Landon's Desire (Book Three of The Pulse Series 3) (32 page)

“Lovers,” Carl said the word. “Does that mean you loved him?”

“Carl, I only love you,” Landon put his hand over Carl’s. “No I never loved him, it was sex, just sex. I was in a bad place, didn’t know where I belonged or what I wanted. I wasn’t interested in anything more than getting my rocks off. Then Mason called and I came to Boston.”

“Look I’m not going to be sorry for having a past, as disgusting as it was, I can’t change it even though I’d love to,” Landon ran his thumb across Carl’s knuckles. “You can’t seriously be mad at me.”

The waitress brought their drinks and appetizers. She set out their plates, cutlery and more napkins and walked away with a nod.

Taking a long hall from his glass, Carl took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“Without saying I’m jealous…I guess I’m jealous.”

“Oh, Babes.”

“What? Look at him and look at me,” Carl fanned his hand down his front. “He’s young, probably doesn’t have an ounce of body fat on him and he’s gorgeous.”

“And he doesn’t compare to the man I love,” Landon winked. “You’re my beautiful man, the only one I want. This is the last I want to hear about him tonight.”

Raising a shrimp cake to his lips, Carl opened and took a bite, and Landon popped the remainder into his own mouth and moaned.

“Mmm…so good,” Landon said, wiping a crumb from Carl’s mouth. “We should have gotten takeout and I could have fed you and cleaned up the crumbs with my tongue.”

“Where’s the list?” Carl asked, popping a dumpling into Landon’s mouth.

With a toothy grin, Landon pulled the list from his shirt pocket and handed it to Carl. He watched Carl as he viewed each item and his smile deepened. He was so relieved to see him happy again. It was crazy for him to be envious of a kid like Tristan. But then Tristan was no more a kid than Carl.

Just as the waitress brought over their meals, Landon’s phone rang. He took it from his pocket and looked from the screen to Carl.

“It’s Johnson, I have to take it,” Landon said. “You eat, don’t wait for me.”

Carl nodded.

“Detective,” Landon started. “You’ll never guess who’s in town and working at the club as a bartender.”

He waited and then snorted at whatever Johnson said. “Tristan St. James…that’s right, he’s on the payroll, started today. Mikala hired him.”

Shaking his head and listening, he looked down at his lap. Carl watched an angry expression cloud his face.

“I get married on the twenty first, I want him gone before then…I’ll talk to you tomorrow, just so you know I don’t like the idea…tomorrow.”

Landon hit end and set his phone on the table.

“What did he say?” Carl asked, as Landon took a bite of his duck and chewed.

Sawing into another piece of duck, his fork and knife made light work of each slice until it lay eviscerated on his plate in a heap. Carl laid his hand on Landon’s arm, stopping him before he cut clean through the plate and into the table.

“Take it easy, Ace,” Carl whispered, looking around to see if anyone noticed.

“Johnson doesn’t have enough evidence to arrest Tristan, the partial finger print isn’t enough to go on. The most he can do is watch him, and if another card arrives he’ll investigate. He thinks I should try to find something or get him to confess in front of witnesses.”

“You can make that happen, right? I want him gone too, Ace, the sooner the better.”

“After the last case I helped with, you would think I’d been through enough, wouldn’t you?” Landon dropped his cutlery to the table gritting his teeth. “Let’s just fire the fucker, what are a few harmless anniversary cards going to do? Paper and ink, it’s fucking harmless.”

“Because revisiting the past once a year isn’t harmless for you, in fact it brings out the worst in you. It scares me to think someone, maybe Tristan is fucking with you. Aren’t you scared, Ace?”

“No, I just know from experience that you never know what someone is capable of doing. I just want to know why. There has to be a connection I’ve missed. How the hell would Tristan have known Steve? I have to figure it out.”

“So Tristan stays.”

Landon nodded his head with his eyes closed, then snorted. “We came here to talk about the wedding…Did you call about tuxes?”

“Tomorrow at four, I can meet you there,” Carl offered.

“I’ll pick you up,” Landon said. “And then we can go visit my mom, I’ll call her tomorrow and tell her we’re coming, if I tell her too soon she’ll insist on a big elaborate dinner.”

Carl shrugged his shoulders. “What’s wrong with that?”

