Leopard's Spots 2: Oscar (6 page)

Oscar snorted. The message made it sound like Josiah was an escaped convict or something. He wished he had more time to think about everything, but there was a clawing sensation in his gut, as if his cat was threatening to come out all on its own. Not possible, he knew, but it sure was his leopard’s way of letting him know he’d fucked up.

He plucked up the first clean shirt he found and put it on. Next he snagged a pair of his dad’s socks and finally got his shoes on. As he dressed, he thought about what his dad had said. Was having your mate handed to you the ultimate gift? What was he missing out on by finding the guy he was meant to spend his life with? Anonymous fucking? Maybe picking up an STD if he got drunk and stupid, or worse? Bullying, broken hearts, a lifetime of loneliness?

Why the hell was he pissed about Josiah being his mate again?

Oh yeah
. ‘Cos he was a dumbass.

Oscar smacked his forehead to emphasise his stupidity. He grabbed his wallet and started for the door. He was in such a hurry he wasn’t paying attention to anything else, which was why, when he opened the door and slammed into Josiah—because, of course, he was looking over his shoulder like a twit—he screeched like a damned wuss.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Oscar babbled, slapping a hand to his chest as he goggled at Josiah. “What—why are you here?” He snapped his mouth shut before he could say anything else rude. Well, wouldn’t Josiah know he didn’t mean it in a bad way? Surely he’d be poking around inside Oscar’s head?

But he didn’t feel anything from Josiah, so maybe he’d already found a way to break the mate-bond thing?

“I’m trying not to intrude,” Josiah gritted out, “so if you’d quit trying to get in my head, I’d appreciate it.”

And if that didn’t suck the air right out of Oscar’s lungs, Josiah held Oscar away from him as if he were distasteful. “Besides, I’m here because those cougars grabbed your dad.”

Oscar froze and every muscle locked up as he went frigid inside. “What do you mean, they grabbed my dad? Why the fuck didn’t you stop them?”

The restraint Josiah had been using to keep from flooding Oscar with his emotions snapped, and the remorse from Josiah almost floored Oscar. Would have, had Josiah not been holding him up with one hand around his upper arm.

“Because I didn’t know! I didn’t see until they were driving off!” Josiah snarled. “I was almost to my truck in the parking garage when I heard a shout. Turned around and saw the cougars and realised they were throwing someone in their vehicle. Then I saw your dad, and he nailed one of them, but they still hauled him into their van and took off before I could do more than holler at them.” He shook his head when Oscar opened his mouth. “And before you ask, I couldn’t chase them. Someone let the air out of all of my tyres. Probably the spare, too, and I bet I know who.”

“I bet I know who, too.” Oscar swallowed down the knot of fear clogging his throat. “I just don’t know why.” Oscar started to shove past Josiah only to stop when the bigger man grabbed his arm. “I don’t know, but we have to find my dad!”

“Yes, we do, and I’m guessing the cops are out.”

Oscar fairly spat out, “Of course they’re out! This is shifter business! Did you get their licence plate?”

Josiah shook his head. “No, they had the edges rolled, sort of. Do you have a laptop handy?”

“I don’t.” Oscar jerked free and stormed back towards the table. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “I didn’t bring it, but I have an iPhone. Same thing. I don’t know where to start looking first, though!” And he was scared, very scared for his dad. Oscar hadn’t even asked him about last night, where he’d been or who he’d talked to about finding Cole Tavares. Now he wanted to kick himself for being such a self-centred shit.

“I don’t even know where he went last night,” Oscar admitted. “He didn’t seem to recognise the cougars out front earlier.”

Josiah didn’t appear too sure of Oscar’s truthfulness there, so Oscar tried to open his mind up or push the truth to the surface, he didn’t know what, he just wanted Josiah to believe him.

Josiah scowled and let him go. “So you don’t know why Cole Tavares’ sons would be after your dad?”

Oscar’s blood iced in his veins. “Tavares? You’re sure?”

Josiah sighed and pulled out his phone. “I took this picture earlier. Meant to show it to you and Henry, but things went downhill before I got that far. Anyway, I sent it to the cougar friends I have and one of them thought they were some of Tavares’ sons. Apparently he has a lot of them.”

