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asphaltcowgrrlTitle: In a Week or Two Chapter 6
Fandom: Romani Detective Original Fiction
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,171
Summary: It’s the morning after and Andrej gets a house full of visitors.
Author’s Note: Hopefully you’re still enjoying this. My pelo-obsession worked itself into this chapter twice. Hah!
“Mmm,” Zayne murmured, snuggling into the warm body beside him. He didn’t remember bringing anyone home with him, but that wouldn’t be a first either. He tended to do some dumb shit when he’d had too much to drink. It was odd though because the back he was pressed against was broader and more solid than any woman he’d ever spent the night with. Eh, he could figure it out later, he decided, curling his body against the one in his bed, burying his face in his date’s neck.
“Zayne,” a voice said, dragging him back to consciousness. “Please get off of me.”
He opened his eyes and swore. “Sorry, Zek,” he said, rolling off his partner, mortified. They’d woken up in the same bed before, sure, but never had he awoken wrapped around Zeklos like that. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Andrej sat up and stretched. “I am not sure you were thinking,” he said with a shy grin. “After how much we had to drink last night, I am pretty sure both of our brains ceased to function and are waiting to be rebooted.”
“Do I need to check my body for hickeys or…?” He wiggled his eyebrows seductively at Zeklos, causing his partner to blush. Sitting up, he reached his fingers towards the ceiling and groaned.
“I do not like you sometimes,” Andrej growled, swinging a pillow at Zayne’s beautiful torso.
“Nah, you love me,” Zayne joked, dodging the pillow. “Man, we must have hit the bottle hard, I don’t think I’ve been this hung over in a long time.”
“It did not help that I had several glasses of wine during dinner,” Andrej added. He looked around the room before getting out of bed. “That was very unlike me last night. I am sorry.”
“You had a lot going on,” Zayne said. “You get a pass.”
“Thank you,” he said, sounding relieved.
“On the plus side, neither of us are naked,” Zayne said.
Andrej looked over his shoulder. “Was that something you were concerned about, Zayne?”
He shrugged. “With as much tequila as I had last night, yeah. I’ve done dumber shit than kiss a guy under the influence of a little Jose Cuervo, Zek.”
“I do not want to know,” Andrej said, chuckling. “But I should say thank you for coming over and helping me deal with Jay last night.”
“Oh, we haven’t even begun do deal with that dickhead yet,” Zayne said. “But that’s next.”
Zeklos walked towards his dresser and Zayne took in his long, lean form. When fully clothed, you’d never guess that Zek had such broad shoulders or so much muscle on him. The suits he chose were deceptively cut if they were hiding all this. “You have some seriously thick thighs for someone as lean as you are, Zek.”
“What?” He looked up from the drawer he was digging through and glanced down at his legs. “I’m sorry?”
“You look so scrawny in those suits; I wasn’t prepared for you to have so much…” He waved at Andrej’s body, unable to put a word to what he was thinking.
Zeklos frowned. “I am not sure why you are surprised. You have seen me in various states of undress before now,” he said. “Also, you know that I take care of myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Zayne said, waving a hand at him. “You do yoga and let’s not forget that damn bike that goes nowhere that you’re so fond of trying to die on. I guess I’ve never paid that much attention.”
“But you are paying attention now?” He pulled a clean t-shirt out of the drawer and set it on top of the dresser. Opening another drawer, he pulled out underwear and socks.
“Nah,” Zayne said, sounding more casual than he felt. “I just thought you slept in long pants. Wasn’t prepared to see so much skin so early in the morning.”
Andrej made a face. “I usually do. However, I must have been more out of it than I thought if I went to bed in nothing but a pair of boxers.”
“It’s a good look on you,” Zayne said, wondering why he’d said such a dumb thing.
“Um, thank you,” Zeklos said, sounding rather unsure of himself. “I am going to get into the shower and then I will make us both some breakfast.”
“Hopefully something greasy and carby,” Zayne said.
“I am not sure about greasy,” Zeklos said with a frown. “But I have everything we need for pancakes.”
