Eric
ERIC
He stopped the car at the edge of the scene, peering through the windshield. The bomb squad had beaten them there, and he could see them milling about, preparing to get to work. didn’t know if they’d confirmed the bomb as real or not, but that wasn’t why they were there.
“Why do you think the chief sent us?” Blaine asked softly from the passenger seat.
snorted. “Because he hates me.”
“And the real reason?”
stiffened at the unspoken insinuation that he was full of shit. He relaxed when he remembered it was Blaine, and if anyone knew he was being sarcastic, it was him. His tension returned an instant later when he realized it was Blaine , and he didn’t want the man to know him.
Jesus, his moods were all over the damn place.
“Because he’s probably wondering if there’s some connection to the arsonist we’ve been chasing all over the city for months,” admitted grudgingly.
“He thinks he’s escalating?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean we’re taking any chances. If this is connected, we need to know as soon as possible.”
So far, the arsonist had stuck to using fire as his main attack on buildings. Unlike other arsonists, however, this one wasn’t content with using an accelerant and matches. Each involved some gadget used to start the fires at a designated time. So far, none of the devices had survived the fires, but what little had survived marked each of them as unique.
And God save them if the arsonist was upping their game from toys to explosives. If that happened, they might find themselves in over their heads. could only imagine the media storm and shit that would rain down on them if they had to bring in outside help.
“Fucking Feds,” muttered, opening his door.
“It’s nice to see the rumors of rivalry between police and federal agents isn’t just a story,” Blaine said as he followed .
shot him a dirty look but said nothing. Once upon a time, had loved that Blaine was so unflappable. Coupled with his dry humor, Blaine was as good at weathering bullshit as Sean. It hadn’t escaped ’s attention that he surrounded himself with people who didn’t bat an eye at his temper or foul mouth. It did annoy him to no end that Blaine was still one of them.
“Since you want to be a smart ass, you can help me interview the guy,” told him as they approached the building.
“That would require you to tell me who we’re interviewing. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to pick someone at random, and wouldn’t that be awkward?”
That was not going to make him smile.
“Anthony Howell,” told him. “Philanthropist and made of money from the sounds of it. It’s him and his security guy we’re talking to. I guess the security guy was the one who found the bomb.”
“Two attempts on his life in the past month? Not so sure this is the arsonist,” Blaine said.
stopped. “Wait. You?—”
The corner of Blaine’s lips twitched, but never quite smiled. gritted his teeth, once again refusing to rise to the bait. Blaine had already known who they were coming to talk to, but he’d made tell him anyway. Why? Well, Blaine had always enjoyed teasing , but where it was once endearing if exasperating, now it just pissed him off.
Anthony Howell was precisely what had expected of a rich man whose greatest threat to his life before this had probably been a stubbed toe. He was well dressed and handsome, in an ‘I have a personal stylist and tailor’ sort of way.
Howell followed them obediently into the building, away from the car, his brick wall of a security guard following close behind. Howell was nervous, understandably so, constantly licking his lips as he answered Blaine’s questions.
“And you had no threats or warning that something like this might happen?” asked, not caring that he cut across Blaine’s next question.
Howell shook his head. “No, other than that man trying to shoot me a few weeks back, and the letter, no.”
nodded. Both reports were already logged, though the force hadn’t given them much attention. Sure, someone had walked up to Howell at a public event a few weeks back, ready to plug the man, but considering the guy worked in public relations, he was bound to piss someone crazy off eventually. The same went for the threatening letter he’d received. Again, it had been written off as another crazy.
Apparently, it was a very dedicated and intent crazy.
“And you, sir?” Blaine asked the other man.
The other man, Elliot Remus, stood nearby, silent and watchful as they interviewed Anthony Howell. He was a big man, about the same size as Blaine, noted. His eyes watched the room, but they had no problem holding someone else’s gaze. also noticed a strange moment between Blaine and Elliot when his partner addressed the man.
“Well, Officer…” Elliot began, eyes sweeping down. “Edwards, it’s as Mr. Howell described. After the attempt on his life and the death threat, he brought me in for personal protection. A faint scratch on the car put me on alert, so rather than allow Mr. Howell to enter the car, I looked it over and found the bomb.”
“You have experience with explosives, Mr. Remus?” asked, again interrupting Blaine’s line of questioning.
Elliot shook his head. “Nothing I would put on a resume, but enough to recognize a bomb when I see one. I couldn’t tell you what the trigger was.”
made a mental note to look into the man’s background just to be sure. From the stiff, wary stance of the man, one that mirrored Blaine’s own, was guessing former military. He knew the man was an independent contractor for private security, but more information would have to be added to the file.
“Anything else?” asked.
Elliot frowned. “It didn’t look like a shoddily put together bomb. Either the person who put it there has good connections, or they’ve got a decent amount of knowledge. Other than that, I’m sorry, officers, there’s not much more I can add.”
drifted away from the conversation, letting his mind ponder what they knew. It wasn’t much, save that Howell’s previous concerns about his life being in danger were well-founded.
“Well,” Blaine said, shooting an unreadable look. “It sounds like you made the right choice in hiring some protection, Mr. Howell.”
“Money well spent,” Howell said.
“We’ll be in touch if we discover anything and hopefully keep you updated,” Blaine assured them.
looked around the room as the two men muttered their thanks. Anthony Howell had certainly done well for himself in the charity business. didn’t know enough about charities, but it seemed rather fancy for a place that was supposed to give money away. The carpet was intricate and soft, the paintings on the walls classy and well-maintained. Even the furniture looked like it came from an interior design shop instead of shipped in pieces.