“No shit,” Oscar muttered as he stared at the blurry picture. From what he could tell, the guys resembled Lyndon. “They sure could be Lyndon’s brothers. Or half-brothers, rather.”

“And who is Lyndon?” Josiah prodded.

Oscar gave Josiah a brief rundown on his family, and Lyndon, his brother Levi’s partner. He couldn’t figure out how not to mention Albert, but he did imagine erecting walls around his brain before he talked about it. Judging by the way Josiah physically withdrew, leaving Oscar standing alone as if he’d shoved Josiah away, the attempt at a mental block worked.

Well, he had rejected Josiah in more ways than one, hadn’t he? But it was a lot to take in, and Oscar really didn’t want to talk about Albert or risk exposing Josiah to the darkness he feared was inside him. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to get out of delving into the hellish memories from a few months ago.

“Oscar,” Josiah began only to stop and tip his head up, as if searching for guidance from the ceiling or something. “I just want to help you, okay? I have to. I can’t walk away and leave my mate in trouble. You don’t want me, I get it. I’ll try not to touch you, mentally, physically, whatever. But please, let me help.”

Oscar felt like a first-rate shit. He sighed and faced Josiah, who was still averting his gaze. Big, muscular, broad-jawed and practically walking testosterone, Josiah was appealing to him on every level. And personality-wise, the wolf shifter seemed pretty amazing, too. Oscar called himself names sometimes, but he really didn’t think he was all that dumb. He surely wasn’t stupid enough to throw away something…someone who could be everything he’d ever wanted, who’d love him and touch him.

“Josiah.” Oscar waited until Josiah looked at him. Oscar held out his hand. “Come here, please. We need to work out a plan to find my dad, I can’t let anything happen to him, and…” And he wanted Josiah to take his hand, damn it!

Josiah whipped his head down so fast, Oscar was surprised he didn’t snap his fool neck. The slight smile teasing at the corners of his lips set off all sorts of inappropriate—for the time being—sensations in Oscar’s groin.

Oscar was afraid to hope, though, even when Josiah took his hand and his warmth flowed into Oscar like a wave of reassurance he hadn’t known he needed. But would Josiah still want him when he found out Oscar had killed someone, and would do it again? Would he find the darkness Oscar feared was dwelling inside him? Could he keep that part, those thoughts and memories blocked off, at least for a little while, until he could figure out if he wanted to give this thing with Josiah a shot?

He didn’t know, but he was beginning to accept that he had to try.

Josiah let Oscar do the searching since his fingers and the iPhone were just not compatible. His phone was probably a technological dinosaur. It had an actual keyboard, with decent sized buttons. If they ever stopped making phones like that, he was going to be screwed.

Once he’d called Cecelia and got what info from her he could, which was just the names of the three guys he’d snapped the pic of earlier, Josiah shared the names with Oscar. “Clark, Chris, and Devon,” Josiah told him. “Wonder why Devon got shorted out of a C-name.”

Oscar began tapping away at his phone. “Who knows. Maybe his mother was pissed because he was a difficult birth or something.”

“At least he still got the same number of letters.”

Oscar stopped messing with his phone and looked up at him with a heap of astonishment. “Seriously?” His lips moved and he wiggled each finger on his right hand as if he was counting. “Geez. You’re right, but why you noticed is beyond me.”

Josiah refused to be embarrassed. “It’s a quirk I have, and not a reliable one. Sometimes I doubt I’d notice my ass if it fell off and grabbed my ankles.”

Oscar’s lips twitched and he went back to hunting down info on the Tavares’ brothers. Josiah got up and wandered over to the window. He looked down at the people strolling or hurrying along the sidewalk; at the traffic on the street. Such a busy part of town, and yet Henry had been grabbed without anyone doing a thing to stop it. Granted, no one else might have seen, considering where it occurred, but…

Josiah sighed and tried to decide which of his brothers to call. Heath was the least likely to give him shit over having to ask for help. Or he could just call an auto service. It’d cost an arm and a leg, but it’d almost be worth it.

Of course, he had someone other than himself to think of now. Oscar was more important, even if it seemed odd to think so. Eventually he and Josiah would be each other’s world.

Yeah, we’ll be our very own chick flick.

Yet as much as Josiah tried to play it off as corny, he yearned for that closeness.

“Bingo,” Oscar muttered.

Josiah turned from the window then jerked his head back around because something caught his eye. “Oscar!”