“Just what the doctor ordered,” Zayne said. “Are my spare clothes clean?”
“As they always are,” Andrej said.
“Great. I’ll get dressed and go get some bacon. We needed grease and carbs to cure these hangovers.”
Andrej shook his head. “I will defer to you on that since I am positive you are the expert.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you can be a real asshole, Zek?”
“Only you, Zayne,” he replied.
Zayne smiled at the affectionate tone in Zeklos’ voice. “Be right back, baby.” He blew a kiss at his partner and took off to procure them some bacon.
Andrej set a plate of hash browns, pancakes, and bacon in front of Zayne. “There, that ought to help your hangover some.”
“It smells so good,” Zayne said. “But then, you’ve never fed me anything less than amazing either, Zek.”
“Thank you,” Andrej said, turning when he heard a rap on his front door. “I wonder who that is?”
“Ten bucks says it’s the gossip hounds here looking for deets on your date.” Zayne grinned as he poured syrup over his pancakes.
Drying his hands on a towel, Andrej went to the front door. “Ah, it is you two,” he said, stepping back so Hilary and Trish could come into the house. “You owe Zayne ten dollars,” he told them.
“Why us,” Trish asked. “I’m sure he made the bet with you.”
“He did, however you both promised to wait for me to call you, too,” he said, teasing them. “I am in the middle of making breakfast, are either of you hungry?”
“Starving,” Trish said.
“Same,” Hilary echoed.
“Come, take a seat with Zayne, and I will get you some food.”
Andrej piled plates full of food for the girls and handed them over along with mugs of fresh brewed coffee. “Zayne says you are here to get details on my date,” he said as he put some pancakes on his plate. He retrieved a container of blueberries from the fridge and sprinkled a handful over his breakfast.
“You’d better not be letting that bacon and hash browns go to waste, buddy,” Zayne said.
“Oh, there is no chance it will go to waste with you three here,” he countered. It occurred to him that if James were around, he’d have finished off what was left before Zayne could have commented on it. But that was not happening today or any day now. “However, I would rather not eat the bacon this morning. The hash browns are another story.” The potatoes were the lesser breakfast evil if he were honest.
“Reyes, shut up and let him eat,” Trish said, jamming her elbow into Zayne’s side.
“Ah, so you are here to grill me about my date,” Andrej muttered.
“Not grill you,” Hilary said. “But maybe um, ask? I mean, we want to know you had a good time.”
He cut off a bite of pancake and stabbed it, along with a few blueberries, lifting it to his mouth. “Dinner was nice,” he said, before eating the bite he’d prepared.
“That’s all you’re going to tell us,” Trish asked, appalled. “Did he kiss you? Are you two getting married? Did it end in bloodshed? We need information, Andy!”
“It damn near ended in bloodshed,” Zayne muttered.
“Wait, what?” Hilary looked from Zayne to Andrej, who was stuffing another bite of food into his mouth. “What did we miss?”
“The narco crashed Zek’s date,” Zayne said. He pointed a piece of bacon and Andrej. “You should have trashed his ass.”
Andrej sighed and put his fork down. “He did not crash my date, Zayne. He was already there with his new boyfriend.”
“So, what actually happened then?” Trish put her fork down, too, and that worried Andrej a bit.
He explained the drama from the night before and waited while they processed the information. Zayne was angrier today than he’d been last night, Andrej noted. And the girls seemed stymied that James could have possibly gone so far off the deep end. Andrej couldn’t lie, he was rather stunned by it himself.
“What did you tell your date,” Hilary eventually asked.
“That Zayne had disturbing information in regards to our case,” Andrej said. “Which wasn’t a complete lie, he had called with information on the homicide we are working. I did not think he needed or wanted to know that Jay was being so…”
“Jealous,” Trish threw out.
Andrej changed the subject. “Dinner was very nice, however. You would have liked the restaurant, too. Food was excellent.”
“And the wine, too,” Zayne snorted.
Blushing, Andrej looked down at his plate. “The wine was a little too good, I am afraid.”
“Did you get trashed on your date,” Hilary asked, laughing.
