Page 4 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

But this … this was bullshit.

The worst part was he hadn’t even seen it coming.

Not when the guys at the store loaded all four desks into the back of the moving truck Darius had rented.

Not during the drive back to HQ. And not even after Darius parked.

It wasn’t until Darius and Jay shouted at him as he was heading for the barn that he realized they were expecting him to move this shit.

Life was easier when he was scrawny and weak. No one expected him to do anything then. Now that he’d bulked up and was working out religiously, they were expecting more from him.

“We just have to get them inside,” Jay told them. “After that, someone else can move them.”

“Is that all?” Getting them from the truck to the door was the hard part. “And why couldn’t we back the truck up to the barn?”

Darius’s dark brown eyes widened. “Uh…”

“Seriously?” Atticus barked a laugh. “And you think I’m the idiot?”

That got Jay laughing, which then spread through them all, cutting the tension somewhat.

It still didn’t thrill Atticus to have to move furniture—that wasn’t in the job description, thank you very much—but it helped.

It would’ve been nice if they could’ve scheduled this when Slade and Evan were in the office.

Or Brantley and Reese, even. Then again, he got the feeling those four were purposely keeping their distance simply so they didn’t have to do this part of it.

An hour later, Atticus was sitting at his desk, his feet up, sipping water while Holly, Elana, and Jay attempted to come up with some sort of seating arrangement that would make sense.

At one point, the barn had felt enormous, but as they continued to crowd it up with desks and fancy electronic equipment, it was losing some of its bulk.

If it weren’t for the height of the ceiling, it would’ve been claustrophobic.

The walls felt like they were closing in as less and less square footage was available.

Good thing he spent most of his time in the field.

Or he would once they had the partner situation taken care of.

Maybe that would happen once JJ returned.

Without her there, no one seemed to know what was going on.

A bunch of ants running around aimlessly after someone kicked the anthill and dislodged their queen.

“Hey!”

Atticus shot up out of his chair, dropping the water bottle.

A giggle sounded from over his left shoulder, and he turned to see JJ’s head filling one of the large screen televisions.

A string of curses wove through his brain, but thankfully for all involved, Atticus managed to keep them from tumbling out of his mouth.

“Did I scare you?” she asked, watching him from her computer screen.

Atticus skimmed the edge of the television to see where the camera was, but he didn’t see one.

“It’s built-in,” JJ told him, clearly figuring out his objective.

“And you can just pop in whenever you want?” he shot back.

“Whenever. I. Want,” she drawled, making it sound like a threat.

“Do I hear—JJ!” Holly squealed as she raced over to stand in front of the television. “You’re here.”

JJ smiled.

Atticus scooped up his water bottle and took a step back so the girls could do their girl thing. He made a mental note to shift his desk so that his back wasn’t to that damn television.

Since no one was paying any attention to him, he slipped out the door, pulling his phone from his pocket as he did.

He brought up the text group he had going with Slade Elliott and Carson Briggs, the two men he was in a pseudo-relationship with.

Was that a thing? Pseudo-relationship? Or were they just fucking?

He honestly didn’t know. Regardless, they frequently used the text thread to chat about nothing of importance.

Atticus walked over to the picnic table that had shown up sometime last week. He wasn’t sure who brought it, but he knew it wasn’t Brantley or Reese because they’d been as surprised to see it as everyone else.

He took a seat on the tabletop, putting his feet on the bench as he skimmed through the last of the messages.

They had to do with getting together for dinner.

Which they’d done on Saturday. Kinda. The togetherness had happened.

As had the dinner. Just not exactly at the same time.

Atticus had eaten while Slade excused himself to work out in his home gym, and Carson sat on the couch and watched Atticus eat.

But they’d been under the same roof, so he figured it was progress.

Since Atticus was currently renting Slade’s guest room and Carson lived across the street, they saw each other often.

More so now that Carson and Slade had made up.

Well, technically, he wasn’t sure made up was the right way to describe it, but they were no longer avoiding one another.

Atticus hadn’t gotten them to sit down (together) for a meal as of yet, but that was next on his to-do list. Granted, he was stalling a little on that because he was still trying to wrap his head around dating two men at the same time while those two men were dating each other.

Okay, fine. The three of them were in a relationship. There. He acknowledged it.

But was relationship the right word?

They were having sex.

