Chapter 2

That damn voice in his mind wouldn’t let up. This is Tea all over again. Will turned the radio up in an attempt to drown it out, but it didn’t work. You find another street rat like that, pick him up, take him home, clean him up, and what happens next? Where’s Tea now?

Dead.

Will gripped the steering wheel tight and leaned forward as he took the next turn. He wasn’t thinking about Teabag anymore—that part of his life was over, done with, case closed. It’d been a month already. Tonight was an escape, a way to move out of the past, a way to move on. And Will suspected a good, solid fuck was all he needed to do just that.

Back on Cary Street again, Will slowed as he approached the hustlers’ block. This time he pulled over a bit, out of the flow of traffic, so he wouldn’t be rushed. The guys came into view and Will slowed the car. A few of them elbowed each other, nodded his way. Then the guy in the silver mesh turned and watched him come to a complete stop.

Will sat back in the driver’s seat to wait. It didn’t take long. Within a few minutes, the guy broke away from his friends and drifted to the passenger side of Will’s car. As he approached, Will turned the radio down to a mere whisper.

Leaning into the open window, the guy flashed Will an easy grin. “Hey, dude,” he drawled. His voice had a raw quality to it, as if he’d spent the previous evening screaming himself hoarse at a heavy metal concert. “See something you like?”

This close, Will noticed the guy was younger than he’d originally thought. Closer to Tea’s age, maybe, barely a man…

An image of Teabag flashed in his mind, superimposing itself over the hustler’s features. Freckles dotted clear skin, the black hair faded into a deep shade of russet, those green eyes turned a warm brown. The wide grin was replaced with a crooked one, thrown off by an eyetooth once broken in a club fight. Will heard Teabag’s smoked-out voice when the hustler spoke. “I know you want me, Detective. And shit, I want you. So what’s it to anyone else if we get our groove on, you know?”

With a shake of his head, Will chased that memory away. Teabag disappeared, leaving only the guy before him. Perhaps this hadn’t been such a swift idea after all. Putting the car into gear, Will started, “Sorry, kid. You’re not even legal—”

“I’m twenty-three,” the hustler answered. “Don’t go. I like black guys and you’re kind of cute. It’s been a slow night.”

Will glanced at the other hustlers, but they were calling out across the street to the girls on the opposite corner and weren’t about to encroach on their friend’s trick. The guy leaned on Will’s car. “I saw you looking.”

When Will didn’t answer, the hustler straightened up and stepped back, giving him a good eyeful. Large hands smoothed the mesh top down over his belly, then dipped into the waistband of his biker shorts to cup the cock hidden in his pants. As Will watched, a flick of those wrists had the shorts down and his dick out, both hands kneading his balls as the blind eye of his cockhead rose in Will’s direction. A shuffled step brought him to the side of the car, and that long, thin dick dangled through the open window invitingly. Will’s hands clenched the steering wheel to keep from reaching out.

He watched strong hands stroke the length, teasing it erect. The guy moaned as he fondled himself, hips humping against the side of the car as if he were fucking the vehicle itself. The way those fingers danced along the hardening shaft made Will’s balls draw up with desire, and his own cock ached to be touched like that. It’d been way too long. With a glance around to assure himself no one was watching, Will hit the release for the automatic lock. “Get in the car.”

Instantly, the shorts came up again and the cock disappeared. The door opened and the hustler fell into the passenger seat, a knowing grin in place. He looked muchtoo young for Will’s taste, and twenty-three was a good ten years his junior, but in the dark, age didn’t matter. If the guy had a tight hole and knew how to fuck, that was all Will wanted.

Releasing the clutch, Will pulled away from the curb and hit the button to raise the windows. Tinted glass rose around them, blocking out the street life. “You got a name?” Will asked as he pushed the car through the gears, heading for a high speed. “And buckle up.”

“Yes, officer.”

Will glanced at the guy sharply, but it’d been nothing but an innocent comment, a joke. The guy gave no indication that he knew just how close the comment had hit home.