Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
GABE
I heard the front door open and little feet running down the hallway. Cody came into the kitchen, where I was putting bottles of beer in the refrigerator. “Mr. Gabe! Daddy got a big birthday cake!”
I closed the fridge door and picked up the little boy. “He did? I’ll bet it looks yummy.”
“It does,” he said solemnly. “But Daddy said I can’t have any until Mr. Liam blows out his candles.”
“That’s right,” I replied. “It’s Mr. Liam’s birthday, so he gets the first piece of cake.”
Nico came in carrying the large Wegman’s cake box. “And it’s a special birthday,” he said, putting the cake on the counter. “Mr. Liam is going to be thirty years old.”
“Thirty!” Cody shouted. “That’s really old.”
“Thanks, kid,” I muttered.
“I wish it was my birthday,” he said sadly.
“Not yet,” Nico said. He held out his arms for his son. Cody wrapped his arms around Nico’s neck and clung like a little monkey. “Do you know when your birthday is?”
“May the fourth!” Cody replied with great enthusiasm.
“That’s right.” He walked over to the Star Wars calendar hanging on the wall. He pointed to the month. “What month is that?”
Cody’s little nose crinkled as he concentrated. “March.”
“Very good.” Nico flipped the calendar. “This is April. And what’s the next month after that?”
Cody grinned. “May!”
Nico flipped the calendar again to show Cody’s birthday month. He pointed at the fourth, which we’d circled with a red marker. “And there’s your birthday.”
“I’m going to be five!”
“I know,” Nico replied as he tickled Cody’s ribs. “That’s soooo old.”
Cody’s giggles and squeals almost drowned out the sound of someone coming in the front door. “Hello in the house,” Dante called out. “I bring booze and presents.”
“In the kitchen,” I said. “Bring the booze here and put the presents in the dining room.”
Pretty soon, the rest of the team arrived, along with Liam’s brother Sean and his husband Jeremy and Zach and Miguel. We’d invited Tony, but he had just broken up with his boyfriend and said he wouldn’t be very good company. Marco would be arriving with Liam in about half an hour. We’d tried to make it a surprise party, but we were pretty sure Liam knew about it and was just humoring us.
I reached into the cabinet to get the coffee down and winced. We’d had another personnel extraction the previous week, and a few of us got banged up. I had some bruised ribs from being kicked. Dante was sporting a pretty colorful black eye. Marco had gotten it the worst. He got shot in the calf, and the bullet hit his tibia, causing a hairline fracture. He had to wear a boot for four weeks. To say he was unhappy about this turn of events would be an understatement. The only saving grace was it was his left leg, so he could still drive.
We brought all the extra chairs in the house into the living room. Nico and I had moved Cody’s corner into Nico’s former bedroom. Cody had been ecstatic to have his very own room in our house. We’d let him pick out decorations and a new bed. He wavered between Lightning McQueen and the Batmobile but finally decided on the Batmobile so he could have one here and one at Uncle Zach’s house.
Nico was so happy that Cody was spending set times with us now. I knew he wanted more, but it was a delicate balance between Cody’s needs and Zach’s concerns. It hadn’t even been a year since Allie’s death, so it wasn’t surprising that Zach was reluctant to fully let go of his last connection to her. I commended Nico for his patience.
Andrea poked her head into the kitchen. “Marco and Liam just pulled up.”
I picked up Cody and put him on my shoulders. “Showtime!”
Nico laughed and shook his head at my antics. “Come on. Let’s go not surprise Liam.”
“You’re so mean,” I said.
“That man is no dummy. You all have been acting weird for the past week. He was bound to pick it up.”
The doorbell rang, and I hurried to answer it. When I opened the door, Liam was staring at Marco like he’d lost his mind. “Why did you ring the bell?”
I heard Nico snort behind me. I sighed. “Come on in.”
We walked into the living room and everyone yelled, “Surprise!”
Liam very graciously acted surprised, even though it was clear he wasn’t. There were the usual jeers and teasing, especially since it seemed Marco had zero chill when it came to surprising his boyfriend.
I, however, knew better. This surprise was a decoy. The real surprise was happening later this week. Marco had rented a yacht to take Liam stargazing off the coast of Puerto Rico. He planned to propose to him. He was going to surprise Liam with plane tickets later tonight. He’d been pissed when he’d gotten injured, worried it would prevent him from carrying out his plan. Luckily, it would not.
I put Cody down so he could make the rounds with all the guests. Everyone loved Cody, and it was nice to see how settled the little boy was among our group of friends and family. Nico was talking to Jeremy, and I wondered if it was about piano lessons for Cody. Now that he had a car, he felt more comfortable signing Cody up with the school Jeremy had founded.
I’d just gotten myself a beer when Michael sat beside me. His voice was low when he spoke. “I have some information you might find useful,” he said without preamble.
I leaned closer to him. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“Scott Bradley is in Ft. Lauderdale.”
My first instinct was to leap out of my seat and head for my car. I squashed that and took a breath. “How long has he been there?”
“My search picked him up yesterday,” Michael replied. “I had to check the facial recognition software to make sure. He’s dyed his hair dark brown and is wearing brown contact lenses.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay. We’ll have to make a plan. As much as I want to beat the shit out of this guy and leave him for the sharks, we have to do this right. He needs to go to prison for what he’s done.”
“Agreed.”
“Does Marco know?” I asked.
Michael nodded. “He knows. But we’re not involving him in this. He has plans, and we’re not going to mess them up.”
“Of course not,” I agreed. “But I want Nico involved. It’s only right.”
“Definitely.”
“We’ll talk to Tony and see which team members he thinks we should bring,” I said.
Michael shook his head. “He said you and Nico should plan it. He’ll contact Santino about the legal end of things. You and Nico take care of the team and logistics.”
Pride swelled in me. Tony and Marco trusted me to lead the team. “Sounds good. I’ll talk to the team after the party winds down.”
I glanced over at my boyfriend, who was now in an animated conversation with Sean. Finally, he would be able to get some closure.