Page 11 of Admiring His Omega (Hobson Hills Omegas #12)
A few weeks later, Cain sat in his office and rewatched Mal’s latest cooking show for the seventh time. He liked the longer formats better, so he watched the full videos from Mal’s website instead of the shorter ones posted to social media.
When cooking, simple doesn’t always mean easy , Mal said on the screen.
It takes more time, which not everyone can afford to give.
Be kind to yourself and don’t feel guilty if you have to cheat a bit.
He wore a plain, black t-shirt and a bright, floral-patterned chef headwrap.
To Cain, he was the most beautiful person in the world, and Cain wanted to be there with him.
“Mr. Benson? Your three o’clock is here.” Lyle, Cain’s personal assistant, gave him a tentative look from the door. “Do you want me to reschedule?”
He sighed and put his phone away. “No, Lyle. Send him in.”
Frank Long came in shortly after, his large, muscular frame filling the doorway.
Cain stood up and held his hand out. “Thank you for coming, Mr. Long.”
The older alpha shook his hand and settled his bulk carefully into a chair. “As many years as we’ve known each other, you can call me Frank.”
Cain nodded solemnly. They did this every time they met, but the man was a professional colleague, so Cain could not force himself to be informal. His family had used Frank’s private investigative security firm since before Cain was born.
Frank sighed. “Of course, you won’t.” He placed a thick file on the desk.
“Okay, Benson. I’ll get to the point. We’ve kept surveillance on the Dorsey couple 24/7.
They both have met with known contract criminals.
The list is in my report. Green highlights are non-violent and not considered dangerous, yellow have no violent charges or convictions against them but are reportedly violent, red have killed before. ”
Cain nodded and made a note to contact the green highlighted names. They might be willing to share what James and Gabriel discussed.
“The deep dives we did on the new employees James hired were interesting too. One was hired as a personal aide, but he’s a private detective. Guess what he’s been doing?”
“I imagine he is searching for Roe.”
Frank grinned. “Correct. He has also been looking closely at you and Jasper.”
Cain scowled.
“I advise no more trips to Hobson Hills until this is over.”
Cain fought the urge to throw the file in front of him across the room. Frustration threatened to bubble over each day that he was away from Mal. Think of Roe and the kids , he reminded himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. They need me here .
Over the weeks since Roe’s accident, Cain had worked hard.
He’d easily established motive. When James divorced Roe and took full control of the Dorsey investment firm, several clients had severed ties with him.
Each of those clients was willing to testify and describe how desperate James had been to win them back and how angry he was when it didn’t work.
As for Gabriel, Cain had several witnesses willing to testify about how Gabriel was constantly compared to Roe at business functions.
Roe may think that he wasn’t as well-liked as Gabriel in their social circles, but he underestimated how shallow society was.
Gabriel was handsome and charming, but he wasn’t Roe.
He wasn’t born a Dorsey. One of Gabriel’s maids even told him about how obsessed Gabriel was with surpassing Roe and how violently angry he would get when nothing worked.
Motive, they had. Facts were what they needed. “What about connections to the Loriston police?” he asked.
Frank nodded. “We discovered several connections. The officials of Loriston are invited to every party James and Gabriel throw. James even helped the sheriff join his golf club. More importantly, we have evidence that each time Roe went to the police, James made a large donation to the police force. That is damning enough, but after some digging, we found out Gabriel used to date the mayor of Loriston. Reportedly, the man is still in love with him. If you can legally get hands on communication between the mayor and the sheriff, you will see that the mayor pressured the sheriff to treat James and Gabriel like royalty.”
“You have already seen those conversations,” Cain said rather than asked. Frank legally obtained all information he gave his clients. He had to for it to stand up in court. However, that didn’t mean he never came across the stray nugget of information through questionable means.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that.” Frank smiled. “Get a warrant and they might find many dirty dealings between the mayor, sheriff, and the Dorsey couple.”
“We can bring this to the state Attorney General. Thank you, Mr. Long.” Cain had already tried working with the county attorney, but suspected they were as corrupt as the sheriff and mayor since they had completely ignored all communication from him.
Frank leaned forward, smirking. “Before I go, I wanted to ask you about the house you’re buying. Do you really need all that space?”
Cain narrowed his eyes. “Nosy.”
“I didn’t tell anyone.” Frank held his hands up. “I didn’t even deep dive you. Wally did. I just found out from him.”