His eyes flicked to the woman behind the desk opposite the double doors. She was watching them carefully, but her eyes weren’t on . He turned to watch where her gaze led, and it fell on Blaine, standing off to one side, looking at his notebook. checked, and sure enough, her eyes were locked on his partner, sweeping over his long, bulky body with a gleam of appreciation.
Finally, her eyes moved to , and he scowled. A blush crept up her cheeks, and she quickly found something interesting on her desk.
“Anything else?” Blaine asked, voice soft.
jerked at the soft sound in his ear. He stepped away from Blaine quickly, wondering how the hell the man had gotten so close without noticing.
“Fuck’s sake, Blaine,” snapped at him.
Blaine raised a brow. “Well?”
was not impressed. He wasn’t. There was no way in hell he would ever admit to being impressed by anything Blaine did. It was just that fancy military training at work, that was all.
Ignoring his twisting stomach, nodded tersely. “We just had to interview him. Now we go back and do more paperwork.”
“Oh, joy.”
* * *
The ride back was as silent as the ride to the scene. The difference was that the silence felt far more uncomfortable than before. couldn’t say why, but he had the distinct feeling that something was brewing in Blaine’s head. There was no real give away on his face, though thought maybe Blaine’s jaw was a little tighter than before. It was mostly just a feeling.
Then again, that was pure Blaine. Where would throw his problem in someone’s face and force them to deal with him, Blaine internalized and evaluated it. Most of the time, he would inevitably let the problem go, having argued with himself over it. Other times, it meant he was stewing, and that was never a good thing.
wasn’t going to ask, though. It wasn’t his problem.
He raised his hand in a brief greeting to David at the front desk. When David realized it was them, the man drew his book back out from under his desk. couldn’t tell if he was amused or disturbed that the front cover had a shapely woman wound tightly around a built man, his chest gleaming from his open fireman’s jacket. The ax the woman held in one hand, with a decidedly lewd grip, was an interesting touch.
The things you learned about people.
As soon as they entered the office, threw himself into his chair. “Just load up the program and put in what we learned. There should be an option to connect it to the other Howell files we have on record.”
“I saw it earlier,” Blaine said tiredly.
turned to him. “Got a problem?”
Blaine didn’t look at him as he clicked around. “Are you planning on butting in every time I click something?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you put me to work on the interview and then took over whenever you felt like it. I assume you’ll be doing the same for this.”
“Last I fucking checked, I’m the one who’s supposed to be showing you the ropes.”
“That doesn’t require pinning me to them because you’re pissed off at me.”
“Oh, fuck you,” grunted, spinning to face his computer.
Blaine snorted softly. “Is this where you pretend not to know what I’m talking about?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” insisted.
“Right. Because you haven’t been a surly ass for the past week. Because you didn’t try to throw me at the interview because you wanted to mess with me. Because you didn’t constantly interrupt because you’re pissed off at me and don’t trust me.”
glowered at his screen, angrily typing in his login information. “Someone’s paranoid. You’re new, and I’m doing my job.”
“This isn’t about the job, and you know it,” Blaine said softly.
“Yes, it is.”
pushed away from his desk again, fuck this, he was going to grab something to eat. He wasn’t going to sit around and listen to Blaine, of all people, explain to him in that infuriatingly calm voice what ’s problem was.
“You’re pissed at me,” Blaine repeated.
“I don’t give a shit, Blaine. That’s not the fucking point,” hissed as he stomped out of the office.
Blaine was quick on his heels. “It is the point. You just don’t want it to be.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” snarled, stomping toward the break room.
“What, the truth? Well, that’s what it is,” Blaine shot back.
“Like you would even know the truth. You haven’t known me for eight years. You don’t know a goddamn thing about me,” told him as he hurried down the hallway.
“Right, because people undergo huge dramatic changes in their whole personality. You’re not the same guy in many ways. No, that can’t be possible.”
The sarcasm pissed off even more, and he whirled around. “Fuck you, Blaine, you don’t get to call me out, you don’t get to know me .”
Blaine stared down at him, a sad expression crossing his face, then disappearing. ’s stomach turned at the brief display of emotion, and he shoved his thoughts away. No, he was not going to feel bad for Blaine. He was not going to give him pity or sympathy.
“I do know you. Even if you refuse to admit it,” Blaine said softly.
“You knew me. And then you left. You left town, you left the state, you left the fucking country. You left…” he stopped himself before finishing with ‘me.’
“You,” Blaine finished instead.
God, he hated how, eight years later, the reminder still twisted in his gut. was tired of being left. He was tired of being second to everything else in people’s lives. The only person who hadn’t left him was his brother. Sean was still by his side and would be for as long as possible. All could rely on was his brother and himself. On the job, sure, he could probably rely on Blaine, but that was as far as it was getting.
“But it was more than that,” Blaine continued.
’s lip curled in a flash of rage. He was not getting into this with Blaine, not again. The past was the past, and they were leaving it there.
“If you can’t handle the job, then find another one. I’m not going to kiss your ouchies and make you feel better about yourself because I, the trained cop, am doing my job. And stop trying to make this out to be more than it is. You’re my partner because you have to be, and I will do my job and train you. There is nothing else to this.”
The words tumbled from his lips, shoving at Blaine as hard as he could without actually making contact. They were bitter. Even could hear that. They felt fragile, too, as though they might shatter the moment they touched something remotely firm. But it was the only truth he could offer Blaine, the only truth he could bring himself to speak.
And so what if the words tasted like lies on his tongue.
“Get that through your head, now,” spat, whirling away.
He left Blaine and his blank expression, standing in the hallway. marched away, intent on finding something to fill his stomach besides coffee. And though harder than before, he ignored the twisting in his stomach.