Blaine
BLAINE
If he thought a few days would be enough to take the hard edges off Eric’s attitude, had been sorely mistaken. They’d officially been partners for over a week, nearly a week and a half, and Eric had yet to show any sign of warming up.
And someone had failed to mention just how much paperwork there was to police work.
“Does this ever end?” asked more to himself than anyone else.
It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to constant busywork and bureaucracy from the military. But at least it had been more active than sitting at his desk, checking old files and paperwork. There really was a several-page report required every time a firearm was discharged. That just seemed excessive. He couldn’t imagine how much space it would have needed if he’d been forced to do that in the military.
He might still be writing the reports from his second deployment.
“No,” Eric grunted from his desk. “It doesn’t.”
It was one of the few times Eric had spoken to him without sounding like his anger was directed specifically at . Those moments had been few and far between and only seemed to happen when Eric was distracted.
leaned over in his seat, trying to see Eric’s screen. “Hey, are those the arsonist reports?”
Eric shrugged. “Fuck knows there’s plenty of them. Chief wants to make sure everyone’s up to date on it. Fucker’s been burning through half the city lately.”
“So I heard.”
“Surprised you did. You haven’t been here long.”
Eric’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but there was something barbed under the seemingly benign words. would have preferred to get their issues out into the open so they could deal with them. That had been his intention on their first meeting in over eight years, but he’d seen the look on Eric’s face.
Time might change people, but even nearly a decade couldn’t change Eric Andreas’ ‘fuck off and don’t ever speak to me about this again’ face. The first time had seen it was shortly after they’d become friends.
Every school had that one asshole who thought himself God’s gift to humanity and thought it gave them the right to act however they wanted. Davis Turner had learned the hard way that his beliefs didn’t precisely fit reality. He’d made it his mission to try and get a rise out of the quiet loner that was the new kid. Why? had never known, but he supposed that hadn’t mattered. What had mattered was that after a couple of weeks of trying, Davis had decided to use his newfound knowledge about Eric’s deceased parents to get a rise out of him.
Eric looked up from his screen, squinting suspiciously. “What?”
blinked. “What, what?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I wasn’t looking at you. I was looking in your direction. And thinking.”
Eric looked like he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes. The gesture might have made feel a little better. The classic eye roll from Eric meant exasperation, but it was at least friendly exasperation.
“About what?” Eric asked.
“Davis Turner,” admitted.
And like a miracle, the wary expression on Eric’s face broke, giving way to wry amusement.
“I remember that asshole. How long did he wear that sling again?” Eric asked.
“A couple of weeks, but he only needed it for one.”
“An asshole and a drama queen.”
“He always did like attention.”
Eric shook his head. “Well, apparently, he liked it too much. Hope he’s enjoying all the attention in prison.”
’s brow shot up. “No shit?”
He nodded. “Yep. Got busted a couple of years back for a B and E. Would’ve been just that, but the owner surprised him in the house, and after the fight that broke out, it got bumped up to felony assault. He should be out on parole in another five years or so.”
whistled. “Damn. I knew he was a dick, but not the type to beat a guy up over a few valuables.”
“Drugs will do that.”
“Shit. Is that what brought him up here?”
“The one and same. I guess the shit back home wasn’t much good.”
“Huh. You think you know someone.”
“Yeah. You miss a lot when you’re gone for a long time.”
Eric’s words were laced with a sudden flare of anger, his lips pursing. couldn’t help the sigh that slipped out as Eric turned his attention back to the screen. didn’t think the man was reading as devoutly as he pretended, but he didn’t want to risk calling him out on it.
The Eric he’d known before could be gently coaxed from his little tantrums. Eric had always had a short fuse but couldn’t hold a grudge for long. Of course, it usually required some gentle prodding from before he could bring a smile to Eric’s face, grudgingly or otherwise. Somehow, he didn’t think he’d have the same effect if he tried now.
