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  “I’m sorry, Dublin.” Gentry winced, and he could hear Trent’s soft curse through his ear piece. It certainly explained a lot, explained why Dublin acted the way he did around street people.

  “I go by her grave every year on her birthday, take her flowers, talk to her, things like that. It’s just … it’s never a good day.”

  “It’s a good thing, the fact that you do that. There are not a lot of people who give a damn about someone who’s had to do this kind of thing.” Gentry wanted to hug him, to wrap his arms around Dublin and maybe make him feel a bit better in whatever small way he could.

  Instead he squeezed Dublin’s arm gently once more and then pulled back to give the man some space. Gentry knew he was digging himself in deeper, but he didn’t care. Dublin had been kind to him, a level of caring that was almost at odds with the aura of power and control that he exuded. Gentry was eager to return the favor. Even if listening to him was all he could do, it was better than doing nothing.

  “Well there should be.” Dublin growled and then took another sip of his coffee as he shook his head in disgust. “Life is hard, and people do what they have to do to survive. I might call the cops on the ones who disrupt my business or get out of line, but I always try to help them first.”

  “That’s more than most people, Dublin. Trust me, I know.” Gentry didn’t like to think about just how well he knew, of just how many cases just like the one Dublin had described he’d seen in his relatively short time on the force. It never got any easier, and it never went away.

  Dublin surprised him when he abruptly whirled around, threw his coffee into a nearby trashcan and stalked towards Gentry until he was crowded up against him. Gentry froze because they’d never been so close to each other. He could feel Dublin’s heat through the thin material of the practically sheer shirt he was wearing, could feel the warm puffs of Dublin’s breath against his mouth.

  “That’s never going to happen to you. Do you understand me? Never.” Dublin reached a hand up and wrapped it around the back of Gentry’s neck, and then he leaned closer until their foreheads were pressed together and Gentry could feel the way he was trembling. “I wish you’d let me help you, Gentry. No strings attached, nothing expected in return. Just … let me get you out of this.” He sounded so desperate, so close to pleading that Gentry almost broke.

  “Dublin…” Gentry sighed the word out.

  “Gentry, man, don’t say anything. You know if you tell him while the operation is still on Grierson will have your ass.” Trent’s voice was suddenly in his ear again after being quiet for so long that Gentry had almost forgotten he was there.

  As much as he didn’t want to admit it he knew Trent was right, knew that he couldn’t purposely blow his own cover. Not even for Dublin.

  “I can’t, Dublin. You can’t. There’s nothing you can do.” It hurt him to say it out loud, to let the lie that was lying between them keep on going.

  Dublin clenched his eyes closed and breathed out slowly and deliberately before he slid his hand away from Gentry’s neck and took a large step back and away.

  “Things ever get like that, get that bad, you come to me. No matter what it is I’ll get it straightened out. I don’t ever want to see something else like that happen to someone if I can help it.” Dublin was subdued in a way that Gentry had never seen him before, and he didn’t like it. He wanted the gruff, thick-skinned Dublin he knew back.

  “I will. I promise.” Gentry said it softly, gently, because there was a fragile sort of tension in the air that he was afraid to break.

  Dublin nodded, and with one last lingering look at Gentry he turned and made his way back across the street towards his club.

  “Shit.” Gentry, left standing on the corner, coffee growing cold and sandwich forgotten, stared after him.

  “I don’t even think that begins to cover it, Gent.” Trent sounded as surprised and as serious as Gentry felt.

  Two days later Gentry was still mulling over the conversation. He had to force himself to put it out of his mind each night so he could concentrate on his work. It was that night that really changed things.

  The early hours of the evening had passed by like normal, but Gentry grew more and more worried about Dublin as the hours clicked by. It was way later than when they normally met, but Dublin still hadn’t shown up. Gentry knew he was being a bit ridiculous. They hadn’t really known each other long, but Gentry knew himself well enough to admit that after that revealing conversation they’d had he was completely infatuated with Dublin. He’d never felt so strongly for someone, never been so drawn to someone that he knew he should probably stay away from.

