Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Act II, Scene VII
Title: Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Stevie/Xabi
Disclaimer: This is fiction! Not true! However much I wish, I don't own the players or Hotel Dusk.
Chapter 7
Word Count: 2,552
Summary: Stevie hears about Xabi's dirty deeds from Dagger.
“Hello, Red Crown.”
Steven called the company as soon as he arrived back in his room. The person who answered was Peter Crouch - the last of the “Three Musketeers” in Red Crown. Stevie figured the other two must be out for dinner. The thought of dinner made his stomach growl and he wondered what feast was one Steve Finnan able to whip up.
“It’s me. You paged?”
“Sure did! Mikey said you have a tough assignment. How’s it coming along?”
“Good. So what’s up?”
“Rafa’s got something to tell you. Let me put him on.”
Stevie waited for a few seconds and suddenly the boss’ voice boomed into the receiver.
“Stevie! There’s a Daniel Agger kid working there at Hotel Dusk?”
A strange question to ask. How did Rafa know anyway?
“Yeah, he’s the bellboy,” he answered. “I knew him back in London. He said he left the city and drifted out here three years back.”
“You know the kid, huh? What’s his story?”
“Just a punk who used to ride the subways picking pockets. Can’t tell you how many times I busted his ass. Why? What’s going on?”
“I just got back from meeting a buddy of mine. He’s part of the Liverpool Police Force. He’s got a case on the Knights, said-”
“Wait, hold it. You’ve got friends on the Knights case?” Stevie’s head was reeling from information and possibilities. What did Rafa know that he didn’t?
“Yeah, I know some guys working on it. Anyway, we’re having a drink, and he mentions Hotel Dusk. Then he tells me about some punk Dagger who’s working there and that Knights are looking for this kid.”
“That doesn’t make sense…” Daniel didn’t look like the type who would mess with the Knights. He didn’t have the guts to. “Dagger’s small-time. The Knights wouldn’t care if he lives or dies.”
“Three years ago…”
Three years… Every bloody thing seemed to happen during that time. Did this all circle around Xabi? His partner seemed to have a knack for being in the limelight and pulling off something great and shell-shocking like a vanishing act.
“… there was a body turned up near a warehouse in London. It’s some kid named Riise. Looked like he rubbed the Knights the wrong way and gotten himself shot. The cops wrote it off as gangs or mafia or something. You know the drill, no witnesses, no leads, nobody was ever brought in.”
“What’s this got to do with Dagger?”
“Patience, Stevie! I’m getting there… Seems like your boy Dagger’s right in the middle of all this. The night Riise died, he was supposed to be the middleman for some transaction, sorta, money collector for the Knights. Word on the street is Riise was a good buddy of your pal Dagger. After Riise’s no more, Dagger vanishes. So now the Knights want their money back and this kid’s the only lead. They’ve been looking for him and now we think they have.”
“They must really be on the hunt if they tracked him to this dump. So if they know where Dagger is, why’s he still breathing?”
“They think there’s somebody else calling the shots, pulling the strings. Think Dagger might lead them to this somebody, ya know?”
“Knights…” Stevie shook his head in disbelief. “Never thought I’d hear that name in this place.”
“Oh, I got another titbit for ya. The Knights’ cash that Riise was carrying when he got smoked? They got it by selling off stolen art.”
“Hang on… The cash was from that mess Xabi was involved in?”
“Could be.”
“That would mean Dagger…”
“Yeah, he may have some dirt on Xabi we never heard.”
Now it all made sense, just as Daniel said earlier down at the lobby. No wonder he got so worked up when Steven mentioned the Knights and his undercover partner.
“You find the stuff on the order sheet?”
“Taken care of. Don’t worry about it.”
“Good, good.” Rafa said, then added as an afterthought. “Watch out for yourself, ‘kay? I’ll be in touch.” And he hung up.
There was no time to rest or mull over things. He had gotten more leads on Xabi from Rafa and he knew he was going to get even more after his chat with Daniel which he was going to do now. Completely unsure of where the bellboy’s quarters might be, he casually slipped into the kitchen (where he knew Finnan would be busy in), pretending to be lost and looking for something/someone at the same time.
“Looking for something?” The helpful housekeeper/cook asked.
“Yes, Dagger.” And just as Stevie expected, Finnan pointed in him the right direction without another question. He just knew that Finns was not a nosy sort of person.
