Chapter 12
ISAAC
Isaac felt the sting of cold as Andrew jerked away from him, scrambling to tuck himself away, mess on his skin and clothes be damned.
Slower, given how sore he was, Isaac did the same. “Kathleen let you through?” he asked in annoyance over the horror clear on Andrew and Steven’s faces.
“She was on the phone.” Steven stared at his brother, and then at Isaac like he was going through shock. “Chambers waved me through when I said I was here to see you.”
Isaac finished dressing, but it wasn’t comfortable, given the stickiness left behind. He kept waiting for Steven to start yelling, but as his cheeks cooled, just as easily made red as his brother’s it turned out, he maintained a chilling calmness.
“I can explain,” Andrew tried, but Steven ignored him.
“I only have three questions for you, Ford. How you answer determines my response.”
“So black and white, Detective?” Isaac asked, wondering if one response might be to pull his gun.
He was still out of breath, huffing as he and Andrew stood off the side of the table, while Steven kept his distance.
“I tend to be a few varied shades of grey these days. What if I’m not in the mood to answer nicely? ”
“Then I guess Andy’s going to have to find a new fuck buddy.”
“Hey.” Andrew got between them with clenched fists.
Isaac smiled, trying to hide the softness of it behind Andrew’s back—ever the white knight, so quick to defend him. “It’s all right. Let him ask his questions.”
Andrew hesitated but shifted to the side.
“How long?”
Isaac glanced at Andrew.
“Christmas,” Andrew admitted.
“The breakout?!”
“It was one time then. Never anything before that, no conflict of interest on his cases.”
“Are you sure? Maybe that fake dating was the truth, and that’s why you only caught him on one count of burglary.”
“It wasn’t like that. It was Christmas, and then nothing. And then… this thief and everything with Dalton… it started up again.”
“Why? What’s in it for you?” Steven turned to Isaac—question two.
“You mean besides the obvious?” Isaac leered, feeling justified in ruffling him, especially when he grimaced.
“One more question.” Steven stalked closer. “What do you plan to do when this ends?”
When, Isaac noted, not if, and damn it if that didn’t churn his stomach.
He never thought about it ending. Never thought about what they were doing, period, because they didn’t talk about it, had a silent agreement to not poke that bear until forced to.
Steven had no problem shooting the bear in the eye.
“Are you saying you’re planning to force it to end?” Isaac asked coolly.
“No. Though I have to say, Ford, you’re not as duplicitous as I’d been led to believe.”
“What?”
“You have very subtle tells,” Steven said with a… smirk forming? “Most people wouldn’t notice. It’s what caused you to react that interests me, because this isn’t blowing off steam like I thought the other night.”
“Other night?” Andrew turned, shocked, to his brother.
“Family dinner. All that nonsense with you two working together and some ruse about dating. I already wondered. And then I smelled Ford’s cologne. Just like what was all over you the week before.”
“That…” Andrew paled. “That could have been…”
“I’m a detective, Andy. I wish I hadn’t had the truth proven like this…
” Steven grimaced again, but his disgust seemed more from having seen his little brother in that position rather than who he’d been with.
“I didn’t say anything then because I had to be sure he wasn’t using you, like Olivia again.
You’ve had so much faith in him, I didn’t want it to only be because of…
nightly activities. Well, not only night, apparently. ”
Isaac snorted, and Andrew snorted too, and suddenly, being discovered wasn’t so terrible.
“Are you giving us your blessing, Detective?” Isaac asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m not telling you to stay away from him.
I’m not going to tell you not to hurt him either.
No relationship ends without someone getting hurt.
But when it does—if it does,” Steven stepped into Isaac’s space with clear warning, “don’t twist that to your advantage.
Don’t be the man I thought you were. For once, I’d rather be proven wrong. ”
Isaac tried very hard to not react to the lightness in his chest caused by Steven correcting himself with that elusive ‘if’. He hadn’t considered this ending. But he hadn’t considered it not ending either.
