Chapter Twenty
TJ
“Miles! Can you come in here?” TJ walked to his desk and sat, and when Miles came in, he told him to shut the door. “I need your opinion on how to handle this.”
Miles furrowed his brow and pulled out the chair opposite. “What’s up?”
TJ placed the USB in between them on the table. “This contains information on Cass Paarman and Angelo Ricci. It shows them fiddling the books.” TJ touched the stick. “It is, however, five years out of date.”
“Five years?” Miles picked the stick up. “How did you get this, and have you checked the information?”
“It has money transfers on there. Lists of expenditures and then how much went where. I’m not a financial analyst. I can understand some of it, but some of it…”
“How did you get it?”
TJ glanced at the closed door. When he and Cody had discussed taking this further, Cody had asked not to be involved, but they’d agreed Miles would need to know. TJ knew and trusted the other man, having known him for years. “Cody Paarman.”
Miles reared back, his mouth falling open. “Cody Paarman? I thought he was dead. He’s been gone for years. Is he back in Robinson? When did he return?”
“He came back recently.” TJ pointed to the USB. “And that’s why this information isn’t up-to-date. He made a copy before he left.”
“And now he’s back? Can he get access so we can have more up-to-date information?”
“He wants nothing to do with his parents. He’s living with me.
” TJ sighed. “Have a look. You know more about this than I do, and you can let me know if we have enough to investigate. I want to be able to do this quietly. Angelo is a member of the council. If he found out we were looking into him, who knows what he could do? We have a chance to get an analyst to investigate this without them knowing, and once we have all the evidence, we can arrest them.”
“We need a judge to sign off on it, then. Let me have a look and see if we have enough. I know someone from the city. Santino is his name.” Miles picked up the stick, then asked, “When did Cody return? I’ve heard nothing, so the local gossips don’t know yet.”
“Almost two weeks ago now. I came in from work and he was sitting in my kitchen.” TJ looked at Miles. “Brought my grandfather’s medals back, too.”
Miles’ eyebrows went up. “I remember how pissed you were over that, but it didn’t stop you looking for him.”
“I thought he was dead, and then he’s there, alive and well, sitting at my kitchen table.” TJ shook his head, then licked his lips. “You should know… about Cody—”
“Did he catch you, then?”
TJ sat back in his chair. “How did everyone know but me?”
“He watched you whenever you were around. He had it bad for you. Shame he went down the path he did, but he’s back, so he must be in a better place.”
“He is now. It took him a while.”
“You and him.” Miles grinned. “The gossip is going to go into overdrive.”
TJ groaned and lay his head on the table. “I know, and I’m dreading it.”
“Ohh, so there is a you and him? Interesting.” TJ lifted his head and glared at Miles. “What? Like I said, he was half in love with you before he left. If there was going to be one reason he came back to Robinson, that reason would be you.”
TJ blinked, then shook his head. “How was I so blind?” How had he not noticed that Cody had liked him all those years earlier? He’d seen a troubled kid, someone who needed help, but Cody had seen him as more, and here Cody was all these years later with the man he’d wanted back then.
“You saw him as a kid.” Miles’ words echoed TJ’s thoughts.
“I don’t know much of what happened with his folks, but I know for him to run the way he did, it was something big.
Even with you trying to help him, he still left, and no one heard from him again.
Then when he does come back, he comes back to you.
Your house.” Miles sat back in his chair.
“How is he? The last time I saw him, I was genuinely worried about him. He was skinny and half-dead. The look in his eyes…” Miles shook his head.
“He’s taller than me now. Broader too. He’s grown up.
I talk to him and forget he’s only twenty.
He’s lived more in his few years than I have in all of mine.
” TJ watched Miles nod. “How long will they gossip for?” They would gossip about them.
A place like Robinson thrived on gossip, and now he was going to be front and center.
“You and Cody?” TJ nodded. “First it will be about Cody and that he’s not dead, then how he’s changed, and then when they find out about you two?
” TJ groaned and dropped his head into his hands.
“Leave it to me. I’ll get Carrie-Ann on it.
She has her finger in every pie in this town.
” Carrie-Ann knew everyone and everything worth knowing in Robinson.
If something needed sorting out, then she was the person to go to.
She'd put a stop to any gossip if Miles asked.
“I would appreciate it if she could help. I don’t want to be talked about, and I know Cody doesn’t either.
Toni said she would fake a horrific childbirth with Carter passing out.
They both seemed to like the idea.” The longer he thought about it the more he considered it as well.
Anything to take the heat off of him and Cody and their private life.
Miles snorted. “That’s a good one. Don’t worry too much about it.
There will be talk. You can’t avoid that.
It’s Cody, and he left under difficult circumstances.
When they see how happy you two are together, they’ll let it drop, plus Carrie-Ann will do her thing.
” Miles stood and palmed the stick. “Give me the afternoon to go over everything, then I’ll let you know what I think.
We might want to bring Taylor in if it contains significant information. He’s the numbers man.”
“Good thing he’s back.” TJ blew out his breath. “Right, you get on with that and let me know. I’ll let Cody know.”
***
TJ walked into the kitchen to find Cody standing at the stove, stirring something that smelled amazing in a pan.
