Without bothering to wait for acknowledgement from her partner she stalked out, punching in a number on her speed dial as the door banged shut behind her. “
Lee,” She balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear as she unlocked the car and pulled open the door. “Need you to check some information for me. There’s a file on Jonah’s desk, marked Gerritsen. When you get a minute check his kid’s listed birth date and get back to me, okay? And Lee?” Lopez looked back towards the shop and where she could see Jonah standing near Kyle and speaking to him with a small smile on his face. “You need to keep this on the down low until I say otherwise, okay? Thanks.”
She sn
apped the phone closed, dropped her head forward and squeezed her eyes shut. “Fuck, fuck,
fuck
.” She slammed back in her seat and pounded her closed fists on the top of the steering wheel, breathing, “That’s just fucking insane.” She looked back into the shop for once praying with all her might that her normally excellent gut instincts were wrong and there was a possibility that she was inadvertently high instead of the Gerritsen kid’s nanny. She cast her mind back over the times she had met Gerritsen and his almost ridiculously skittish behaviour around her partner and felt the cold ball of anger inside condense into one of icy rage as her suspicions deepened with each passing second. She bounced a fist off the steering wheel again. “Goddamn it, Gerritsen, if I’m right about this I am going to fuck you the hell up.”
~*~*~*~
Inside the shop Jonah barely noticed Lopez’s departure. If he had thought that Kyle was cute when he was nervous and shy then Kyle being protective and furious was pretty much the hottest thing he had ever seen. He shoved his hands back in his pockets and tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “Was beginning to think you missed your turn when it came to getting a pair, Gerritsen. I’m impressed.”
Kyle
, still angry over the insulting insinuations to Louise and shaky from Jonah unwittingly being so close to their shared child, barely bit back the retort that if anyone should know it would be Jonah and narrowed his eyes. “Was there anything else, detective?”
Jonah
couldn’t help his grin at the tone of icy dismissal in Kyle’s voice and really wanted to pull him out back to the office and do filthy things to him until he couldn’t remember how to anything but beg for harder and more. “Actually, yeah.” He cut his eyes to Megan still hovering nervously behind Kyle and said, “You mind taking off and giving us a minute?”
Megan
blinked at him and then looked worriedly at Kyle. He took a deep breath and nodded before giving her a reassuring, if rigid, smile. She looked searchingly at his face for a moment before reluctantly nodding her agreement. “Sure.” She looked warningly at Jonah. “I’ll just be out back.” Giving Kyle’s arm a supportive squeeze as she turned away, she added pointedly, “With the office door open.”
Jonah
looked after her as she stalked off and called out, “If you’re getting out your shotgun it’d better be registered!” He grinned at Kyle when Megan glared back at him before stomping out of sight and said confidently, “She totally wants me.”
Fighting back an unwilling smile – not least because
Megan would string him up by his recently proven balls if she thought he was taking sides with Jonah – Kyle raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and said pointedly, “You said there was something else you wanted?”
Taking a moment to try and find the right words,
Jonah also took a moment to control the urge to wrap his hands around Kyle’s throat and strangle the superior right out of him. Hot he may find the man, but there was no doubt that he had personality issues out the ass. He hesitated a little more, wondering if Kyle was really worth the effort, and then he remembered his almost constant dreams of Kyle under his hands, smooth skin and hot breath and the feel of Kyle tight around him as he thrust inside. He let his eyes skate over Kyle’s lithe body and then back up to his wary eyes and grinned. “Yeah, so, the case is closed now and I don’t have any reason to keep coming back around.” He noticed the slight twitch to Kyle’s jaw at his words and the flicker in his eyes and took it as a sign that the younger man wasn’t quite as indifferent to him as he liked to make out. “You want to get a drink with me sometime? Maybe dinner?”
Kyle
’s jaw dropped and his face lost the controlled expression and he flushed with startled surprise. “Excuse me?”
