Digging Deep

by Jay Hogan

  “Drake?” A voice to go with the knock. Aaron? Fuck. What the hell was up with today? I hadn’t spoken to my best friend since the whole arrest thing. But then the guy had always had crap timing.

  Caleb stared in disbelief. “Jesus, Drake,” he whispered. “Is this normal for you? If so, we are definitely staying at mine next time.”

  I pulled an apologetic face and mouthed “Sorry.” Then I called out to Aaron, “Hang on a minute.”

  “And why would that be?” Aaron sounded amused.

  I threw Caleb off, zipped up my jeans, and made a grab for my T-shirt. “Um, could you maybe…?” I indicated the floor streaked with the recent evidence of his pleasure.

  “Shit.” He grabbed his T-shirt and dealt with the mess, then eyed me with an adorable pout.

  I grinned. “Grab one of mine. Top left drawer.”

  “Thanks. I, um, have a catch-up thing with my brother in Auckland this afternoon, so I’ll need to go, but I’ll call you,” he said. “I can slip out the back if you’d rather Aaron and I didn’t… you know.”

  Ugh. To hell with it. “Nah, he can deal, it’s fine. I’ll need to check on my client later as well, but I should be back by four.”

  He headed for the bedroom, and I scrambled to my feet and ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to not look quite as debauched as I felt. A case of too little too late, no doubt. Aaron had an excellent bullshit meter and it was about to ring off the charts.

  Caleb

  I HEADED for Drake’s en suite for a two-minute shower and tried to slow my heart as I soaped myself clean. Holy shit. Talk about being caught with your pants down… twice. Still, it could’ve been worse, somehow. The anal douche was still lying on the tiles where I’d thrown it and… ugh… the visuals alone were enough to crank that pulse right up there again, not to mention other organs. I slapped my ridiculous dick into submission and towelled off.

  After rummaging through Drake’s drawer, I grabbed the largest of his T-shirts I could find, but it still fitted overly snug, not to mention the Greenpeace logo stamped all over it was a dead giveaway. I was hardly gonna fly under the radar wearing this, but I hauled my jacket over the top, took a couple of deep breaths, and tried to calm the fuck down. Unexpectedly meeting Drake’s mother and his best friend in under an hour, and not exactly under the best of conditions, deserved some kind of freaking medal, right?

  His mother had been, well, nice, actually. I thought her and I would do just fine. His best friend, though? Yeah, that might be a tougher sell. The reverse idea of introducing Drake to Carmen sprang to mind and I nearly choked on my tongue. Let’s not go crazy. Carmen would eat him for breakfast. Then I remembered Drake in full spiky mode and smiled. Or maybe not.

  But back to Aaron. Drake hadn’t told me much about the guy other than he was bi, which of course had my slutty mind wondering just how close their friendship was. Yeah, I know, stereotypes and shit, so sue me. He also said Aaron worked for the conservation department in the predator control sector and that he was very protective of Drake. And when I’d asked if Aaron was good-looking, Drake just laughed and said he’d let me make up my own mind, adding that there’d been nothing between them other than friendship for a long time. And yeah, you heard what I heard.

  Altogether it was less than reassuring, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a teensy bit concerned the guy would add being hot to already knowing Drake better than I did. Was I feeling a wee bit threatened? Pretty much. Yet another annoying thing to add to my growing list of firsts—caring two fucks about what a date’s friend thought of me. But I did, so I needed to get a grip on my stupid before I acted like a prick… again.

  Returning to the lounge, I felt Aaron’s immediate and intense scrutiny before I even clocked eyes on the guy, and the ear-deafening silence that fell on the room clued me to the fact I’d interrupted a conversation they didn’t want to share. Drake caught my eye, smiled warmly, and I relaxed… a little.

  The two of them were seated at opposite ends of Drake’s couch, their feet nestled in each other’s laps, all nice and cosy-like. Neither made any effort to get up. Aaron’s hands were wrapped around Drake’s ankles, anchoring them in place, and I positively seethed at the implied intimacy. Was I jealous? Hell fucking yeah I was. My jaw set rigid enough to crack open a few molars, and I swallowed a few choice words that threatened to let loose.

