Sean bumped the mouse, bringing his screen to life, and flipped to the next song. Something equally morose, but that was just how his hard drive was feeling today, apparently. He looked around the office to make sure they were fairly unobserved, and murmured, “You remember Pia?”
Dubs snorted a single laugh and blinked slowly. He’d been one of the vocal few who’d told him not to marry her, but had the courtesy not to be the one who said ‘I told you so’. “She’s back?” He, too, kept his voice low and his lips barely moved.
Sean ran both hands though his hair in irritation. “Worse, wants me back.”
“And you told her ‘no,’ right?” He said that like it was the easiest thing in the world, like there was no other answer possible.
“Yes.” That much was true. In the park, at the first available opportunity, he’d told her that he wasn’t taking her back. Pia was his past, regardless of her desires to the contrary. Nothing she could do could change that fact. So how the hell had he ended up taking her to dinner?
“Then what’s the problem? She asked, you answered, and you keep on movin’.”
“In theory,” he agreed, trying to keep the sudden bout of nausea he was experiencing at bay. He reached into the tray drawer of his desk and pulled out his favorite pen, given to him by his sister when he’d graduated from the academy, flipping it between his fingers to give them something to do.
“In practice. I mean, unless you went and did something stupid.” Dubs nodded with the certainty of a man who’d never been married, and certainly never divorced.
“I guess that depends on what you consider to be stupid.” The more he thought about it, the more tangled it became in his head, and talking about it out loud only served to underscore that. Ellie’s expression when he’d asked her to join him and Pia for dinner flashed in his head just then, a mix of mild indignance, confusion, and a touch of hurt. Though he’d only intended to put an exclamation point on his declaration of independence from Pia, he could see why Ellie was reticent to be his punctuation.
“And the new one? I mean, if it’s ‘women’ plural, and one’s your ex, at least one of them has to be new.” Faultless logic, that.
It came to him right then, with a clarity that was frightening. It was entirely possible Ellie was his future, and he was strangely comfortable with that. Regardless of what he did, she rolled with it, she accepted him for who he was, which was more than could ever be said of his ex. “She tolerates my frequent bouts of idiocy.”
A knowing smirk crept slowly across Dub’s lips. “Then I suggest you keep her.”
Their sergeant stuck his head in the room. “We gotta go. East District found a grow operation on a homicide.” He looked over the two of them and their indolent poses, and frowned slightly. “Now, boys. C’mon.”
Sean was out of his chair, pulling his gun from the depths of his top drawer and securing it to his hip. “I do love a good party.” He looked to the still-seated Dubs and offered his arm. “Shall we?”
Dubs put a hand to his chest and fluttered his lashes. “Oh my, Mr. O’Leary. How gallant of you.” He made like he was going to take Sean’s arm and then shoved him hard toward the door. “Let’s go, ya goober. I wanna hear more about this new one. I think I might like her.”
* * *
Ellie’s giant leather purse began to vibrate as she checked all the locks on the doors and shut out the lights to roll call. The light in the sergeant’s office was on, but when she poked her head around the corner, she found the lieutenant on the computer at the far end of the room. She waved to him as she answered her phone after a quick glance at the caller ID. “If it isn’t the second hottest detective I know.”
“Who’s the first?” he demanded immediately. Something about his voice, soft and slightly raspy, did something to her physically. Her pulse spiked just a little and her knees went all warm and wobbly.
“I’ll never tell,” she said with a smile in her voice. “How’s your night going?”
“Not too bad, off to go do a thing, you know.” She heard raucous laughter and other assorted mayhem in the background and knew he was on a job. “I was just thinking of you and wanted to hear your voice.”
She was surprised and infinitely pleased that he’d taken a moment out of an op to contact her. Trying to keep her response from bubbling over in affectionate effusion she replied, “You know I always like to hear yours.”
Ellie heard a commanding male voice in the background and the sound of the mouthpiece being muffled. “I gotta go,” Sean said suddenly, sounding a bit regretful.