Shrugging,
Jonah said easily, “I think we’d have some fun together. I’d like to take you out and get to know you better.”
Continuing to gape at him in surprise,
Kyle cast an anxious look back over his shoulder towards the office and then looked back at Jonah. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting when Jonah had asked to speak to him alone, but it certainly wasn’t a request for a date! He licked his tongue anxiously over his lower lip – feeling the disquiet inside him intensify when Jonah’s eyes followed the movement and his eyes darkened in response – and thought frantically for something to say. He couldn’t go out with the man on a date with the Shea situation hanging between them, but he also couldn’t afford to alienate him either if he wanted to confess the truth of his son’s parentage.
Plus, there was also the still rankling problem of
Jonah having completely forgotten that they actually already knew each other fairly intimately. Nothing screamed player like not recognising a person who you’d actually had been inside of after all.
Jonah
frowned slightly as the silence stretched between them and resisted the urge to shuffle his feet. God, this was ridiculous, he hadn’t felt this mixed up inside over asking for a simple date since high school. Scratch that,
junior
high. He cleared his throat and said pointedly, “It’s kind of a yes or no question.”
Swallowing hard,
Kyle smiled nervously. “I’m aware, thanks.” He looked worriedly at Jonah for a moment, eyes searching for something, and then slowly nodded. “A drink would be nice.” He looked faintly startled at the broad grin that stretched over Jonah’s face and continued hastily, “Just a drink. I don’t really date that much and, given my situation, I’m not really sure I want to start.”
Jonah
felt a sharp stab of disappointment at the qualifying statement at the end, but also reasoned to himself that all he needed was an in and once he wowed Kyle with his studly prowess then the hot dream sex would soon become a reality. He lifted his hands and smiled. “Hey, whatever, I can always use another friend right? We’ll start with a drink and see where it goes.”
Kyle
eyed him suspiciously – he knew that smile. That was Shea’s ‘I’ve managed to break into the fridge again and you don’t know it’ smile and he doubted that it boded well on Jonah’s face either. He kept eyeing Jonah warily and asked, “When would you like to meet?”
Riding high on his success,
Jonah shrugged. “Whenever, my schedule’s pretty open. When’s good for you?”
Taking a deep breath,
Kyle resolved to take the bull by the horns and stop pussy footing around. This was a prime opportunity to get to know Jonah a little and find out what kind of a person he would be inviting into their lives. “Tonight? I can call Louise and ask her to watch Shea for me a little longer and we could get a drink after work.” He smiled tentatively at Jonah’s delighted expression. “I’ll have to be home by eight though, Louise’s been on her own with the baby all day and it’s not fair to expect her to give up her evening as well.”
“Yeah,”
Jonah nodded, unable to believe it had been that easy. “That’d be good.” He smiled widely. “You want me to meet you back here? What time do you finish?”
“We normally close up around six.”
Kyle jumped when the sound of a horn blasted from outside. “I think that’s for you.”
Jonah
cast an irritated glare over his shoulder at the shop doorway and then looked back at Kyle again. “Yeah, I should go.” He backed up without taking his eyes off Kyle. “So, I’ll see you at six then?”
“Yes.”
Kyle smiled nervously back and lifted a hand in answer to the one Jonah saluted him with, lying, “I’m looking forward to it.” He stood watching Jonah through the shop window as he jogged round the car and climbed inside and then disappeared in a squeal of tires when Lopez floored it away. “Oh my God, I am so screwed.”
“You’d better not be,” came
Megan’s dry comment from behind him where she had been eavesdropping shamelessly throughout the exchange. “Pretty sure that’s what got you in this situation in the first place.” She smiled a little sadly when Kyle jumped and whirled with a shocked gasp to face her. “So, you’re really going through with it, huh? You’re going to tell him.”
Kyle
nodded firmly and tried to look more resolute than he felt inside – where it felt like an entire school of jellyfish had taken up residence in his belly. “Yes, this is the right thing to do. He deserves the chance to know about Shea.” He looked back over his shoulder at the shop doorway and said unconvincingly, “Everything’s going to be fine.”
