“Yeah.”
“Gee, Jones, I wish I had a nice boyfriend like you too.”
I slammed on the brakes, which made his seatbelt tighten fast, catching him sharp and tight across the chest.
“Fuck!”
“Seatbelts work,” I said drolly, rolling my head to look at him.
“The problem with you is you’re way too fuckin’ sensitive.”
I waited.
“Fine, sorry, whatever, can we go?”
I gave him the silent treatment as we sat in traffic.
“I know you miss him,” Kowalski said out of the blue.
“What’re you talking about?”
“Doyle,” he explained. “You miss your partner. I’d miss Kohn, if he took off too. Only your partner really knows you.”
Since grown men did not whimper with pent-up need, I just cleared my throat and agreed with him. When my phone rang, I was going to answer it, but Kowalski slapped my hand.
“Where’s your earpiece?”
“Probably in the other car,” I snapped, answering on the second ring.
“Hey,” Aruna said on the other end. “Dogs can’t have chocolate, can they?”
“No.”
“How ’bout yogurt?”
“Listen to me: do not feed that dog people food. I told you that before.”
The tsk of displeasure was not lost on me.
“Lemme talk to your husband.”
Quick huff and then, “Hey.” Liam Duffy’s baritone swirled over the line. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to thank you again for doing this for me.”
“Are you kidding?” he said happily. “He’s always so good when you bring him over, and now I have someone to run with while I’m up there, and to help look out for Aruna.”
It was true. Chickie had a protective instinct when it came to women and a weird herding thing he did with kids. He was always trying to corral Aruna and put himself between her and other people. She praised him for it, and he wriggled with joy.
“I think you left me too much dog food, though.”
“It’s funny that you think that thirty-five pound bag will last.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “For three days?”
I cackled before I hung up.
“Seriously, Jones,” Kowalski said quickly. “Where’s your earpiece?”
He was so by-the-book, which made sense, because Kohn was very similar to him. Ian was not a stickler for the rules and had worn me down in some areas so that I, too, disregarded them.
“So what’s it like, trying to keep Kohn’s women straight?”
“What’s it like having all your bones broken following around Captain America?”
“I actually break things and get shot all on my own now.”
He had no witty comeback.
We were silent for the rest of the drive in, and I made sure to pull up in front of our building so he could get out and not have to go to the garage with me.
“What?”
“You can get out, I—”
“No, man, park the car. Don’t be so fuckin’ sensitive.”
Turning to him, the mountain of muscle in the passenger seat beside me—his biceps were bigger than my thighs, his neck nonexistent—I waited.
“Yeah, okay,” he snarled. “I shouldn’t give you any grief about Doyle since you’re moonin’ over him and all.”
My eyebrows lifted, and he swore under his breath.
“Just—why don’t we go to Starbucks and get some fruity coffee you like.”
I snorted out a laugh, because it was only getting worse.
“Fuck you, Jones!”
Letting him off the hook, I peeled out, which he liked, and drove to the parking structure. As we walked together after I parked, I stopped and checked my boots.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just don’t wanna get these wet. The bottoms are leather.”
He rolled his eyes. “Jesus. You and Kohn, why do you wear your good shit to work?”
It was a very good question.
I WAS at my desk later in the day finishing up paperwork to close the Tolliver case, when my phone rang. I picked it up without checking the display, preoccupied with looking for my mouse, at a loss as to where it could be. I started rifling through my desk drawers.
“M?”
I froze. “Ian?” After close to two months, he sounded really good.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, buddy,” I said, smiling stupidly, I was sure. God, I was so happy to hear from him. “Are you safe?”
“Yeah.”
“All in one piece?”
“I am.”
“S’good to hear you.” It was like I could suddenly breathe, up from the deep drowning place where I’d been struggling for air since he’d left. “Back to civilization, huh?”
“Almost. I’m in Honolulu and I’m on the next flight out for Chicago in like half an hour. I’ll be there sometime in the morning, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You should sleep in, rest up.” I sighed. “Me and Becker are flying out to Tennessee tomorrow to drive a prisoner back.”
“Oh, so you’re working this weekend.”
“Yeah, and because your old man is out of town, I sent your dog to the mountains with some friends of mine.”
“Well, he’ll love that. Who’s got him?”
“My friend Aruna and her husband. You’ve met them a ton of times.”
“Yeah, sure, they’re real nice.”
Something was wrong. “You sound weird. You okay?”
“Yeah, no, just tired.”
“Okay,” I said, relieved, exhaling my worry. “Well, I’m bummed I won’t get to see you sooner, but it’ll give you time to sink back into your life a little. I can give you Aruna’s number if you want to go get Chickie before I get—”