Taken in Hand (27 page)

Jason/Jeremy shifted back and forth in a complete mental

break, arguing with himself and refusing to answer

questions.

“You’re right. Without a doubt he’s crazy. That story he

told you about walking in on his parents was true except for

the fact it was Jason who walked in, started screaming, and

set everything else into motion. The shrink is theorizing that

he twisted everything around, making Jeremy take the blame

for everything he did wrong, possibly out of guilt. The mother

has admitted that Jeremy was shouting at Jason to shut up

after their father closed the basement door on them. That

was when Jeremy died, by the way. She suspected an

argument between them resulted in Jeremy falling to his

death down the stairs. The shrink says that most probably is

the incident that caused the personality split. The constant

moving around after he left home was to keep people from

realizing he was two people or an effort to run away from

Jeremy.”

Johansen sank into a chair, shaking his head. “I don’t

know if I’ve got this all straight, but the gist of it is Jason

recognized he was gay, saw the damage his father’s denial of

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his own sexuality caused to his family and genuinely wanted

to help others. His alter personality, Jeremy, however, was

projecting his hatred for his father and his own self-hatred

onto other gay men, particularly Doms. He got a job as a

part-time bouncer at the club so he could be around the

men. The preacher personality gained entry to the homes of

the victims, and then the Jeremy personality took over,

punishing them, probably seeing them as surrogates in some

way as his father and the lover that took him away from

them.”

“Most of that you told me already,” Chad told him, his

exhaustion sounding in his voice.

“I told you what the profiler thought, not what we

know now. Did I tell you everyone thinks you were right

about his real father’s death being the trigger that set him off

to kill?”

Chad nodded, not even wanting to hear anymore. “I

need to get back to the hospital.”

Johansen drew a deep breath before saying, “Some of

the guys are making comments about you maybe liking your

undercover gig more than you let on. If you don’t want to

feed the gossip mill any more, I suggest you stay away.”

“I could care less what they think. Please tell the chief

I need to get to the hospital. If he needs me, that’s where I’ll

be.”

“He’s heard the rumors. Can’t say what he thinks

about it. I know he can’t fire you over it.”

Chad sighed. “If he wants to fire me because I’m gay, I

suppose he can find a way. Adam and I did everything in our

power to find the killer, to draw him out, and succeeded,

even putting Adam’s life on the line. If the chief wants to fire

me after all we’ve done, there’s not much I can do about it.”

“Hey, hold on. I never said he wanted to do anything

like that. Hell, he’ll probably give you a promotion. I just

didn’t know if you wanted it kept quiet.”

“No, I’m done hiding who I am. You see what it got

Jason Rubin. Man, I don’t know. He was probably crazy

anyway, but all this shit over hiding who he really was never

did him any good. That’s for sure. At least five men are dead

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as a result.” Chad shook his head. “I’m done with it. Let

them have their fun and discuss me all they want. If you

don’t mind, just tell them it was me, the fag, the one who

likes his kinky undercover gig, who stopped the damn killer.

A cop killer, I might add. What the
fuck
did they do?”

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Chad finished washing the car and went inside to find

Adam with his lap full of papers, sound asleep. Moving

quietly, he pulled the papers out of his lap and put them on

the coffee table before plopping down in his lap and throwing

his arms around his neck.

“What the hell?” Adam cried out. He hugged Chad and

frowned playfully at him. “Trying to sneak up on me?”

“It wouldn’t be hard, with you sound asleep.”

Adam smacked the back of Chad’s jeans clad ass and

followed by a rub over it to soothe the sting. “I’m still

recuperating. The doctors said to take it easy for a while, you

know. I did have a concussion, after all.”

Chad kissed his forehead. “That was over a month

ago.” Kissing him again, he added “Poor baby.”

“You’re going to think poor baby when I get through

with you.”

Adam wrapped a strong arm around him, locked him

in place, and tickled him unmercifully. Chad rolled to the

floor, and Adam followed him down, pinning his hands over

his head and kissing him breathless.

“Mmm, maybe we should take this to the bedroom,”

Chad said against Adam’s lips.

“Not a chance.” Adam put his hand over Chad’s groin,

cupping him and the cock cage he wore. “This doesn’t come

off until tonight.”

“Oh, come on, I even washed your car for you.”

“Sucking up does not get you out of the cage until your

time’s up. I caught you beating off in the shower last night,

and you know you’re not supposed to touch yourself. That

belongs to me.”

Chad huffed out a breath. “You were already asleep

when I got home, and I didn’t want to wake you.” He kissed

Adam’s neck. “Please, Sir.”