“I love her dearly, but the woman can’t cook worth shit,” Landon scrunched up his nose. “Unless you’re into minor food poisoning, little notice is best. She’ll only have enough time to buy a cake or something from the bakery down the street.”

“She lives nearby? You never mentioned her.”

“She has a condo on the water front, her boyfriend moved in with her about a year ago. I’m not a fan, don’t get me wrong, he’s nice and all and treats her well, I’m just not a fan. It’s hard to like him stepping into my dad’s place, you know? I don’t see her a lot but we talk on the phone all the time.”

“We’ll stop and buy her some flowers on the way,” Carl told him. “There’s so much to cram into such a short time, I hope she’s not mad being told at the last minute that you’re getting married…she’s not going to be pissed that you’re marrying a bartender?”

Landon full belly laughed. “I’m marrying another man and you’re worried if she’ll be upset that you’re a bartender?”

Carl rolled his eyes. “Give me a fucking break here. In less than six months, I have discovered and admitted than I am indeed gay, I’ve professed my love for you and you have moved in with me and in a few short weeks we’re getting married. If I’m a tad bit worried about your mom accepting me, you’ll have to forgive me.”

“Don’t worry, she’s going to love you as much as I do,” Landon leaned over the table and kissed him. “Let’s get the waitress to pack this up and go home, we’ll order some Thai donuts and peanut sauce to go with it…and then I’ll pour it all over your body and lick it off.”

“Waitress,” Carl called holding his hand in the air and snapping his fingers.

***

The next day after their tux fitting, they went to the local florist and had a nice arrangement of daisies and baby’s breath made up in a teacup for Landon’s mom, before going to her waterfront condo.

Her living room window looked out over Rose Kennedy Greenway, it was hard to imagine now with all the lush green foliage and multiple gardens, that it was once an ugly dirty highway spanning through the heart of the city. Off in the distance you could just make out the top of the carrousel and see the fountains where children normally ran through the water screaming and laughing. This time of year was too chilly but didn’t stop people enjoying the park anyway. It was a little bit of heaven mingled amongst the concrete and steel monsters of the city.

To Carl’s relief Landon’s mom turned out to be a real gem. She greeted them with overly exuberant hugs and kisses, happy to see them both, then proceeded to give Landon a proper verbal scolding for staying away far too long. She was over the moon about the upcoming wedding and said she couldn’t be happier in Landon’s choice, fussing over Carl like he was her own.

She was fascinated or at least she faked interest in life as a bartender, asking lots of questions. Carl figured in her mind she saw him as Sam’s character from
Cheers
, where he was the go-to for advice and an ear to listen, she wasn’t too far off. Conversation led to dreams of doing other things, forcing him to reveal his having a business degree, to the shock of Landon.

“I wasn’t aware you had a degree, Babes,” Landon said.

“I have a Bachelor in Business Administration. It’s an unused one but I have it.”

Good to know
, Landon thought with a sneaky grin.

As Landon had only given her a six hour warning, she served raspberry coffee cake that she purchased at the bakery and extremely strong coffee. Landon took a sip of his coffee looked at Carl with a cringe. Carl nearly choked on a mouthful of cake and laughed while Landon thumped him on the back trying desperately to resuscitate him.

“So if you have a degree, why are you a bartender then?” Landon’s mom asked him. “Landon could find you a position at Liberator; it’s a shame to waste the skills of a very intelligent man.”

“You’re very kind Mrs. Liberatore,” Carl said, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment. “But I’m very happy at the club, I practically run the place and who knows, now that Mik has Emma, she may ask me to step up into a management position.”

“Call me Carmen,” she tittered, “or mom.”

Landon had his mom’s dark hair and mocha colored eyes and from photos she shared, his chiseled features and stunning smile came from his dad.

“Tell me about the wedding,” she asked, refreshing Carl’s coffee.

She was a bit put out that she had not been included in the wedding planning and insisted on giving them the honeymoon of a lifetime.

“Italy, you have to stay at the Liberatore estate for a few days, see where it all started with your grandfather. And then I’d recommend at least a week in Spain, it’s so beautiful there. You’re going to need at least a month for a proper honeymoon.”

Carl was adamant that they were only taking a two week honeymoon. Landon told his mom that Paris had to be woven somewhere into her plans.

