Booking Burke (Cold Case Psychic Spin Off Novellas #9)

PROLOGUE

Elias

South Carolina, three years ago…

Today was the big day. The day that everyone had been waiting for. The day he’d been dreading. Elias’s wedding day. Elias and Kassie forever. And ever.

Elias struggled to breathe. Was his tie too tight? Or maybe his belt?

It was neither of those things. It was the weight of the pressure that had been building steadily from the day he’d asked Kassie to be his girlfriend, eight years ago, back when he was a police academy cadet and she was working her way through college at a local diner.

Their relationship had been fun and flirty back in those early days. Uncomplicated.

There had been dates to the movies, dinners out, and nights at home where they’d both study together in silence. Him with a cup of tea and her with an iced coffee. They’d been polar opposite in a lot of things, but somehow, that had worked for them. In the beginning.

The biggest way they were opposites was when it came to sex. Elias was a devout Christian, believing he should be a virgin on his wedding night, while Kassie’s form Christianity had been a bit more progressive. She wanted to kick his tires a bit before saying, “I do.”

Not only was there constant pressure to get engaged and then married, but also pressure for them to take that next step and become lovers. It was in those crazy, high-intensity moments Elias felt like he would buckle under the pressure of it all.

Two years into their relationship, the pressure to get engaged finally broke him.

He’d been telling Kassie how important it was for him to get through his rookie year as a member of the South Carolina Highway Patrol before they made any decisions about their future.

After all, how could you plan a wedding when you were a first-year cop on probation?

Kassie had accepted that reasoning and the pressure simmered down, until the day that his rookie year had ended and he was a full-fledged member of the department. Sick of the constant nitpicking, Elias broke down, bought a ring, and popped the question.

The ring wasn’t the only thing he’d broken down over.

He’d given his virginity to Kassie that night.

There had been a couple of surprises in store for Elias.

The first of which being Kassie no longer having her virginity to give to him.

He guessed she was a little more progressive than he’d originally thought.

The second and larger surprise was that sex wasn’t a big deal.

It had felt okay and he’d come, but it sure as hell wasn’t the be all and end all his friends had told him about.

Wedding plans had been all-systems go from the morning after that tiny diamond slipped onto Kassie’s finger.

Elias had tried pushing marriage off for as long as he could, by insisting she finish her Bachelor’s Degree and then her Masters.

His next excuse was that they needed to save for a house first. Finally, after five years of waiting, Kassie had threatened to walk away if he hadn’t agreed to set a date.

He’d set one and had been sweating ever since.

Now, here he was, staring into his own blue eyes in the groom’s dressing room of their church. He knew Kassie was down the hall with her slew of bridesmaids, giggling and getting ready for their walks down the aisle. Elias’s focus wasn’t on Kassie or her girl squad, it was on himself.

His father, Oscar, had been a member of the Beaufort Police Department for the last thirty years, while his mother, Cat, taught Sunday school in this very church. The Dixon family was a pillar of this small community famous for its antebellum mansions and genteel manners.

He’d loved growing up here, but for… Shit, Elias couldn’t even say the words in his head.

Never mind out loud. Those not-so-simple words were the reason he was standing here today, his palms sweating and the ring in his pocket feeling like an anchor.

Today was the culmination of a life lived in secret.

The good thing about saying his vows was that now he wouldn’t have to listen to Kassie’s pleas to get married. No, from tonight forward, he’d have a new set of problems. Sex. Babies. More sex. More lies…

The biggest lie being the one truth he’d been denying for as long as he could remember.

A quick knock on the door was followed by Jensen Willoughby sticking his head into the dressing room. “Showtime, buddy!” He walked up to Elias, hugging him tight.

Yeah, showtime, indeed. Jensen and I had been best friends since the first day of sixth grade.

He was the new kid in school that year and sat in front of me in homeroom.

We were thick as thieves after that day.

We were so close, in fact, that instead of going to college, he’d decided to enroll in the police academy with me.

Elias and Jensen had been best friends for over half of our lives.

They knew each other better than anyone else, but there was still one thing he didn’t know about Eli.

Two things actually. Holding him like this now, Eli could feel the dam walling up his feelings start to crack.

Before Eli could think better of it, he pulled back from the hug and kissed Jensen.

It was heaven. Eli’s lips pressed to Jensen’s after having been in love with him for the last fifteen years.

His lips were rough, not smooth and glossy like Kassie’s.

This was the contact Eli had been craving for as long as he could remember.

In this moment he knew what the poets meant.

This was what he’d been missing all these years. Eli never wanted this moment to end.

Before Eli knew what was happening, Jensen’s strong hands were pushing him away. He stumbled back a few paces before hitting the dressing room wall. When Eli looked up at his best friend, he wore a look of horror on his handsome face. His right arm came up to wipe across his lips. Twice.