  It was because of his distraction that it happened in the first place. Gentry’s attention was focused on the front entrance of The Pale in an attempt to see if he could spot Dublin moving through the crowd. The hand that clamped down hard on his shoulder took him by surprise as he was spun around and pressed back against the lamppost behind him.

  “Cash! Give it to me! Now man!” The guy that grabbed him was tall and thin, eyes blown wide from drugs, with blonde hair that fell into his eyes. It was the knife in his hand that really caught Gentry’s attention.

  “All right, man, just calm down. My money’s in my boot, all right? Just back up a second, and I’ll get it.” Gentry kept his voice calm and even, and the guy backed up a few steps as his gazed darted around nervously.

  “I’m on my way down, Gent. Just hold on a second.” Trent’s voice was harsh in his ear, and Gentry could tell that he was running down the hotel stairwell on the way to the lobby.

  Gentry bent down slowly and slipped his hand into his boot, eyes trained on the fidgeting would-be robber as he palmed the gun he had strapped to his ankle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Trent’s rapidly approaching form through the grimy glass door. In one fluid motion Gentry drew his weapon and gained his feet.

  “Police! Freeze!” When Gentry identified himself the guy panicked and turned. He tried to run, but Trent was on him before he got too far. In seconds Trent had knocked the guy’s knife out of his hand and had him on the ground. Gentry made his way over to where Trent was in the process of cuffing the guy and informing him that he was under arrest.

  “Are you all right, man?” Gentry ran his eyes over Trent’s crouched form. It was second nature to check his partner over and to ask, even if he knew that the junkie hadn’t had the chance to do anything before Trent took him down.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I should be asking you that though. Glad you have that ear-piece. Otherwise I might not have been able to save your skinny white ass.” Trent looked up at him and laughed.

  “Fuck you, Trent. I can handle myself. You’re just pissed that you’re still stuck on this assignment with me.” Gentry scoffed and was about to say more when he saw the look on Trent’s face abruptly change, and he tensed up instead. “What?”

  Trent jerked his head in a silent gesture for him to turn around, and Gentry immediately went cold inside because he was sure that he knew just what was about to happen. Gentry turned around slowly and couldn’t help but squeeze his eyes shut tightly for a second as his stomach clenched and his heart skipped a beat.

  Standing behind him, with two cups of coffee and a paper bag to go along with the disbelieving look on his face, was Dublin.

  Shit.

  Gentry’s first instinct was to panic, to start babbling as fast as he could to try to explain to Dublin that he hadn’t wanted to lie to him, that he hadn’t had a choice. The serious look on Dublin’s face and the way he stepped forward purposefully to set the stuff he was holding down on top of a nearby newspaper box stopped Gentry cold. Dublin moved closer until they were directly in front of each other, and the look in his eyes, the sheer hot intensity caused Gentry’s body to go rigid.

  “You’re a cop?” Dublin bit the question out.

  “Yes. Vice squad, undercover. Dublin…” Gentry reached out a hand and was surprised when Dublin didn’t try to dodge it and instead le
t it settle on his shoulder.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have understood.” Dublin seemed almost hurt, and Gentry hated that he’d done that to him, hated that there’d been no way for him to avoid it.

  “I couldn’t, Dublin. I couldn’t blow my cover like that just because I wanted to. I would have stayed under for as long as I was told if this hadn’t all happened tonight.” It was true, as much as he didn’t want to admit it.

  “Gent, man, I hate to interrupt, but we need to take this guy in, and Grierson’s gonna want to talk to you about blowing your cover.” Trent’s hesitant voice cut through the night air and startled Gentry and Dublin. Gentry cursed low and long as reality intruded on a conversation that he considered extremely important.

  “Dublin, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go.” Gentry wanted to stay, wanted to give this all of his time and attention, but the best he could do was hope that Dublin would give him another chance. “Can I—can I see you later?”

  “Yeah.” Dublin reached a hand up and covered the one that Gentry still had on his shoulder. “I’ll be at the club. Just give one of the bouncers your name, and they’ll tell me.”

  “Dublin, this could take a few hours. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “No, just come by, Gentry. I’ll be there, I promise.” Dublin finally stepped back, and Gentry almost went to follow him again before he got himself under control.