“Now you call me
Sir
because you want to negotiate a

scene. Nope. You know the rules.” He dropped a final kiss on

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his lips before getting to his feet and pulling Chad up beside

him. He put his hands on Chad’s ass and pulled him close.

“Besides, when I let you come, it’ll be totally worth it. Now sit

down over there and behave. Tell me why you worked so late

last night.”

Falling back down on the sofa, Chad put his feet up on

the coffee table, got a stern look and pulled them back on

the floor. “Johansen was tying up the loose ends on the

Jason Rubin case, and he let me hang around to read the

final report.”

“You and Johansen get along better now than you did

before all this, don’t you?”

“Yeah, he’s been really cool. Stood up to some of the

jerks in the department for me, and things have been a lot

better, especially since the chief promoted me to sergeant.”

Chad grinned. “Of course, it helps that I can write them up if

they get out of line, but everyone has been pretty cool about

me moving in here with you. Besides, now that I know my

parents are okay with having a gay son, I don’t really care

about anybody else. In fact, I think my mom likes you better

than she likes me.”

“Entirely possible. I’m taller and much more

charming.”

Chad laughed and threw a pillow at him.

He dodged it and smiled back at him. “So—anything

new on the report?”

“Not really. They’re satisfied he didn’t start killing until

his father died, leaving any unsolved cases out there, and

the court appointed shrink says Jason-slash-Jeremy isn’t

competent for trail. No surprise.”

“Well, at least the group home he was planning was

real. He had all the money in a special account. Some of the

deacons of the church are administering the funds and

looking for a new preacher. I don’t know if the congregation

can survive the scandal of what he did, but I wish them

luck.”

“Me too.” Chad was quiet for a few minutes, staring at

the ceiling as Adam went back to work on grading papers.

After a few minutes, Chad got up and stretched. “Well, I

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think I’ll go lie down for a little while and take a nap. Late

night last night,” he said with a little smile.

“Yes, especially after I caught you. Have a nice nap,”

Adam said, distracted by the paper he was reading.

“It’s only that I really was bad last night. I wouldn’t

have blamed you if you’d tied me to the bed

and…ah…spanked me or something, you know, me being so

stubborn and hardheaded and all. I really do need to learn

my lesson…”

Adam put the papers down, the corners of his mouth

turning up. “Oh really? You think you might need a

spanking, Chad?”

“Well, I don’t
need
it. I’m just saying I might deserve it,

but you go ahead and grade your papers, Professor.”

Adam stood up, took him by the hand, and pulled him

toward the bedroom. “Oh, no. I think I have somebody that

needs to be taken care of. I think I need to see to you right

now.”

THE END

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Other Books by Shannon West and LL

Brooks

Taking Dylan Down
by Shannon West and LL Brooks

Wealthy businessman, Jared Corbin always gets what

he wants, both in his personal and business life. When his

stepbrother, Timothy, takes his own life, Jared feels guilty

for not taking his problems more seriously. His brother was

in love with a gorgeous male prostitute, who broke things off,

devastating him. Friends tell Jared the young man, Dylan

Sinclair, is a heartless gold-digger, who dumped Timothy

when his money ran out. Vowing revenge, Jared decides to

hire Dylan and make him totally dependent on him for

everything. The handsome Dom plans to dump him then and

leave him as devastated as his brother had been, but when

Jared falls in love with Dylan, all bets are off. Somehow he

must keep this beautiful man as his own, stay loyal to his

brother’s memory, and not ruin the real love building

between them.

Defending Devon
by Shannon West and LL Brooks

Devon’s father sends the college student on a

European tour over the Christmas holidays, but instead of

being elated, Devon feels abandoned and a little frightened.

Devon has a secret no one knows—one that makes the

others on the tour, and especially Drew, the handsome tour

guide, think he’s a spoiled brat. When Devon is left behind

on a trip to a Bavarian castle, Drew stays behind to escort

him back to the hotel, though he’s fed up with his behavior.

When Drew locates Devon, however, he not only discovers

Devon’s secret, but he finds out that someone is trying to kill

the young man. Now Drew has to find a way to protect

Devon, while he’s falling more and more in love with him.

Both available
at http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/
as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, AllRomance ebooks and

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Page 164

Siren Bookstrand.

For more books by Shannon West, try

http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?

main_page=products_all&filter_author=91

For more books by LL Brooks, try

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Shannon’s website is www.shannonwestbooks.com

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Up All Night Publishing