“Not quite,” Zayne said, getting up and helping himself to more bacon and hash browns. “But he was close when I got here last night.”
“Where we proceeded to complete the process,” Andrej said, not caring that the girls knew at this point. “I was not in a good frame of mind last night.”
“No one expected you to be either,” Zayne said. “Although I’m impressed you made it through the rest of the meal without losing your shit.”
“It helped that Carter was understanding and intelligent enough to know that police work is not pretty. He did not even attempt to pry, he just made sure I was okay and left it at that.” Andrej took a sip of his coffee and chuckled. “He wants to meet you though, Zayne. I think you would like him.”
Zayne grinned. “Bring the boy over already. We’d all love to get a few minutes alone with him.”
“Not yet,” Andrej said. “Let me find out whether he likes me or not before I bring you three into the mix.”
“Sounds like a great guy,” Hilary said. “When are you going out again?”
“This coming Friday, unless something comes up with this case we’re working on.” He looked at the expectant faces watching him. “If we are still enjoying one another’s company after the next couple of dates, we can plan a dinner party or something so you can all meet him.”
“Yay,” Hilary said, jumping up and giving Andrej a hug. “I’m happy for you, really. As much as we hoped things would work out with Rosewood, I think this guy might be a better fit for you.”
“And if he’s not, we can threaten to beat his ass like we have with the narco,” Trish added.
“Please do not,” Andrej laughed. “He is a nice guy and is harmless.”
“They all are,” Hilary muttered. “Right on up until they aren’t. But we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Can Trish and I start planning the dinner party?”
“Um…” Andrej looked at Zayne, panic rising in his face.
“Give him some air,” Zayne said, chuckling.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Hilary said, deflating. “But I’m still excited.”
“Can you direct some of that excitement into cleaning my kitchen then?” He winked at Trish. “Seeing as your ex-boyfriend is the reason why I am barely functioning today.”
“See, I told you,” Trish said, sliding off her stool and carrying her plate into the kitchen. “He doesn’t care, male or female, if he can get it drunk, he’s going to make a move on it.”
“Hey,” Zayne said, sounding hurt. “I’d hit on Zek sober. Wait, no, that’s not what I meant. Shit. You two need to stop that!”
Laughing, Andrej escaped the dining room and headed towards his bedroom. He needed to strip his sheets and put fresh ones on now that Zayne had crashed in his bed overnight. The scent of his partner in his bed every time he tried to sleep would not help him get any actual sleep, he feared. His phone buzzed with a text as he was disrobing a pillow.
We need to talk. Now.
Glaring at the photo of James he’d once loved enough to set as his contact picture, Andrej sent off an angry reply.
Sure. Come on over. But be warned, Zayne, Hilary, and Trish are here.
His response was nothing but silence.
Once the girls had finished cleaning his kitchen – something they’d insisted on doing despite his pleas that he was joking – they’d shuffled out of the house, dragging Zayne with them. Even though he enjoyed their company, he was relieved to be alone again.
It had been an hour since he’d replied to James’ text and since there still hadn’t been an answer, Andrej figured his ex-boyfriend had gotten the hint. He removed his work bag from the closet and set it on the coffee table. Taking his laptop out of the bag, he turned it on. While it was booting up, he went to refill his coffee and figure out where to start working.
He caught the shadow of someone moving outside his front door and frowned. If it was James, he was going to have words with the detective and none of them would be pleasant. For a second, he contemplated calling Zayne, but resisted when he realized that whoever was outside wasn’t tall enough to be the redhead. His visitor knocked and he relaxed a bit because it was a casual sound, not the angry, frenzied pounding he’d assume James would assault the door with.
Can I – oh,” Andrej said, surprised to see Jake Hansen standing on his doorstep. “Jake, hello. I was not expecting you.”
Jake smiled at him. “I’m sure I’m the last person you expected to see today or any other, honestly. I’m not interrupting anything am I?”