Chapter 7
.
Jonah
was waiting in his car on the dot of six when Kyle emerged with Megan from the shop and locked up. He got out as Kyle hugged Megan goodnight and then watched in amusement when she scowled at him and stomped off down the street with a final concerned smile at her friend. “She does believe I’m a cop, right? I’m not gonna sell you into white slavery or some shit.”
This time
Kyle laughed, albeit a little guiltily. “I’m sorry. We’re just....” He tried to think of someway to explain just how vital Megan was to him and failed. “We’re very close.”
“Got it.”
Jonah shoved his hands into his pockets again, not sure what to do with them, and looked expectantly at Kyle. “So where’d you want to go? You got a car here, right? There a good bar nearby we can walk to?”
“Well,”
Kyle hitched his leather messenger bag higher on his shoulder and gestured down the street. “I thought we might just go down to Ma Abretti’s just around the corner if that’s okay? She does some amazing coffee and I had to bribe Louise with the promise of some pastries to get her to watch Shea for me.”
Jonah
nodded. “Cool.” They started to walk in the direction of the deli and a silence fell between them. Jonah looked sidelong at Kyle as they strolled and wondered what had the other man looking so pensive with his eyes fixed to the floor as they walked. “This isn’t a problem, right? With your kid I mean. Your sitter not happy about having to stay late?” Even though he was punching himself in the head inside, Jonah made himself say, “We could make it another night if it’s a problem.”
Kyle
blinked up at him and then the first genuine smile Jonah could ever remember seeing directed at him curved his mouth and warmed his eyes. “There’s no problem. It’s very nice of you to offer though.” He seemed to relax slightly and his smile grew. “
Really
nice.”
Frowning,
Jonah muttered, “You don’t have to sound so damn shocked. I can be nice.”
Kyle
’s eyes widened and then he flushed lightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.” He looked anxiously up at Jonah. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
Bumping his shoulder into
Kyle’s, Jonah grinned. “Yeah you did. It’s okay. I know I can be kind of a jerk sometimes.” He bumped Kyle’s shoulder again. “I just don’t want you worrying about home stuff when you should be chilling out. I can wait if I have too.”
The blinding smile
Kyle gave him was worth every lying word out of his mouth. “Thank you.” Kyle looked away first and said after a moment, “I suppose I feel a bit guilty about not going straight home. It feels like I’m being neglectful if I’m not going back to the baby.” He shrugged awkwardly. “I’m really out of practise at this, sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it.”
Jonah got the door as they reached the door to the deli and pulled it open to let Kyle go in first. “It’s all good.” He waved to Mrs Abretti when she beamed at him in recognition from behind the counter and said, “You want to go grab us a table and I’ll order? You want anything to eat?”
Kyle
gave Mrs Abretti his own wave and shook his head, not sure he could stomach anything to eat at the moment – or at least keep it down for any length of time. “No, thank you. Could I get a strawberry and mango tea though instead of coffee?” He smiled ruefully. “I always take the early shift with Shea if I can and I don’t want to stay up too late tonight if I can help it.”
Jonah
managed to control his wince at having to order such a froufrou drink in public and nodded. “Coming up.” He strolled through the produce section of the deli keeping an eye on Kyle as he settled himself into the back corner of the cafe half of the room and then gave his full attention to the array of food before him. “Mrs Abretti, good to see you again. What’s good?”
When
Jonah joined him at their table any last lingering doubts Kyle had that Shea had only inherited his looks from his other father evaporated in an instant. “Are you going to eat all of that?” He raked disbelieving eyes over the laden tray that Jonah was carefully putting down on the table. “Seriously?”
