Devlin and Garrick by Cameron Dane (short story to read txt) 📕

me--Garrick Langley--that he trusted one person to create, someone not part of the FBI.” Hearing this surreal story aloud for the first time, when previously Garrick had lived with working things out in his head, drove the insanity of it all home for him. “Joe quietly did his magic at my crime scene too. By the time he was finished, there was a record of two dead bodies found in that home, charred from a fire that got out of control. As part of his ruse, Joe said he was going to kick up a good amount of internal fuss about one of his operatives being murdered and demand to know what the hell happened. He knew nothing would come of it. The government rarely admits to a fuck-up, but Joe figured it would make the mole believe I really was dead, along with the assassin, and that Joe was fucking pissed about it.”

Devlin had a rapt look on his face that put Garrick in mind of someone watching a terrifyingly intense thriller.

“I’m scared to ask how this Joe guy came up with another body,” Devlin said.

“Don’t know.” Garrick shrugged. “My guess is a John Doe from a morgue somewhere in DC.” He rolled onto his back and tunneled his fingers into his hair. “Shit, I don’t even know if the ruse Joe created was successful because I can’t have any further contact with him. It’s too big a risk. I can’t dig too deeply for information via the Internet, because who the hell knows who might be tracking for patterns or particular word searches? Whoever wants me dead might be tracking key words and come looking if they see enough of them strung together by one person.” He rolled his head on the pillow and met Devlin’s gaze. “I’m still close enough to Gradyn Connell in physical appearance that if I were scrutinized by someone who wants me dead, they would see through my new name and altered appearance and know who I used to be.”

“These people can do that?” Devlin now looked like he had slipped into watching a horror flick. “People can monitor random Internet activity?”

“It’s not probable,” Garrick admitted, “but it’s not impossible either. Nothing done via the web is truly secret. That’s why this is all still so up in the air.”

Devlin took Garrick’s hand and tucked it against his heart. “I’m glad that when you didn’t know where to go, you came to me.”

“Christ,” Garrick chuckled softly, “I didn’t know what the hell to do when I got here. My two marketable skills are law enforcement and mechanic, and I definitely couldn’t get back into law enforcement.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “You should have seen me when I walked into Corsini’s and saw the girl who was going to interview me. She didn’t have to introduce herself as Maddie Morgan; she lifted her gaze, said hello, and fuck, it was almost like looking into your eyes. I didn’t know shit about what your sister did for a living, but I knew it had to be her.”

Garrick sobered as he relived the moment he came face to face with Maddie Morgan. “Meeting your sister scared me,” he confessed. “It drove home how unprepared I was to see you again. I didn’t know how I was going to deal with having to be a different person, on top of knowing that you would be mad as hell at me as Gradyn. I went back and forth in my head between praying that you wouldn’t recognize me, and desperately hoping that I was important enough to you that you would know it was me the second we met again.” Garrick’s heart hurt as he faced Devlin and unloaded all his heavy, crap-filled baggage on a man he wanted to have love him and admire him more than anything in this world. “I admit that I hid from you. I wanted to see you and be near you more than anything, but I was spinning from everything that had just happened, and I didn’t know if I could handle anger from you. I thought it might break me, when more than anything else I needed you to embrace me, and even to hold my hand while I got these new feet under me.”

Devlin continued to clutch Garrick’s hand, encouraging him without words. Garrick could feel the steady beat of Devlin’s heart under the connection, and Devlin’s heartbeat pumped new life into this new man, Garrick Langley.

“During this last month,” Garrick went on, “as much as I was terrified of your reaction to me, there was also this big piece of me that was terrified Joe’s cover-up wouldn’t fool anybody, and that another assassin would find me. And if he did, and if I was with you, you could be killed too.” Garrick’s core screamed a line of white-fire pain right through his being with just speaking words of losing Devlin. “You’re the only one in this whole world, other than Joe, who knows who I really am. If you had changed, and if you’d decided to be spiteful... I knew showing myself to you could expose me as a fake. You could have said my old name, and that would have brought hell down on me. Fuck,” Garrick sweat bullets right here in bed, much as he had a few days ago under that Accord, “I was not even close to prepared for you to walk into Corsini’s the other day. You didn’t even have to look at me to know who I was. One sound of my voice, and you knew it was me.”

“I would know you anywhere.” Not even a sliver of hesitation inched into Devlin’s voice. “I’m amazed I didn’t feel you the second you stepped foot in Redemption. When you pretended not to know me,” Devlin’s chin suddenly wavered, and Garrick wanted to cry for him, “I felt played for a fool all over again.”

“No.” Garrick surged forward and kissed