“I was about to start working on my notes for this case Zayne and I have,” he said, moving aside so Jake could come inside. “But no, you are not disturbing me. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, I’m good,” Jake said. He shoved his fingertips into his pockets and looked around Andrej’s living room. “I’m not sure if I should be telling you this or not, but, Rosewood’s acting weird lately.”
“And it is my fault,” Andrej surmised.
“Not hardly,” Jake laughed. “It’s his own damned fault, I’m sure. But I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Okay,” Andrej said, sitting down on the couch. He wasn’t sure what was about to be asked, but he was sure that he’d be better prepared sitting down for it. “What is your question?”
“Hil says you’re seeing someone? Sort of anyway?” He shook his head and looked around the room again. Jake stepped forward and sat in the recliner Zayne always claimed for himself, resting his hands on the arms. “At the risk of sounding like a busybody, who are you dating?”
“I am not dating anyone,” Andrej sighed. “I have been on one date and –”
“Hey, relax,” Jake said, holding out his hands in surrender. “I wasn’t insinuating anything. And honestly, you deserve to find someone to spend your life with. I was asking because I stumbled across James digging into a guy named Carter Jacobsen the other day. Guy seems harmless as can be, but he was obsessed with finding dirt on the guy. That’s not the guy you went out with, is it? Because if it is, I’m afraid Rosewood’s about to cross the line into stalking.”
“Oh no,” Andrej said, feeling like someone had just yanked the rug out from under his feet. “He hasn’t done anything has he? That you know about anyway?”
“As far as I know, he’s just trying to find something, anything, on this guy,” Jake said.
“But I thought he was happy with his new boyfriend,” Andrej wondered aloud. “They seemed perfectly happy together when I saw them at the Greek café…”
“Zeklos?”
“It was the day I met Carter,” he said. “He gave me his business card that day and told me to call when I thought I was interested in replacing James. I wonder if he saw us talking? I do not understand, Jake. Why would James even care?”
“Because he fucked up by ending your relationship,” Jake said easily. “And he’s finally starting to realize it. Scott’s a good dude, smart, handsome, non-offensive.” Jake shrugged. “But he’s not very interesting. He sure as hell doesn’t have a group of friends likes yours.”
The corner of Andrej’s mouth quirked up. “Ours,” he corrected. “They belong to you, too, now that you are dating Hilary.”
“Does that include Reyes,” Jake asked with a smile.
“It always includes Zayne,” Andrej confirmed.
“Fuck me,” Jake laughed, loudly. “Seriously though, I don’t think Rosewood knew all that he was giving up when he broke up with you. Seeing me with Hilary and, by default, the rest of you, is making him reconsider. Which sucks because Scott doesn’t deserve this. But shit, you don’t deserve his crazy ass either.”
Andrej thought back to the text he’d received earlier that day. “I will call him later, I think. See what he has to say. He texted earlier saying we needed to talk.”
“And he let you off the hook?”
“Zayne, Hilary, and Trish were all here at the time and I told him as much.”
“Drilling you about your date,” he guessed. “Those girls are relentless when it comes to that stuff.”
“Not half as relentless as Zayne,” Andrej said, laughing. His smile faded and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I do not know what to do about Jay, Jake.”
“I wish I could help you, Zeklos, because I like you a lot, but he’s really gone off the deep end with this.” Jake rose to his feet. “If I can help you, let me know. I’ll try and talk to him, but it might be best if you call him, too.”
“I will,” Andrej said. “Thank you, Jake, for telling me. I need to think about this before I do anything.”
“Don’t rush it,” Jake advised. “I think that caution is the key word here.”
Jake let himself out and drove away while Andrej stood in the doorway, watching. He couldn’t disagree with Hansen about that. Closing the front door, he lowered the lid on his laptop, deciding to put work off for a bit. He needed to clear his head and the best way to do that was through yoga. Zayne – and honestly, James – would make fun of him for this, but he knew what worked best for him, all jokes aside. Now, if he could only find his light, maybe he wouldn’t lose his damn mind.
--
End Note: One of Cody Rigsby’s favorite expressions is, “Bitch, find your light.” I laughed out loud when I typed that last line because it sure wasn’t intentional, boo.