Through the kitchen were the pantry and a door that lead to yet another corridor of rooms. Most have labels that state their obvious uses such as “BOILER”, “LAUNDRY” and “ELECTRICAL”. Stopping at the one room without a tag, Stevie figured this must be Daniel’s room, and knocked.
“Oh, it’s you. What’s up, Officer?” Dagger opened the door seconds later and Steven unceremoniously let himself in.
“We need to talk now.” He thought to not go through the trouble of asking Daniel if he had the time for one now. The bellboy should obviously be helping with the setting up of the restaurant at this time, but was instead slacking out in his room.
“No we don’t. I told ya, mate. I wanna leave everything in the past. So just… leave me alone, would’ja?” Daniel seemed really serious about it and to a small extent, Stevie pitied him and felt bad about drilling the kid. But he needed to know what Dagger knew.
“Can’t do it. I gotta talk to you, Dagger.”
“I ain’t talking!” Daniel shouted, roughly shoving Stevie towards the door. “Kick me around or whatever. Makes no difference, mate.”
But Stevie wouldn’t budge, nor was he giving up. “I know everything, Dagger.” Well, at least, enough to make him talk. “You don’t want to tell me your dead pal was neck deep with Knights’ business. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“What?” Daniel stopped his pushing and took a surprised step back. “How’d you know that? Who told you about Riise?”
“You don’t have to know about who did. But I got bad news for you, kid. Knights’ are looking for you.”
“WHAT?” He clumsily stumbled backwards until the back of his legs touch the bed then he sat on it. He looked honestly stunned. Could it be that he had nothing to do with the Knights’ cash after all?
“When your buddy Riise went down, a lot of cash went missing. Knights think you have it.” This time it was Steven who pulled up a chair and sat across the bellboy.
“That’s impossible. I don’t know anything about Riise’s money.” And he genuinely looked it.
“The Knights think there’s someone else behind it all. And until they know who it is, they’ll keep watching you. You hear what I’m saying.” The poor lad looked so dazed Stevie wondered if he was even listening.
“That they’re not gonna kill me? At least not right now, right?”
“That’s right.”
Daniel looked a little relieved, at least only for the moment.
“I know you didn’t kill Riise or take his money, so who is it?”
Dagger hemmed and hawed until Steven pushed further.
“Talk, Dagger. If you didn’t kill Riise, who did?”
Looking resigned, Daniel decided to spill it all. “It was… Periko.”
“Periko? Who’s Periko?”
“Some guy who worked for Knights. He and Riise used to run together.”
“Ever met him?”
“No. Seen him in a picture and heard about him from Riise.”
“So, why was Riise killed?’
Daniel looked really pained to be telling this, but he went on with it anyway. “See, Riise and I were a couple of poor suckers from the street. No family, no nothing. Just two punks with no future. Problem is, neither of us had the nerve to make it as big-time crooks. So… we wanted to go someplace else, because new people with new lives, you know?”
“Go on.” Stevie urged with a nod of his head.
“We needed cash to start anew, yea? So Riise was gonna get it by doing one last big job. I tried to stop him, told him it was way too risky. But he wouldn’t listen… he never did. He was always an idiot.”
“What was this big job?”
“He was gonna lift this angel painting in the Knights’ warehouse. He was crazy ‘bout that stupid thing. Said it was worth a fortune. Said if we score it, we’d be set for life. Cars, clothes, houses, everything.”
An idiot indeed, Stevie thought, to try and nick something from the Knights’ warehouse. “Angel painting? What is it? Ever saw it?”
“No clue about it, mate. Only heard Riise yapping about it all the time.”
“He came up with this on his own?” Hard to believe a small-time street punk could.
“’Course not. He was just sucked into Periko’s plan.”
“Periko’s plan?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t understand a damn thing!” Daniel got all agitated again. “Not about Riise, not about the Knights, not about Periko. You’re a total washout, mate!”
“You’re saying you do?” Stevie snapped.
“Yeah, man. More than you do.”
“So enlighten me, Einstein. Tell me how smart you are.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Daniel broke away.
“The night Riise died? I was supposed to meet him at a restaurant, but he never showed. So I head over to check out the Knights’ warehouse. Soon as I walk up to the door… BANG! Somebody inside fired a gun. I ducked and scooted over to the window to take a peek in. Know what I saw?”
Stevie jerked his head, asking a silent what?
