Zane

Z ane knew that showing Crew through the club wasn’t a good idea, but he had offered to help the guys out and he did know his way around the club. quickly moved the detective through the main room. Most of the members called it the playroom, but he didn’t like to call it that. He either felt like a toddler or a creepy old man every time that word was used.

“Back down this hallway, you find all the private rooms in the club. Most people like to hang out in the main room, but some clients like to be discrete,” said. He really wasn’t giving the poor guy much to go on, but then again, he didn’t know anything about a woman being murdered in the club.

“Which do you prefer?” Crew asked. wasn’t really paying attention to the detective.

“I’m sorry, what?” he asked.

“Which do you prefer—the main room or a private room?” Crew asked. Shit, that was the last thing that he wanted to talk about with a total stranger. Then again, was never shy when it came to sex or talking about it.

“Main room,” said. “Why?” he asked.

Crew shrugged, “No reason, really. I was just curious. I think that I’d like the main room too. Are the many threesomes in the club?” didn’t miss the way that he looked him over as he asked his question.

“Not really,” he said. “There are always couples who are looking to pick up a third for the night to play, but usually it ends there. I’m not really into one-night stands. I’ve had enough of them to last me a lifetime.”

“What are you into?” Crew asked, taking a step closer to . This was beginning to feel like the detective was interrogating him and not investigating a murder that happened over a year ago.

“I don’t see how my sexual preference can help you solve your case, detective,” spat. Crew smiled at him and God; the man was beautiful.

“It can’t,” he admitted, “I’m just curious if you’re gay or bi.” Crew crossed his arms over his chest, waiting out for his answer, and from the determined look on his handsome face, he was willing to wait all night.

“Fine,” grumbled, “I can tell that you aren’t going to let this go. I’m bi, not that it’s any of your business.”

Crew took two steps closer and practically pinned him to the wall with his big body. “How about if I want to make it my business?” he asked.

“What?” whispered. It took every ounce of his restraint not to rub up against Crew and beg him to kiss him.

“I want you to be my business, ,” Crew repeated. “Go out with me.” wasn’t sure if Crew was asking him or telling him to go out with him, but for some crazy reason, he found himself shaking his head yes.

“Okay,” whispered. “I’ll go out with you. When?” Now it was his turn to be a bit forward.

“How about right now?” Crew asked, “I know that you have plans to have pizza with the guys, but have dinner with me instead.” Yeah, Crew was bossy and kind of liked it. He never really found bossy men to be his type, but there was something about the give and take that was going on between the two of them that he found completely sexy.

“All right,” he agreed. What did he have to lose? He wasn’t finding what he was looking for spending night after night at the club, waiting for the right man or woman to walk in through the front door. “Where do you want to meet?” he asked.

“How about you let me drive,” Crew insisted. “I know a great little Italian place. Do you like Italian food?” he asked.

“With a last name like Marino, what do you think?” he teased.

Crew chuckled and nodded, “I think that you’ll love this place then,” he said. Crew sealed his mouth over ’s taking what he wanted without asking permission and he had to admit—it turned him inside out with need. Crew broke their kiss and stepped back from him.

“What was that about?” asked.

“I thought that we could get the first kiss out of the way. It leaves room for more of them later,” Crew whispered, giving him a little wink. “Now, how about you show me the private rooms, I’ll do a bit of investigating, and you can catch your breath.” All felt capable of doing was nodding at Crew and pointing to the first door on the left.

“Great,” Crew breathed, “I’ll meet you in the office when I’m finished. Give me about thirty minutes and then, we can decide if you want to eat at the restaurant or get takeout and go back to your place.” couldn’t help but just stare at the detective, not sure if he had heard anything that the guy said correctly. He was so forward, that wasn’t sure if he was coming or going, but one thing he was sure of—he really liked how bossy Crew was and the confidence that the man seemed to have was sexy as fuck.

decided to step outside to call his father about the murder. If he knew anything about it, he might be able to help with Crew’s investigation. Sure, he was trying to earn a few brownie points with the detective, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. For some strange reason, he wanted Crew to like him.

