Chapter Eighteen
Dinner Invitations, Delightfully Unhinged Hosts, and Dangerous Discoveries
Nick
I knock on Matt and Oliver’s door. No part of me wants to be here.
I don’t have the time to socialize, but Oliver ignored all my reasons for declining his invitation.
At least, he listened to me when I asked him not to talk to Elliot.
He got really quiet on the other side of the call, then blew out a breath before ordering me to show up on time.
Mickey scratches the door excitedly when it doesn’t open right away. That’s another reason Oliver wanted me to come today. We’re officially introducing Mickey to his new cousin. From the looks of it, he’s all for it.
Maybe a little puppy will help me feel better, too? Mickey butts his head against my knee as if he can read my mind. “Of course, you help too, buddy.” I pat his head. “You’re the best dog in the world.”
The door opens then. Matt leans against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest. “Oliver told me the situation was bad. He didn’t say it was ‘crying to Mickey’ bad.”
Mickey leaves me to greet my brother, who crouches down to give him scratches like they haven’t seen each other in years. “Aww, was Nick being too mopey? I know, sooo annoying.”
I leave him and his creepy baby voice and squeeze past him into the house. I see a glimpse of fur bounding down, then I have a handful of Shih Tzu. I laugh, kneeling and letting the little guy climb on me. “You’re so cute.” I hold it against my chest, and he licks my chin.
“You’re not going to cry, are you?” Oliver asks from the kitchen.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Wait, don’t answer that. What are you making?” I carry the furball into the kitchen with me, following the delicious smells.
Oliver has pans and pots on every stove. He’s stirring, flipping, and whipping all at the same time. “Indian. Naan, chicken tikka, and a dessert I’m not butchering the pronunciation of.”
My eyes go wide. “From scratch? Dude, what the fuck?”
“Ugh, don’t start,” Matt says as he walks in behind me, Mickey on his heels. “This is apparently his idea of destressing.”
I look between all the mess in the kitchen and Oliver. I don’t recognize most of the ingredients, but everything smells heavenly. “Do you need any help?” My voice is hesitant.
Oliver shakes his head. “No, but you should introduce Alex to Mickey before he falls asleep again.”
I look down, and yes, the tiny thing is curled peacefully in my arms, ready to fall asleep. “Ah, yes.” I kneel in front of Mickey and let him smell Alex. He leans forward, delicately sniffing, then licks the tiny guy.
Alex barks a cute little bark. I put him down, keeping an eye on them. Alex moves forward while Mickey stays still, the perfect big brother. “I think they like each other,” I announce as Alex chases Mickey’s tail.
“Oh, thank god. I don’t like when siblings are always fighting,” Oliver says. His face is now covered with flour.
Matt gets a napkin and gently wipes it off him. The casual affection sends a pang through my chest. I leave the kitchen to follow the dogs now chasing each other across the living room. Mickey is being perfectly polite, letting Alex win.
Matt follows me out. “You really shouldn’t let Oliver get away with statements like that, or you won’t even know when you’re out of a dog.”
That pulls a reluctant laugh out of me. “Nah, Mickey would never leave me,” I wave him off. Probably.
We settle down on his unnecessarily large dining table, watching Oliver handle everything with the proficiency of a professional chef. “You sure he’s fine, though?” I point at Oliver.
“Just the pressure of the wedding getting to him. And now that you’ve announced you and Elliot are fighting, he’s worried about you both being in the wedding party.”
“Oh, I’m in the wedding party, am I?” I smirk at him.
He nudges me with his shoulder. “You know you’re my best man.”
“You hadn’t even asked him yet? Oh my god, Matt,” Oliver shouts from the kitchen.
“He’s being a dick, babe. He knew.” Matt glares at me as I start to tell Oliver the truth.
I laugh. “Of course, I knew, Ollie. Who else is he going to ask?” I nudge Matt’s shoulder back.
We silently watch Oliver handle a large dough with perfection. Matt turns to me. “I heard about Meena,” he says, his voice low.
I blow out a breath. “Can we not talk about that?”
Matt hesitates. “You know it’s not on you, right?”
If only he knew. This is completely my fault. I didn’t just let the Bureau down. I'm disappointing the only man I’ve ever loved every second the copycat killer is still out there. “I know what you’re doing. You don’t need to, okay?”
Matt shakes his head. “I do. Because someone has to get it through that thick head of yours that the entire world is not your responsibility. You can’t control everything.
We just didn’t have enough evidence. And you’re very valuable to the Bureau, they can’t let you waste months on this wild goose chase. ”
My gaze finds Mickey and Alex again. “Why Alex?” I ask Matt, my voice back to normal.
Oliver answers instead, while Matt shakes his head in disappointment. “We can’t name him Alexis Rose, so now he’s Alex Rose Bennett Hale.”
“Whoa, royals have shorter names than that,” I say.
“It suits him. He’s the prince of this home,” Oliver says sappily.
I smile, biting back every mean comment that tries to escape. Elliot would have been proud of some of them. He would have even smiled at a few, his pink lips going up as he frowned, confused about his own reaction.
“Babe, I think he is going to cry.” Oliver’s voice brings my focus back to Matt’s apartment.
I give both of them a finger each.
“I’m honestly surprised you lasted this long,” Matt says.
My eyebrows go up.
“They’ve been together for a month,” Oliver points out.
“An entire month,” Matt emphasizes.
My jaw drops. “What does that mean? We’re great for each other. Elliot is amazing, behind all that bristle. You know that. And I know I don’t deserve him, but he loves me anyway.”
Matt smiles. “Yeah?”
