Read Online Crazy From the Heat by Mercy Celeste - Free Book Online

much
everything else.
    “And
you’d be wrong.”
    “Wrong
about the tats and piercings or the street punk thing?”
    “Pleading
the fifth. Okay, I wasn’t much of a punk kid. I was more of a nerd happy to
have my nose in a book, but I am far from innocent. And I haven’t forgotten
that you still haven’t told me where you’re from.”
    “Busted.
Okay, it’s like this. My dad is Navy. My mom was just a mom until I was old
enough to take care of myself, and she worked as a secretary for an officer
after that. We moved around a lot. I spent a year or two in one place. And then
he’d get orders and we’d move.
    "My
dad is from San Diego, he grew up near Coronado and wanted to be a SEAL. My mom
is from Norfolk, Virginia. He met her while he was stationed there. So I have
this East Coast / West Coast thing going on. I ended up going to school in
Chicago. Fell into law enforcement when I was twenty. Doing pretty much exactly
what I’m doing now. Became a patrol officer after I graduated, went back into
undercover work. I made detective a few years ago, transferred to New Orleans
because I wanted a change of scenery. Got messed up with a guy who was using me
for information, and I was sent here until that dies down. And that’s pretty
much all there is, Prof. Besides liking guys and working twenty-hour days. What
you see is what you get.”
    “Now
exactly what was so bad about telling me that?” Grey rubbed his hand. Paul had
forgotten he was still holding on to him.
    He
closed his eyes and sighed. “I haven’t seen my parents in twelve years. Dad
didn’t take my lifestyle choice well. He disowned me. I went to a small school
in Chicago on a soccer scholarship. I don’t like to think about it much. I’m
thirty and, like you said, I look like a fifteen year old street punk. I don’t
belong anywhere…Yada yada. I’m caught in between some horrific past and the
wonder years. So, that’s all I got. And I like it here, too. I guess. I’ve
lived in some real shit holes. I could live without the heat.” He shrugged
again. Nothing like spilling his guts to a potential date to send him running.
    “And
that’s more than what’s his name could ever string together. I knew about the
drugs. I just didn’t know it was that bad. Or that he had stuff on him. That’s
what that was. Me trying to get him to leave. I usually move faster than—"
And again he stopped talking, closing his eyes as if he was reliving the last
few hours. “We never had anything. I met him at a club. He was all talk.
Usually passed out not long after we landed here. And every time we came close
to taking a step toward anything, he would pull back. Somehow it became I wanted to take things slow. And last night there was nothing slow about
anything. He was angry. About you. About what he thought was me lying to him. I
don’t even know his last name. I’m pretty sure he’s just some bum I let sleep
on my couch and eat my food because I’m stupid.”
    “Grey,”
Paul held tight to his hand when he tried to pull away. He felt the trembling
there. “Okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me this. You can just forget
about it and move on. Okay.” He found himself on his feet and, just like Friday
night, standing between the man’s knees, except this time the man leaned
against him his fingers clawing at Paul’s shirt his body racked with tremors.
Paul held him while he struggled for control. “It’s shock. Now that it’s over,
you’re coming down. It’s normal.”
    “And
it’s you. Again…Seeing me like this…Like I’m some sort of…weak…I’m not…weak.”
    “I
didn’t think you were Friday, and I don’t think that now.”
    “He…he…on
the floor. Held me down. I couldn’t get him off…Hit me when I tried…He…Cocaine
in his pocket…Made him mean. I never…I…No choice…I’m so sorry.”
    Paul
closed his eyes and held on to Grey as the story spilled out slowly. He knew
what he was hearing without the exact