“Missed you,” he whispered softly in Tech’s ear.
“I’ve missed you too, Free. I’m so glad you came.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t? I owe you my life, my mother’s life.” Free squeezed Tech even tighter.
“You don’t owe me a damn thing. I was already going down, might as well have helped a friend before I did.” Tech finally pulled back and looked up at that handsome face.
“I know your boss was the one who helped you. Kept you out of prison. He sounds like someone I wouldn’t mind meeting… possibly working for.” Free smiled, a nicely trimmed, black goatee framing thick, kissable lips. His shoulder-length, textured hair was held back from his face by a thick elastic band.
“You cut off your dreads.” Tech smiled.
“Could never get them to fully lock, hair’s not nappy enough. So I took ’em out.” Free shrugged, running his hands through the thick, dark waves. “Now it’s just a nuisance.”
“Come on. Let’s go. God’s eager to meet you.”
Ruxs’ massive frame stepped out of the truck and pushed the middle row up so Free could climb into the third row. Free was hesitant to approach, but Tech put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Free, in the front is Detective Steele, that’s Detective Green inside, and this is his partner and boyfriend, Detective Ruxsberg.” Tech lowered his voice behind Free so only he could hear him. “They’re the greatest men I know. It’s okay. I promise.” After a few seconds, his friend finally moved closer to Ruxs and climbed inside.
God
“Tech is on his way back. Once they get here, we can go. We’ll take you to get a couple things and bring you back to our place. You can stay in one of the guest rooms. Once we get an ID from the facial recognition software, I’ll send Syn and few officers to pick him up.”
“He’ll probably lie through his teeth.” Ric looked between God and Day like they should know that.
God tried not to take offense, this guy obviously didn’t know who they were. He ignored the outburst for now. “He’ll talk.”
“You want Green to interrogate him?” Syn asked.
“No. I’ll do it,” Day said with his arms folded over his chest, looking like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on anyone who’d hurt his friend.
“No. You’re too close to this,” God refused him.
“I want Leo to go after this guy,” Ric countered.
God had heard enough. “I don’t care what you want. You’re not running anything in here, doc. This is my department. You came to us for help and—”
“We came to Leo for help,” Ric cut God off, standing to his full height, his big body pulsing with anger.
“You think you get him without me?” God thundered over him.
“Rickson, calm down.” Pres stood up too, holding onto his partner’s arm. “God is right. Let him do what he needs to do to get this guy, okay. Leo trusts God with everything in him, and I trust Leo, so we can trust God, too.”
“Ric. He’ll get this guy. Let him. I won’t question his judgment. It’s either his way or no way,” Day said. Any doubt God had about Day settling for him over Pres fled God’s mind like it’d never belonged in the first place. The way Day stood beside him made him feel like the luckiest, strongest man in the world. He had a true partner in every sense of the word, end of story.
Ric finally sat his big ass down, his other partner, Blair, settling his arm around his shoulders. God could see the man was scared for his lovers, but fighting his only help wasn’t the way to save them.
“What do you want to do, God?” Day asked.
“Call Ro. Tell him to get in here. He’s recovered enough, now he’s just milking it. I need to talk to the captain, let him know what’s going on. I’ll be back.” God left the room, hoping this would be over fast. He didn’t want anything postponing their wedding. No, he wouldn’t have anything postponing their wedding. He’d done that enough himself.
Day
“It’s going to be alright, Ric. Blair, I promise you. God’s been entrusted with this department because he’s the best.” Day clasped his hands together on the table in front of him.
“Better than you?” Blair asked.
“Better than all of us,” Day and Syn said at the same time.
“Just to prove God was right, that I am too emotional over the situation, I hadn’t even thought about our first officer, Ronowski. Ro is our lead detective and interrogator. He has a master’s in criminal psychology and has gotten confessions from the most closed-off suspects there are. He’ll get the information we need.”
“Aren’t you a profiler, too?” Pres asked Day.
“Yeah, I am. But Ro can get a confession in half the time I can. He can gain a handle on the situation with one glance at the file and a brief look in a person’s eyes.”