Page 6 of Broken Promises (Soho Knights #5)

Sebastian wasn’t just rich, he could achieve anything he set his mind to. If he wanted to see Charlie again, he could find him, even though he only knew his first name and what he did as a job. Nothing was impossible for Sebastian Steele.

“How’s work?” asked Sebastian .

His eyes were scanning the room every few seconds, as if he was waiting for Charlie to miraculously appear. Patrick couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What?”

“Are you really interested in how work is going, or are you just being polite while you look out for Charlie?”

“No. I am interested,” he said, scanning the room again.

“I’m quitting the newspaper and opening a florist.”

“That’s good. Wait. What?”

Patrick laughed.

“Hilarious. You’re not really thinking of leaving the newspaper, are you?”

Patrick was the editor of a leading British tabloid, having worked his way up from the bottom.

The one thing they don’t tell you in any business school leadership course is how lonely and boring it is at the top.

He spent most of his days in meetings and making decisions on other people’s creativity.

He missed the chase of building a story.

Now he had a team to do all that. He’d had this unconscious drive to get to the top, but he was probably happier ten years ago when he ran the crime desk.

He’d loved that, and still liked to dip his toe into that space now and then.

Thankfully, the team didn’t get put out by it, and he always passed on his intel for them to take over the line.

“Oh my God!” said Sebastian.

“What?”

“It’s him.” Sebastian pointed to a guy at the bar.

He was nothing like Sebastian had described. Blond, and probably about five feet seven. He had a slight frame, but Patrick could tell there was a bit of muscle under the tight clothes he was wearing.

“He’s very cute, although he looks different from how you described him. He’s shorter, for one. More my thing than yours. ”

That was true. Patrick had a penchant for short blond guys.

“No, that’s his friend who was with him last night. I think he was called Jason.”

“Jason!” shouted Patrick, without thinking. He was doing this for Sebastian.

Jason spun round, looking at them, and Patrick’s breath hitched.

Those piercing blue eyes felt like they were looking into his soul.

The guy was breathtaking. Patrick could feel himself getting hard at the thought of pinning down that smaller body and taking him apart over several hours.

.. or days if he could. That was new. He hadn’t reacted that way to any other man in a long time.

Patrick signalled for him to join them before he changed his mind. Perhaps it was a mistake inviting him over, given his reaction to the cutie.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian hissed.

“Making your dreams come true.” Yes, that’s what he was doing!

Sebastian laughed. Jason sashayed over to them, sipping an extravagant-looking cocktail through a straw.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Jason asked Sebastian. “Have we fucked? Cos I don’t do repeats, although your hot daddy friend is someone I would make an exception for.”

What a little spitfire he was. Patrick had a thing for brats, and he was looking at one right now. Before he could say anything, Jason sat on his lap, draping his arms round his neck.

It was a shock at first. He’d never known a boy to be so forward with him before, and even if he didn’t know it, Jason was pure boy.

Patrick had to get Jason off his lap before he did something stupid.

He looked at Sebastian, signalling for him to do something, but Sebastian was focussed on his own agenda right now .

“I was here last night with your friend, Charlie,” said Sebastian.

“Charlie isn’t my friend.”

“Oh.”

“He’s my brother.”

Patrick could tell immediately that he was referring to a found family. The way he spoke of Charlie was not sibling love; it was much deeper.

“He came back to my hotel last night, but he left this morning before we could exchange numbers.”

“And?” said Jason.

Patrick was trying hard not to laugh at the mouth on this brat who was wriggling on his lap. It was taking all of Patrick’s willpower to not grind up against him.

“And I was wondering if I could get his number off you?”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to give you, a stranger, my brother’s number? Maybe he didn’t give you his number because you were lousy in bed.”

“No, definitely not.”

“I do like a confident man. Are you confident, Daddy?” he asked, wiggling his hips on Patrick’s lap.

Patrick knew instinctively that Jason might be the perfect boy, but he’d never been one. He was being playful, and it was all fantasy to him. Oh, how he’d love to take Jason over his lap and redden his arse. He might stop being so cheeky then.

“Do you even know what you’re saying by using that word?”

“Confident?”

Patrick growled. “Don’t be a brat.”