Fandom: Romani Detective Original Fiction
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,171
Summary: It’s the morning after and Andrej gets a house full of visitors.
Author’s Note: Hopefully you’re still enjoying this. My pelo-obsession worked itself into this chapter twice. Hah!
“Mmm,” Zayne murmured, snuggling into the warm body beside him. He didn’t remember bringing anyone home with him, but that wouldn’t be a first either. He tended to do some dumb shit when he’d had too much to drink. It was odd though because the back he was pressed against was broader and more solid than any woman he’d ever spent the night with. Eh, he could figure it out later, he decided, curling his body against the one in his bed, burying his face in his date’s neck.
“Zayne,” a voice said, dragging him back to consciousness. “Please get off of me.”
He opened his eyes and swore. “Sorry, Zek,” he said, rolling off his partner, mortified. They’d woken up in the same bed before, sure, but never had he awoken wrapped around Zeklos like that. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Andrej sat up and stretched. “I am not sure you were thinking,” he said with a shy grin. “After how much we had to drink last night, I am pretty sure both of our brains ceased to function and are waiting to be rebooted.”
“Do I need to check my body for hickeys or…?” He wiggled his eyebrows seductively at Zeklos, causing his partner to blush. Sitting up, he reached his fingers towards the ceiling and groaned.
“I do not like you sometimes,” Andrej growled, swinging a pillow at Zayne’s beautiful torso.
“Nah, you love me,” Zayne joked, dodging the pillow. “Man, we must have hit the bottle hard, I don’t think I’ve been this hung over in a long time.”
“It did not help that I had several glasses of wine during dinner,” Andrej added. He looked around the room before getting out of bed. “That was very unlike me last night. I am sorry.”
“You had a lot going on,” Zayne said. “You get a pass.”
“Thank you,” he said, sounding relieved.
“On the plus side, neither of us are naked,” Zayne said.
Andrej looked over his shoulder. “Was that something you were concerned about, Zayne?”
He shrugged. “With as much tequila as I had last night, yeah. I’ve done dumber shit than kiss a guy under the influence of a little Jose Cuervo, Zek.”
“I do not want to know,” Andrej said, chuckling. “But I should say thank you for coming over and helping me deal with Jay last night.”
“Oh, we haven’t even begun do deal with that dickhead yet,” Zayne said. “But that’s next.”
Zeklos walked towards his dresser and Zayne took in his long, lean form. When fully clothed, you’d never guess that Zek had such broad shoulders or so much muscle on him. The suits he chose were deceptively cut if they were hiding all this. “You have some seriously thick thighs for someone as lean as you are, Zek.”
“What?” He looked up from the drawer he was digging through and glanced down at his legs. “I’m sorry?”
“You look so scrawny in those suits; I wasn’t prepared for you to have so much…” He waved at Andrej’s body, unable to put a word to what he was thinking.
Zeklos frowned. “I am not sure why you are surprised. You have seen me in various states of undress before now,” he said. “Also, you know that I take care of myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Zayne said, waving a hand at him. “You do yoga and let’s not forget that damn bike that goes nowhere that you’re so fond of trying to die on. I guess I’ve never paid that much attention.”
“But you are paying attention now?” He pulled a clean t-shirt out of the drawer and set it on top of the dresser. Opening another drawer, he pulled out underwear and socks.
“Nah,” Zayne said, sounding more casual than he felt. “I just thought you slept in long pants. Wasn’t prepared to see so much skin so early in the morning.”
Andrej made a face. “I usually do. However, I must have been more out of it than I thought if I went to bed in nothing but a pair of boxers.”
“It’s a good look on you,” Zayne said, wondering why he’d said such a dumb thing.
“Um, thank you,” Zeklos said, sounding rather unsure of himself. “I am going to get into the shower and then I will make us both some breakfast.”
“Hopefully something greasy and carby,” Zayne said.
“I am not sure about greasy,” Zeklos said with a frown. “But I have everything we need for pancakes.”
“Just what the doctor ordered,” Zayne said. “Are my spare clothes clean?”
