Chapter 11 Landing Gear #2
“You’re so polite!” he laughed. “No, honestly, we just thought we’d check out Liam’s family, torment them, freak them out about how scary we are, and then fade away to a hotel. We’ve got a room checked out in your name. It’s all fine.”
“My name?” Josh asked, absolutely positive they wouldn’t be that stupid.
“J.D. Morgan,” Molly corrected. “Don’t worry, Josh, we’ve all done our homework.” She gave Robert a cheerful grin. “But everything else is pretty much correct. We wanted to scope out Liam’s family. Is this it? I thought we were promised siblings out the ass.”
“I try hard to keep my siblings very much out of my ass, thank you,” Robert said with a grin. “And no, I’m the second in line. Meg is next, Caleb is fourth, Patricia fifth, and Tanda is our youngest and our best.”
Grace tilted his head. “Sorry, Liam, I guess your little sister is the pride and joy?”
“I don’t know, Grace,” Liam said, his accent growing thicker—probably with discomfort. “How excited would your family be if you became a copper?”
Grace snorted. “My family does not actually give a rat’s ass if I live or die. Josh’s family can vouch for that, which is why I live there now. But I do see what you mean. It would be a disappointment.”
“And I followed in my big brother’s footsteps,” Robert said dryly, “so that makes us both disappointments.”
Josh cocked his head, stifling a yawn. “You’re law enforcement?” he asked.
“Oh aye—detective constable. Couldn’t quite find the knack of rising the promotional ladder Liam did, but I do okay.”
Liam snorted. “Not your fault the female superior officers were fewer and further between.”
“Yeah, Liam was born with a lucky cock is all,” Robert said, laughing. “But we do all right. Meg helps with her husband’s business, Caleb’s a baker, of all things, Patricia teaches little ’uns, but Tanda—she’s going to uni and, well, yes. We’re all proud.”
Grace grunted, taking Josh’s wheeled suitcase from his other hand and shooing him to sit on the couch across from Robert.
“Grace,” Josh complained fractiously, but Grace scowled.
“We are leaving in a minute,” he said, “and then you and Liam can crash. I’m on to you, Recovery Boy. Your mother laid into us all while you were napping yesterday before you left. It’s our job to keep you healthy. No getting sick now when we’re so close to the end.”
Josh grunted and sank into the really comfortable cream-colored tweed. There was a vibrantly colored throw on the back, and he realized that he had to fight the compulsion to grab the throw, curl up on the cushions, and fall asleep, letting all of Liam’s family wash over his head.
“Tell us more,” he said to Robert on a yawn. “What’s your mom like? Does Meg like her job? Are there nieces and nephews? Liam doesn’t tell us anything.”
Liam grunted. “We’ve been having planning meetings in your bedroom until twelve at night. Doesn’t give us much chance for background.”
Josh grunted. “We spent three weeks in a little berth in the Caribbean. You didn’t tell me much then either.”
Robert let out a little laugh. “Yes, Meg and Caleb are married—Caleb too early, Meg just right. Caleb has a little boy—the reason for the too early, but he and his wife seem to make it work. Meg has one of each. They’re all right terrors.
You can meet them tomorrow when they come over for breakfast.”
Josh struggled to process this, but Liam, apparently, was right on top of it.
“When they what?”
Robert gave him a smug glance. “You tell us you’re by for two days and bringing the love of your life with you, and you didn’t expect this?”
Liam gave Josh a quick, embarrassed look. “I didn’t say—”
“Oh the hell you did not!” Robert laughed.
“We’ve heard of nothing but this boy for over a year!
” Robert regarded Josh kindly. “We were all so very relieved to hear you’re recovering from your illness, lad.
Liam was in a state, trying to pretend he didn’t care and most obviously caring.
But we’ve been hearing stories of your ’Uncle Danny’ for ten years now.
I swear, wanting to catch a Lightfingers was one of the reasons I went after detective, now, wasn’t it.
So yes, you’re coming by your flat today and leaving the day after tomorrow.
From you, Liam, it’s practically an entire Christmas visit.
Of course Mum’s coming by. In fact, she’s texted me, insisting these two come sleep in her guest room at the house.
Says she’ll show ’em baby annuals and the whole kit and caboodle.
” He looked expectantly at Grace and Molly, his gaze seeming to linger over Molly’s curves and wicked green eyes.
“That all right with you two? We’ve got two twin beds, if that’s all right. ”
Grace sniffed. “Girl cooties,” he said with contempt. “We could sleep in the same bed and it would be like having a full-sized body pillow.”
Molly stared at him, horrified. “It would not, you little pervert. I shudder to think of what you did with a body pillow before you met Hunter.”