“Guy in a long coat with a gun in his hand. Then I looked past and there was Riise… Lyin’ on the ground, bleedin’ and dyin’. But I had nothin’, mate. No gun, nothing. I could only wait for Periko to leave. By the time I got to Riise… Too late, man. He could barely talk, but he managed to tell me… He was tricked… Said Periko was a cop. Then he apologised to me… Said he was sorry he couldn’t get us the money… Dammit, Riise…”
He buried his face in his palms. Stevie decided to give him a few moments to compose himself. Minutes of silence passed and at last Daniel lifted his head.
“Then back there in the lobby just now, what you told me? I figured it out, mate. Figured out everything.”
Daniel walked over to his messy desk and rummaged through his drawer. He fished out a worn out photograph and brought it over to Stevie who was having a sinking feeling.
“Look at this picture.” He handed it over.
It was a picture of three men in a bar. Stevie wasn’t quite sure what to look out for, but when he did, he couldn’t take his eyes off it. For too long that face only surfaced in his imaginations and dreams. Looking at him, even though it was only a piece of paper, Stevie could feel his eyes boring into his own. It was the same feeling he got just before it all happened. There was something he desperately needed to tell Stevie and Stevie didn’t give him a chance to.
“This…” He looked at Daniel for a confirmation.
“Yeah, that’s right. The guy in the middle’s my buddy, Riise. The guy on the right…”
“It’s Xabi.”
“No.” Dagger shook his head. “It’s Periko. You get it now? It was your friend, mate. Your partner. That’s who killed Riise! You cops used him, man! He was just a tool in your little investigations. You used him, and then killed him when you didn’t need him anymore! And nobody cared, right? Just some street punk. Who’d know if he went missing or dead?”
Daniel’s heated outburst left Steven speechless. What was he to say? That he didn’t know? As innocent as he might be, he could not help but feel guilty. If only… If only he had spoken to Xabi earlier… If only he knew what Xabi was up to… He wouldn’t be thinking of so many ‘if only’s now.
“Your partner getting shot on the docks? That was justice, mate. He screwed up his case and the Knights took him out. That’s the reason you got fired, ain’t it? Your partner blew it, and so the Knights’ investigation went out the window.”
“No. That wasn’t it. You’re wrong.”
“What? What is it then?”
“Knights didn’t shoot Xabi.” He paused. He hadn’t made this sort of confession since three years ago. “I did.”
This time it was Daniel’s turn to be speechless.
“He tipped the Knights off that the cops were gonna bust a transaction they were doing that night. When I heard the news, I went after him.” And the rest, they say, was history.
Both men sat in silence for the next few minutes, allowing the huge chunk of information to sink in. Stevie knew a lot more about Xabi’s dirty undercover deeds, but he was nowhere closer to finding the man. Eventually, it was Dagger who broke the silence.
“Say, Officer Gerrard, why don’t we team up?”
“What?” Now that the tension and shock were starting to fade away, Dagger was back to his old goofy self again.
“If your tip’s reliable, the Knights are watching me and want me dead. And I never even smelled their damn money! Your partner framed me good, mate. And you say he’s still alive and kicking, I say, we grab him and hand him over to the Knights.”
“You’re serious?”
“Never more, mate.”
“Lemme think on that, Dagger. I’ll talk to you again.” I need to get my thoughts in order.
“Alright, catch you later.”
Stevie made for the door and let himself out. He needed a drink. But the bar doesn’t open until later. Back in his room, he took out his notepad and jotted down more notes in addition to his previous ones. So now a painting and a huge load of cash were missing. He couldn’t believe Xabi would betray them all for money. For a damn piece of canvas then?
“Even after all this time, I still don’t have a clue.” Xabi, Xabi, Xabi… Initially he felt unbridled hatred towards his lover. The hatred was more or less dispelled as time went by and was replaced by a strong determination to hunt him down - a determination so powerful it threatened to consume him and drive him insane. If not for the guys at Red Crown, he would have taken apart every city from London to Moscow just looking for Xabi.
Three years on, a thin tendril of longing and desire had made its way into Steven’s otherwise hardened heart. Had it rekindled because he knew he was getting closer to Xabi? In all honesty, he wasn’t sure of what he might do if he saw the man in the flesh again and this uncertainty frightened him. Mentally bracing himself for the worst, he decided it was time to grab a bite when the phone rang.
