Chapter 6 #3
“Look at you two all cozy.” Riley flashed a charming, flirtatious grin that made Andrew’s cheeks burn hot.
Why had he gone all machismo and allowed Riley to… watch? He’d never be able to look him in the eyes again. He’d also never thought he was an exhibitionist before, but between that, the rooftop, and the precinct, it was getting hard to pretend otherwise.
“Why are you here?” Ford pressed.
“Uh, coz it’s my job.” Riley planted his hands on his hips, a messenger bag over his shoulder to carry what Andrew assumed was his laptop. “You can’t partner with Wen and co. and not bring in your own tech master. Besides, I can play nice. Isn’t that what you two are doing?”
Ford looked ready to prove how ‘nice’ he could be when Dalton and the others returned, talking animatedly until Kevin cut off with a yelp.
“What’s he doing here?”
Kevin and Riley rarely encountered one another, but when they did, their rivalry was far more palpable than Andrew and Ford’s.
“Dalton,” Riley ignored him, strolling up to Dalton’s side. “So nice to see you again. Are you helping with the case too?”
“I am. I didn’t know you’d be joining us. What a nice surprise.”
It was?
“Can’t wait to discover what other surprises there might be, especially if they’re about you,” Riley leered.
Andrew could not believe he was flirting with Dalton so blatantly, and right in front of Ford! Dalton wasn’t shying away from it, either.
“Sports or video games?”
“The uniforms can be a plus and all, but I prefer to stay in.”
“Genre?”
“MOBAs mostly, but I’m… flexible.”
“Please stop,” Kevin groaned, while Ford looked on, like watching a car crash he couldn’t stop.
“XBOX or PlayStation?” Dalton went on. “Though I suppose PCs if you’re into MOBAs.”
“True. Otherwise, PlayStation, always. Wars or Trek?”
“Both, but if I had to choose, I’m a Trekkie all the way. And we,” Dalton pointed at Kevin and Andrew, “are due for a marathon. Maybe you can join us.” He returned to Riley.
“Lopez gets pretty uppity about Wrath of Khan.”
“That’s because this pleb,” Kevin spat, “actually said to me once that Wrath of Khan is overrated.”
Andrew realized where this was headed far too late.
“It is,” Dalton said plainly.
“Excuse me?” Kevin whirled on him. “We can no longer be friends.”
Dalton laughed, fully confident that Kevin was joking. “Andrew agrees with me,” he dragged him helplessly into the fray. “Tell him.”
“He does not.” Kevin stared in horror, but when Andrew could only shrug in reply, he gasped, “Dude.”
“I don’t hate it,” Andrew said. “It’s just not my favorite. I always preferred the Bones/Kirk dynamic, so I think Search for Spock gets a bad rap.”
“Do I even know you? Not that I should be surprised.” Kevin’s accusing stare turned to include Ford. “Got a soft spot for smartasses?”
Traitor. Though Andrew supposed he deserved that. Still, he could have done without the fresh blush that filled his cheeks when everyone, Ford included, turned to look at him.
“On rare occasions,” Andrew admitted.
“Oh really?” Ford said, voice sultry without trying, which sent Andrew’s thoughts right back to the gutter. “I agree, you know. McCoy was a far superior character. He and Kirk had so much more… chemistry.”
“Dad,” Dalton reminded them that they were not supposed to be acting this obvious in front of others. “You’re making Andrew blush.”
“I’m not blushing!” Andrew protested, though he so was, and moved to Candace’s computer chair to hide his face while it cooled down. “Kev, Candace, help me pull up everything we have so far, so we can get started. The rest of you, help yourselves to donuts.”
Following Andrew to the desk, while the others mulled across the room to the coffee maker, Kevin was at least good enough not to remind Andrew that three people were not needed to do this, but he still leaned in to whisper, “Are you sure you two never dated?”
“Shut up.”
“I should hope not,” Candace said with a sneer. “You always blush easy.”
Now, Andrew had to tell her the whole truth, and maybe it was a blessing that ‘the enemy’ was so close by, because as he whispered the rest of the story to her, she couldn’t have too big of a reaction without alerting Dalton, and the one constant was that everyone liked him.
“Can you please play along until this is over?”
“For him.” She nodded at Dalton. “At least Ford wants to keep him safe.”