“As they always are,” Andrej said.
“Great. I’ll get dressed and go get some bacon. We needed grease and carbs to cure these hangovers.”
Andrej shook his head. “I will defer to you on that since I am positive you are the expert.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you can be a real asshole, Zek?”
“Only you, Zayne,” he replied.
Zayne smiled at the affectionate tone in Zeklos’ voice. “Be right back, baby.” He blew a kiss at his partner and took off to procure them some bacon.
Andrej set a plate of hash browns, pancakes, and bacon in front of Zayne. “There, that ought to help your hangover some.”
“It smells so good,” Zayne said. “But then, you’ve never fed me anything less than amazing either, Zek.”
“Thank you,” Andrej said, turning when he heard a rap on his front door. “I wonder who that is?”
“Ten bucks says it’s the gossip hounds here looking for deets on your date.” Zayne grinned as he poured syrup over his pancakes.
Drying his hands on a towel, Andrej went to the front door. “Ah, it is you two,” he said, stepping back so Hilary and Trish could come into the house. “You owe Zayne ten dollars,” he told them.
“Why us,” Trish asked. “I’m sure he made the bet with you.”
“He did, however you both promised to wait for me to call you, too,” he said, teasing them. “I am in the middle of making breakfast, are either of you hungry?”
“Starving,” Trish said.
“Same,” Hilary echoed.
“Come, take a seat with Zayne, and I will get you some food.”
Andrej piled plates full of food for the girls and handed them over along with mugs of fresh brewed coffee. “Zayne says you are here to get details on my date,” he said as he put some pancakes on his plate. He retrieved a container of blueberries from the fridge and sprinkled a handful over his breakfast.
“You’d better not be letting that bacon and hash browns go to waste, buddy,” Zayne said.
“Oh, there is no chance it will go to waste with you three here,” he countered. It occurred to him that if James were around, he’d have finished off what was left before Zayne could have commented on it. But that was not happening today or any day now. “However, I would rather not eat the bacon this morning. The hash browns are another story.” The potatoes were the lesser breakfast evil if he were honest.
“Reyes, shut up and let him eat,” Trish said, jamming her elbow into Zayne’s side.
“Ah, so you are here to grill me about my date,” Andrej muttered.
“Not grill you,” Hilary said. “But maybe um, ask? I mean, we want to know you had a good time.”
He cut off a bite of pancake and stabbed it, along with a few blueberries, lifting it to his mouth. “Dinner was nice,” he said, before eating the bite he’d prepared.
“That’s all you’re going to tell us,” Trish asked, appalled. “Did he kiss you? Are you two getting married? Did it end in bloodshed? We need information, Andy!”
“It damn near ended in bloodshed,” Zayne muttered.
“Wait, what?” Hilary looked from Zayne to Andrej, who was stuffing another bite of food into his mouth. “What did we miss?”
“The narco crashed Zek’s date,” Zayne said. He pointed a piece of bacon and Andrej. “You should have trashed his ass.”
Andrej sighed and put his fork down. “He did not crash my date, Zayne. He was already there with his new boyfriend.”
“So, what actually happened then?” Trish put her fork down, too, and that worried Andrej a bit.
He explained the drama from the night before and waited while they processed the information. Zayne was angrier today than he’d been last night, Andrej noted. And the girls seemed stymied that James could have possibly gone so far off the deep end. Andrej couldn’t lie, he was rather stunned by it himself.
“What did you tell your date,” Hilary eventually asked.
“That Zayne had disturbing information in regards to our case,” Andrej said. “Which wasn’t a complete lie, he had called with information on the homicide we are working. I did not think he needed or wanted to know that Jay was being so…”
“Jealous,” Trish threw out.
Andrej changed the subject. “Dinner was very nice, however. You would have liked the restaurant, too. Food was excellent.”
“And the wine, too,” Zayne snorted.
Blushing, Andrej looked down at his plate. “The wine was a little too good, I am afraid.”
“Did you get trashed on your date,” Hilary asked, laughing.