  “Caleb, meet my best friend, Aaron.”

  I walked over and extended my hand with what I hoped was a welcoming expression and not one that asked just how many times he’d seen Drake naked and in what positions. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Same.” Aaron shook my hand with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and his gaze travelled me top to toe, lingering pointedly over the Greenpeace T-shirt. His expression remained infuriatingly neutral.

  So it was gonna be like that. I took a deep breath and returned the once-over. Fine, the guy wasn’t gorgeous on every level, but he ticked enough boxes to have me straightening my back, hauling out my detective scowl, and puffing out my chest like a damn rooster. Fucking ridiculous.

  I wanted to hate the guy from the get-go, but the lazy smirk he gave said he’d got the exact reaction he’d intended. I had to give it to him. He was staking his claim on the part of Drake’s heart that belonged to him, and I couldn’t help but admire him for that. He had Drake’s back and was letting me know it in no uncertain terms. And if the two of us went arse-up in the relationship stakes, Drake was gonna need this guy, and for that reason alone I needed to back the fuck up and be nice.

  I sat on the arm of the couch behind Caleb and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. “I need to get going if I’m going to get there in time,” I said.

  Drake reached up to hold me in place and turned to add some lingering lip action. When he was done claiming me, it was all I could do not to eyeball Aaron and fist-pump the air. In his own way Drake had let me know I had nothing to worry about, and when I did finally glance Aaron’s way, I could read the surprise in his eyes. I guessed Drake wasn’t normally one for a lot of PDA.

  “Heard you had an interesting morning,” Aaron said with a smile.

  I chuckled. “And it’s still going, apparently.”

  He at least had the grace to look a bit sheepish.

  “But I figure it’s sink or swim, right? Never a good time for the new boyfriend to meet the nearest and dearest.”

  Aaron winced slightly at the label, and I quickly glanced at Drake to see if I’d overstepped the mark.

  He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Maybe not, but I’d kind of hoped to not have the first encounter with my mother transpire with the scent of fresh sex hanging in the air.”

  Aaron choked on a laugh while I choked on my tongue and willed the universe to swallow me up. “Ah yeah, there is that,” he said.

  Drake’s hand stroked my thigh. “You did well, babe.” His gaze held all kinds of affection, and seeing that, the weird stress of the morning simply fell away. He continued, “In fact I’m not sure I’ll survive the two of you getting on any better. He’s as bad as you.” He directed that last bit to Aaron, who finally gave a smile worthy of its name.

  “Sorry to add to the surprise quotient,” Aaron said. “I had no idea Drake was even seeing anybody, something we were just having words about actually before you came in.”

  The tightness around Aaron’s eyes and the drawn look to his face came through for the first time.

  “I’ve, ah, just broken up with my own boyfriend,” he admitted with a pained glance toward Drake. “Dropped in to clear my head and get the proverbial pep talk over and done with.”

  Drake rubbed his friend’s calf sympathetically. “Guy’s a fucking idiot letting you go after three years.”

  Shit. All jealousy evaporated.

  Aaron snorted. “Right?” Then to me. “So I’m about to get shitfaced with my best friend here if it’s all right with you? Well, to be accurate, I’ll get shitfaced, and he’ll drink wa
ter or tea. Then he’ll keep me from sending stupid texts to my arsehole ex, and remind me why it was all such a bad idea tomorrow.”

  I winced sympathetically. “Go for it. I’ve a family thing to get to. And I’m sorry about the breakup. Maybe we can all have a drink sometime?”

  He nodded. “I’d like that. And thanks. You look good on him, by the way,” he said with a sly grin. “Haven’t seen Drake so content in a long while.”

  It was a big concession, and the closest I was gonna get to the man’s approval at this early stage, and we both knew it. “Thanks for that. I’ll no doubt be seeing you.”

  He smiled. “That you will.”

  We shared a curt but friendly enough nod, and I kissed Drake once again and then headed south to Auckland and a long overdue catch-up with my brother. Another thing to blame Drake for. His constant exchanges with his family and family-by-choice via phone, text, email, and Facebook had planted a seed of shame around my own pitiful efforts with my family.

