Chapter 15
Quinn
Quinn twisted and managed to land on his feet, ignoring the screaming pain in his shoulder. Gareth was not so lucky, and landed with a snap of bone that made Quinn flinch. He cried out in agony and tumbled to the ground. Quinn was on him in an instant, pinning him into the dirt.
“My leg,” Gareth groaned. “I broke my leg.”
“Yeah,” Quinn snapped. “You shot me. I don’t give a shit.” He looked up to see Doug and Padraig jumping over the edge, and Cade’s anxious face. “Stay up there, Cade.” Then to Doug, “You took your fucking time.”
“We were locked in a garage,” Doug groused. “Fucker jumped us with that gun. Where is it?”
“I’ve got it,” Ronan said.
Cade jumped down and hauled Quinn into his arms. Quinn held back a yelp of pain, just thankful his beautiful boy was alive.
“Your shoulder. God, I’m sorry.” Cade tried to let go but Quinn held on just as tight to Cade, ignoring the melee around them.
“It’s a graze, nothing more. I’ve been shot before.”
Cade snorted against his chest. “If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it’s not working.”
Quinn grinned above Cade’s head. If his boy could be snarky, he was fine. That was all that mattered.
“Is he all right?” Cade asked after a while, as they watched Doug and Padraig work on Gareth.
“He’ll live,” Quinn said grimly.
Quinn’s first aid skills were basic at best. He was ready, should the fucker try to escape. From the amount of noise Gareth made, he wasn’t going anywhere.
I should have gutted him.
Eric, Tessie, and Gareth had all violated Cade in one form or another. He hoped Tessie would back off now she’d had a personal conversation with Cade. If not, she’d be receiving another visit from Dominic and/or a restraining order. Eric had done awful things to Cade before Long’s machinations. But he was home free with no consequences. Somehow Quinn was going to make Eric pay for hurting his love.
EMTs arrived, and Doug and Padraig relinquished their places to the professionals.
One of the EMT’s squinted at Quinn’s blood-stained shirt. “Is that yours or his?”
Quinn shrugged and then wished he hadn’t. “He shot me. It’s just a graze. I’m fine.”
“Let me take a look at it.”
Quinn was about to refuse but he caught the storm brewing in Cade’s eyes. He submitted to a bandage on the bullet wound, but the EMT agreed with his assessment that it was minor.
“You were lucky,” the EMT said.
“He was a lousy shot.”
Then Quinn saw the white-faced anguish on Cade’s face. He thanked the EMT and put his arm around Cade to draw him away. “This isn’t your fault, boy. You need to stop blaming yourself.”
“How is it not my fault?” Cade demanded. “If it hadn’t been for me, you wouldn’t have been shot.”
“Bodyguard, love. It goes with the territory.”
From the fierce scowl Cade gave him, that was the wrong thing to say too.
Padraig joined them, wearing a strangely satisfied expression.
“Why’re you looking so smug?” Quinn asked.
“I found out who sent the note,” Padraig said.
“Long?”
Padraig shook his head. “Ronan.” He laughed at Quinn’s stunned expression. “Don’t worry. He’s not another stalker. Long dropped it. He’d been planning to send Cade a series of notes. We found them in the garage. Ronan recognized the style and said he’d picked up one by the gates and given it to the delivery guy, thinking he was the one who dropped it.”
Finally, they had the last piece of the puzzle.
“Why did Gareth think I’d fallen in love with him?” Cade murmured.
Quinn held Cade close to him. “Who knows? Maybe he was lonely and that turned friendship into something more sinister?”
“That’s a very generous motive,” Doug said. “Maybe he was just your average psycho.”
Cade shivered. Quinn was relieved at the approach of two police officers. There were a lot of questions to answer. Quinn had to explain how he ended up getting shot and then falling over the wall with Gareth.
As Gareth was wheeled away, still moaning, the older grizzled cop side-eyed Cade. “You’re Cade Connolly.”
“Yes, sir,” Cade said, burrowing close to Quinn.
The cop raised his eyebrow at Quinn. “And you are?”
“His boyfriend,” Quinn said curtly. “Quinn Ryder.”
“And you work for CDR.”
“I do.”
“And this man,” the officer paused as he checked his notebook, “was your driver, Gareth Long?”
“He was, as well as working for my record company,” Cade agreed. “He lives above the garage.”
“But you discovered he was stalking you.”
“Yes,” Quinn said.
“When did you discover this?”
“Today,” Cade sighed. “We had no idea he was hiding out in the house and watching us. I’ve no idea how long he’s been in the attic.”
“Creepy fucker,” Padraig muttered.
The cop hummed. “And you’ve had other issues?”
“If by issues you mean a jealous ex who couldn’t let go and a fan who stalked me wherever I went, then yes.”
“You’re very popular, Mr. Connolly,” the officer said dryly.
Cade leaned back, seeking Quinn’s support. Quinn held him close, refusing to let him go even for a moment. “All the crazies love me right now.”
“And what is CDR doing here?”
“You know us?” Quinn asked.
“Yes.” It didn’t sound complimentary.
“Cade’s management called us in a week ago to help with an issue. What we didn’t realize was that Cade was facing more than one hostile.”
“A middle-aged woman and a driver are hardly hostiles,” the cop suggested.
“It depends if you’re on the end of their gun,” Quinn snapped.
The officer nodded, as if Quinn had a point. “We need you to come down to the precinct to give a statement.”
Quinn opened his mouth to object, but Cade got there first. “Officer, could we do it here or at CDR? I really would prefer to keep the publicity as low as possible.” He gave a wry smile. “Between my ex, the fan, and now my driver, I think I’ve given the media enough gossip material.”
“I’d have thought this would be good publicity.”
Cade shook his head. “Not this time. I just want to get through the event this weekend as smoothly as possible.”
“We can do it here. Long admitted to spying on you.”
Quinn raised his eyebrow. “He did?”
“Oh yeah. While he was begging for pain relief. It’s amazing what you’ll confess to, when you’re in agony. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him returning anytime soon. He’ll be in traction for weeks.”
Cade winced but Quinn felt no remorse at taking Gareth over the wall. His only aim had been to get him away from Cade, and he’d succeeded.