Page 8

Lucas

HIS HEART wasn’t happy as he watched Akio disappear out the door. His FBI training was screaming at him that he wasn’t safe with Ryder in the room. His gut was telling him the opposite. That Ryder cared too much about Akio and Maggie to do something stupid.

“Family friend, huh? Is that what they call it nowadays?”

He shook his head, wondering if the amount of paperwork he’d have to do would be worth shooting Ryder.

“It’s not like that,” he said through gritted teeth.

Ryder leaned a shoulder against the wall, one brow cocked and an infuriating smile on his lips. “That so?”

“I’m a friend of Chris and Diesel’s.”

Ryder nodded and Lucas knew something infuriating would come out of his mouth just from the look in Ryder’s eyes before he spoke.

“But you want to be more than just a friend of Akio’s.”

“No.”

They both knew it was a fucking lie. Ryder was smart enough to not keep poking, though.

Akio had been eighteen when they met, and he would’ve thought himself disgusting if he’d been attracted to him then. He hadn’t. He’d felt something, though. Protective. Enamored. Had that shifted into attraction over the years? Unfortunately, yes. The unfortunate part was Chris. And Diesel. And his impending murder if he ever acted on that attraction.

Akio looked at him like he was some kind of savior and he’d be lying if he claimed he didn’t like it. Of course, he did. Having those deep brown eyes looking up at him with wonder and awe sent his head spinning.

The door opened and they both tensed until Akio and Maggie stepped inside. He caught Akio’s gaze, and Akio gave him a small smile before walking to the bed to grab his bag. He pulled the strap over his shoulder and turned to Lucas.

“Ready.”

Lucas nodded and after a second of hesitation, he turned to Maggie and said, “You should probably steer clear of Ryder.”

Ryder’s lips pressed into a thin line for a moment and then he shook his head. “Unfortunately, he’s right. I don’t want you caught up in this shitstorm.”

“Seriously?” Maggie snapped her gaze onto Akio. “And you’re leaving me, too.”

“He has to,” Lucas said. “I’m not sure what this is yet, but I’m not letting anything happen to him.”

Maggie stared into Lucas’ eyes, fire burning in her light brown eyes. “You’d better not.”

He gave her a sharp nod, then grabbed Akio’s bag off the bed, motioning for him to move. Akio looked at Lucas for a second, then went to hug Maggie, whispering something to her that had her choking out a laugh, eyes darting first to Lucas, then to Ryder.

Akio let go of Maggie and walked back to Lucas’ side.

“I’ll let you know what I find out,” Ryder said, not to him but to Akio.

“Thank you.” Akio hesitated for a moment. “I hope your guys are alright.”

“They’ll be fine. Don’t you worry, sweetheart,” Ryder said with a wink, eyes gleaming as he gave Lucas a challenging look.

Akio tugging on his arm was the only thing stopping him from stalking across the room to plant a fist in the smug bastard’s face.

“Let’s go,” he ground out instead.

Akio opened the door, and Lucas gave Ryder a deathly glare before turning and following Akio into the hallway.

As they made their way to the stairs, he tried not to grind his teeth at that knowing look Ryder had given him. He hated that the bastard knew. He was a federal fucking agent, he should’ve been able to keep that particular information to himself. Especially from someone like Ryder.

“He called me sweetheart,” Akio murmured, looking up at Lucas with a frown as if asking him why.

“He was just trying to stir the pot.”

He could see Akio trying to make sense of it but, fortunately, he didn’t ask any further questions like why would him calling me sweetheart stir the pot? He wasn’t anywhere near prepared to explain that to Akio. Not one fucking bit.

Akio was quiet on the drive, and he couldn’t exactly blame him. Everything was a mess. If this Detective Holland dug deeper into Akio’s life and history, he would find that Akio Sato-Walsh didn’t exist until four years ago. He would, undoubtedly, find the connection between Akio, his family, and the King’s Disciples MC. That certainly wouldn’t help convince Holland that Akio didn’t ride with the Savage Rebels. Akio’s best friend being involved with the VP of the Rebels surely didn’t look good, either.

It was a clusterfuck, is what it was.

At least he was only on forced vacation and not suspended. It was a small mercy, but he’d take it. Akio’s and his own mess coinciding was something he tried not to think too hard about. He was a cop. He didn’t exactly believe in coincidences. Gemma would call it karmic intervention. Diesel would call it Lucas’ impending funeral.

He chanced a glance at Akio, finding the young man looking out the window with an emotionless mask on his face. To everyone else, Akio might seem lost in thought, but he’d seen him do this too many times. He was disassociating. Understandable, considering the situation, though he hated seeing it. Hated how this affected such a sweet soul like Akio who had never done anything to deserve the shit he’d gone through.

He didn’t care how long it would take or what it took, he would ensure Akio could return to his life unscathed.

∞ ∞ ∞

He pulled out his keys and unlocked the front door. He opened it and stepped inside, holding the door open for Akio who’d insisted he could carry his own bag from the car. He watched as Akio looked around, a small smile on his lips.

“What do you think?”

He knew it wasn’t the most extravagant of places. It didn’t have a whole lot of his personal touch. It was a place to put his head down and his feet up. He was working most of the time, so decorating hadn’t exactly been something he wanted to spend his time on. He preferred filling a space with people over objects and trinkets.

“It’s… nice,” Akio said, eyes wide and lips pressing together.

“If you’re gonna lie like that, you should probably practice some,” he said, lips pulling into a smile.

Akio went beet red in the face and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“I just didn’t want to be rude. You did kinda save me today,” Akio mumbled, slowly raising his gaze to meet Lucas’ eyes.

He stepped closer, hands going to Akio’s arms. “Just kinda?”

Akio snorted, a smile spreading on his lips.

“Yeah, just kinda.”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded slowly. “Sure, let’s call it that.”

Brown eyes were twinkling up at him and the part of his heart that wanted him to just say screw it to the consequences was pushing hard against the walls he tried desperately to keep up around Akio.

Akio’s skin was warm under his hands, and he swallowed hard as he let go and stepped back. Before he did something stupid.

“The guest bedroom is through here,” he said, leading the way down the hall to the left. His own bedroom was just across from the guest bedroom, the bathroom at the end between the two rooms.

“Dibs on the shower,” Akio said.

Lucas chuckled and went to the hallway closet, grabbing a towel for Akio.

“All yours.”

Akio took the towel, looking up at Lucas with a small smile, gratitude and something else swirling around in those dark depths. Akio stepped back, eyes dropping to the bag he’d put on the floor. He bent down to pick it back up.

Lucas’ gaze followed, landing on Akio’s ass as he bent over, and he promptly squeezed his eyes shut with a low curse and ran his hands down his face.

Of all the things he definitely shouldn’t do, Akio was at the very top of the list.