The three of them.

Together.

Sometimes.

Sometimes separately.

Not nearly as often as Atticus would like, but that was partially his fault.

Trying to get Carson and Slade in the same room without snipping at each other wasn’t an easy feat.

Sure, all seemed right as rain when they were naked because no one had time to snip at anyone then.

But Atticus wanted more than that. If he was going to give this a chance to work, he wanted to do it the right way.

There were just too many ways for it to go wrong otherwise.

Which begged the question: what was the right way to date two people while those two people dated each other?

“Whatcha doin’?”

Atticus launched up, stumbling as his feet hit the ground. “What the fuck!”

Slade was laughing. “I thought you heard me comin’.”

Atticus flattened his palm to his chest. “If y’all keep this shit up, I’m gonna have a heart attack.” Could a twenty-five-year-old be scared to death?

“Y’all?” Slade looked around as though expecting to see someone.

“I thought you were working a case,” Atticus told him, wanting to change the subject and get his heart rate back to normal.

“Got a text from Reese to come back.”

Atticus wondered why Reese was summoning people. Did they have a case?

Slade bumped his shoulder. “Figured if it wasn’t life or death, maybe we could grab lunch later.”

Shoving his phone in his pocket, Atticus frowned at Slade. “We?”

“You and me.”

Atticus wanted to ask him if they should invite Carson, but Slade seemed to be in a good mood, and he was learning that you did not throw wrenches into Slade’s good moods.

There weren’t enough of them as of late.

And Atticus knew part of the reason was that Slade thought he was second to Carson in Atticus’s life.

It wasn’t true.

Hell, he didn’t want to place an order on either of them because it felt wrong for so many reasons.

He enjoyed spending time with both of them.

They had a good time, no matter what they were doing.

And yeah, he was attracted to them equally.

Maybe for different reasons, but the heat level was still the same.

Slade and Carson were as different as night and day, and strangely enough, together, they did it for Atticus in a big way.

“I could do lunch,” he admitted.

Slade’s face lit up as though Atticus had just given him gold bars wrapped with diamonds. He’d honestly never had anyone react to him the way Slade and Carson were these days, so it was still a bit of a surprise.

Good, for sure, but a surprise, nonetheless.

JJ stared at the screen, soaking up the sight of her team as they laughed and joked while she looked on.

She could only imagine how creepy it was to have her face planted on a big screen mounted on the wall, but for the moment, she didn’t care.

Not since it meant she actually got to feel as though she was at HQ with all of them.

“Have you listened to the recent podcast?” Elana asked.

“I’m two behind,” JJ admitted. “So no spoilers.”

“You need to get caught up,” Holly said, excitement weaving through her words. “Simon’s comin’ here.”

“What? Here? As in”—JJ pointed toward the screen—“there?”

Holly nodded enthusiastically.

“When?”

“Today!”

JJ frowned. “Why don’t I know about this? Who’s he comin’ to see?”

“It’s they ,” Elana clarified. “Archer and Simon are comin’ to talk to Brantley and Reese.”

Those no-good, lying buttholes. She knew they’d purposely left out names because she would’ve insisted on being there. She should be there.

“What are they talkin’ about?” she asked, desperate to know.

Elana looked at Holly, then back at JJ. “A job, I think.”

“You think?”

“They were all there at Moonshiners on Fri—”

“All who?” JJ asked, feeling as though she was on another planet for all the details she was missing out on.

“Simon came to town to talk to Holt—they’re friends. He met Violet—”

“They’re dating. I know,” JJ told her. “They were at the wedding.”

“Engaged,” Elana corrected, grinning.

“Seriously?” Jesus. It was like the world was spinning at a faster rate while she was cooped up in this damn hospital.

“Yep. And they’re buyin’ a house.” Elana smiled sheepishly. “Archer’s gonna move in with them.”

JJ swirled her finger. “Are they like … um…”

Elana and Holly stared back at her, clearly waiting for her to finish the question. She wasn’t sure how to.

“Are they … uh…” Then it hit her. “Are they like Trey and them?”

Frowning, the women looked at each other, then back at JJ.

JJ swirled her finger again. “The threesome thing.”

“Ah.” Elana grinned. “Nope. None of that goin’ on. Archer’s just a roommate. Paige, their other partner, might be lookin’ at a house to buy, too.”