Chapter 12 #2
“To answer your question, I used to sleep at the fire station three days on, four days off, three days on—and so on. It seemed stupid to pay for an apartment when I’d only use it half the time.
Especially when I had my uncle’s old boat readily available for a few nights of sleep.
Now that I’m in Investigations, there’s no more bunk life for me.
” He took another swig of water, glancing around.
The boat was supposed to have been a short-term hideaway, not a home.
“Maybe it’s time to consider getting an actual place.
Somewhere with a big, giant bed where I can really spread out.
” He sighed. “Oh gods, that would be amazing.” He smiled.
“Though close quarters have their merit, too.”
Dash’s cheeks darkened again. “I wasn’t sure if we’d both fit in your bed.”
Emerson grinned. “We fit just fine.”
Dash’s cheeks grew even redder. Emerson liked seeing him that way. The other cheeks down below would be enjoyable in the same shade.
Another time.
“Though, to be honest, I don’t know if I’m where I’m supposed to be. It might be premature to look for another place. I might end up back at another station.”
Dash frowned. “You don’t like working with Harrison?”
Emerson shrugged. “It was great when we had an arsonist to hunt down. It’s been a bit… boring ever since.”
“The only man in the province who’s upset the arsonist was caught.”
“It’s not that,” Emerson said. “Charles needed to be stopped and held accountable. But now there’s not much to do. I’m used to being in the thick of things, fighting fires and helping people. I feel pretty useless these days.”
“You’re not useless. You and your brother caught Charles.”
“I came in at the tail end of it and got more credit than I deserved. It was all Harry.”
“So, you want to go back to three days on, four days off? Long shifts and dangerous work?”
“I don’t know,” Emerson said. “It’s hard on the body and the mind to work those kinds of shifts, but what else can I do? I went straight into the Academy at seventeen. I’ve done nothing else for the last seventeen years since but fight fires. Minus the last few months, of course.”
“Seventeen years, hmm? And you only made it to Lt. Captain in all that time?”
Emerson lifted a brow. “And you’re insinuating what?”
“Your twin ended up leading Fire Investigations years ago, if I recall my research. He started with the department at the same time, right?”
“He did.” Emerson chuckled, but there was little humor in it. “I’m considered the irresponsible twin.”
“Are you?”
“My family thinks I spend my free nights carousing and sleeping in random omegas’ beds.”
“Why?”
Emerson sighed. “Because that’s what I’ve told them. To cover who I really am.”
“I suppose it’s not too far from the truth. Exchange omega for alpha.”
“I don’t carouse,” Emerson said.
“You were at the Dragon tonight, likely in hopes of getting an alpha in your bed tonight, I’d wager.”
“And lo and behold, I did.”
Dash narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, I go out on occasion. And I sometimes bring someone back here for some fun,” Emerson said. “I’m a man in my prime. Should I live like a monk?”
A pained look crossed Dash’s face.
“Is that what you do? Live like a monk?”
“Close,” Dash admitted. “It’s safer than being caught.”
“Which is why no one that matters knows I still have the boat nor that I spend most of my nights away from the station here, quietly. It keeps them from showing up and catching me on the off chance I’m not alone.
” He shook his head. “At least, they didn’t.
Harrison recently figured it out and caught me one morning not too long ago.
I covered it. Not well, mind you, but I gave him a half-assed story.
” Emerson sighed. “I think he suspects, but I didn’t tell and he didn’t ask.
No idea if he’s said anything to anyone. ”
“Randall seemed pretty surprised to see you tonight. I’d wager Harrison has kept your secret. So far. How much longer that stands, who knows? Now that Randall knows, too.”
Emerson sighed. “I never admitted to anything nor did you. He might have suspicions, but nothing concrete. Neither one of them knows for sure.”
Dash lifted a brow. “Randall knows.”
Silence fell between them.
“If we’d been caught tonight by the wrong Guardsman, I would’ve lost everything.
I could tell the world I was just there for an investigation, which was the truth, but no one would believe me.
” Dash ran a hand through his hair before pacing the length of the salon.
“I’d be shunned. No one would hire an alpha-attracted alpha to run security for them.
” He spun to face Emerson. “And you… you could lose your job. The respect of your family. From the look on your brother’s face tonight, you may have already lost his. ”
Emerson winced. “At least he protected us.”