She understood instantly. “Okay, we’ll talk later. Be safe.” ‘I love you’ was on the tip of her tongue, which was a little unnerving, but she kept it back for obvious reasons.
“I will.” And then he was gone.
She allowed herself a moment of worry, a quick silent prayer to whichever god was on the night shift and taking calls, and then she was done.
She was just about to put her phone in her purse as she walked out of the building when it rang again. This time she didn’t even look. “Yes?” she answered playfully, thinking he’d called back.
“Dane has a plan,” Josh replied in lieu of a greeting. “Come to the house after you go home and change clothes and we’ll show you.”
Whoa. Wait. “A plan? What kind of plan?” She clutched the phone tightly to her ear as she unlocked her car and got inside.
“I told Dane about your situation, and he’s got an idea he wanted to run past you.” Josh was talking like he was three lattes into a sixer with no end in sight.
She started the engine and rolled her eyes. This could only end in tears. “I have a ‘situation’ now? What the hell did you tell him? And when the hell did you two get so chummy? You holding out on me?”
He hummed in impatience. “Your feeble attempts at distraction notwithstanding, I told him you needed help. We’re gonna help. Quit bitching and come over.”
Ellie shuddered to think what kind of help she needed that the dynamic duo would be providing, but she was headed home and feeling kind of lonely, so this would be a good change. “Okay, give me about thirty and I’ll be there.”
“Awesome, we’ll save a plate for you.” Josh hung up just as she was pulling up in front of her house. It only took a few minutes to change out of her drab khaki pants and department-issue navy polo and into her normal attire of a random pithy t-shirt and a pair of cutoff shorts.
The drive down to Josh’s house was tense, lots of high-speed, poorly driven cars on the road around her, and even her normal escape—loud Dave Matthews Band on the radio—was doing nothing for her nerves. In her mind, she imagined what strange and fanciful plans the boys had dreamed up. It wasn’t pretty, and there were usually explosions involved. Not a good scene.
He was in his garage with the door up getting more beer out of the extra fridge he kept out there when she pulled up. In his orange Texas Longhorns t-shirt and khaki shorts, he looked like a frat boy. She was tempted to tell him so when he held up two bottles of wine. “White, red, or vodka?”
“Vodka, definitely vodka.” She knew whatever he and his boy toy had planned was going to require something stronger than wine, but just shy of paint thinner.
After grabbing a bottle of Absolut from the freezer, he held the door into the house for her. “After you. I made stuffed chicken breasts and mushroom and asparagus risotto, just have to heat them up.”
Her favorite foods. He was really buttering her up. “I’m afraid.”
Josh waved off her concern and showed her to the place he’d set for her at the kitchen table. “Don’t be. Dane came up with a brilliant plan.”
“That’s not comforting. So are you two a thing now?” It hadn’t escaped her notice that her best friend had failed to answer this vital question on the phone earlier.
“Maybe.” His smile said something else entirely as he turned on the microwave. “Let’s just say I more than made up for your appalling lack of manners.”
“Nice.” She snorted in amusement as the timer went off. “So where is he? I thought you said he was going to be joining us.”
“Right here.”
Ellie looked behind her to see Dane round the corner, carrying a large box with coaxial cables and other things sticking out of the top. It seemed her fears were well-founded. Josh slid her steaming plate of gustatory goodness in front of her along with a vodka and sweet tea. “Dare I ask?”
The big man set the box on the table and dropped into the nearest chair. “Eat, it’s good for you.”
She looked him over from green Emerald Society shirt down to his surprisingly well-manicured toenails and back up before pounding her beverage. Holding it up for Josh, she said, “I’m thinking I’m gonna need more of these.”
He plucked the glass from her fingers and nodded. “Coming right up.”
She primly unfolded her napkin and took up her silverware, laying siege to her stuffed chicken breast with gusto. “So what all did he tell you?” She gestured toward Dane with her chicken laden fork.