  Fiercely independent, I’d consciously distanced myself from my parents and brother the minute I’d left home, determined to make my own decisions and forge my own path. But that was done and dusted a while ago now, and I’d yet to rebuild those bridges, and that was down to me.

  My brother and his wife were the best, I had nothing to complain about, and their daughter Lexi just hung the fucking moon. I loved that kid and needed to get the hell off my arse and into her life if I wanted her to even know she had an uncle. And it wasn’t like they had time to come up to my neck of the woods. Owning your own café was a 24/7 job. Even so, invites to events at Lexi’s school or to dinner at their home had made regular appearances on my phone. I just hadn’t fired up my arse to get there, and it wasn’t good enough.

  There was always the excuse of work, some case I was on blowing up, or the surf was on up north, or just some guy I wanted to fuck. Well that shit had to stop. And when I’d called Thomas to say I’d come by their café today for lunch, I could almost hear the cogs whir in his brain. Guy was probably convinced I had six months to live, and I didn’t blame him. I’d been the sorriest excuse for a brother for too long.

  Chapter Twelve

  Caleb

  “JUST RUN it past me again why the hell I’m going to this freaking family dinner thing of yours, otherwise known as the let’s-introduce-the-new-boyfriend-and-stress-the-fuck-out-of-him evening.”

  I swear I could hear the pout lock into place on Drake’s face. “Hey, at least you got a week’s warning and you get to be fully dressed. Your mother and best friend just turned up on the fucking doorstep uninvited, midorgasm, remember?”

  Thomas’s invitation to a family dinner tonight, one including my parents, had come as I’d left his café the previous Saturday, and since I’d just eaten half a ton of humble pie regarding my appalling effort at keeping in touch, I could hardly say no. And when he’d told me to bring Drake, well… yeah. I stared at the black cloud hanging over my boyfriend’s head. I should maybe have asked first.

  To be fair, I’d been kind of busy at work. Leanne was catching some flak about the young girl who’d been caught up in the drug arrest, and I’d needed to have her back on more than one occasion. There was no way we could’ve known about the kid. In all our surveillance and backchecking, not once had her mother been known to ever visit the house. The cook’s story backed us up, and in the end the bosses just accepted it was one of those things.

  To say Leanne was relieved was an understatement. She was up for promotion and something like that on her record could’ve put an end to that for another twelve months. I took her to lunch to try to cheer her up but I wasn’t sure it worked. She still felt… off.

  Still, Drake and I had managed to meet up a couple of times during the week, once for another shared lunch at the river and the second for… well, another shared lunch but this time at my apartment and with a twist. The twist involved his mouth, my mouth, very few clothes, and even less actual food. But on both those occasions, I’d failed to tell, sorry, ask him about the dinner as my mind was in my other head. It wasn’t till Thursday that I suddenly remembered, and by then I had to do it over the phone, giving Drake only two days’ notice. Oops.

  In the passenger seat, the dip in his scowl reached his navel as he worried his bottom lip. “Stress is bad for me. I have a medical condition, you know.”

  I slipped my hand over his as I drove. “You’re in remission.”

  “Says the man with the Google medical degree.” He huffed, angling away.

  “Says the boyfriend who wants to show you off to his family.”

  He gripped my hand tighter. “You play dirty.” But the hint of a smile still played at the corners of his mouth. That was before they dipped down into a grouch… again.

  “What if I can’t eat the food?”

  We were clearly not done. “She emailed you the menu yesterday, right…?”

  “Yeah and that’s another thing, it’s my disease. I’m the one who gets to decide who knows about it.”

  I just raised my brows at that one, and to his credit, he blushed. Or as close as his flawless olive skin would allow.

  “Okay, maybe that was a little over the top,” he mumbled.

  “You think? I mean, you’re going to their place for dinner. Carolyn would be horrified to dish up stuff you couldn’t even touch. It’s only manners to let her know, but I take your point. I should have checked first. But in fairness, I didn’t say you had Crohn’s. I just said you had some food allergies. You were the one who told her you had Crohn’s.”

