and let’s talk about it.”
Craig exploded into action using the element of surprise to take Carter down and send the gun skidding across the floor. Jace and Doug burst into the room and Carter was cuffed and out of there before he fully understood what happened.
Craig turned to see Louis’s wide-eyed gape and took him into his arms. He grinned at their brief exchange. Louis didn’t hate him. He knew that. He held Louis until he stopped shaking, then he led him out of his office.
One of the bartenders pushed a shot of something clear across the bar. “Figured you’d need that, boss.”
Louis took it without protest and knocked it back. He gasped and said “’Nother.”
When the second had gone the way of the first, Craig raised an eyebrow. “Better?”
Louis took a moment to focus on him. “I am now. Although I might need the car to go home.”
Craig grinned. “Tequila?”
Louis nodded. He held out his shot glass to the bartender, but Craig took it out of his hand.
“That’s enough of the hard stuff for now. Coffee first. The cops are going to want to ask you questions.”
“If I must.” Louis gave an adorable wrinkle of his nose. “Could we have a moment in my office before they arrive…without being watched?”
Craig glanced at Jace who nodded.
“CCTV is off.”
Then he turned to the bartender. “Could you make coffee in five minutes?”
“Sure.”
Craig only vaguely recognized the man as the one who’d given Louis his support when Louis returned to the office. Had it really only been a couple of days ago?
He wrapped an arm around Louis, guided him into the office, and shut and locked the door. He didn’t want anyone coming in while Louis was vulnerable.
Craig expected his boy to turn to his Daddy for comfort but, to his surprise, Louis stepped away and walked to the window.
“Boy, are you all right?”
Louis turned to him, his face with that pinched look Craig was coming to hate. “The last person I expected to want to hurt me is Dan Carter.”
Craig nodded. “Sometimes it’s the most unlikely people with a grudge. Think of Cade Connolly. His driver was stalking him. Well, his driver, an obsessed fan, and his ex-Daddy, but you get my meaning.”
“Cade always did do things to excess,” Louis murmured.
“Dan Carter doesn’t hate you. He resents the fact you’ve achieved success whereas his parents didn’t. He came here to learn why and now he does. He may not like it, but he understands.”
Louis shoved his hands in his pockets. “He thought getting me out of the club would give his parents a chance of success. That doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t. It only makes sense in his head.”
Craig wasn’t a detective. He spent his life guarding people. But he had some understanding of people’s motivation for the things they did, and he knew their actions didn’t have be understandable to anyone else. They just had to seem right to them. Getting rid of Louis wouldn’t help Carter’s parents. They wouldn’t be any more successful on the club scene, and Craig was sure Louis had systems in place for his club to continue if something happened to him.
Louis didn’t seem to be reassured. The pinched expression was still there. He paced up and down the office, not looking Craig’s way.
Craig leaned against the door frame. “What’s bothering you, my boy?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you angry at Dan for rejecting you?”
“No!” Louis huffed. “Maybe. A little. I liked him. I mean, I really liked him. I thought he was like me.”
“You thought he was a boy?”
“Possibly. But even if he wasn’t, he had the potential to be like me in business. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I thought he had the drive and ambition to do the same.”
Louis’s voice rose with each word. Craig didn’t want CDR bursting in here.
“Boy, you need to calm down.”
Louis gave him a flat look. “You know telling someone to calm down is just liable to get you a right hook.”
Craig narrowed his eyes. He did not take rudeness from his boy, but they were in Louis’s space, his empire. Craig had no right to make Louis submit here. He took a chance.
He pointed to the floor in front of him. Louis blinked. Craig waited. He saw the angry, then mulish expression on his boy’s face. Craig understood, but he didn’t back down. Louis didn’t safe word. Craig wondered where this battle of wills would end.
Finally, Louis came to stand before him, and sank to his knees