“What the fuck was that, Eli?” Jensen’s arm scrubbed against his lips.

Laughing nervously, Eli shrugged. “It was just a kiss between friends to thank you for always being there for me over the years. I’m nervous as hell and was just being a goofball.

” There was no way Jensen was going to buy this, but it was all Eli could think to say in this moment with his heart racing like he’d just done a set of suicide sprints.

Eli’s dick was so hard it could cut glass.

Jensen’s look was stone-cold. “You’re not a goofball. You’re a-”

“Don’t say it!” Eli shouted. “Once you say that word, you can’t take it back.” Fear tricked down his spine.

“Is it true?” Jensen beautiful green eyes were filled with distrust and something that looked an awful lot like hatred.

“Of course not.” Elias shook his head. He hid his shaking hands behind his back, while his eyes slid to the floor.

“Oh, my fucking God! It is true. This explains everything.” Jensen slapped a hand to his forehead.

“What are you talking about?” Eli knew damned well what Jensen was talking about.

“Why you didn’t really date in school. Why it took you so long to ask Kassie to marry you. Why you kept thinking up excuses to push back the date of this wedding.” Jensen’s mouth hung open. “Kassie’s a good girl. Why the fuck would you do this to her?”

The list was a mile long. Now wasn’t the time to delve into it. My mouth dropped open, but no sound came out.

“You need to stop this before you ruin that poor girl’s life. She deserves much more than a flaming…” Jensen stopped. His hate filled eyes met Eli’s. “She deserves much more than you. Either you stop this thing now. Or I will.”

Tears pricked the back of Elias’s eyes. There had to be another way out of this. “Just tell her I’m sorry.” Reaching into the pocket of his tuxedo, Eli pulled out the wedding ring he’d planned to give to Kassie and set it down on the counter in front of the mirror.

“Tell her yourself.” Jensen lurched forward to grab Eli’s arm.

The grip felt like a vise around his wrist. Jensen had always been the stronger of the two of them. “We’ve been friends for so many years. How did I not know you were so hateful?” With a wrench, Elias broke Jensen’s hold.

“Probably for the same reason I never knew you liked dick!” Jensen angry-whispered. “Why me? Why the fuck did I have to be your crush?” His hands were fisted on his hips.

Standing here now, looking at his former best friend, Eli couldn’t help but wonder the same thing.

“I made a mistake.” Tears tumbled down his cheeks.

“I made so many of them.” Turning away from him, Eli walked down the hall that connected the dressing room to the main church.

Before walking into the vestibule, he dried his eyes.

As he moved to the spot in front of the altar where he was told to stand last night by the pastor during the wedding rehearsal, a feeling came over Elias that he’d never felt before. Hope. “Excuse me everyone. I have an announcement to make.”

Murmurs fluttered through the congregation before everyone fell silent. Their full attention was on Elias.

“There isn’t going to be a wedding today. I’m sorry.” From where Elias was standing, he could see the shocked looks on everyone’s faces. His parents were staring at him open-mouthed, while Kassie’s family were shouting that they wanted to know what was going on.

Turning around, Eli saw Jensen standing just inside the door to the church. His best friend wouldn’t meet his eyes. That was just fine with him.

It was true he’d made a lot of mistakes in the years leading up to this moment.

He’d done everything in his power to live with his secret.

To keep it hidden. Tamped down. In the process, he’d spent the last fifteen years of his life pretending to be someone he wasn’t.

Taking one last look at his friends, family, and coworkers, Eli realized this was the last time he’d see them like this. Without them knowing his secret.

He knew damn well how his family felt about people like him.

They’d all made their opinions clear time and time again.

It was the sole reason Elias had stayed in the closet and tried to play the role of straight man, when it had been obvious to him since he’d met Jensen back in the sixth grade that he liked boys more than girls.

That all ended here and now. The hiding. The lying. Being in the closet.

Holding his head high, Eli walked down the center aisle of the church. He should have been doing this very thing about an hour from now with his new bride on his arm. That wasn’t going to happen today or any other day. Not with a bride, anyway.

As he walked past row after row of confused guests, his heart got lighter. Eli found a smile. He could see the sunshine pouring in from the open doors of the church. He paused for a moment to feel the rays on his upturned face. A giggle bubbled out of him.

For the first time in Elias Dixon’s life. He was free. Free to live his life on his own terms. Free to love anyone he chose. It only took twenty-seven years to get to this moment, but better today than after another twenty years had gone by.

There would be ramifications for what happened today. Freedom, as the saying went, was never free. In this moment, Eli couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d pay the price and walk away with his soul intact. But that was for another day.

Walking down the stone steps of the church he’d grown up in, Eli didn’t turn back. The lyrics to George Michael’s Freedom started playing in his head. Eli grinned and sang along.