Page 10 of Devil's Hour
“If we can’t talk about my past transgressions on the job, then I certainly can’t fuck you,” Sawyer replied, trying to lighten things up inside the car, but Royce wasn’t budging from his foul mood. Another calming breath and Sawyer blew his world apart. “Felix was still in his car when the mayor arrived. He could tell by her body language that something was going on, so he waited. Knowing the chief would put one of herprized petson the case right away, he chose not to follow Goodwin when she left.”
Dread settled in the pit of Royce’s stomach. “He followed us.”
“Yes, and he saw you caressing my face before we went inside to meet with Minerva. He claims to have a picture of us and wouldn’t hesitate to send it to the chief unless I tell him what we’re investigating for the mayor. Luckily, he thinks she’s pissed about some editorial piece and is stupid enough to think the chief would get involved in gutter politics.”
“Fuck him,” Royce growled. “The worst the chief will do is reassign us new partners.” As much as Royce didn’t want that to happen, it wouldn’t be the end of the world…or their relationship. He might be pissed at Sawyer, but he wasn’t willing to walk away.
“That’s what I told him, but now that I’ve had a minute to calm down, I realize he’s smart enough to put two and two together if Minerva tells him what we asked her.”
“He might guess someone had slipped a threatening letter in her paper, but he’d never guess the bigger picture and without someone corroborating the details, he isn’t likely to print a story. Felix is an asshole, but he’s a good reporter, which means he will be dogged and won’t give up until he gets to the bottom of the story.”
“And I have no doubt Felix has sources inside the department. If this gets outside our immediate circle, then it’s bound to get back to him,” Sawyer cautioned.
“We are doubly fucked.”
“We call that double penetration,” Sawyer said. His second attempt at humor also fell short.
“I know what goddamned double penetration means, Sawyer.” Royce felt terrible for yelling and started to apologize, but his phone rang. The day had started out perfect but had gone to hell in a hurry. Glancing at the caller ID, he said, “It’s Skip Goodwin.” Royce cleared his throat, then accepted the call. “This is Sergeant Locke.”
“Yes, hi, Sergeant. This is Skip Goodwin calling; you requested to speak to me?”
“Thank you for returning my call, sir. My partner and I would like to ask you a few questions. Mayor Goodwin expressed how busy your schedule is today, so we’ll come to you and keep it as brief as possible. When would be a good time?”
The mayor’s husband released an annoyed sigh. “I have back-to-back appointments all day long and need to leave for the airport at three thirty for a conference in New York City. I could meet with you during my lunch break. Will noon work for you?”
“We’ll make it work, sir. Thank you for getting back to me.”
Royce shook his head when Goodwin abruptly disconnected the call. “Even if the man’s Boston accent hadn’t given him away, I would’ve known he was a Yankee just by his poor phone manners. No self-respecting Southerner just hangs up the phone without saying goodbye.”
Sawyer attempted to smile but failed miserably. “What time do we meet him?”
“Noon, which gives us a few hours to dig up what we can on the newspaper carrier. We can search SMN’s website for recent fires and start making a list to look for similarities. The fire department must not have noticed a pattern, or they would’ve called in Blue. Fresh eyes might help find something they missed. We’ll canvass the Goodwins’ neighborhood after we speak to Mr. Manners to see if any of their neighbors noticed anything unusual. Which one do you want? Searching SMN’s site or digging for info on Dusty Donovan?”
Sawyer gasped dramatically. “You’re giving me a choice of tasks?”
“I’ll pull rank when there’s a particular task I hate. Besides, banging your superior officer should come with some perks.”
Hurt flashed in Sawyer’s eyes before he blinked it away. Surely, Sawyer knew he meant more to Royce than a bang? If not, the situation with Felix the Fucker wouldn’t have upset him so much. Maybe tabling the conversation was a bad idea. “Technically, you weren’t my superior officer when you blew your load all over my face.”
Damn, Royce loved it when Sawyer talked dirty. When Royce pulled into the station parking lot, he didn’t shut the car off. “I should’ve let you explain the situation with Felix rather than cut you off. As hard as we try, it won’t be possible for us to separate our working and personal relationships. I can see why Rigby has the rule in place. I still don’t think now is the best time to hash things out, but I don’t want anger to fester all day long either. Tell me what you wanted to say, GB.”
Sawyer’s tension faded at hearing the nickname. He unbuckled his seat belt and angled his body toward Royce’s, and Royce did the same thing. They weren’t touching, but at least they were looking at each other. “I had sex with Felix one time. I was in a horrible place after Vic died, battling loneliness and heartbreak and waffling between never wanting another man to touch me and desperation for intimacy. The latter was always followed by guilt for feeling unfaithful to Vic. I should’ve been mentally stronger than my hormones. I never meant for it to happen—not with Felix at least. It happened more than a year before he exposed what went down between me and Sheriff Wheeler. At no point have I ever discussed my tenure there with Felix—neither on nor off the record. Felix wasn’t my friend, Royce.
“I thought he was years ago, but then again, he could probably have said the same about me. He wanted more from me than I was willing to give, so I just shut him out. I made a mistake by having sex with him and forgive me for not wanting to broadcast all my past mistakes to the man I desperately want to keep in my life. Maybe a subconscious part of me did worry you wouldn’t trust me if I told you about our past hookup, but I didn’tlieto you, and I didn’t feel like I omitted information either. I haven’t asked you to name your past partners, and you don’t have the right to do the same with me either. I never told you I was celibate after Vic died.” Sawyer puffed out a short breath. “There’s a lot more to the story, which I’ll tell you about tonight. I just needed to get this part off my chest. I don’t want us to be mad at each other all damn day over a simple misunderstanding.”
Royce briefly covered his face and groaned. “God, you’re right. I told you I was going to be bad at this stuff.”
“You’re not bad at this, babe. I would’ve been just as upset had our roles been reversed.” Every once in a while, a babe or baby slipped into the conversation instead of their usual pet names—asshole and dickhead. It was usually during sex but making up after their first argument was a nice place to slip in the endearments.
Sawyer wouldn’t have reacted without giving Royce the chance to explain, but he appreciated Sawyer trying to make him feel better. “I hate not being able to do what I want right now.”
A ghost of a smile tugged at Sawyer’s lips. His warm eyes softened with forgiveness, patience, and understanding. “Yeah? What would you do if we were alone right now?”
Talking about feelings and voicing things he wanted other than sex was new to him, but Royce was trying to be the kind of man Sawyer deserved. “I’d pull you into my arms and kiss you until I reassured myself that we are okay.”
“Mmmm. It sounds perfect to me.” Sawyer smiled. “Don’t be surprised if I drag you out of Joe’s early tonight. I need to know we’re okay too.”
“I’d rather celebrate alone with you than with a crowd anyway.”