“Thank you. And Kev, maybe stop making things worse every chance you get.”
“Me? You’re supposed to be honest with your best friends, but you kept Candace out of the loop, and suddenly, completely out of the blue, you like dudes and Bones? Which was not meant to be a pun, please ignore that.”
Anymore eye-rolls today and Andrew would give himself a headache. “I did not try to hide that I’m bi. I just don’t blurt it out in casual conversation. And you were so into the whole Kirk/Spock thing, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
Kevin grumbled, but once he’d finished bringing up everything they needed to review on the computer in place of surveillance, he relented. “Fine. I understand why you like Dalton. But Ford?”
“I do not like—”
“Are we going to get started?” Ford called, kruller in hand that he took a slow, sensuous bite of, which should have been impossible to make sexy, yet somehow, he managed.
He was easy to like too, and while Andrew knew he should be wary of Candace being right about betrayal, all he could focus on was the path of that tongue chasing crumbs.
It was going to be a very long morning.
ISAAC
Entertainment factor aside in getting Andrew flustered, Isaac wished he’d known about Riley’s addition so he could have voiced his dissent and prevented it.
He was only wary because of the criminal element, however much that might be behind Riley like everyone else on his payroll.
It had nothing to do with being overprotective of his son.
Isaac just couldn’t be held responsible for the aftermath if someone broke his boy’s heart.
As they finally started discussing the case, gathered around the front desk with Kevin in the chair again, Isaac kept being drawn to the way Dalton was drawn to Riley, and how much Riley kept encouraging it. It was awful, even if feeling that way did make Isaac a stereotype.
“Dad?” Dalton asked, as if he’d already called for him more than once. “When were you planning to do a test run on Avalon’s security?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Andrew repeated.
“The longer we wait, the more chances this person has to try again before we’re ready. I’d say it’s fairly obvious they know we’re on this, given the change in MO the other day.”
“Change?” Kevin said. “But they still got away, and preliminary reports say they didn’t leave any evidence again.”
“They tripped an alarm,” Andrew reminded him. “They’d never done that before.”
“Which I think was on purpose,” Isaac said, “a diversion to gauge where we were and what we were up to.”
“Seriously?” Riley sputtered, the others all looking equally shocked—other than Andrew.
“I was thinking that too,” he said. “It’s like they wanted to pull us out into the open and confirm we were working together.”
“That’s giving them a lot of credit,” Candace said.
“At this point, they deserve it, considering how well they’ve been fooling the police. They’re watching Avalon, biding their time for when to go back.”
“So, we set a trap,” Isaac said. “I conduct my own break-in to help fill in the gaps for how our thief keeps sneaking into these places undetected, while leaving a tempting opening in security for them to follow. I’ll lead them exactly where we want, so that when they finally go for the prize again, we’ll have them. ”
“Agreed.” Andrew nodded. “And I want to help.”
“You are helping.”
“With the heist.”
He really was far too adorable sometimes. “It’s not a heist if I’m not taking anything.”
“Whatever. I trust you to do it on your own, I’m not trying to be a babysitter, but we’re working on this together, aren’t we?”
He wasn’t off base with that request, but Isaac couldn’t give in without some stipulations. “You don’t do business the way I do. You’re green where it comes to practical runs on security. But I suppose I could allow this, as long as you follow my rules.”
“Such as?” Andrew asked skeptically.
“I make the plan, and you follow my lead, period.”
Isaac would swear a shiver ran down Andrew’s spine. He did like taking orders.
“Fine,” he said with faint color touching his cheeks again. “Just tell me where and when.”
Here. Now. Isaac recalled Andrew’s words from the alley before he’d slammed him up against the wall. Andrew must have thought of that too, because he bit his lip and flicked his eyes furtively down Isaac’s body, flustered and eager again.
Isaac couldn’t deny how much it made him eager too. Everything about today and how things had gone down was a net positive in his mind.
“Guess we’re finished. Any lunch plans?” Riley asked Dalton.
Except that.
“Which reminds me…” Andrew said, suddenly sheepish. “There’s, uhh… something I need to ask you all. Well, not Riley.”
Riley scowled, but what caught Isaac’s attention was the way Andrew bit his lip again, this time with a scrunched brow.
“Please don’t be mad.”