight.”
Aaron frowned at him as he scrubbed his hands in the kitchen sink. He would need a shower as well, but he was planning on grabbing a quick bite and a drink before he made his way to the bathroom.
“I think this is the first time you’ve bought some-one into the apartment. Are you two friends now?”
“Is that a comment on my lack of social life? Because I still have more friends than you, college boy.” Andrew snarked, rinsing his hands off and dumping more soap in his palm to scrub them down a second time, painstakingly trying to rid his hands of the grease embedding in his skin. “Since he helped me piece together your hunk of junk, I figured he earned a cold drink and a ride home.”
“I have friends.” Aaron pouted.
“Do you?” Neil gasped with exaggerated shock, clutching a hand to his chest as he stepped into the living room.
“It’s bad enough that I have to put up with you at school.” Aaron glared at Neil, jabbing a fork in his direction. “Do I have to deal with you here as well?”
Neil sent him a sweet, innocent, and completely insincere, smile in response. Andrew raided the fridge and settle on shoving a container of leftover pasta in the microwave as his dinner.
“Water, soda or beer?” Andrew called to Neil, pulling out a can of coke for himself and cracking it open. “I would offer coffee, but I think it’s undrinkable at this stage.” He shot a look to the percolator that was sitting at the same mark it had been when he left the house that morning, knowing that Aaron would avoid cleaning it unless he was desperate.
Neil chuckled when Aaron pulled a face. “Water is fine.”
Andrew poured him a glass and handed it over as he waited for his food to heat. “There’s food in there if you’re hungry. I figure you know how a kitchen works at this point.”
“Aren’t you worried I might try and poison you?” Neil snarked as Andrew pulled the container of pasta from the microwave and fished a fork from the draw.
“I worry about poison every time Aaron steps in the kitchen. How would this be any different?” Andrew bit into the penne.
“Sitting right here,” Aaron waved a hand through the air. Andrew slid onto the barstool at the counter, turning his attention to getting his food down quickly.
“We see you.” Neil stared at Aaron blankly over the rim of his glass.
“Don’t make this a regular thing, I’m begging you.” Aaron pleaded.
Andrew picked his head up from his pasta to stare at his brother. “How often are you planning on breaking your car?”
Aaron frowned at him and refused to respond.
-
Andrew saw the illusive Neil Josten more after that, almost to the point of making him paranoid, but the man never approached him. He’d catch a glimpse as Neil disappeared around a corner on the street. See his bike parked between the different clubs he worked as he bounced between them. Make eye contact with him as Neil stepped into the grocery store while Andrew was at the checkout. The alarms in the back of his head were saying that he was being stalked, but the logical part of his brain was saying monitored. Much in the same way Andrew monitored people he considered a threat. He wondered just how much of a threat Neil viewed him to be.
Friday night, a few week after Neil had helped him fix Aarons car, and Andrew found himself at the Cavern. A dusty old pub that could double for the set of a traditional biker bar. Everything was built with big wooden beams, the floors, the walls, the ceiling. The type of place where you needed to be sure footed or the warped floor beams would trip you up. Andrew liked it though. It wasn’t anything like the clubs he worked, it was quiet, with only a small but loyal clientele that came for the smoky atmosphere and the well worn pool tables. Roland had followed them out of Columbia and picked up a job here while his boyfriend was working for a tech company nearby.
“You cannot be making enough to get by.” Andrew told him, flipping his new law book open to where he’d left off the night before.
Roland huffed wiping down the bar. “Mason makes enough to cover the difference.”
“And you’re happy here?” Andrew shot him a look knowing how much Roland had to be missing the life of Edens. “With this lack of leather and cute guys?”
“Maybe.” Roland admitted with a sly grin. “But I can’t take a job from a guy I used to screw around with at work. Especially when you work at all the clubs in town. Mason is going to think we’re hooking up again.”
Andrew glared at the raised brow. He and Roland hadn’t fooled around in months before Andrew and Aaron left, and while he wouldn’t mind the distraction, Andrew didn’t home wreck. Not knowingly anyway. “I don’t work at all the clubs in town. I could set you up somewhere else where you could make a week’s wages in a night and have much more fun doing it.”
“Mason hates that I still talk to you here, he won’t like me accepting a job from my ex.” He lent on the bar to look at him closely.
“We were never dating.” Andrew countered, sipping his whiskey.
“And yet, hooking up for a year feels an awful lot like an ex-something.” Roland told him certainly. “Ex or not, it looks bad.”
“So you’re going to screw yourself over financially for the sake of convincing your paranoid boyfriend that you’re faithful?” Andrew summed up neatly, glancing across the bar when the door opened, his thoughts freezing for a moment when he recognised the man stepping through in riding leathers.
“It’s not screwing myself over.” Roland defending, nodding at Neil as he approached the bar with a curious look at Andrew and the law book in front of him. “And there’s the cute guys in leather.” He purred.
“You shouldn’t have to turn down a better paying job for the sake of keeping Mr Roland happy.” Andrew argued, pointedly turning away from Neil.
“Mr Roland?” He grinned stepping away to serve Neil across the bar.
Andrew turned his attention back to the book to keep from watching the way Neil stripped his jacket leaving him in a close-fitting t-shirt that strained across his shoulders nicely. The man was far too interesting for Andrew to lose his attention in. Give him a cute guy who was dumb as a brick any day, someone he could blow and forget. As always, the best laid plans went to hell the moment you put them into effect.
“So what number date is this?” Neil asked smoothly, claiming the seat beside him and eyeing him up and down.