“What?” Oscar snapped. “I’ve narrowed down the hotels the Tavares brothers must be staying in to four choices. It shouldn’t take us long to sniff out which place they’re at, unless they’ve left for good. If they have, we’ll figure out another way to find them.”

Josiah watched for a few more seconds, making sure he didn’t speak too soon. Once he was sure, he practically ran to Oscar and lifted him from his seat.

“What the fuck are you doing? Put me down!”

“They’re here,” Josiah explained, already at the door before he let him go.

“What are you talking about?” Oscar demanded, but he was pushing past Josiah into the hallway. “And where is here?” He glared up and down the hall.

Josiah grabbed his hand and started running, afraid that he was wrong after all. There was more than one blue van in this city. Or maybe they’d leave. Were they dumping off a body? It’d be really stupid to do so in this area, but the world had plenty of idiotic criminals. Maybe he should have checked it out first before saying anything to Oscar. “Parking garage.”

Oscar nudged past him again and Josiah huffed as he put more muscle into his stride.

“Let me go first, Oscar, in case it’s a trap.”

He really needed to remember how quick and short-tempered his mate was. Once Josiah could breathe again and was relatively sure his ribs hadn’t been cracked by Oscar’s bony elbow, he caught up with him. Probably only because he actually stopped and waited by the stairwell.

Oscar flicked him a glance, and a quick flash of guilt dashed over his face before he turned away and pulled the door open. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Josiah muttered as he rubbed his ribs. He still thought it was bullshit, getting elbowed for wanting to protect Oscar.

Oscar spared him another quick look. “Yeah, well maybe I want to protect you, too. Who says you get to be the boss or whatever? Just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re in charge of everything.” He headed down the stairs.

Well, he guessed the mental bond was still there. Oscar had picked up on his pouting in no time. And Oscar did have a point, even if Josiah didn’t like it. Obviously, their protective instincts could be problematic in the future.

He wondered how that was going to play out in bed, two strong personalities, each of them wanting to be the boss. If he hadn’t been running down the stairs he’d have shivered and sighed like a lovesick teenager.

“Stop it,” Oscar said breathlessly. He pulled open the door leading directly to the parking garage and stopped. “Shit! Which floor?”

Josiah growled at his stupidity. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. On the other hand—“We
are
shifters, and even in human form our senses are usually at least a little sharper than the average person’s.”

Oscar opened his mouth to say something Josiah expected to be a tad snarky, but quickly shut it as he just about unhinged his head whipping it around. “Listen.”

Josiah heard them, voices too low for a human ear to pick up at this distance. The concrete walls of the parking garage helped the sound carry, though, and he recognised one of the voices, the one that sounded like it was scolding the hell out of someone even while trying to keep it quiet.

“Dad!”

Oscar didn’t bother being quiet and neither did Josiah. They ran across the bottom floor of the parking garage and on up the ramp to the second level. There on the right was the van. Josiah processed the scene before him in a heartbeat and surged forward, catching hold of Oscar and all but wrapping himself around him.

“What the fuck!” Oscar tried to twist around and kick him, and there was nothing Josiah could do to stop them from falling. He could, however, make sure it was his body that slammed into the concrete first.

“Unnph!” Josiah wasn’t the only one whose breath was knocked from his lungs. Oscar gasped and was so still afterwards it scared Josiah right out of being stunned by the fall.

“Oscar?” He manoeuvred around until he could see Oscar’s face. With his eyes closed, his lips tight and his cheeks flushed, Oscar looked incredibly sexy…and very angry. Oscar inhaled sharply and he started to shake and Josiah wanted him so badly in that moment that he very nearly forgot they had an audience. Would have, probably, had Henry not spoken.

“What a way to impress Lyndon’s brothers.”

Josiah felt Oscar’s anger blow into his head a split second before Oscar went off, and all he could do was hang on for the ride.

Stunned didn’t begin to describe how Oscar felt when Josiah, the big oaf, had tackled him. Furious at first, Josiah had still twisted and taken the worst of the fall, which was kind of sweet. It was not, Oscar reassured himself, because Josiah thought he was a wuss, either. Josiah wanted to protect him, much like Oscar would have protected him. Well, he might not have been so thoughtful. Oscar knew his temper could get in the way of him being rational.