She caved, he clearly was the apple of her eye and Carmen was pleased to do anything to make her son happy.

“Paris, Italy and Spain,” Carmen announced. “All rolled into a two week period, you won’t have time to see it all.”

“We’ll be too busy to care, mom.” Landon winked and Carmen’s eyes widened once she understood his meaning.

“Landon,” she scolded, turning her attention to Carl. “Make sure he takes you to the hotspots at least. You must see the Eiffel Tower and the buildings in Barcelona are spectacular.”

“I will,” Carl grinned

***

A few hours later, they walked hand in hand and all smiles into
Pulse.
Rex had his arm draped over Tristan’s shoulder and they were laughing, strange because Rex wasn’t a funny guy. The happy quickly left their faces.

“Is there a reason our customers are sitting with empty glasses gentlemen?” Carl barked as Landon left the room.

“Because they haven’t ordered more?” Tristan asked.

“And why would that be, Tristan?”

He shrugged his shoulder. “Don’t know.”

“Could it be because you’re too busy fucking around behind the bar, and not over there serving them?”

“Sorry,” Tristan grabbed an order pad and pen and flew across the room to the patiently waiting customers.

Carl glared Rex’s way. “You know better.”

“Sorry man, we were just talking.”

“Keep it on your own time,” Carl warned.

“Hey, the new guys interested in working the side line, he wants to escort.”

“Fine, then send him to Mikala, it’s not your place to be telling him fuck all…can we get back to work now? You can rotate the beer cooler there’s a delivery due this afternoon.”

“Yes sir,” Rex said, with a scathing salute.

Tristan was taking orders, laughing and joking with three women seated too far from the bar to hear what they were saying, but Carl was entranced. Tristan was every bit the young gay spirit, no one needed to wonder or question his sexuality; he stood out and wore who he was strong and proud. Carl envied that, he wished he hadn’t hidden behind a faux persona for so long.

When Tristan came back to place the ladies’ orders, Carl got a close magnified look at Tristan’s face. His light brown hair was messy, a kind of purposeful messy with side burns that fed into a perfectly groomed scruff at his jaw. His eyes were water blue outlined in black making them appear overly bright. And his smile was gleaming, his teeth pearly white and his mouth cricked up slightly more on one side. The young man was perfect.

Perfect face.

Perfect hair.

Perfect body.

A twinge of jealousy nipped at Carl when he imagined Landon and Tristen together, Landon being the epitome of dominance, and Tristan of course being the perfect definition of a submissive.

“Carl,” Tristan said, shaking him from his daydream. “Did you hear me?”

“Sorry, say again?”

“Two whiskey sours and a G&T,” Tristan tilted his head. “Are you okay?”

“Fanfuckingtastic,” Carl snarled, as he reached for a glass and scooped ice into it.

Taking the rum from the shelf, Tristan clamped his hand over Carl’s wrist. “There’s no rum in a whiskey sour, is something bothering you?”

“My minds elsewhere, can you finish here for me, I need to take care of something,” Carl said, walking off before Tristan had a chance to answer.

Carl found Landon in the security room, leaning on the counter watching the screens. He walked up behind him and hugged him around the waist from behind.

“What was that all about?” Landon asked. “You and Tristan…it looked intense.” Landon turned in Carl’s arms. “You were checking him out, weren’t you?”

“I had a look.”

Landon grasped Carl’s chin and pulled his face close. “I don’t like you checking out other guys, don’t fucking do it again.”

“I only have eyes for you, baby,” Carl pulled Landon’s hand away. “Only for you.”

“Then why were you eyeing up Tristan?”

“Checking out the competition, that’s all.”

Carl tried to move in for a kiss and Landon wrapped his hand around Carl’s throat. A thrill ran up Carl’s spine and he sucked in a deep breath as if it were the last he’d be taking today. Landon’s scowl quickly turned to lust as he smashed his mouth over Carl’s devouring him whole. He was rough and greedy in his quest and caused Carl to jump when he palmed his manhood.

“There is absolutely no competition, there’s no one I want but you. Do you hear me? No one.”

“I’m just saying he’s,” Carl was stopped by Landon’s large hand covering his mouth.

“No one,” Landon snarled, tugging Carl’s button fly front jeans open. “I’m going to show you who I want, right this fucking minute.