Grace let out a cackle. “Not even Hunter wants to know what I’d do with a body pillow before I met Hunter.
” He turned to Robert. “So yes, I’m gay, and yes, two twin beds are fine, and wait a minute…
.” Before Josh’s eyes, he transformed into the charming young gentleman that Julia, Felix, and Danny had been trying to get him to be for the past ten years.
“That would be very generous of you,” he said.
“Molly and I would love to accept. We need to Uber to our hotel to get our things first.”
“I’ll take you to fetch ’em,” Robert said, smiling at him, obviously charmed. Then he turned to Molly. “And it would be a shame to be in bed with this one and mistake her for a body pillow, so I think two beds are best.”
Molly—to Josh’s immense enjoyment—blushed hard at this, the color sweeping from her neck to her forehead, washing over the freckles on her cheeks.
“That would be nice,” she murmured. “The ride, I mean. Uhm, and thank you for not, uhm, arresting us when we broke in.”
It was Robert’s turn to cackle. “I could have sworn you had a key, you came in so smoothly. If you’re as good as Lightfingers, I can see why he’s such a prize for Interpol.”
Liam groaned. “Shh, Robert—you’re practically an information toxic leak.”
Robert’s smile remained undimmed, and Josh laughed to himself as he closed his eyes. Suddenly Liam was at his elbow, hissing, “Nope-nope-nope… come along, boy-o. To bed. I’ll wake you up around noon to eat.”
“No bed,” Josh yawned. “Want to see your baby pictures.”
Liam grunted, and Robert, still back in the living area, let out a quiet whoop. “No escaping it, brother—we’ll show him all your secrets.”
Josh mumbled something that might have been, “So nice to meet you,” before he found himself sitting on the edge of the bed while Liam took off his shoes.
“I’m sorry I’m falling asleep,” he mumbled. “I want to talk to your family.”
“I suspect you will,” Liam said. “In fact, given how much work we have to do tomorrow, I suspect I need to call them up and put some boundaries on how long breakfast is going to last.”
Josh smiled and cupped Liam’s cheek. “The job’ll sort itself,” he said. “I can’t wait to meet your people.”
Liam glanced up and captured his hand. “The job is dangerous,” he corrected. “All things in moderation.”
Josh shook his head a little giddily. “Tired of moderation,” he said. “I want some excess.”
“There will be time for that too,” Liam promised. “Although I warn you, I don’t think too much of you will ever be enough.”
“Pretty,” Josh hummed. “So pretty.” He found himself laid sideways on the bed and the blankets pulled tight around his chin. “Tell Grace he can cuddle for a few before you come to bed. He’ll get sad.”
A rough hand on his brow and a sigh. “Of course. I need to talk to Robert for a bit anyway.”
“Fucking cancer,” Josh mumbled, because while his shoulder was mostly recovered, his stamina—ah, yes. Another year or so before he’d be able to take that transatlantic red-eye and run around for a day before falling asleep. Sacrifices.
He was almost asleep when Grace scooted into the bed in front of him, forcing him to wiggle back to accommodate him.
“Anyone else—”
“Would have let you sleep. I know. I’m needy. Shut up and tell me you’re all right.”
“Just tired,” Josh said. Then he hugged his friend, truly able to relax because they were in this together like they’d always been. “Be nice to Liam while I’m sleeping.”
“It’s easy. He hasn’t done anything embarrassing yet. Wait until we catch him with his mouth open, snoring. Then we’ll do him dirty.”
Josh was too tired to do more than smile while he drifted off.
WHEN HE awoke, Molly, Grace, and Liam’s brother were gone, leaving him squinting in the grayish light coming through the tinted bank of windows.
Blinking, he tried to remember if it had been raining or not as they’d arrived and decided that yes, it had been, and he closed his eyes and channeled Danny again, trying to count heartbeats.
Liam. There on the couch. Tapping furiously on his laptop, a bag of takeout on the coffee table in front of him.
Josh groaned and sat up, more to give him notice than anything else.
Among other things, Danny had taught him how to creep out of bed so quietly nobody would know he’d woken up, a thing he’d done many times before Grace had come to live at his house, because he and Grace were frequently up to no good, and they didn’t want to trouble the adults with pesky morality questions.
“You don’t have to do that on my account,” Liam told him, glancing up from his computer. “I’ve seen you get out of bed enough now to know you make church mice look like they’re at a rave.”
Josh smiled a little and put his hand out to balance on the wall. “Still tired,” he admitted. “But starving. Please tell me your bathroom doesn’t have a floor-to-ceiling window, because I need to stop there too.”