He shrugged. “Just that you need some help with a pesky ex. And not even yours.”
Well, that much was accurate. Didn’t lend itself to them forming a plan, though. She stabbed a piece of asparagus. “Okay? And he told you about the dinner?”
Dane accepted a wineglass from Josh as he sat across from him. This was beginning to feel like a meeting of the Families, and not a friendly get together. “Yes, on Thursday. Did you change your mind about going?”
Ellie shook her head and picked at her risotto. “Hell no.” This was one instance where she was damn sure she wasn’t changing her mind. She finished her chicken breast and caught a look that passed between Dane and Josh that had her completely on edge. “Boys? You got something you wanna share?”
“What if…” Josh started airily, running a manicured finger around the lip of his wineglass, “what if we had a way for you to be there and know what was said, without actually being there at the table with them?”
She looked from Josh to Dane and back, finding both sets of eyes firmly on her reaction. “Like what are we talking about? A crystal ball?” She didn’t believe in such things, but since this conversation had taken a turn for the surreal, it didn’t hurt to ask.
Dane nodded. “Of sorts.” He reached into the cardboard box and pulled out a tiny plastic piece that looked like it might go to a hearing aid, setting it on the table between them.
“Is that…?” Ellie couldn’t remember what to call it, but she’d seen it enough on Leverage to know what it was.
“It’s an earwig.” Dane was pulling things out of the box, small black metal boxes with switches, numerous cords and cables, tiny tubes and things, more little earwig things, a pair of night vision goggles, and finally, a parabolic mic.
“Sweet baby Jesus on toast with bacon!” She looked between the two ridiculously pretty men, finally settling on grilling Dane. “Do you moonlight for the CIA or something?”
“No,” he replied looking as innocent as she’d ever seen, “I just have a hobby.”
Josh got up from the table and took her plate. “You done?”
She nodded at Josh. “Yes, thank you.” She then turned to Dane, picking up one piece and then another. “I didn’t realize stalking constituted a hobby.”
“Never know when you want multiple angles on the sex tapes, you know?” he replied, nonchalantly sipping his wine.
Josh laughed and came over to throw and arm around his shoulders. “Nice. So, here’s the deal. We can set this up and then you can see what it is the vile, evil, poisonous Pia has to say. Just so everyone in the triangle is on the same page.”
The visuals whirled in her head thanks to the vodka. “First of all, eww. I have no desire to hear about your kinky cinematic endeavors. Second, warrantless wiretaps get you federal time. You’re both crazy.”
Josh took that moment to get up and refill her glass with his evil concoction. “Think of it as covert surveillance, like we’re your hired PIs.”
Ellie took a big drink. “And what is it, exactly, that you propose to do? I figure it’s such a farcical idea, I should know it in its entirety before I call for the men in the white coats.”
Dane slid the earwig across the table until it almost touched the fingers that were wrapped protectively around her spiked tea. “I figured we would go, bribe a waiter, set up at their table, and then sit in the restaurant and listen.”
She hoped the amount of aghast she felt showed on her face. “What’s this ‘we’ business? You got a mouse in your pocket? Now we’re bribing folks in addition to secretly listening to them? You two clearly shouldn’t be unsupervised for any length of time.”
Josh looked affronted on Dane’s behalf. “Now, now. We’re trying to help you here. If you don’t think we should be unsupervised, you need to come with us.”
Ellie took in the seriousness of Josh’s expression and saw the signpost for the high road passing her by. “You’re doing this with or without me, aren’t you?”
“I know you, and I know how this all went down last time. Let’s just say, I’m investing in a different outcome.” His quiet voice, full of conviction and love, allayed her misgivings. Of course, that could have also been the alcohol.
She was not, however, going to give them the satisfaction of giving in immediately. “I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?”
Josh smiled proudly and poured her another iced tea. “Nah, we got this covered. Don’t even worry about it.”