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Stevie/Xabi
Disclaimer: This is fiction! Not true! However much I wish, I don't own the players or Hotel Dusk.
Chapter 7
Word Count: 2,552
Summary: Stevie hears about Xabi's dirty deeds from Dagger.
“Hello, Red Crown.”
Steven called the company as soon as he arrived back in his room. The person who answered was Peter Crouch - the last of the “Three Musketeers” in Red Crown. Stevie figured the other two must be out for dinner. The thought of dinner made his stomach growl and he wondered what feast was one Steve Finnan able to whip up.
“It’s me. You paged?”
“Sure did! Mikey said you have a tough assignment. How’s it coming along?”
“Good. So what’s up?”
“Rafa’s got something to tell you. Let me put him on.”
Stevie waited for a few seconds and suddenly the boss’ voice boomed into the receiver.
“Stevie! There’s a Daniel Agger kid working there at Hotel Dusk?”
A strange question to ask. How did Rafa know anyway?
“Yeah, he’s the bellboy,” he answered. “I knew him back in London. He said he left the city and drifted out here three years back.”
“You know the kid, huh? What’s his story?”
“Just a punk who used to ride the subways picking pockets. Can’t tell you how many times I busted his ass. Why? What’s going on?”
“I just got back from meeting a buddy of mine. He’s part of the Liverpool Police Force. He’s got a case on the Knights, said-”
“Wait, hold it. You’ve got friends on the Knights case?” Stevie’s head was reeling from information and possibilities. What did Rafa know that he didn’t?
“Yeah, I know some guys working on it. Anyway, we’re having a drink, and he mentions Hotel Dusk. Then he tells me about some punk Dagger who’s working there and that Knights are looking for this kid.”
“That doesn’t make sense…” Daniel didn’t look like the type who would mess with the Knights. He didn’t have the guts to. “Dagger’s small-time. The Knights wouldn’t care if he lives or dies.”
“Three years ago…”
Three years… Every bloody thing seemed to happen during that time. Did this all circle around Xabi? His partner seemed to have a knack for being in the limelight and pulling off something great and shell-shocking like a vanishing act.
“… there was a body turned up near a warehouse in London. It’s some kid named Riise. Looked like he rubbed the Knights the wrong way and gotten himself shot. The cops wrote it off as gangs or mafia or something. You know the drill, no witnesses, no leads, nobody was ever brought in.”
“What’s this got to do with Dagger?”
“Patience, Stevie! I’m getting there… Seems like your boy Dagger’s right in the middle of all this. The night Riise died, he was supposed to be the middleman for some transaction, sorta, money collector for the Knights. Word on the street is Riise was a good buddy of your pal Dagger. After Riise’s no more, Dagger vanishes. So now the Knights want their money back and this kid’s the only lead. They’ve been looking for him and now we think they have.”
“They must really be on the hunt if they tracked him to this dump. So if they know where Dagger is, why’s he still breathing?”
“They think there’s somebody else calling the shots, pulling the strings. Think Dagger might lead them to this somebody, ya know?”
“Knights…” Stevie shook his head in disbelief. “Never thought I’d hear that name in this place.”
“Oh, I got another titbit for ya. The Knights’ cash that Riise was carrying when he got smoked? They got it by selling off stolen art.”
“Hang on… The cash was from that mess Xabi was involved in?”
“Could be.”
“That would mean Dagger…”
“Yeah, he may have some dirt on Xabi we never heard.”
Now it all made sense, just as Daniel said earlier down at the lobby. No wonder he got so worked up when Steven mentioned the Knights and his undercover partner.
“You find the stuff on the order sheet?”
“Taken care of. Don’t worry about it.”
“Good, good.” Rafa said, then added as an afterthought. “Watch out for yourself, ‘kay? I’ll be in touch.” And he hung up.
There was no time to rest or mull over things. He had gotten more leads on Xabi from Rafa and he knew he was going to get even more after his chat with Daniel which he was going to do now. Completely unsure of where the bellboy’s quarters might be, he casually slipped into the kitchen (where he knew Finnan would be busy in), pretending to be lost and looking for something/someone at the same time.
“Looking for something?” The helpful housekeeper/cook asked.
“Yes, Dagger.” And just as Stevie expected, Finnan pointed in him the right direction without another question. He just knew that Finns was not a nosy sort of person.