“Not quite,” Zayne said, getting up and helping himself to more bacon and hash browns. “But he was close when I got here last night.”
“Where we proceeded to complete the process,” Andrej said, not caring that the girls knew at this point. “I was not in a good frame of mind last night.”
“No one expected you to be either,” Zayne said. “Although I’m impressed you made it through the rest of the meal without losing your shit.”
“It helped that Carter was understanding and intelligent enough to know that police work is not pretty. He did not even attempt to pry, he just made sure I was okay and left it at that.” Andrej took a sip of his coffee and chuckled. “He wants to meet you though, Zayne. I think you would like him.”
Zayne grinned. “Bring the boy over already. We’d all love to get a few minutes alone with him.”
“Not yet,” Andrej said. “Let me find out whether he likes me or not before I bring you three into the mix.”
“Sounds like a great guy,” Hilary said. “When are you going out again?”
“This coming Friday, unless something comes up with this case we’re working on.” He looked at the expectant faces watching him. “If we are still enjoying one another’s company after the next couple of dates, we can plan a dinner party or something so you can all meet him.”
“Yay,” Hilary said, jumping up and giving Andrej a hug. “I’m happy for you, really. As much as we hoped things would work out with Rosewood, I think this guy might be a better fit for you.”
“And if he’s not, we can threaten to beat his ass like we have with the narco,” Trish added.
“Please do not,” Andrej laughed. “He is a nice guy and is harmless.”
“They all are,” Hilary muttered. “Right on up until they aren’t. But we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Can Trish and I start planning the dinner party?”
“Um…” Andrej looked at Zayne, panic rising in his face.
“Give him some air,” Zayne said, chuckling.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Hilary said, deflating. “But I’m still excited.”
“Can you direct some of that excitement into cleaning my kitchen then?” He winked at Trish. “Seeing as your ex-boyfriend is the reason why I am barely functioning today.”
“See, I told you,” Trish said, sliding off her stool and carrying her plate into the kitchen. “He doesn’t care, male or female, if he can get it drunk, he’s going to make a move on it.”
“Hey,” Zayne said, sounding hurt. “I’d hit on Zek sober. Wait, no, that’s not what I meant. Shit. You two need to stop that!”
Laughing, Andrej escaped the dining room and headed towards his bedroom. He needed to strip his sheets and put fresh ones on now that Zayne had crashed in his bed overnight. The scent of his partner in his bed every time he tried to sleep would not help him get any actual sleep, he feared. His phone buzzed with a text as he was disrobing a pillow.
We need to talk. Now.
Glaring at the photo of James he’d once loved enough to set as his contact picture, Andrej sent off an angry reply.
Sure. Come on over. But be warned, Zayne, Hilary, and Trish are here.
His response was nothing but silence.
Once the girls had finished cleaning his kitchen – something they’d insisted on doing despite his pleas that he was joking – they’d shuffled out of the house, dragging Zayne with them. Even though he enjoyed their company, he was relieved to be alone again.
It had been an hour since he’d replied to James’ text and since there still hadn’t been an answer, Andrej figured his ex-boyfriend had gotten the hint. He removed his work bag from the closet and set it on the coffee table. Taking his laptop out of the bag, he turned it on. While it was booting up, he went to refill his coffee and figure out where to start working.
He caught the shadow of someone moving outside his front door and frowned. If it was James, he was going to have words with the detective and none of them would be pleasant. For a second, he contemplated calling Zayne, but resisted when he realized that whoever was outside wasn’t tall enough to be the redhead. His visitor knocked and he relaxed a bit because it was a casual sound, not the angry, frenzied pounding he’d assume James would assault the door with.
Can I – oh,” Andrej said, surprised to see Jake Hansen standing on his doorstep. “Jake, hello. I was not expecting you.”
Jake smiled at him. “I’m sure I’m the last person you expected to see today or any other, honestly. I’m not interrupting anything am I?”
