Love Lies Bleeding by Remmy Duchene (carter reed txt) 📕

known Daniel would run to this place. He remembered it then—once Daniel and Mary had Thanksgiving dinner there. It pained him to think back about the good times they had that night, knowing Daniel deep down wanted him dead. The closer he got to the place, the more he remembered the front way in. The back way wasn't as clear but he remembered the long, pointless way the GPS routed him the first time.

It was hard for Leo to sit outside the property, staring at the wooded area. He pulled out his gun to check it then shoved it back into the holster. He couldn't just go waltzing in the front door—that would get Anderson killed or make Daniel think he had anything to bargain with. As much as Leo wanted to put a bullet between the jerk's eyes, he wanted to take him alive—he wanted to find out why Daniel thought he had to go as far as he did. Leo sat for a moment reminding himself he was a cop first, lover second, and crazed vigilante third. But no matter how many times he told himself, he just didn't feel right about it. When he moved lover to first and cop to second, he felt as right as rain.

Pushing his body from the car, he eased from his jacket and tossed it into the back seat. He slammed the door, looked both ways to ensure traffic was clear, then jogged across the street and into the woods. There wasn't a path, so he spent half his journey ducking tree limbs and stepping over fallen trunks. A few times he got caught in a few limbs but managed to extricate himself and carry on. When he was within eyesight of the cabin, he checked the chimney. There was no smoke coming from it and though the place looked dead, he could see the front end of a car. Leo hunched down and watched the house for a while, feeling the hairs on his arms and back of leg stand up.

It took a while but Daniel finally came out of the house to move the car. Now it was in full view of where Leo was. It took everything he had not to jump out and rush in, but he had to play this right. If he jumped Daniel and Anderson wasn't there Leo knew the chances of Daniel telling him where Anderson was would be slim to none. When he was sure Daniel was back inside, he left his hiding spot and ran toward the car. He hid behind it, peering over the hood toward the house. He rushed from there and pressed his back against a windowless wall. His heart raced so fast he had to hold his breath.

Shuffling along, Leo stopped by a window and peeked in. It was the bathroom. What looked to be blood was on the sink—and he panicked.

He darted around the house and entered the front door with his gun drawn.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me," Daniel mocked.

Leo shoved his gun into his holster since pointing a gun at the suspect could only serve to exacerbate the situation. He kept one eye on Daniel and one on Anderson. He desperately wanted to free Anderson from his restraints and wipe the blood from his lips. Anderson seemed weak and unconscious.

"What's this all about, Daniel? You killed the judge, the teacher, tried to kill the coach, kidnapped the son—what's this about?"

"You're telling me you haven't looked into my past?" Daniel laughed bitterly, leaning his back against the wall. "I know you better than you think I do then."

"I checked. Still I don't know what this has to do with me? Why are you going after people I care about."

"Plans change. I went after you at first to teach the old man a lesson. Jazmon Williams was supposed to stay alive until I'd taken out everyone and everything he cared for—everything he loved. I was going to take it all away, starting with you, then this little ass-hat, then the system he's worked so hard to build. Then when he suffered, I was going to kill him too. But things in my life don't normally go as planned."

Leo felt sick. Hearing the man he'd trusted with his life speak so openly of destroying everything he cared for enraged him. "And now?"

"Now? I loved you, Leo! I wanted you! Then I saw you fucking this—this… and I just lost it! You looked at him like he was everything. You looked at him like the sun rises and sets with him and it makes me angry! Even now… even now I'm telling you I could be the best man for you, you're thinking of how you want to save him!"

Leo shifted his stare and focused fully on Daniel. The man was shaking now; the gun in his hand worried Leo immensely. He inched closer to where Anderson was, careful to only move when Daniel looked away from him and only just a small bit. He knew Daniel had lost all sense of reality and he wasn't about to let anything else happen to Anderson.

"You don't love me, Daniel. You're not gay—I am. You never once showed any interest in my heart or my body. If you loved me, you wouldn't have married a woman. As far as I know, you're straight. Why did Mary have to die? All she did was love you."

"She found out how I felt about you."

"So you killed her?"

Daniel shook his head. "No. She died because she sucked the life out of me. Forced me to be something I wasn't."

"But Daniel—she didn't force you to do anything. You chose not to live the life you want. You chose to let revenge consume you, push you into a marriage with a woman when you knew you were gay."

Daniel used the gun to scratch his head. "No. Do you know how many nights I made love to her and all I could see