Through the kitchen were the pantry and a door that lead to yet another corridor of rooms. Most have labels that state their obvious uses such as “BOILER”, “LAUNDRY” and “ELECTRICAL”. Stopping at the one room without a tag, Stevie figured this must be Daniel’s room, and knocked.
“Oh, it’s you. What’s up, Officer?” Dagger opened the door seconds later and Steven unceremoniously let himself in.
“We need to talk now.” He thought to not go through the trouble of asking Daniel if he had the time for one now. The bellboy should obviously be helping with the setting up of the restaurant at this time, but was instead slacking out in his room.
“No we don’t. I told ya, mate. I wanna leave everything in the past. So just… leave me alone, would’ja?” Daniel seemed really serious about it and to a small extent, Stevie pitied him and felt bad about drilling the kid. But he needed to know what Dagger knew.
“Can’t do it. I gotta talk to you, Dagger.”
“I ain’t talking!” Daniel shouted, roughly shoving Stevie towards the door. “Kick me around or whatever. Makes no difference, mate.”
But Stevie wouldn’t budge, nor was he giving up. “I know everything, Dagger.” Well, at least, enough to make him talk. “You don’t want to tell me your dead pal was neck deep with Knights’ business. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“What?” Daniel stopped his pushing and took a surprised step back. “How’d you know that? Who told you about Riise?”
“You don’t have to know about who did. But I got bad news for you, kid. Knights’ are looking for you.”
“WHAT?” He clumsily stumbled backwards until the back of his legs touch the bed then he sat on it. He looked honestly stunned. Could it be that he had nothing to do with the Knights’ cash after all?
“When your buddy Riise went down, a lot of cash went missing. Knights think you have it.” This time it was Steven who pulled up a chair and sat across the bellboy.
“That’s impossible. I don’t know anything about Riise’s money.” And he genuinely looked it.
“The Knights think there’s someone else behind it all. And until they know who it is, they’ll keep watching you. You hear what I’m saying.” The poor lad looked so dazed Stevie wondered if he was even listening.
“That they’re not gonna kill me? At least not right now, right?”
“That’s right.”
Daniel looked a little relieved, at least only for the moment.
“I know you didn’t kill Riise or take his money, so who is it?”
Dagger hemmed and hawed until Steven pushed further.
“Talk, Dagger. If you didn’t kill Riise, who did?”
Looking resigned, Daniel decided to spill it all. “It was… Periko.”
“Periko? Who’s Periko?”
“Some guy who worked for Knights. He and Riise used to run together.”
“Ever met him?”
“No. Seen him in a picture and heard about him from Riise.”
“So, why was Riise killed?’
Daniel looked really pained to be telling this, but he went on with it anyway. “See, Riise and I were a couple of poor suckers from the street. No family, no nothing. Just two punks with no future. Problem is, neither of us had the nerve to make it as big-time crooks. So… we wanted to go someplace else, because new people with new lives, you know?”
“Go on.” Stevie urged with a nod of his head.
“We needed cash to start anew, yea? So Riise was gonna get it by doing one last big job. I tried to stop him, told him it was way too risky. But he wouldn’t listen… he never did. He was always an idiot.”
“What was this big job?”
“He was gonna lift this angel painting in the Knights’ warehouse. He was crazy ‘bout that stupid thing. Said it was worth a fortune. Said if we score it, we’d be set for life. Cars, clothes, houses, everything.”
An idiot indeed, Stevie thought, to try and nick something from the Knights’ warehouse. “Angel painting? What is it? Ever saw it?”
“No clue about it, mate. Only heard Riise yapping about it all the time.”
“He came up with this on his own?” Hard to believe a small-time street punk could.
“’Course not. He was just sucked into Periko’s plan.”
“Periko’s plan?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t understand a damn thing!” Daniel got all agitated again. “Not about Riise, not about the Knights, not about Periko. You’re a total washout, mate!”
“You’re saying you do?” Stevie snapped.
“Yeah, man. More than you do.”
“So enlighten me, Einstein. Tell me how smart you are.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Daniel broke away.
“The night Riise died? I was supposed to meet him at a restaurant, but he never showed. So I head over to check out the Knights’ warehouse. Soon as I walk up to the door… BANG! Somebody inside fired a gun. I ducked and scooted over to the window to take a peek in. Know what I saw?”
Stevie jerked his head, asking a silent what?