Worry was all she planned to do. The plan made her nervous, but for the moment, however, “Okay, I’m in.”
She could see the restraint it took for Dane to refrain from rubbing his hands together in glee. “Excellent. Now about my fee…”
Chapter 6
Sean woke on Thursday feeling antsy. He hadn’t seen Ellie since Sunday, and though they talked daily, usually on her way to and from work, it wasn’t the same. Not to mention the fact that he’d had early morning court the last two days in addition to his actual work. He was exhausted, stressed, and really not in the mood to see Pia tonight. At the same time, though, he knew the sooner he got this out of the way, the sooner he could be with Ellie without the spectre of Pia hanging over the two of them.
He got up and threw on his running clothes, sending Guinness into fits and spasms of happiness as they made their way to the door. Sean took a detour to the kitchen to start his coffee percolating, since he knew he’d want it when he got back. Then he and the dog were out the door and on their way through the neighborhood.
Three trips from end to end of the complex left him hot, sweaty, and feeling more in control of his day. Peeling off his sticky shirt, he wiped his face as he walked through the door, the dog practically shoving him out of the way to get to his water bowl. He went to the cabinet and pulled down a mug for his coffee, turning when he heard his phone chirp with a missed call from the kitchen table.
Guinness finished drinking and went to the middle of the living room floor to collapse in a panting heap. The large production he made of finding just the right spot before flouncing down in a display of flapping ears, tongue, and jowls brought a smile to Sean’s face.
“It’s not that hot, goofus.” Shaking his head, he grabbed his phone, expecting a sunny morning greeting from Ellie on his voicemail, only to find three missed calls from Arturo. Though he’d only been gone for thirty minutes or so, apparently his former father-in-law had seen fit to essentially blow up his phone. Before he’d had a chance to check to see if there were voice messages, his phone vibrated in his hand and the Tubular Bells heralded a call from Arturo. Again.
“Art,” he injected a smile into his voice because he knew that deep down, it pissed Art off, “always a pleasure.”
“Sean. I thought you weren’t taking my calls.”
He held the phone away from his ear for a moment and checked for slime residue. Finding none, he continued. “I have to admit, it crossed my mind.”
“Always with the jokes. Pia tells me that you’re going to dinner tonight. I hope this means there’s progress between you two.”
“Why the hell do you care so much?” That question had been the main one that had never been sufficiently answered for Sean.
“Because she’s my daughter and I love her,” Art answered promptly, as if that were all he needed to know about that.
And he would move heaven and Earth to accede to every wish and whim. Sean was done being at their collective beck and call. “Well, since that’s the case, any further questions you have can be answered by her. Do me a huge favor, would you, and lose this number.”
Arturo still squawking, he tossed the phone across the room and watched it bounce off the wall above the mantle. As if he needed another reason to end his relationship with Pia…. At least he had a protective case around it, or he’d be buying a new phone on his way to work. Guinness lifted his head and a wrinkly eyebrow in question, but Sean shook his head. “Don’t sweat it, bub. I’ll be in the shower.” If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought Guinness nodded in understanding before resuming his repose on the floor.
* * *
Ellie was not a normally nervous person, but today she’d had to forego her usual latte for fear she might rattle to pieces. Though they’d only had a couple days to plan, Josh and Dane had worked out quite an intricate little scheme involving more electronics than she’d ever given thought to before. The dress rehearsal last night had been another liquor-soaked affair, but as to whether or not that was the cause for the initial disastrous performance remained to be seen. She had to admit, by the end of the night, they’d managed to get everything together for this evening.
She ran her fingers through her hair and down her face for the umpteenth time in the last half hour, watching the clock like it had a vendetta against her and a straight razor. The instant she could clock out, she was out the door, practically running to her car with her duffle bag of work clothes she’d changed out of, and her cell phone buzzing in her purse.
The Ex File (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 1) Page 8
