Page 22 of The Devil's Embrace

“Ah, that.”

His brow furrowed, but then the weapon twisted, sending him up onto his toes with a howl.

“Come,” the man ordered. “Show me how filthy you truly are.”

Cal was in the process of shaking his head, but then the hand holding his wrists let go, coming around to find his dick.

The man buried the gun all the way to the hilt and then gave him two pumps of his fist.

And that was all it took.

Calix screamed, the man wringing him through his orgasm and then past it, to the point where everything felt like too much. He squirmed in his hold, sounds of protest tearing from his throat even as the gun was fucked in and out of his battered hole and his dick was rubbed raw.

He came one more time in a matter of minutes before the man at his back whispered something he didn’t catch, and Cal promptly passed out.

Chapter 7:

The sound of his multi-slate ringing tore Calix from a deep sleep. Groggily, he slapped his hand against the end table, blindly searching for the device. “Hello?”

“Detective,” a familiar voice drifted from the speaker, causing Cal to finally blink open his eyes. “Apologies, did I wake you?”

“I—” He sat up. “Aodhan?”

Cal winced, glad this wasn’t a video call. They were hardly on a first-name basis, yet he’d boldly—and rudely—just called him by that. The clock across the hotel room said that it was only nearing midnight. A couple of hours ago, he’d laid down, telling himself he’d take a quick nap before getting back to work.

So much for that.

The lack of sleep the night before, added to the chase through the forest—and subsequent assault—earlier, had exhausted him. By the time he’d come to, the man had been gone. He’d left Cal there, propped against the tree on a bed of moss.

Calix had stood and waited for the aches to dissipate before collecting his blaster and heading out. When he made it to where the head had been discovered, Amory had been waiting for him.

She’d been concerned, especially when she saw the cut on his forehead, but he’d made up some story about being hit. He hadn’t wanted to lie completely and doubted she was stupid enough to buy an obvious fib like saying he’d tripped or something, so he’d gone with a partial truth.

When she’d questioned why his attacker hadn’t killed him, his confusion had been one hundred percent honest.

“Yes,” the doctor replied. “It’s me. There’s been a potential lead, but in order to make it, we have to leave right now.”

“Leave?”

“I’m outside your hotel.”

“You’re what?” Calix climbed off the bed and headed for the window, pulling the thick black shade away so he could peer out at the front of the building. Sure enough, the doctor was standing next to a dark vehicle, staring up at him. “Why are you here? What lead?”

“It’s time sensitive,” he explained. “I think it’s best you come down and I explain on the way.”

“Okay.” He turned and started collecting the few small things he’d need. He hadn’t bothered to change before his nap turned sleep, so there wasn’t much to do other than grab N.I.M. and his coat. Just as he was heading for the door, something occurred to him. “Wait. Why are you the one getting me for this?”

“The Chief of Police had Mitri reach out to me after they uncovered what was hidden in Williams Gorty’s mouth. You should have received a text message from them. Have you checked?”

“Hold on.” Calix strapped the multi-slate to his right wrist and tilted the screen so he could access messages. Sure enough, there were several missed ones from both Bruce and Mitri, the latter of whom had apparently created a group chat thatincluded the three of them and Aodhan. The texts confirmed everything the doctor was saying. “Let me go wake Troya and we’ll be down in five.”

“No,” Aodhan said before Cal could end the call. “Just you. Where we’re going, the fewer of us the better. Not to mention, this last minute I was only able to get two tickets.”

“Tickets?”

“You like to repeat people, don’t you, Detective?” he chuckled, but the sound was off, almost like he was laughing at a joke, only Cal didn’t get it. “Come down. I’ll explain once you’re here.”

The doctor ended the call and left Calix staring at his device a moment before he got himself back into motion. His room was located conveniently close to the elevator, and he scrolled through the missed messages as he descended to the main level, not that the texts were all that forthcoming.

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