Jason took hold of Patrick’s hand and went to link their fingers, then spotted his wedding ring.

“Are you already married, Daddy? Aren’t you naughty!”

“No, my er . . . my husband died.”

He wasn’t sure why he was stumbling over his words.

This boy was getting under his skin, and he needed to put a stop to it.

Jason looked him in the eyes. His own were brimming with empathy, and it pulled at Patrick’s heart.

For a moment, Jason’s mask slipped, and he saw the raw vulnerability.

This boy had suffered a lot of pain, and Patrick immediately wanted to pull him into his arms and protect him from the world.

Then the mask was back, as well as that killer smile.

“Well, how about we go back to yours and I can just be a body you can use to pound away your trauma?”

He heard Sebastian splutter his drink, and was stunned himself for a second.

Patrick could usually handle anything a brat dished out, but after seeing that moment of vulnerability, he was drawn to Jason, and he wanted him.

That terrified him. George had only been gone for six months.

How could he feel drawn to someone else so soon?

It felt so wrong, and yet right at the same time.

“I’m flattered, really, but er... I’m not there yet.” That was a good holding response.

“Oh, honey. Give me your phone.”

Patrick handed it over. He’d do anything this boy asked.

The little fucker already had him under his spell.

But Patrick didn’t want to take him to bed and fuck him for hours – although that wouldn’t be a bad thing – he wanted to know who had hurt him, so he could do the same to them.

He looked at his phone and had to do a double take.

“Did you really write your name as body for pounding ?”

“I like to keep it real, Daddy. Now, if neither one of you is gonna defile me tonight, I better get back out with the masses.”

He kissed Patrick on the cheek and jumped off his lap with a smile.

“Wait,” said Patrick.

“Ooh, changed your mind?”

“No, you brat. But can I ask you a favour? ”

He glanced between them both and rolled his eyes dramatically.

“I’m not giving him Charlie’s number.”

“No, and I get that, but can you give Sebastian’s number to Charlie, and then it’s up to him?”

Jason nodded. Sebastian shared his number quickly. At least Patrick had come to his senses long enough to be a good friend, but Jason had made his head spin. The boy intrigued him, and against his better judgement, he was determined to find out more.

Patrick started off his Sunday as he always did – reading the papers.

He had to monitor the competition, after all.

They were all mostly filler now, because with the growth of the internet, news was already out of date by the time it went to print, and you rarely got the big exposés anymore.

He’d loved doing those in his prime, though why he was thinking he was past his prime was beyond him.

He was only forty-two. He had another twenty-five years before he could draw his pension. Retirement was still a long way away.

He couldn’t get Jason out of his head, and it hadn’t taken Patrick long to find him online.

He was a regular at the club, so his picture had been snapped many times, and he had often replied with a comment.

His full name was Jason Morris. Patrick had found his LinkedIn profile and learned he worked in the city as head of HR for one of the big insurers.

He’d been there for almost two years, having been in Liverpool before, and he’d gone to Starhaven University.

Okay, he was now veering into stalker territory, but he was a journalist, so he could find things out about people quickly.

Jason was beautiful, and the things Patrick could do to bring pleasure to that body would make the boy’s head spin, but there was more to him.

That vulnerability in his eyes... Patrick could tell he had suffered and now wore a mask, probably unconsciously.

He was someone who’d been hurt by the people who were supposed to have loved him.

Had it been his parents, or an ex-boyfriend?

Patrick felt a surge of jealousy at the thought of someone else touching him.

He couldn’t deny it; Patrick wanted him.

But he also knew he wasn’t ready. The boy was heading down a path of self-destruction.

He clearly used casual sex to mask pain, as a barrier to not let anyone else in.

There was an explosion brewing in him, but Patrick was still grieving, and he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to be the daddy Jason needed right now.

He had to stop thinking about Jason. Needing a distraction, he went to his office and pulled out a file he hadn’t looked at in a while.

He’d started this before George died, but had put it to one side.

Then he’d looked at it again recently. Organised crime was something that had become popularised by TV programmes, and the public believed it was relegated to the past, but it was still a huge thing in the UK.

There was one man who was at the top of the tree, and Patrick wanted to nail him. .. Grant Kincaid.