  “Okay, okay. It’s a minor side point, anyway.”

  I laughed. “Only because you were losing that battle.”

  Now he did grin. “Maybe. But don’t get cocky. It’s not attractive.”

  I sighed with a fair bit of melodrama. I really didn’t need to try. Drake had been driving me crazy about this.

  “As I was saying,” I clocked an eye his way. “The menu she sent meant you got to say if there was a potential problem. I know for a fact you told her about the prawn issue because she called me.”

  He turned in horror. “She called you? Oh. My. God. She must think I’m such a precious little shit. That’s it, she hates me.”

  “She called to say you sounded really nice and that she’d swapped the prawns for salmon and would that be okay? Luckily I knew you eat salmon.”

  “But people don’t always tell you everything, do they? What if she decides to add something in at the last minute, like… oh my God, chilli? I’ll end up curled in a ball, thrashing on the floor with explosive diarrhoea all over the place. Then you’ll drive me home in silence, because we won’t know what to say to each other, and then I’ll have another attack and get it all over your precious Mustang. You’ll be really embarrassed and have to send it to a detailer and then sell it because you’ll never be able to erase the memory. And then what will your uncle say?

  “None of your family will ever want to invite me to anything again. You’ll break up with me and meet some gorgeous new police recruit who enjoys all those outdoorsy physical things you love… and which reside a million miles from any public amenities, and I’ll end up marrying some nerdy gamer who’s too turned on by his joystick to ask too much of me in bed and who fires up my heart about as much as a wet fish.” Drake huffed out a sigh and stared out the window at the oncoming lights.

  He was so damn endearing when he got all bristly, and I almost made the mistake of laughing and telling him not to be silly. Almost. Then self-preservation kicked in and I remembered why I still needed my balls. “Catastrophising much, are we?”

  I got a paint-stripper glare and my balls drew a little higher.

  “Look.” I squeezed his hand. “If you really don’t want to go, I’ll call and make some excuse, and we’ll go back to yours.” I indicated and moved the car into the outside lane just in case he said yes.

  Instead he frowned. “You’d really do that?”

  I nodded. “Without a second
thought.” And I realised I meant it. If dinner was gonna freak Drake out enough to screw with his health, it wasn’t worth it. My brother would probably even understand. Carolyn said one of their baristas had IBS, which carried a similar set of problems.

  Drake’s hand sneaked onto my thigh and his hot fingers trailed up the inside of my leg. “Thanks for making the offer, but I’ll be fine. I’m just….”

  “Nervous?” I moved back into the middle lane with a sense of relief.

  “More like embarrassed. Not about meeting your family, as such, but about the whole food thing. I hate making a fuss. I hate having to say no to stuff. I hate people feeling sorry for me. And I really, really, really don’t want to be put on the spot with questions about it, at least not the first time I meet them. And it always happens.”

  “No one’s going to feel sorry for you, Drake, except for the part where you have to put up with me. And if questions come up, I’ll shut them down, okay?”

  He looked at me hopefully. “Promise?”

  “Scout’s honour.”

  “Pfft. You were never in the Scouts.”

  “Was too.”

  His eyes bugged. “Really?”

  “I think I should be offended by your lack of confidence in me, but yes, really. Why wouldn’t I have been?”

  Drake nearly choked on his laughter. “I just can’t see a young Caleb Ashton spending his weekends tying knots and sewing Keen Kea and Pet Keeper badges onto his shirt. Thought you’d have been out surfing and running triathlons.”

  “I’ll have you know teenage Caleb Ashton was a scrawny nerd whose parents decided he needed some friends and that Scouts was just the place to find them. But in all honesty, they did do some cool stuff. I got to go on the Spirit of Adventure sailing ship for one.”

  Drake rolled his eyes. “Of course you did. How long were you a scout?”

  “A year.”

  He snorted dismissively. “One year.” He eyed me sideways. “Hardly gonna earn you a lifetime achievement award, is it? So who was he, then?”