Free Vigilante 01 - Who Knows the Storm by Tere Michaels

handcuffs.
    Cade hissed as his abraded wrists came free. “Goddammit,” he spit out. Rachel helped him sit up, tugging him off the bed as soon as he was upright.
    “We have to evacuate,” she said tightly. “Zed’s furious.”
    “So am I,” Cade muttered, pulling off his gloves, then rubbing his wrists as he headed out the door.
     
     
    T HE POLICE swarmed the entrance of the Iron Butterfly. In the middle of the chaos of emergency personnel and the crowd of people flooding the street, Cade shivered under the blanket Rachel had hastily thrown on him as they hurried down the back steps. It was starting to snow, little pellets smacking down and making a crunching sound as Cade walked gingerly in wet socks down the block.
    “Midfuck, eh?” Alec said, startling Cade.
    “Chained to the fucking bed. Didn’t get farther than that.” Cade’s teeth chattered.
    “Come here.” Alec pulled Cade farther down the street, out of the immediate crush of frantic guests and the employees attending to them. On the next block sat a small restaurant catering to those looking for some quiet and coffee. They were closed, but Alec rapped on the window until a server came over.
    “What happened?” the girl asked as she opened the door.
    “Faulty alarm—can we sit for a spell?” Alec asked, full-wattage charm and flirty lilt to his voice. “Do you mind?”
    The girl was young—too young to see through Alec’s blarney. “Oh, you poor things—come in!”
    While she went to beg her manager’s good grace, Alec tucked a chattering Cade into a chair, then stripped off his socks. “Come on, feet in lap and let me give them a rub.”
    “Stop trying to fuck me,” Cade grumbled—then put his feet in Alec’s lap.
    “You look like a sad drowned rat—not interested. Also I’m a bit pissed at whoever decided to fuck with us tonight. My client is quite the big tipper,” he sighed, rubbing his hands together before applying them to Cade’s skin. “What about you?”
    “What about me? Asshole got me facedown on the bed, handcuffed, and then split when the alarm went off.” Cade trembled under the wet blanket. His whole body ached. My God, what a day.
    Alec offered one arched eyebrow in disdain. “The stud you left with? Shame. I was going to ask you his name—I haven’t seen him around.”
    “He said he didn’t come to the Butterfly very often.”
    More police cars and armored vehicles sped by. Fucking false alarms and fake bomb threats—they usually turned out to be some dick who couldn’t cover his bets and needed a way to sneak out.
    “Name?”
    “Patrick Mullens.”
    Alec seemed to thumb through a mental Rolodex, then shook his head. “No, not anyone I recall.” He’d begun to massage Cade’s feet, digging his fingers deep into the arches.
    Cade stifled a moan, biting his lip to get his focus back. “He was acting strange—I don’t know.” Cade shrugged.
    “You think he called in the threat?” Alec’s hands stopped moving.
    “No—he was with me the whole time.”
    “Could have had somebody on the outside do it,” Alec offered.
    Cade shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Does he really think he can skip out on a bill? They’re gonna charge his account anyway.” He sat in silence for a few minutes while Alec worked his magic. “The whole thing is just…weird.”
    He knew he should just let it go, chalk it up to the nature of the business, but it gnawed at him all the same.
     
     
    I T WAS almost two hours before they got back into the building. Rachel found them in the restaurant, sharing a plate of tiny Italian cheesecakes and a pot of espresso.
    “Meeting, now,” she snapped. They didn’t get enough time to offer her a seat before all that was visible was the back of her head.
    “I believe there’s a meeting right now,” Alec deadpanned.
    Cade’s socks were dry, after a bit of time spent in the oven of the restaurant, and he and Alec made a run through the accumulating snow back