  Instead he forced himself to turn and follow Trent, who was slowly walking the still struggling and handcuffed stranger towards the car that they both knew was parked around the back of the building.

  This time it was Dublin who watched him walk away.

  Chapter Six

  Gentry was a nervous wreck by the time he found himself standing outside The Pale. Getting things straight with Grierson had taken longer than even Gentry had thought it would. By the time he’d finished everything up, managed to take a shower in the station locker room, and change into some of his own clothes the sun was struggling to peek out around the buildings of the city. The club was closed, the lights dimmed inside, and the doors pulled shut. For a moment Gentry considered turning around and going home. But the thought that Dublin might have actually waited for him pushed Gentry to knock on the door instead.

  When it was opened a few seconds later by Dublin himself Gentry almost couldn’t believe his luck. Then he had to suck in a sharp breath when he got a good look at Dublin after he’d ushered him silently inside. Dublin was deliciously rumpled with his suit jacket gone and the first few buttons of his blue dress shirt undone. His hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it over and over again, and he had an empty tumbler in his hand. Dublin moved silently back across the room until he was back at the bar where he’d obviously been waiting on Gentry.

  “Want one?” Dublin held up his glass and a bottle of whiskey, and Gentry nodded his acceptance as he slid onto a stool. A drink sounded like just the thing he needed after the night they’d both had.

  They sat in silence for a moment, a familiar scene for them except for the new layer of tension. It was something that went beyond the unspoken attraction that had always lingered between them.

  “I don’t know anything about you. Not really.” Dublin had his elbows propped against the top of the bar and was staring down into his glass. Gentry gathered his nerve, tossed the rest of his drink back, rolled his shoulders and started talking.

  “My name’s Gentry Trecall, and I’m a vice detective. I have three brothers and a father who were or are all cops, too. I’m twenty-four, and everything I ever told you except for what I do for a living was the truth. So I’d say you know a bit more about me than you think you do, Dublin.” Gentry stared at Dublin’s profile and was pleased when he looked up from his drink and finally met his gaze head on.

  “You were driving me crazy, you know that, right? Out there on that corner, so fresh looking and obviously new. All I could think about the first time I saw you was how you didn’t deserve that kind of life. I wanted to wrap you up and take you inside, do something, anything, to get you off the street. But you were too damn stubborn to listen to me, so I thought … I thought maybe it’d just take some time, you know? That it’d just take a little while before I could convince you to let me help you.” Dublin laughed, a slightly bitter sound that Gentry didn’t like. “Turns out you didn’t need my help at all.”

  “That’s not fucking true! Dublin, what you did, what you said, all of it meant something. All of it was perfect. You have no idea how many times I’ve seen people do just the opposite. Too often it’s as if just because someone’s in a bad situation they must deserve it.” Gentry knew his face was flushed, knew he was getting worked up despite being exhausted from everything that had happened, but it didn’t matter. Dublin needed to know the truth. “The fact that you didn’t know I was a cop, the fact that you really thought I was someone you needed to help, that made all the difference.”

  Dublin didn’t say anything. He just stared at Gentry in surprise, and Gentry finally couldn’t hold back any longer. Gentry was up off his stool and in Dublin’s space as his hand came up, cupped the back of Dublin’s neck and pulled him down into a hard kiss. He kissed Dublin deep and long, showed his frustration and need in a single, long stretch that made his lips hurt.

  When Gentry went to pull back, Dublin came up off of his stool and turned them until he could press Gentry against the edge of the bar. Dublin kissed him back, gripped Gentry's arms with hands that bruised, but neither of them could seem to find it in them to care. Gentry pushed his tongue into Dublin's mouth as his own hands gripped at Dublin even harder. He dug his fingertips into Dublin’s neck to give him the leverage he needed to delve his tongue in deeper.

  Dublin snaked a thick, hard arm between Gentry’s lower back and the bar, and with a move that surprised him hitched Gentry up and turned him again until he was sitting on one of the stools. It was the perfect height for their hips to press against each other, and Gentry couldn’t help but buck forward and moan against Dublin’s mouth. The thick ridge of Dublin’s hard cock press against his own through the layer of their clothes, and Gentry rolled his hips forward into the sensation, desperate for friction.