Eight years was a while to be away from everything. It was long enough to find out that an old high school bully had ended up in prison and for your former best friend turned boyfriend to have become a bundle of anger and bitterness. could live with the first, but the second was a harder pill to swallow. What made it stick in his throat was knowing he was the cause of Eric’s attitude.
They had been happy once upon a time. Two years of friendship had bonded them fiercely, and the following months of dating had been almost perfect. Well, they had felt perfect, but their lives still had a lot of work to do before they caught up to perfection. It had taken a while to realize what potential lay beneath their friendship, and he could still remember the moment it had hit him.
An angry Eric, covered in sweat, mud, and a smear of blood over his forehead.
* * *
Walking into the Andreas household without warning or fanfare, wiped his boots on the mat inside the front door. While a few days rain hadn’t done much to cool the abnormally warm spring, it had certainly created a lot of mud. The small house was quiet enough that he could hear the soft sounds of movement inside. There was another distant and muffled noise that couldn’t quite make out.
“Eric?” called. “Sean?”
Sean’s voice floated to him. “In the living room.”
stepped into the narrow kitchen, eyeing the electric kettle on the counter as it boiled. He walked toward the dining room and stopped where the linoleum gave way to carpet. From there, he could see into the living room and Sean sitting on the couch, legs crossed beneath him.
“I was wondering how long it would take until you showed up,” Sean said, flipping a magazine page.
“What?” asked, feigning confusion.
Sean looked over his shoulder, smirking. “Right, because he didn’t text you to bitch and moan.”
It was strange how similar and yet different Sean was from his younger brother. had seen pictures of the rest of the siblings, but none of them had the strange dissonance in looks that Sean and Eric did. Sean had the same black hair, dark eyes, and even roughly the same build, though with more bulk than Eric.
With Eric, there was the sense of a storm brewing behind his dark eyes, threatening danger and awe in the same breath. He was energy and passion, bouncing from one subject to another, gobbling information up with a speed found fascinating and unnerving. Sean, however, was the earth and mist to his brother’s fire and smoke. There was a gentleness to Sean, an easygoing and accepting manner that would have thought at home on a monk.
“He might have sent me something,” admitted with a shrug.
Sean chuckled, turning his attention back to the magazine. “Mr. I’m an Adult and Can Do What I Want is out back. He wasn’t happy I told him he wasn’t going to the party this weekend, as I’m sure you already know.”
kept his face neutral as his thoughts drifted to the profanity-laden texts in his inbox. He could easily imagine Eric thinking he would have free reign to do whatever he wanted, considering he’d turned eighteen a few weeks back. That hadn’t deterred Sean in the slightest. He argued that Eric was still in high school and thus under Sean’s jurisdiction.
And knew better than to get in the middle.
“I guess that’s that,” said, stepping back.
“Yeah, it is. And I’m sure the night of the party, I won’t see him gone from his bed, and you wouldn’t possibly know a thing about that,” Sean said dryly.
“Ah,” managed, freezing in the doorway.
“Make sure you two keep your phones on you in case of emergency,” Sean said comfortably, never looking up.
cleared his throat and backed toward the door before Sean could add anything else. Sean was one of only two people who could bring Eric down from one of his tangents. was the other. did it mostly through...well, he wasn’t quite sure how he managed it, he just let Eric talk, and then did a bit of talking, which seemed to work. Sean managed it by being just as stubborn as his brother but in a patient, calm way that turned him into an ocean breakwater to weather the storm.
Trying not to think too hard about how well Sean knew them, walked around the house, following the noise he’d heard before. As he drew closer, he realized the sound was a heavy thump. Coming through the trees that lined the garden, he could hear the whish and then the thump. It was followed by a clatter of wood, a smaller sound, and then it would repeat.
Now he understood what Sean had meant about Eric taking out his aggression. If fighting didn’t work, which it usually did, giving Eric a target, then giving him something physical to do would. Sean’s favorite, and thought it was Eric’s too, was chopping wood.
There was a lot of chopped wood at the Andreas house.