“You haven’t even bought me a drink.” Andrew countered not liking the way his skin tingled from the proximity alone. For all his control you would think he had a better handle on his hormones, but a hot guy with trouble stamped all over him and he was itching to get his hands on him.
“How rude of me.” Neil gestured to Roland to rectify the mistake, smiling cunningly at Andrew when Roland topped up his glass. “And now?”
Andrew closed the book again, picking up his glass. Neil was making it difficult to put his attention anywhere else. “Date two, if you stick around long enough.”
He said it like a challenge. Meeting Neils gaze firmly and trying to understand the intentions behind the questions. Out of the two of them, Andrew considered himself to be the less interesting person, but here Neil was looking at him like he was the only thing to pique his curiosity.
“Are you any good at pool?” Neil asked, casting his eyes to the tables across the room.
Andrew glanced at the regulars who were pushing balls around the tables and drinking steadily. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Andrew was good at pool, but Neil was better. He seemed to have an ability to read the table like an open book and Aarons comments about him being a math whiz were buzzing around his thought as Neil pulled off impossible shots like it was his bread and butter.
“Where did you learn to play?” Andrew asked, enjoying the all too smug grin on Neils face.
“Everywhere.” Neil admitted, his look said ‘honest’, and his tone said, ‘play with me’. Andrew didn’t know what to think of flirty Neil, but the pull in his gut was getting harder to ignore. “We were always short on cash when we travelled.” He continued openly, offering up the information freely and inviting Andrews’ trust. “I couldn’t get a job. Too young, too risky. But I could hustle like no-one’s business.”
“Was pool the only thing you hustled?”
“Nope.” Neil laughed, meeting his eye over the table as he took the next shot. “Standard rule of thumb; if it can be hustled, I can play it!”
Andrew almost smiled at that one. He could picture it. Neil moving from town to town, city to city, searching out the best places to make a quick buck before moving on. Pulling the amateur kid act to trick his victims into believing that he had no clue what he was doing and running off with their cash before they could figure it out.
“What are you doing here, Neil?”
“I’m playing pool, Andrew.” Neil shot back evenly. “Why, what are you doing?”
“In Richmond, smart mouth.” Andrew clarified as Neil won the game. “Why settle here, so close to your fathers old stomping grounds?”
Neil put the cue back and picked up his beer, moving to lean against the table next to him. “To prove that I could. That I wasn’t running anymore.” He considered slowly. “Why are you here?”
Andrew considered Neil’s answer before he responded. He could understand wanting to face your fears, but it still seemed stupid to him. Facing your fears was standing on the edge of a rooftop, not moving back to the west coast. “Looking after my dumbass brother.” He told him. “I figured the only way to keep him out of trouble was to come with him. Scope out the people at his school and shut down any dealers before he’s tempted to fall of the wagon.”
“Dealers?” Neil’s attention fixed on him firmly. “Aaron was an addict?”
Andrew hummed, studying Neil quick interest in the topic, unsure of what to make of it. “His mother had him hooked on the shit in high school, why do you think she couldn’t survive having both sons under her roof?”
Neil nodded slowly, reading something deeper in his expression that most people usually missed. He shifted closer to say something, just as the ringing of Andrews phone interrupted them. Andrew pulled his phone out, answering it automatically and watching as Neil’s cheeks reddened as he stepped back. The ragged breaths on the other end pulled his attention away firmly.
“I did something bad.” Joe’s laboured voice came through the phone. “Andrew, I don’t know what to do.”
“Where are you?” Andrew demanded already moving to grab his things from the bar and leaving Neil behind.
“Home.”
“What is happening right now?” Andrew prompted, knowing how many people tended to get side-tracked trying to explain the backstory before the got to the situation at hand.
“He’s dead.” Joe said quietly, unable to believe his own words. “I killed him.”
“Listen to me carefully.” Andrew told him, tucking the book under his arm and heading for the door. “I’m going to help you through this, but I need you to focus and tell me everything, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Is there anyone there with you?” Andrew made a bee-line for his car, walking past Neil’s bike on the way.
“Sophie.” Joe broke, sucking in a deep breath as Andrew got in the car and switched the phone to speaker. Neil slide into the passenger seat beside him without a word, his jacket pulled into his lap as he shut the door. “What he was doing to her, man. I had to get him off her!”
“It’s okay, Joe.” Andrew told him, not wasting time by arguing Neil’s presence as he peeled the car out of the lot. “Do you know if the police have been called?”
“Yeah,” Joe sniffed. “Mrs Makaroy across the hall. She was shouting something about it.”
“Alright.” Andrew considered the situation as he drove. “Listen up. You’re going to open the door and step back into the room away from the entrance. Do it now, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“When you hear the sirens, you get to your knees, hands up so they can see you’re unarmed, okay. You do not resist them when the arrest you. I’ll send you a lawyer as soon as I hang up, and you don’t speak to anyone until you’re in a room with them. You do not say a word. You hear me, Joe?”
“Let them arrest me, don’t talk.” Joe summed up like he was reciting a mantra.
“Good.” Andrew breathed in relief. “They’re going to send CPS out to look after Sophie until they can find your mom. Don’t worry about her right now, she’s going to be looked after. You need to worry about yourself until I can get to you.”
“I can hear the sirens now.” Joe told him and a second later Andrew could hear them too.
“When you hang up,” Andrew explained quickly before the could reach the building. “You toss the phone away from you, get to your knees and hands up. Do not give them any reason to use force. You let them take you and I’ll be there soon.”
“Thanks, Andrew.” Joe sighed.
“Hang up.” Andrew ordered, pressing the button to end the call.