Russian Roulette: Flashbacks [male x male]

Ch. 37: And you didn't kill him?

Then

"Can I please move back to my apartment now that we've proven that my persistent stalker can find me anywhere?" Phoenix grumbled and paced back and forth in Gareth's office. He rubbed his temples to relieve the constant headache he had from not being able to relax and be himself.

He had been living in a temporary apartment for a bit over two months since he had come back from his vacation with Jace. Gareth had called him with the information on what they had come up with and arranged the temporary apartment for him. The excuse for the move had been a water leak from a busted pipe in the kitchen, and the need for new flooring to be put in where the leak had damaged the apartment. It had been a great plan, simple and plausible. Anybody with a water leak would want it fixed, and if fortunate enough, they would move away temporarily while the work got done.

The temporary apartment was fine and had the necessities for a single man. But he had not had the luxury of his home office and did not feel at home there to set up an office space in the living room. He had opted to use his office at Gareth's mansion, and that had driven him crazy too. Being there at all hours to then go to an apartment that did not give him peace had him wound tight.

In the end, it had been futile. A letter from his stalker had shown up like normal, just at the new place. The same with the gift the following month, and Phoenix had lost his patience. The plan had not worked.

"Seriously, G-man. She's not a threat. They're letters and expensive trinkets. It's been going on for four years without anything remotely dangerous to my person or the people around me."

"I know," Gareth sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been worth a try. There had been nothing wrong with Horse's suggestion. In his opinion, it had been a very mature and sneaky way to test the stalker's abilities and determination. The only hitch was it had been a fruitless effort, and had turned Phoenix grumpier than ever in the time he had lived at the other apartment. "Just move back. It was a bust, and I agree, there doesn't seem to be a threat. I just don't like that you're being stalked."

"You and me both," Phoenix admitted with a sigh equal to Gareth's. He slumped down in a chair and rubbed his face. "I would have been worried if I had felt threatened, or it had been more sexual and pushy in nature. But expensive gifts and letters about how I look, I don't take issue with."

"It rubs me the wrong way that we, the fucking Russian mafia, can't find some infatuated chick with a large credit card." Gareth hammered his fist into the table and immediately his eyes sought the bar table in his office.

Whiskey!

Phoenix caught on to it and went to pour them both a less-than-appropriate before-lunch snack, which Gareth accepted with an appreciative nod.

When he had practically inhaled half his drink, Gareth refocused on Phoenix. "Can we compromise on this? You move back home and continue as normal. I'll still provide security at your lectures, and you agree to inform me if you at any point feel the need for a permanent protection detail. But you take a team with you when you go out of the country on business. That's non-negotiable."

"I like that compromise." Phoenix felt how he relaxed with Gareth not going overprotective on his ass. He needed his life back to normal and would probably have agreed to anything, but substituting one stalker for a stalking team, even if they were there for his protection, would have driven him bonkers. "And I promise I'll keep giving the gifts and letters to Cracker. Maybe one day we'll get lucky. Who knows?"

Gareth visibly cheered up at having won the compromise without a hefty argument. Phoenix was a tough cookie when it came to negotiations, and he preferred if Phoenix kept those skills to work in favor of the businesses rather than to fight him.