Jonah
looked in confusion at his food. “What? I didn’t get much for lunch.” He handed Kyle his requested tea and then pulled the small mountain of meatball sub and apple strudel towards him protectively. “Hey, I asked you if you wanted anything.” Eyeing the cheese dripping out of the side of his sub with satisfaction he added, “Now this is a foot long worth writing home about. This looks awesome.”
Looking faintly ill,
Kyle muttered, “It looks like a heart attack on a plate is what it looks like.” and buried his face in his mug of tea when Jonah glared at him.
Jonah
was content to attack his sandwich for the first few minutes, pointedly ignoring Kyle’s look of fascinated horror as he decimated the meal, and it was only when it had been decreased by half that he realised if there was any conversation to be had then he’d be have to be the one to start it. “So, you’re not from New York originally, right? I think it said in your file that you come from Wichita or something?”
Kyle
’s eyes snapped up from Jonah’s plate and his expression went from mildly nauseous to closed off in second. “I beg your pardon? My file?”
Wincing,
Jonah said hurriedly, “Hey, not my idea, okay? That was all Lopez.” He picked up his gigantic mug of steaming black coffee and took a sip before putting it back down. “You gotta admit, dude, you and Queen of the Amazons were behaving pretty fucking weirdly for a while there. You can’t blame us for being suspicious.” He shrugged semi-apologetically when Kyle’s face coloured a brilliant red and added, “Looking at all the angles is pretty much our job.”
Reminding himself that throwing his tea over
Jonah’s head and swishing out the door in a display of queenly outrage would probably be detrimental to his eventual goal of reaching a cordial relationship with his son’s other father, Kyle restrained himself to a grim murmur of “Hmm.”.
Jonah
cleared his throat and picked up his sandwich again. “So, Wichita?”
“Yes, Black Falls to be exact
.” Kyle made himself smile when he looked up. “Have you heard of it?” He laughed a little bitterly when Jonah shook his head. “Well I’m not surprised, it’s like another planet compared to New York.”
“Yeah?”
Jonah swallowed the last of his mouthful and looked intently at Kyle for a moment before his face cleared in understanding. “Not a good place to grow up, huh?”
Kyle
smiled ruefully. “Oh it’s a great place to fit in if you’re the right kind.” He shrugged his slim shoulders and looked away causally, trying to hide how much the memory of Black Falls still burned four years after he’d managed to escape with Megan. “If you’re destined for an adolescence filled with swirlies and daily dumpster dives, not so much.”
“Oh.”
Jonah didn’t know what to say. “I was sorta a jock.”
Laughing,
Kyle looked back at him and shook his head. “Colour me surprised.”
Jonah
grinned at him, relieved to see him smiling again. “So I’m guessing you don’t go back there if you can help it?”
“No.”
Kyle picked up his mug and idly swirled the dregs of his tea around as he peered thoughtfully into the depths. “There’s just my dad there and we prefer it if he comes to see me and Shea here. It’s easier on him.”
Jonah
frowned again. “Easier?”
“
Black Falls is not exactly the most politically correct place on earth and I’m not exactly the most discreet of people.” Kyle smiled wanly. “When you add to that the existence of Shea....” He trailed off and then shrugged delicately. “Like I said, easier.”
“Oh.”
Jonah found himself at a loss for words yet again. “He’s not real accepting then?” He waved a hand between them. “You know; of you being how you are.”
The whoop of genuine laughter from
Kyle’s throat had not only Jonah staring in surprise but the rest of the deli too.
“Are you joking?”
Kyle almost doubled over with giggles. “My problem with going back to Black Falls to visit would be trying to stop my dad taking a tyre iron to anyone who looked at me and Shea sideways. In the interests of him not spending his twilight years locked up in the state pen for multiple homicides its better all-round if he comes to us, that’s all.”
Jonah
stared transfixed at Kyle’s face, amazed all over again how different he looked when he was relaxed and happy. He found himself smiling back. “So he’s a badass?”