My eyes narrow. “What are you doing?”
“It doesn’t matter. Tell me more about how much Elliot loves you.” Matt’s voice sounds amused, not mocking. But I feel like I’m being mocked. Or manipulated, I can’t figure out yet.
“He does. At least, I’m sure he does,” I say defensively.
Oliver turns all the flames off at once. “That man loves you more than his work and my lasagna.” Oliver does make the best lasagna.
I place my elbows on the table. “But he said all those things, and now I don’t know…” Fuck, I wish I could talk about this to someone. It hurts that I can’t even share this big secret with my brother. Not enough to tell him, though. Never that.
“So what? We say all kinds of things when we’re angry. We don’t always mean them,” Matt says sagely.
I give him a side eye. It’s difficult to take his love advice seriously when I had to literally shove him in Oliver’s general direction for him to finally do something about his crush on his former neighbor.
Oliver brings a large pan over to the table. Matt follows him back to the kitchen to help him. When they return with two other pans and plates, Oliver says, “And even when you mean it, you don’t just give up. You talk about it. You apologize. You figure out a way.”
Matt nods as he takes his seat back. “Exactly. Listen to us, Nick. We’re going to be an old married couple soon.”
Oliver gives him the sappiest smile, which makes me miss Elliot even more.
Not because he’ll ever smile at me like that, except when he’s blissed out after sex and sometimes when he’s still too drowsy after waking up in the morning.
No, he’ll make the meanest comment about Matt and Oliver, and I’d have to hide my laugh.
I sigh loudly.
“Eat.” Oliver pushes a plate under my nose. The aroma is almost enough to mend my broken heart. “The bottom line is, I can’t have you guys fight right now.”
I frown at him. “What?”
Oliver takes a bite of his naan. “Fuck, this is good.” Then looks at my questioning face. “I thought about all the possible scenarios, and there’s no way this wedding would be perfect if you’re fighting. So make up.”
Matt nods. “This is delicious. And your way to get him to apologize to Elliot is way better than mine.”
“Who says I’m apologizing?” I take a bite of the food too. Fuck, it’s amazing.
When I look up, they’re giving me a twin ‘who are you kidding’ expression. “I’ll pack some for Elliot. It’ll help your case.”
I just nod because yeah, I’ll need every edge I can get if I’m doing this.
By the time I leave their house with a giant bag of leftovers, I realize I’ve been manipulated, and the worst part is they didn’t even try hard to hide it.
They played me like I was a five-year-old asking for ice cream, and they just had to point at a bird to distract me until we were back home, no ice cream in sight.
Still, when I get in my car and pull out of the parking lot, I head toward Elliot’s place. Maybe I can be better prepared if I do this another day, but the bottom line is I miss him. I miss him like I’m living without a limb. I need to see him, even if all he says is he hates me. I need him.
My phone vibrates on my dashboard. Seeing Meena’s name on the caller ID kicks my heart rate up.
Did she decide she didn’t want to wait after all, and is that the case already with the new team?
What will I do then? I’m obviously not quitting the case.
How will I manage the caseload with this investigation?
I won’t even have access to any resources anymore.
Maybe I’ll have to quit my day job after all. Will the Bureau even want me after that?
I sigh and pick up the call before I tie myself in a tighter loop. “Hey, Meena,” I greet cheerfully. Why? Who even knows anymore?
“Hey, Nicholas. Sorry to disturb you this late, but this couldn’t wait.”
“Okay?”
“You recently sent Sameer a picture to ID a werewolf.” She didn’t put it as a question, so I don’t answer. I don’t want to admit to something that can get Elliot or me in trouble. “Who is that guy to you?”
Okay, so I will have to answer. “I’m not sure yet. Just following a hunch,” I say vaguely.
“I’ll need a better answer because that’s the son of a criminal we’ve been hunting for decades,” Meena says.
The fuck? Sam is teaming up with a criminal that the Bureau is hunting to kill other criminals on the Bureau's list. Wait, did she say he’s the son of a criminal?
“Give me a second.” This conversation needs my full attention.
I park on the side of the street a few blocks from Elliot's. “Okay, explain that to me again.”
Meena sighs like I’m being stupid. Maybe I am.
Or maybe she’ll be just as confused if she knew why I’m looking into the guy.
“That man is the only known son of a criminal the Bureau has been hunting for almost thirty years now. The man changes identities like they’re cheap T-shirts.
He’s killed at least twenty humans. And every time we’ve gotten close, the guy has disappeared.
We stopped actively looking for him a while back.
But the son is on the file. Why are you looking into him? ”
That does not clear it up. But one thing is sure, if Sam is talking to a werewolf with known criminal ties, Elliot will have to listen to me now. “As I said, I don’t have anything yet. Can you give me a few days though? I promise I’ll have answers for you soon.”
“No. You’re going to tell me now. That man is the biggest red spot on my perfect record. If you know where he is, you’re going to tell me right now.” I’ve never heard so much anger in Meena’s voice.
“I don’t, though. In fact, I didn’t know about him at all. Just give me a few days to make sense of what I’m looking at.”
My uncertainty must have been clear in my voice because she agreed. “Fine. But if I don’t hear from you by the end of this week, I’m coming over, and this won’t be a pleasant visit.”
The last one wasn’t so great either. I obviously don’t say that out loud because I’m not actually stupid, and I disconnect before she realizes she’s given me a week instead of just a day or two, as I asked.
I was on my way to talk to Elliot, but now I think I need to give our little friend Sam some face time too. I’m glad Oliver didn’t let me bring Mickey with me because Mickey following Sam around would wear down the effect of my ruthless interrogation.