  When they finally pulled apart to breathe, Dublin leaned forward and mouthed at the skin behind Gentry’s ear as Gentry panted harshly into the open air over his shoulder.

  "I didn't think this far ahead," Gentry admitted quietly. His lips were slick and dark from being kissed, and Dublin pulled himself back from Gentry’s neck only to surge forward again to recapture them. Their tongues slid against each other, hot and wet and deliciously dirty, before Dublin pulled back again with a low groan.

  “What do you want, Gentry? You have to tell me. You have to say it,” Dublin rasped, voice husky and eyes heavy lidded.

  Gentry' mouth fell open, and his eyes dropped to Dublin's lips as he swallowed hard against the wave of vicious desire that roared through him. "I want everything. I want you and me naked in your bed, or on this bar, or where ever I can have you right now. I want you to fuck me hard and fast or deep and slow. I want you to give us both what we’ve been wanting since we met, and then I want you to do it over again. Please," Gentry added. His cheeks burned red, and he licked his lips nervously as he met Dublin’s gaze head on.

  Dublin didn’t say a word, but he wasted no time in ushering Gentry to his feet. He led Gentry towards the back of the club and up a flight of steps into what Gentry could immediately tell was his private office. Dublin tumbled them both down onto the couch, his hot, firm weight pressing Gentry down into the thick cushions, and then Dublin kissed him again.

  Gentry's hands scrabbled at the back of Dublin's shirt, and he forced the kiss to end so he could yank it off over Dublin’s head, uncaring of the buttons or the seams, and toss it away. Gentry could feel Dublin’s gaze on him as his eyes danced over his chest, so Gentry leaned up and took one of Dublin's nipples into his mouth.

  Dublin gasped in surprise as Gentry gently bi
t down and then laved the sting away with his tongue. Gentry moved away from his nipple after a few moments to press kisses across the expanse of Dublin's chest to the other nipple. He gave it the same treatment, laved it with his warm, slick tongue and nipped it slightly with sharp teeth.

  Finally Dublin nudged Gentry away so he could tug Gentry’s simple shirt up and over his head. Gentry let out a shuddering moan when Dublin licked his way up to Gentry’s neck to nip at the pulse that fluttered there. He opened his mouth and sucked on the skin, just shy of hard enough to leave a mark.

  Gentry gripped Dublin's hair, and when Dublin finally looked up Gentry saw that his pupils were blown wide, the dark brown of his irises almost completely gone. "Dublin, please! Do something!"

  Gentry’s chest rose hard and fast, and he felt his breath catch when Dublin pulled back and away so he could stand and quickly undo his belt. In no time at all Dublin was naked. his cock looked achingly hard, dark red with a drop of pre-cum dripping from the tip. Gentry was transfixed, and he jolted violently when something landed on his chest. He looked down, saw a small tube of lube and a condom, and laughed low in the back of his throat as he looked back up at Dublin.

  "You might not have thought this far ahead, but I did. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. You have no idea. Every time you went up into that hotel room with someone that wasn’t me I wanted to break something." Dublin’s voice was harsh, and Gentry shivered at the sound of it, at the knowledge that Dublin wanted him just as bad as he wanted Dublin.

  Dublin reached out and made quick work of the button of Gentry’s pants, and Gentry arched his hips up off of the couch. Gentry watched as Dublin hooked his fingers on one of his belt loops and tugged his pants down and off until he was as bare as Dublin was. Gentry reached down and palmed his own cock, felt the hot heavy weight of it in his hand. He idly stroked himself as he watched Dublin pick up the tube and uncap it.

  Dublin wrapped his free hand around Gentry’s ankle and pulled him down the couch until the backs of Gentry’s knees touched the front of Dublin’s. Gentry watched in anticipation as Dublin slicked up his fingers and then reached down again to urge Gentry to hitch one of his legs up over Dublin’s strong shoulder. Gentry, fully aware of what Dublin had in mind, scooted his ass down a little more until Dublin's finger was at his entrance.