Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 132962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“There’s no rush on coming back, we just wanted to make sure everything was good on your end,” Jace said in his always reasonable tone. The man was laid-back and level-headed, which was probably why Mitch liked him so much.
“I got called out last night. I left before four this morning. I didn’t want to wake you. Can you hang on to my stuff for a while? I’ll be back through there soon, I’m sure.”
“Sure, or I can ship it to you,” Jace offered.
“If it’s in the way, you can ship it. If not, I’m sure it’ll be a week or so before I’m back.”
“Is it the case?” Jace asked hopefully.
“I can’t talk about it, you know that,” Mitch answered.
“I’m wearing your ball cap,” Colt yelled in the background. That was the one thing that crossed every line. It was all fun and games until his beloved baseball cap that he’d had for many years and fit him perfectly was brought into play.
“Jace, make him take it off and ask him about the sixteen to twenty pieces of bacon he ate,” Mitch said, feeling completely justified that he’d just pulled out the big guns.
“Sixteen pieces of bacon?” Jace asked, clearly not talking to him.
“You suck, man. I wasn’t even wearing your stupid hat,” Colt hollered in the background.
“Jace, protect my hat. I’ll see you guys soon.” All he could hear was Colt getting the negative nutritional facts about bacon, and he laughed as he hung up. That was exactly what he needed to take his mind off a certain hot young blond.
~~~
Cody felt real good. Last call just got hollered, meaning it was close to one thirty in the morning. That meant he’d been at his regular hangout for a solid couple of hours. He’d ended up here after the celebration at DPS headquarters, and since he’d arrived, he drank his way to pretty damn drunk.
His going away slash welcome to the new mounted division party had lasted longer than he’d anticipated. He hadn’t made it to the local gay club he sometimes hung out at. He also hadn’t called his last boyfriend who was generally always up for a good time even though they had broken up a couple of months ago. Instead he hit The Barn, a bar below his downtown Austin apartment. They knew him by name there, and he didn’t have far to get home. A nine-flight elevator ride up was all the traveling he’d have to do.
The one thing he’d needed the most hadn’t happened tonight and that was sex. Man, he’d needed a good fuck, but pretty much his whole concentration now centered on not calling or texting Mitch back. After a couple of drinks, he decided it would have been simpler had he just deleted Mitch’s number from his phone, but for some reason, that didn’t seem to be an option. After a considerable amount of time and a few more beers, he reasoned if he deleted the number, he might not know if Mitch called again and might answer unexpectedly. So at least if he kept the number, he could ignore the call.
Yeah, that was it…
“You got my tab?” Cody called out from his end of the bar.
“Yeah, close it out?” the bartender asked.
“Yeah, tip yourself appropriately. Don’t make me think tonight,” Cody said, laughing at his joke that no one else seemed to think was funny. That was okay; he laughed enough for the few stragglers still lingering in the place.
Chapter 17
What the fuck! Mitch felt like a schoolboy waiting to hear from his first crush. Damn, that was so unlike him, but memories of that hot cowboy in the front seat continued to make encore appearances in his mind all night.
Mitch had spent the last few hours going over every detail of the case with Connors. In his newfound ecstatic mood, he’d even refrained from the smart-ass remarks he would have normally made to his uptight partner over things like…his less than desirable wardrobe, or frou-frou eating habits, because seriously, who still cut their hamburger with a knife and fork in this day and age? But he hadn’t said a word. Mitch had other more important things to occupy his thoughts.
They had gone to the local diner earlier, asking obvious and stupid questions as they polished off homemade chocolate meringue pie, and made sure the townsfolk left talking about the two government agents in town on the outside chance they were being watched.
Even though Mitch hadn’t slept, he wouldn’t let them call it a night. Mitch forced an online meeting between Connors and Aaron, and Connors remained skeptical until Aaron presented them the list of the agents assigned to the Greyson family. It hadn’t taken him two hours to put that information together, and the list was long. They spent the next few hours going over the list, dissecting each person and the possibility of their involvement.
In what he now considered a lame move, Mitch had left his cellphone out, close at hand the entire time they had dinner, through their impromptu meeting with Aaron, through his shower, and while he changed into the SpongeBob pajama pants Kreed loaned him. Cody never called. Why hadn’t he called?
He’d thought Cody was into him. At least last night he had been. Mitch had just put all those nerves off to Cody being newly out or something like that. Mitch was reasonably certain he and Cody would have ended up doing the deed if he’d stayed in town. But on that thought, last night could have just been a hook-up for Cody. Actually, it should have just been a hook-up for Mitch too, but hell, he couldn’t let this go.
If Mitch was honest with himself, Cody had walked away last night with all his information. He knew exactly who he was and how to reach him, and yet, Mitch had been the one to make the first move. Actually, he’d been the one to make all the moves—that thought caused a scowl to form as he brushed his teeth and ran a comb through his short hair. Why was he so hung up on that shy country boy?