Free Men of London 04 - Feat of Clay by Susan Mac Nicol Page B

What if
I’d been a client?” Tate said in amusement.
    Clay chuckled. “Sorry, I’ve been working from
home this afternoon and was in the zone. It didn’t even occur to me
check who was calling. How did your visit go?”
    Tate was pleased he’d get to see Clay sooner.
“I can tell you I have much more of an appreciation for the work
that the halfway house does.”
    Tate crossed the street to his car, an aging
VW Golf, and clicked the key fob to open the door. “I think this
whole visit was orchestrated to show me that there are others worse
off than me. Randy even got me to agree to go back and give a talk
to the youngsters on being a policeman.” He grinned as he got into
the driver seat. “I think that damn doctor was trying to give me a
new perspective on things. She’s one sneaky lady. She might even be
in your league, my maestro of manipulation.”
    Clay’s husky laugh went straight to Tate’s
dick. “Yeah? I’ll show you manipulation when you get here. Your
legs over my shoulders.”
    Tate’s dick grew harder and he groaned.
“Don’t do that. I’m about to drive home and a hard-on will just get
in the way.” He started the car and put his mobile into the
Bluetooth cradle.
    “You could always pull over and we can have
car phone sex,” his lover purred seductively. As much as Tate
fancied that idea, the biscuits he’d had earlier hadn’t filled him
up and his stomach was growling. He intended stopping to pick up
Chinese food on his way home and eat then go to bed with Clay.
    “It’s an attractive offer, but I’m ravenous,
and not for cock.” Clay’s splutter of laughter warmed Tate’s heart
and he laughed. “I’ll pick up some Chinese and see you in a while.”
He shifted gears and sped up. “Oh and I met this really incredible
young man called Jax. There’s just something about him that makes
me want to get to know him a little bit more.”
    Clay’s voice was a little edgy when he next
spoke. “Really? Does he know you’re spoken for?”
    Tate’s stomach tingled pleasurably at the
tone of possessiveness in Clay’s voice. If his man had one
particular fault, it was that he was jealous as hell. Not to the
point of being unreasonable, but the green-eyed monster never
lurked far from his cool surface.
    “No, you jealous bastard, he’s only
seventeen. Kiddie-bait. He’s been through such a lot but he just
radiates this positive energy. Remarkable kid from what I’ve heard.
I’ll tell you all about him when I get home.”
    “Ahh.” Clay didn’t sound convinced. “Okay.
Could you pick me up some of that crispy chilli beef please? I
could really go for that.”
    “Roger,” Tate said as he steered his way
through the traffic. “I’ll see you soon.”

Chapter 7
    Clay put down
his mobile and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Tate had sounded
upbeat, more so than Clay had expected. They’d had a couple of
altercations about that particular part of his therapy. Tate hadn’t
been looking forward to the visit to Castaways, which had led to
heated, expletive-filled arguments. One had led to hot make-up sex;
the other had Clay storming off to visit Draven.
    Now Clay frowned, wondering who this Jax was
that had Tate all warm and fuzzy. His mobile rang again. He smiled,
thinking it was Tate, and didn’t even bother to check the caller
ID.
    “Hi love, haven’t they got any chilli beef
then? I’ll settle for something sweet and sour, you choose.”
    A loud snort of laughter blasted his
eardrums. “Much as I like you, Clay, I have no intention of giving
you anything sweet or sour. I’ll leave that to Tate.”
    Clay chuckled at the sound of Rick’s voice.
“You cheeky little blighter. To what do I owe the pleasure of this
call?”
    Rick sighed heavily. “Sometimes I wish I’d
never got that promotion to Sergeant. Now I have to do all sorts of
stuff I didn’t have to do as a constable. Which includes attending
some sort of black-tie event and I don’t have a tuxedo. I happen to
know