Leaning on the doorframe, TJ watched him move around the kitchen like he belonged there, and maybe he did.
With a soft sigh, he walked over to Cody and kissed the back of his neck. “Hey.”
Cody jumped, then spun around and wrapped his arms around TJ’s waist. “Hey.” A kiss that was meant to be a quick peck lasted far longer, and when TJ moved away, Cody murmured, “I can turn this down low.”
Feeling Cody’s arousal press against his thigh, arousal curled in TJ’s belly, and he nodded. “I need a shower first.”
“I can wash your back, then eat your ass before fucking you.”
TJ stared. “Uh huh. Yeah.”
“I love how you react to me talking dirty to you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a relationship with someone like you.”
Cody moved back, a frown on his face. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No. I’ve slept with four people my entire life.
Toni was my friend, my childhood sweetheart, when I hadn’t figured out why I didn’t react like all the other boys.
I thought I was a late bloomer.” TJ huffed out a small laugh.
“Once I realized, I told her and she was angry, justifiably, but she understood, too. Then the two men after her were both very short-lived. You… have me confused, but in a good way. I feel like that life is…”
“What? How is life like with me in it?”
“I want to say an adventure, but that’s probably the last thing you’d want after everything.”
“I want to experience life with you. I want to travel this great nation and go abroad. I want to watch you with your kids and Macy and the baby. I almost died, but thoughts of you kept me alive. No matter what I’ve done in my life, when I thought of home, I thought of you.
” Cody kissed him slowly, a lingering kiss full of emotion.
“I love you. I have always loved you, even as that messed up kid who just wanted his family to accept him and love him. You were my constant.”
“I never knew,” TJ whispered. “I wish I’d have seen it.”
“We wouldn’t be here now.” Cody kissed him again. “Shower sex sounds good, and I’ve never had that.”
“Really?”
“Don’t sound surprised. There are a few things I haven’t done. When you’re drunk or flying high, you don’t do acrobatic sex. It really is just about exposing the parts and getting on with it.” Cody pulled TJ up the stairs, and he went willingly.
“Do you wish—”
“What’s the point of wishing things had been different? It happened, but I’m here with you now. I get to tell you how I feel, and I get to go to sleep with you every night after having my wicked way.” Cody grinned. “My past means nothing now because I have the person I always wanted.”
Cody stripped and TJ let him help remove his own clothes.
In the shower, Cody washed every inch of his body, touching and kissing him everywhere he could, and when Cody pushed inside, TJ’s whole body shuddered.
Slow and gentle, soft kisses that seemed to make TJ’s body light up, and when he came, it was long and drawn out, making him forget about everything.
“I love you, TJ.”
TJ opened his eyes and touched Cody’s face. “I’m glad you came back.”
Cody’s smile was so bright TJ couldn’t help but return it. “Let’s get dry and eat, then you can tell me about the stick.”
TJ padded into the kitchen, his feet bare. Sweats and a thin sweater were all he’d put on, with Cody leering at him. “I’m supposed to eat knowing you’re freeballing it?”
“If you’re lucky, I’ll let you play with them later.”
Cody grinned. “Look at you getting in on the dirty talk.”
TJ felt his face heat up and groaned. “Stop.”
“Nah ah! Not gonna happen. I like seeing you like this. Hmm, this looks good.” Cody stirred the contents in the pan, then ladled some into two bowls.
“What is it?” TJ asked as he sat at the table.
“Mama’s beef casserole.” Cody placed the bowl in front of him, then sat. “Tuck in.”
TJ ate half the bowl before looking up to find Cody watching him. “It’s really good.”
“I know. It got me through many dark days when I was recovering. The stick. Any good?”
“I gave it to Miles, who did his thing and told me it was a goldmine and no wonder we couldn’t fix shit. Taylor has it now, who is our numbers guy, and I have a meeting with the local judge. It’s enough for us to investigate, but we need to keep it quiet.”
“So, you can get more up-to-date evidence.”
TJ paused then said, “Cody, Cass is your father. This will affect your mom and Cassie.”
Cody sat back and stared out of the window.
“I know, but it needs to be done. I don’t want this hanging over me, knowing what he’s done.
We share blood. Nothing more. I was never the son he wanted, and I grew to realize that while I was recovering.
It’s the way things are. I knew that for certain when I went to visit him, and I’m okay with it.
I have a family who loves me for who I am, and one day you’ll get to meet them. I can’t wait for you to ride Freya.”
“Freya. You mentioned her. That she found you.”
“A horse. She’d somehow escaped the barn she stays in with the other horses. Made her way to me. It was because of her they found me. She has a temper, but with me she’s always calm. Jed said she was mine, as I was the only one she would tolerate riding her.”
“You miss them.”
“They’re my family, like you. They’re only a couple of hours down the road. Anyway, the stick. You’ll speak to a judge?”
“That was some change of subject, but yes. I’ll see him tomorrow, hopefully. Show him what we have, and he should authorize us to monitor their systems. Trace money transfers. Once we have enough, we can arrest them.” TJ placed his spoon in his bowl. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” So strong and sure. “He broke the law, and he needs to pay for it. And if there is any fallout, I’ll have you by my side.”