“Guy in a long coat with a gun in his hand. Then I looked past and there was Riise… Lyin’ on the ground, bleedin’ and dyin’. But I had nothin’, mate. No gun, nothing. I could only wait for Periko to leave. By the time I got to Riise… Too late, man. He could barely talk, but he managed to tell me… He was tricked… Said Periko was a cop. Then he apologised to me… Said he was sorry he couldn’t get us the money… Dammit, Riise…”
He buried his face in his palms. Stevie decided to give him a few moments to compose himself. Minutes of silence passed and at last Daniel lifted his head.
“Then back there in the lobby just now, what you told me? I figured it out, mate. Figured out everything.”
Daniel walked over to his messy desk and rummaged through his drawer. He fished out a worn out photograph and brought it over to Stevie who was having a sinking feeling.
“Look at this picture.” He handed it over.
It was a picture of three men in a bar. Stevie wasn’t quite sure what to look out for, but when he did, he couldn’t take his eyes off it. For too long that face only surfaced in his imaginations and dreams. Looking at him, even though it was only a piece of paper, Stevie could feel his eyes boring into his own. It was the same feeling he got just before it all happened. There was something he desperately needed to tell Stevie and Stevie didn’t give him a chance to.
“This…” He looked at Daniel for a confirmation.
“Yeah, that’s right. The guy in the middle’s my buddy, Riise. The guy on the right…”
“It’s Xabi.”
“No.” Dagger shook his head. “It’s Periko. You get it now? It was your friend, mate. Your partner. That’s who killed Riise! You cops used him, man! He was just a tool in your little investigations. You used him, and then killed him when you didn’t need him anymore! And nobody cared, right? Just some street punk. Who’d know if he went missing or dead?”
Daniel’s heated outburst left Steven speechless. What was he to say? That he didn’t know? As innocent as he might be, he could not help but feel guilty. If only… If only he had spoken to Xabi earlier… If only he knew what Xabi was up to… He wouldn’t be thinking of so many ‘if only’s now.
“Your partner getting shot on the docks? That was justice, mate. He screwed up his case and the Knights took him out. That’s the reason you got fired, ain’t it? Your partner blew it, and so the Knights’ investigation went out the window.”
“No. That wasn’t it. You’re wrong.”
“What? What is it then?”
“Knights didn’t shoot Xabi.” He paused. He hadn’t made this sort of confession since three years ago. “I did.”
This time it was Daniel’s turn to be speechless.
“He tipped the Knights off that the cops were gonna bust a transaction they were doing that night. When I heard the news, I went after him.” And the rest, they say, was history.
Both men sat in silence for the next few minutes, allowing the huge chunk of information to sink in. Stevie knew a lot more about Xabi’s dirty undercover deeds, but he was nowhere closer to finding the man. Eventually, it was Dagger who broke the silence.
“Say, Officer Gerrard, why don’t we team up?”
“What?” Now that the tension and shock were starting to fade away, Dagger was back to his old goofy self again.
“If your tip’s reliable, the Knights are watching me and want me dead. And I never even smelled their damn money! Your partner framed me good, mate. And you say he’s still alive and kicking, I say, we grab him and hand him over to the Knights.”
“You’re serious?”
“Never more, mate.”
“Lemme think on that, Dagger. I’ll talk to you again.” I need to get my thoughts in order.
“Alright, catch you later.”
Stevie made for the door and let himself out. He needed a drink. But the bar doesn’t open until later. Back in his room, he took out his notepad and jotted down more notes in addition to his previous ones. So now a painting and a huge load of cash were missing. He couldn’t believe Xabi would betray them all for money. For a damn piece of canvas then?
“Even after all this time, I still don’t have a clue.” Xabi, Xabi, Xabi… Initially he felt unbridled hatred towards his lover. The hatred was more or less dispelled as time went by and was replaced by a strong determination to hunt him down - a determination so powerful it threatened to consume him and drive him insane. If not for the guys at Red Crown, he would have taken apart every city from London to Moscow just looking for Xabi.
Three years on, a thin tendril of longing and desire had made its way into Steven’s otherwise hardened heart. Had it rekindled because he knew he was getting closer to Xabi? In all honesty, he wasn’t sure of what he might do if he saw the man in the flesh again and this uncertainty frightened him. Mentally bracing himself for the worst, he decided it was time to grab a bite when the phone rang.