“I was in the neighborhood and wanted to check in if anything new had come up. Don’t respond to that.
” Steve scowled when Andrew made an amused face.
“When you get a line on the classifieds ad, let me know. This is just inane enough of a plan that it might work. I guess you two don’t make the worst team, after all.
” He turned to go but added with one final wrinkle of his nose. “Now, go take a shower.”
Andrew laughed.
Left alone once more, the tension alleviated somewhat, but Isaac wasn’t sure what to say.
“Guess I should, um… go do that.” Andrew gestured weakly at the door.
“I have a shower here.”
“Yeah, but then I’d never get out of this building.”
They shared a chuckle, and Andrew paused before moving to leave.
“Forget something?” Isaac asked.
“I…”
“The mug and thermos,” he reminded him.
“Right! Yeah.”
“Something else?” Isaac asked once he’d retrieved the items, harkening back to the night before, with the same static charge between them and so much laid bare without anything really having been said.
Isaac didn’t think he could be the one to say it, not if he was wrong that Andrew wanted the same thing.
“There’s a lot we can’t know until this is over, so… ask me again after?”
“If you forgot something?”
“Yeah. After.” Andrew smiled.
And then he was gone.
After. Isaac didn’t know what came after, because there was still a chance that someone he knew and trusted had betrayed him.
If the thief was one or more of his people, those who balked at a criminal doing security consulting would finally get to say, “Once a thief, always a thief.” Everything Isaac had built would be for nothing.
He’d never lied when he said, “What else would I be good at?” but now, he might honestly have to think of something else to do. He couldn’t go back to being a thief, just another criminal like the one who was screwing him over. He’d lose everything. His new life. Dalton.
Andrew.
That thought haunted him as he showered, cleaned up the conference room, and tried to stay busy for the rest of the day.
It was late when he finally wandered into his living quarters, assuming the others had all left, but there Luke and Kathleen were at his kitchen table, finishing dinner with Dalton, like they all lived there too.
Dalton’s hand was still wrapped, but there really had been nothing broken.
“Where you been?” Luke grumbled. “You’re lucky we saved you some. Dalton was about to go in after you.”
“Still kicking yourself over that thief’s getaway?” Kathleen asked.
Isaac didn’t answer.
“Dad?” Dalton pressed, walking away from the table that the others started cleaning up, but there was still a place set for Isaac.
“I’ll heat it up later. I’m not really hungry.” He’d tried for so long to ignore the part of him that wanted a home for himself, but lately, it kept staring him in the face—with his same blue eyes. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
“Sure,” Dalton said.
Isaac led him out to the living room and sat on the sofa, leaving Luke and Kathleen to do the cleaning, which served them right for adding to his dishwasher load again.
“What is it, Dad? Are you still that worried about me?”
“Always. And I’ll be just as worried once the thief is caught, but that’s not what this is about.
” Isaac faced him, staring into the sparkling blues that echoed his own, unsure why now was the moment he had to confess, but he knew he did.
“I need to tell you how Andrew and I really know each other.”
“He arrested you.”
Isaac startled. “You promised you wouldn’t look into my past—”
“I didn’t. It was just obvious. Wait, does that mean you never dated?”
Isaac nearly laughed by how surprised Dalton seemed by that. “We did not.”
“Being so quick to lie about it then was more… wish-fulfillment?” He grinned. “You’re so obviously into each other.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Everything’s complicated. For everyone. All the time. Who cares? I mean, Andrew went along with that ridiculous lie without losing a step. For you. Would it be so insane to ask him out?”
Isaac gazed at his son. “He’s your friend, and a good man, but I’ve never understood. Why do you want us together so badly?”
“Because you like each other,” Dalton shrugged, “but you’re letting stupid things keep you apart. Just like you and Mom.”
A swell of anguish bubbled up from the pit of Isaac’s stomach. “Dalton…”
“She told me she left not because she didn’t like you, but because she was afraid you couldn’t make it work when your lives were heading different directions.
