Page 20 of Soul of Discretion

“What the hell?” Simon yelled from the doorway. “Are you okay, Nick?”

“Yeah. Say hello to Margaret’s drug dealer,” he answered as he began cleaning out Reggie’s pockets. Between the large roll of cash and the dozen baggies of powder, this was a good catch. Nick wanted more information out of the dealer because something serious was up. No drug dealer would risk coming into this high-end of an area. What the hell was Reggie doing here?

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened, revealing two paramedics who walked over to them. They didn’t seem too worried to see an RCMP officer sitting on the back of a prone man.

“Mrs Teeman is inside, guys, she’s going over to Toronto General,” Nick told them as he held Reggie to the ground. “She’s going in on a seventy-two-hour hold.”

They followed Simon inside as Nick lifted Reggie off the ground and sat him on the floor against the wall. He contacted the station to let them know who he was bringing in for questioning. He read Reggie his rights and sealed the drugs inside an evidence bag. The stretcher rolled out of the penthouse and Nick went ahead and locked the door before sealing it with police barricade tape. Yeah, he had all sorts of shit in his official jacket pockets.

“Would you be able to drop me off at the hospital? I need to make sure she settles in well, and I need to call my people in,” Simon said and Nick was touched by the protectiveness Simon was showing Margaret.

“Of course. I’ll drop you off on my way to the station,” Nick promised and pulled Reggie to his feet as they all followed the stretcher holding a sleeping Margaret to the ambulance.

He buckled Reggie into the caged backseat and drove to the hospital. Simon remained quiet and Nick wished there was something he could do. First, Simon’s friend steals from him, then he’s murdered, and now his friend’s wife has turned into a hardcore junkie. This had been one hell of a rough few days for Simon. Nick inched his right hand over and touched Simon’s. “She will be okay now. I swear I’ll find out what’s going on and make those responsible pay.”

Simon turned away from his cell phone to stare at Nick, and in that second Nick found himself falling into the golden depths of Simon’s tortured eyes. Quickly, Nick looked away and concentrated on the road. It would be far too easy to fall head over heels for the generous, powerful man. Knowing he was the owner of Breakforce only made the divide between them even larger. Nick wasn’t a man to chase pipe dreams.

After leaving Simon at the hospital, Nick took Reggie to the station and put him in one of the cells out back to cool off while Nick worked on his report. The station was quiet. Steph was already off shift and busy looking through a magazine at her desk while the inspector sat in meetings and the other officers were out on calls.

Reggie had told Nick that he was paid by his distributor to hand-deliver Margaret her dope and went as far as stipulating that he watch her take the first hit. Another clue came when Reggie told him his distributor worked for the Baronne family.

It appeared the Baronne family had been creating a little insurance by turning Jack’s wife into a drug addict. Perhaps they thought it might give them leverage over him. Nick didn’t understand what they wanted with Jack, but Nick was going to find out.

“Oh my god, Nick, you have to come see this,” Steph yelled while waving her magazine through the air. He walked over and realized she was reading her favourite magazine, Hello.

“Okay, what’s got you so worked up?” Nick asked as he took the magazine away from her. He opened the page Steph had marked and the blood rushed from his face.

Simon stood in front of some sort of expensive sports car. In the background estate grounds led to a beautiful stone house a size Nick could only imagine. It was the caption that was his undoing: “Earl of Stoneham, Lord Stoneham.” His Simon was not only the owner of a global billion-dollar company, he was an earl.

“I think you should introduce me to him.” Steph laughed.

“He’s not your type,” Nick answered and immediately regretted it.

Steph stopped and took a long look at Nick. Fuck, he was so screwed. The woman could sniff out the smallest hint of a secret and turn you inside out to get to it. “And how would you know I’m not his type? Is it just me, or all females?”

“Oh come on Steph, I—”

“So it’s all women. He’s gay. How would you know he’s gay unless…oh shit.” Steph put all the dots together way too quickly. “The English guy from crUIzer you told Ben and me about. Oh Nick.”

“No, of course not. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Nick stood and headed for the locker room. Of course, Steph followed.

“Okay, okay, breathe,” she said, and he wondered when he began to hyperventilate. “I won’t say a word.”

“It doesn’t matter. What the hell would an earl want to do with a cop? Well, other than have mind-blowing sex.” The gap between them grew wider and wider by the minute.

“I thought you said he wanted to see more of you,” Steph asked.

“And how do you see this ending? It’s no longer only a hook-up.”

“I don’t know, Nick, but it has to work out.”

“Why?” Nick asked, truly curious how she came up with this.

“Because you deserve to have an earl come in and sweep you off your feet for once. You’ve spent the last ten years of your life serving and protecting others. Why can’t something wonderful happen to you?” Steph’s eyes were glassy and red so Nick took his good friend into his arms and hugged her.

“It’ll be okay, I’m a big guy.” Nick flexed his biceps to cheer up Steph. “I will be okay, and I don’t want you to worry so much.”

“It’s hard. You have no one to look out for you. You live alone in that big old house, but you need someone to love you.”