“I was about to start working on my notes for this case Zayne and I have,” he said, moving aside so Jake could come inside. “But no, you are not disturbing me. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, I’m good,” Jake said. He shoved his fingertips into his pockets and looked around Andrej’s living room. “I’m not sure if I should be telling you this or not, but, Rosewood’s acting weird lately.”
“And it is my fault,” Andrej surmised.
“Not hardly,” Jake laughed. “It’s his own damned fault, I’m sure. But I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Okay,” Andrej said, sitting down on the couch. He wasn’t sure what was about to be asked, but he was sure that he’d be better prepared sitting down for it. “What is your question?”
“Hil says you’re seeing someone? Sort of anyway?” He shook his head and looked around the room again. Jake stepped forward and sat in the recliner Zayne always claimed for himself, resting his hands on the arms. “At the risk of sounding like a busybody, who are you dating?”
“I am not dating anyone,” Andrej sighed. “I have been on one date and –”
“Hey, relax,” Jake said, holding out his hands in surrender. “I wasn’t insinuating anything. And honestly, you deserve to find someone to spend your life with. I was asking because I stumbled across James digging into a guy named Carter Jacobsen the other day. Guy seems harmless as can be, but he was obsessed with finding dirt on the guy. That’s not the guy you went out with, is it? Because if it is, I’m afraid Rosewood’s about to cross the line into stalking.”
“Oh no,” Andrej said, feeling like someone had just yanked the rug out from under his feet. “He hasn’t done anything has he? That you know about anyway?”
“As far as I know, he’s just trying to find something, anything, on this guy,” Jake said.
“But I thought he was happy with his new boyfriend,” Andrej wondered aloud. “They seemed perfectly happy together when I saw them at the Greek café…”
“Zeklos?”
“It was the day I met Carter,” he said. “He gave me his business card that day and told me to call when I thought I was interested in replacing James. I wonder if he saw us talking? I do not understand, Jake. Why would James even care?”
“Because he fucked up by ending your relationship,” Jake said easily. “And he’s finally starting to realize it. Scott’s a good dude, smart, handsome, non-offensive.” Jake shrugged. “But he’s not very interesting. He sure as hell doesn’t have a group of friends likes yours.”
The corner of Andrej’s mouth quirked up. “Ours,” he corrected. “They belong to you, too, now that you are dating Hilary.”
“Does that include Reyes,” Jake asked with a smile.
“It always includes Zayne,” Andrej confirmed.
“Fuck me,” Jake laughed, loudly. “Seriously though, I don’t think Rosewood knew all that he was giving up when he broke up with you. Seeing me with Hilary and, by default, the rest of you, is making him reconsider. Which sucks because Scott doesn’t deserve this. But shit, you don’t deserve his crazy ass either.”
Andrej thought back to the text he’d received earlier that day. “I will call him later, I think. See what he has to say. He texted earlier saying we needed to talk.”
“And he let you off the hook?”
“Zayne, Hilary, and Trish were all here at the time and I told him as much.”
“Drilling you about your date,” he guessed. “Those girls are relentless when it comes to that stuff.”
“Not half as relentless as Zayne,” Andrej said, laughing. His smile faded and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I do not know what to do about Jay, Jake.”
“I wish I could help you, Zeklos, because I like you a lot, but he’s really gone off the deep end with this.” Jake rose to his feet. “If I can help you, let me know. I’ll try and talk to him, but it might be best if you call him, too.”
“I will,” Andrej said. “Thank you, Jake, for telling me. I need to think about this before I do anything.”
“Don’t rush it,” Jake advised. “I think that caution is the key word here.”
Jake let himself out and drove away while Andrej stood in the doorway, watching. He couldn’t disagree with Hansen about that. Closing the front door, he lowered the lid on his laptop, deciding to put work off for a bit. He needed to clear his head and the best way to do that was through yoga. Zayne – and honestly, James – would make fun of him for this, but he knew what worked best for him, all jokes aside. Now, if he could only find his light, maybe he wouldn’t lose his damn mind.
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End Note: One of Cody Rigsby’s favorite expressions is, “Bitch, find your light.” I laughed out loud when I typed that last line because it sure wasn’t intentional, boo.