He stepped out of the trees and into the warm spring sunlight. ’s greeting died on his lips as he saw Eric tossing two chunks of firewood onto the pile. At some point, Eric had removed his shirt, throwing it over a branch. His entire upper body was coated in sweat, and there was quite a sizable pile of ready-to-use firewood, a testament to how angry he had been.
stared, unable to help himself, as Eric bent over, his jeans squeezing against his thighs and ass as he hefted up the next log to be sacrificed. His mouth dried as Eric lifted the ax, adjusting his grip, and brought it down. wasn’t sure when Eric had gone from scrawny teenager to someone with muscles, but good lord, was he happy to witness it.
The head of the ax drove through the log with a heavy thump, the blade digging into the stump Eric was using to stand it on. Eric wiggled the ax, shifting his hips to gain leverage. Something in ’s stomach flipped at the sight of the lines in Eric’s hips, diving down beneath the waistband of his jeans.
Where the hell had those come from?
tried to speak and step forward at the same time, anything to get his mind off where it was quickly trying to go. All he managed was a weird growl and his booted foot coming down on a stray branch that cracked like a gunshot.
Eric jerked, his motion to pull the ax free interrupted by the sudden start. His feet shoved against the soft earth, and with a yelp, he tumbled to the side and onto the pile of firewood.
winced. “Uh...sorry.”
Eric groaned, slipping off the pile onto the earth with a soft splat. Next came a growl as Eric shoved himself up off the ground, flecks of bark and wood in his dark hair and on his forehead, a red line clear above his eyebrow. His pants were soaked from the wet earth, and he was spattered with rich mud up one arm and across his chest.
“What the fuck?” Eric snapped, wiping a hand over his forehead, smearing the blood.
“I said sorry,” managed weakly.
“I probably have brain damage now!”
was trying desperately to figure out what he was going to say, but his mind was preoccupied. All his brainpower seemed focused on the lines on Eric’s body that would swear hadn’t been there before. On the fact that the mud and, God save him, the smear of blood on his face only gave Eric’s furious scowl a rugged appearance.
“Well? Fucking say something,” Eric huffed.
“Uh,” tried again. “So, what time should I pick you up for the party?”
And by God, Eric’s smile was absolutely gorgeous.
How the hell had he missed that before?
* * *
A knock on the door brought out of his reverie. Chief Morgan stood in the doorway, eyebrow raised. However, Eric took his time, finishing what he was reading before turning around. It seemed like the chief was used to Eric’s charming personality and rolled his eyes.
“You two are up,” Morgan told them, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
“For what?” Eric asked.
“Mmm, got the bomb squad heading out right now, and I want you behind them,” Morgan replied.
Eric scowled. “Since when are bombs our problem?”
“Since I told you.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It would be if you didn’t question everything I said.”
could tell this was going nowhere fast. Eric might be quieter and more snippy than before, but he’d bet he was the same curious man who had to know everything. If he didn’t do something, Eric would dig his heels in and refuse to cooperate until he knew more.
“What do you need us to do, sir?” asked, ignoring Eric’s glare.
Morgan beamed. “I need you to interview the people who found the bomb. Well, one of them did, the other guy is the one the bomb was intended for. Interview them both. I want to see how you two work out in the field. Hopefully, with more talking than you’ve done this week in the office.”
“Great,” Eric muttered, logging out of his computer.
“And show them that shining personality that charms everyone into talking,” Morgan said, backing out of the room with a grin.
“A ray of fucking sunshine,” Eric muttered.
watched his partner closely. He wasn’t the same man he’d once known, but there were still flashes of the man he’d been best friends with and fallen in love with. Eric made a good show of hiding it, but somehow, thought the man actually enjoyed the chief’s harassment. wasn’t sure if the chief knew that, though he definitely enjoyed dishing it out.
“C’mon, partner,” Eric said, swinging himself out of his chair.
wasn’t sure he liked the sarcastic inflection on the word ‘partner,’ but he followed Eric out.