She said she had no regrets, but that she wished she’d at least given you the chance to decide if you could become something more, like you’re doing now.
I couldn’t stand the thought of watching the same thing happen again, not when I know what you’re really afraid of. ”
“And what is that?”
Dalton’s smile was soft and sweet as he said, “That you’ll fail. That you’ll let me down. I think you’re afraid you’ll let Andrew down too, now that you really know each other and are starting to realize that maybe something could work between you two.
“I don’t care if you screw up sometimes, Dad.
Nobody can be perfect and good all the time.
Not me. Not you. Not Andrew. I just want you to think better of yourself, to be as good at that as you are at everything else.
If that includes being with Andrew, well…
I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have watching out for you than a good friend. You deserve that.”
Once again, Isaac didn’t know what to say, so he grabbed Dalton’s shoulder and pulled him against him tight. He was always going to worry about Dalton—and worry that someday he’d disappoint him. Maybe that was all that was keeping him from asking more from Andrew too.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too.”
ANDREW
Candace had been hounding Andrew all morning—and most of yesterday—that he needed to ditch Ford on the Avalon case and mend bridges immediately to keep the contract, but he knew what she didn’t: if all went well catching the thief and it really was someone from Ford’s firm, Andrew’s relationship with Vallancourt would be solid.
And Ford would likely lose all his clients.
Winning that way was not how Andrew wanted this to go. A couple weeks earlier, he would have been celebrating. Now, he just felt nauseous.
His phone going off in his pocket interrupted his pace on his way to the newsstand. If the thief was following Ford’s old code, then the classifieds ad would be under Merchandise.
Fumbling to answer the call as he reached the corner, Andrew saw that Candace had grown tired of him evading her texts. “I’m just getting a paper. I’m on my way to the office now,” he said by way of greeting.
“I should hope so,” she answered. “Now is the time to act. The thief getting away again doesn’t make us look very good. You need to throw Ford under the bus before it’s made public, before he can throw you under the bus first.”
“He’s not going to do that. We’re working through things with Vallancourt.”
“Andrew, please don’t set yourself up to eat those words later.
Dalton and a nice family dinner do not mean Ford’s changed.
Do you remember how hard he was to catch as a criminal?
Literally everything he’s doing around you, everything that’s been going on, could be part of a ploy and you just can’t see it. ”
Andrew tucked himself in the corner where the edge of the newsstand met the building it stood in front of. For one ugly moment he wondered if she could be right and that everything had been a ruse, even down to the man Andrew punched in that underground club, and Ford simply had accomplices.
Then he felt ridiculous for even entertaining the idea.
“Not this time. Forget Avalon for right now. We have other clients. Let’s focus on them. It’s going to be okay, Candace. My judgment isn’t always as bad as it was with Liv.”
Candace sighed, but signed off with wary, “I hope you’re right.”
“That wasn’t very nice.”
Andrew’s attention darted up, and he nearly dropped his phone.
Olivia. Smiling again, just there, always there, without any shred of remorse.
If they weren’t in public, Andrew honestly might have punched her like that man the other night, but she’d only make a story out of that too.
“Hear me out—”
He pushed from the wall of the building with such force and angry intent, she cut off, maybe thought he would hit her, but he steeled himself and said, “Ford was right about you. You don’t even know what honest work looks like anymore.
To think, someone I was with for almost two years has less integrity than an ex-criminal I used to hate.
“But you know, if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be where I am now, even after that article, so thanks, Liv. I hope someday I can return the favor.” He stared her down, not breaking eye contact or letting her see him flinch.
She flinched first and backed up a step before turning to walk away.
Some people deserved the second chances they were given. Some never knew how to take them. Andrew wasn’t the best at telling them apart, but he thought he was getting better.
He snatched up today’s copy of the paper, paid, and returned to his tucked away corner. Classifieds. Merchandise. Then only seconds of scanning before he found it.
Buyer wanted. Complete set of Arthurian collectables. Second owner. 11 South 225 Capella.