His father answered the call after only one ring, catching him off guard. “I thought you were coming back to the office tonight after you met with Ross and Leo,” his father chided.

“Hello, Dad,” drawled.

“I don’t have time for the niceties bullshit,” his father grumbled. “Why didn’t you come back to the office?” he shouted.

“I have an explanation, but I refuse to tell you what it is unless you stop yelling at me, Dad. I’m not a child anymore and I won’t be treated as one,” insisted.

“Fine, I’m listening,” his stubborn father mumbled. was sure that sometimes when his father looked at him, he saw a little boy instead of a grown man looking back at him.

“I came over to the club to talk to the guys and I ran into a police detective named Crew. Apparently, there was a murder at the club about a year ago, and Ross and Leo didn’t know about it. If their fathers knew anything about a woman being murdered there, they took it to their graves,” said.

“What did the cop tell you?” his father asked.

“Not too much,” said. “The woman’s name was Susan O’Hare, and she had her throat slit. Did Ross or Leo’s fathers ever say anything about that?”

“No,” his father quickly answered. “They never said anything about a woman being killed in one of the private rooms at the club. If I had heard such a thing, do you think I’d let you buy into that place?” A chill ran down ’s spine as he recounted their conversation in his head. He didn’t mention that the woman had been killed in a private room. His father was lying and somehow, he knew more than he was letting on. But couldn’t prove that and questioning him about it now would only make his father angry. He needed to do some research of his own and figure out why his father would lie to him about any of this.

“Well, it was worth a try,” said, “thanks for talking, Dad. I won’t be back in tonight. I promised Ross and Leo that we’d have a guy’s night, just like old times.”

“Ah,” his father said, “pizza and beer.”

“You guessed it,” said. His mind was spinning, but he needed to get off the phone before his father started to suspect him because he was agitated. “Got to go, Dad. The guys are waiting for me to pick up the pizza,” said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He quickly ended the call before his father could ask any more questions. needed to get his head on straight before his date with Crew because the last thing he wanted to do was fuck up their dinner.

“There you are,” Ross said. Leo followed his husband out of the club. “Crew said to tell you that he’s going to be a few more minutes. What’s going on?” he asked. “You’re as white as a sheet.”

“Let’s go into your office,” ordered, “we need to talk.” The two guys looked at each other and Leo looked as though he might ask another question. shook his head, “Not here.”

They got into the club and followed Ross back to his office. “What’s going on?” Leo asked.

“I just had a very strange phone call with my father,” said.

“What’s new about that?” Ross teased. “Aren’t all conversations with Bobby strange?”

“No, this was a different kind of strange,” insisted. “I told him about Crew looking around the club and asking questions about a murder that’s about a year old and he didn’t seem surprised.”

“Maybe murders of random women don’t surprise him anymore,” Leo said. “I mean, you do know what our fathers did for a living, right? We might not be running things by the old rules, but they sure did.”

“That wasn’t the strange part,” said. “He mentioned that the woman had been found in a private room, but I never told him that part. I’m sure of it. So, if my father didn’t know about the murder, how did he know that her body was found in a private room?”

“That’s a question that I might be able to answer,” Crew said. Shit, the last thing that wanted was to start their date on a low note.

“What do you mean by that?” Ross asked.

“I mean that your fathers are all suspects, even if two of them are dead,” Crew said. “I can’t rule them out until I see the registers for that night and any camera feeds that you might have.”

“What makes you think that you’ll find anything?” asked.

“Because we’re getting a warrant to collect DNA from the woman,” Crew said. “But that’s all that I can tell you, for now.”

The three of them looked around the room as Crew grabbed ’s hand. “Ready?” he asked as though they weren’t just discussing a murder.

“What’s happening here?” Ross asked.

“I’m taking out to dinner,” he said.

“Oh, well, you two have fun,” Ross said.

“Yeah, don’t do anything that we wouldn’t do,” Leo chimed in.

“You can both fuck off,” grumbled as Crew led him out of the office. He wasn’t sure how the rest of the night was going to go, but it had sure gotten off to a crazy start.