“For now, but what if he reconsiders?”
“He won’t.”
Dash sneered. “You can’t be sure of that. And I’m not his brother. He has no reason to protect me.”
“My brothers aren’t like that. None of them,” Emerson said.
“And you’re completely sure of that?”
Emerson could only hope that Randall would keep his mouth shut. Nothing was for certain.
“From the look on your face, I think you have doubts. That doesn’t exactly leave me feeling comfortable.”
“I know my brothers enough to suspect they wouldn’t throw someone under the bus. He could’ve turned us in tonight, and he didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not enough for me. Are you going to talk to him about this?”
Emerson winced. “I was hoping to just let it blow over.”
“Emerson,” Dash said. “You have to talk to him. Make sure he’s not going to say anything to anyone.” When Emerson didn’t immediately reply, he added, “Please.”
Emerson sensed that ‘please’ had been hard for Dash to utter.
“Fine,” Emerson said, holding up a hand. “I’ll talk to him and make sure he won’t say anything about you being there.”
“I need to know what he says,” Dash said. “Honestly, I’d like to be there when you talk to him. I can help convince him to stay quiet.”
“No,” Emerson said. “Your presence might make us look guiltier.”
Dash’s face twisted with a look of pain.
Emerson leapt off the couch and marched closer. He grabbed the sides of Dash’s face and lifted it until their gazes met. “We’ve done nothing to feel guilty about.”
“What we did tonight is considered illegal.”
“It shouldn’t be,” Emerson said, his voice firm.
For the first time, there was a man he wanted more than one night with. No way was he going to let Dash spiral out and run from what they’d just shared.
“Regardless,” Dash said. “It is. Society has deemed it so. If we end up exposed, we’d both lose too much.”
“You’d rather live an empty life without love?”
Dash pulled away from him, his brow furrowed. “Who said anything about love?”
“I’m not calling this that.” Not yet. “But one day, maybe there’s a chance for both of us. Even if we have to hide the person and our love for them away. Would you really forgo that chance, simply because some men made an unfair law a few hundred years ago?”
Dash’s face softened, but he didn’t answer. Seconds later, the hard, indifferent mask returned as if it had never left.
“Your family seems very close,” Dash said, clearly moving them away from the topic of love. “What if Randall tells them what he saw tonight—and you lose them? Would loving another alpha have been worth it then?”
“In all honesty, it might be a relief that they knew,” Emerson replied.
Dash looked at him, aghast. “A relief?”
“When I saw Randall, I felt sick. But there was also this massive sense of relief that followed. I might not have to hide everything from him anymore. The lies—always watching every word I say, every step I take—it’s exhausting.
” He paused, eyeing Dash. “If they knew, I wouldn’t have to keep twisting myself into knots every time I see them.
” Pain lanced his chest. “Which isn’t as often as I want to, because I hate lying to them all the time. ”
Dash watched him, silent.
“What about your family? Do they know about you?”
“Absolutely not,” Dash said.
“You know a lot about my family, but I know nothing about yours,” Emerson said. “Do they live here in the province?”
“Yeah. My parents and my younger brother.”
“Are you close?” Emerson asked.
Dash shrugged. “Close-ish. I was away for long months at a time while in the Black Guard… and after I retired, I put everything into opening the firm. I don’t spend as much time with them as I’d like, but maybe it’s for the same reason you don’t with yours.
I don’t want to give them opportunities to see too much and figure out I’m different.
They’re way too smart for their own good. ”
“As smart as you?”
Dash shrugged. “Maybe smarter. My dad runs the province’s Crime Lab, and my brother works for him there, too.”
Emerson gasped. “Fuck, I didn’t even connect that. Dan and Oak are your dad and brother?”
Dash stiffened, appearing irritated that Emerson knew that. “That’s right. You’ve likely brought evidence to them for testing. Make sure you don’t mention you know me the next time you’re there.”
Emerson’s smile faded. “I can tell them I know you without sharing we’ve been intimate, you know? We met via Harrison.”
“I suppose but just… don’t.”
“It’s not against the law to know one another.”
Dash shrugged. “Why open it up to scrutiny?”
Emerson shook his head. The more minutes that ticked by, the farther away Dash seemed to grow. “I couldn’t imagine only having one brother. There’s eight of us.”
“Are you all close?”