Cain picked up his phone, cheeks heating. “It’s a four-bedroom lake cabin on ten acres. There is a large garden area and plenty of pasture for a Kunekune. Look at the kitchen.”
Frank stared at him for a moment, clearly shocked. “You never talk to me about anything personal.”
Cain sniffed. “Just look at the kitchen.”
Frank gave him a suspicious look then stared at the picture on his phone. “Do you even cook? Why would you need that big of a kitchen?”
Cain ignored him. “The breakfast nook looks out over the lake, and the other windows look out over the garden. It is quite peaceful. Oh, and those are granite countertops. You can put hot things right on them. They’re easy to keep clean too.”
“So, you are moving to Hobson Hills and apparently you’re going to take up cooking.” Frank eyed him. “What’s a Kunekune?”
“A small breed of pig.” He scrolled through his phone and showed Frank another picture. “This is the sunroom. It will be perfect for yoga.”
“You do yoga?”
“It helps improve strength and mobility.” Cain frowned. “I really should refrain from traveling until this is over, shouldn’t I?”
Frank gave him a sympathetic look. “James and Gabriel know you are friends with Roe Dorsey. You could lead them right to him.”
Cain set his phone down. “Noted. Thank you again, Mr. Long.”
“Aww, we’re back to formal Cain again?”
“Does formal Cain ever really go away?” Jasper asked, leaning against the door frame.
Cain shuffled some of the papers on his desk. “I do have work to finish. Have Lyle write you a check on the way out.”
Frank ignored him, looking back over his shoulder. “He was showing me pictures of the house.”
Jasper laughed and came inside, sitting in the empty chair next to Frank. “He loves that house, but it doesn’t suit him at all. It’s nothing like his apartment.”
Cain flushed. “It suits Mal and I perfectly.”
“Mal?” Frank pinned him with his gaze. “Now, this is getting good. Who is Mal?”
“His boyfriend,” Jasper answered, propping his chin on a fist. “Is it that serious, though? You just started dating, but you’re buying a house for the two of you. That’s a huge step.”
Cain cleared his throat, face heating again. “I am joining his D&D group tonight. It is very serious.”
Jasper and Frank slowly turned to look at one another before laughing uncontrollably. “That’s how you judge how serious your relationship is?” Frank snorted.
“Campaigns can last for months or even years.” Cain gave them both a disdainful look. “Obviously this means Mal plans on me being around for that long.”
Jasper gave him a gentle look. “I’m sure he does. Nothing says love like D&D.”
Frank started laughing again. “What’s your character like?”
“I am an orc warrior, but Mal said not to get too attached to my first character. The DM likes to haze newcomers, so he will likely give my character a terrible, uncurable curse or kill me. I will probably have to start again.”
Frank shook his head. “I’m sorry but I need to go now. I have to call your father to talk, uh, business. Yeah, business.”
Frank stood and practically skipped to the door, grinning back at Cain as he left the room.
“I thought you wanted to keep moving to Hobson Hills and Mal a secret for a little longer,” Jasper said, wincing. “You shouldn’t have said anything to him.”
“He wanted to see pictures of the house.”
“Did he want to see them, or did you want to show them to him?” Jasper asked, laughing.
Cain shrugged. “Anyway, Frank’s report is thorough, and I plan to start interviewing some of the contract criminals James and Gabriel have spoken with after I contact the Attorney General.”
“I’ll help.” Jasper smiled. “Let’s get this done so Roe is safe and you can focus on D&D.”
Later that night, Cain sat at his kitchen bar and arranged his laptop and D&D rulebook.
He was nervous. Like he had told Jasper, this was a big deal for Mal.
Rick, the dungeon master, was the old friend that Mal used to love.
The man he still cared for. Cain didn’t like it.
Many of his past partners had described Cain as cold and uncaring.
From the way Mal described his friend, Rick was funny and kind.
Not at all cold and uncaring. What if seeing them interact made Mal realize that Cain wasn’t as good of a catch as he thought?
His phone beeped and he picked it up, smiling when Mal’s face appeared on the screen. His omega looked cute, his brown hair a mess of curls and his freckles there for all to see. He wore pointy ear tips as well since his character was an elf.
“Are you ready for this?” Mal asked, grinning.
“I have the rulebook and your personalized guide with me.” Cain set his phone on the stand next to his laptop. “Are you sure they won’t mind me joining?”