Kyle
nodded, still giggling helplessly, and waved a hand over his head, presumably to indicate just how big his overly protective daddy was. “He’s a mechanic and built like the side of a barn.” His eyes sparkled with mirth when he looked at Jonah, “We don’t look much alike.”
Unable to help himself,
Jonah leered. “You look pretty okay to me.” The leer increased when Kyle’s eyes widened and he looked uncomfortably away so Jonah took pity on the other man and started to attack his strudel with extreme prejudice as he changed the subject. “So New York’s home now?”
Kyle
eyed him warily but seemed reassured that the brief lecherous moment had passed when Jonah blinked innocently at him and shovelled another mouthful of strudel into his mouth. “Yes, definitely. What about you? Have you always lived here?”
Jonah
chewed, swallowed and silently congratulated himself on being an awesome human being. This whole thing was in the bag.
~*~*~*
~
A few blocks away
Gina Lopez sat in her car and watched as Megan walked briskly down the street towards her apartment block, carrying a bag of groceries and mouthing the words to whatever she was listening to on her iPod. Waiting until the other woman was safely inside the building, she grabbed the file sitting on the seat next to her that she had swung by the station to pick up after Lee had returned her call with the information she needed and hopped out of the car. She buzzed the Super to be let in as she was pretty sure that Megan would only do so over her cold dead body and, after flashing her ID, took the stairs up to the second floor and quickly located Megan’s apartment.
The door opened almost immediately after her solid pounding and
Megan stared at her for a moment before recognition dawned. “What do you want? I thought we were finished with you.”
Lopez curled her lip. “Yeah, well, if wishes were horses, baby.” She stared with disgusted anger at
Megan. “Jonah’s out with Gerritsen and there’s a little something I need to get cleared up.”
Annoyance flashed in
Megan’s dark eyes. “Business hours are nine till six. You want to get another statement come back then. I’m busy.” She grunted in annoyance when Lopez’s hand slapped against the door as she started to slam it closed. “What the hell is your problem?”
“This.” Lopez
reached into the folder she carried and pulled out a Xeroxed copy of Shea’s birth certificate. “This would be my problem.”
Megan
glanced at the paper and then blanched, eyes flashing back to Lopez with something akin to panic.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much the look I was expecting.” Lopez put the paper back into the folder and fixed
Megan with a hard stare. “Now you either you let me the fuck inside or I call my partner and start voicing some suspicions I got that I really don’t think your little friend wants brought up. What’s it going to be?”
Megan
swallowed heavily. “Look, detective, I don’t know what you think you know, but...”
“Oh I
think I know plenty, but what I need now are
facts
.” Lopez wedged her shoulder against the door just in case and hissed, “Trust me when I say the only thing saving your friend from getting his ass kicked at the moment is the chance – the very small chance – that you can give me some dates that fit in with the timeline I have in my head. So what’s it going to be? Am I calling my partner or are you going to quit fucking me around and let me inside?”
The stupid thing w
as that she didn’t truly believe in what she had suspected until Megan’s shoulders sagged in defeat and she stepped back to open the door fully.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” said
Gina as she stormed in. “You had better have some fucking good booze in here.”
~*~*~*~
Kyle was amazed to find that he was enjoying himself immensely. Jonah was proving to be a funny and interesting conventionalist – if a horribly messy eater – and if he overlooked the occasional lapse into lecherous innuendo then he could see that having Jonah as co-parent to Shea would actually be a very good thing. He’d tried to keep the conversation away from himself as much as he could – or if he couldn’t avoid it just tried to talk about his first year in New York or his business – and had managed to learn that Jonah had a mother and sister, had lived in NY all his life and thought he had possibly the best job in the entire world ever.
“I mean, I get paid to chase down criminals and beat the crap out of them.”
Jonah leaned on the table and grinned mischievously at Kyle’s disapproving expression. “How cool is that?” He twitched aside a fold of the black leather jacket he wore over his fitted t-shirt and proudly displayed his shoulder holster. “And they gave me a gun!”