Page 12 of Wild Card (Foster Bro Code #2)

Dalton

“Hi, Mom.” I popped a quick kiss on her cheek while she gave the gravy a final stir. “Smothered pork chops? Yum.”

She brightened as she turned toward me. “Oh, good. You made it.”

“Of course.” I opened the apple-shaped cookie dish next to the sink and snagged a snickerdoodle. “Couldn’t miss out on your home cooking, could I?”

“Eating cookies will ruin your appetite,” she warned.

I took a big bite and shrugged. “More leftovers, then. Still a win.”

My nephew, Bodie, came in from the hallway. “Yeah, Grandma. More leftovers.”

He reached for the lid, and she swatted his hand. “I don’t think so.”

“But Uncle Dalton got one!”

My mother looked at me like, See what you did? The kid always did like to emulate me. I was hoping teenage moodiness would cure him of the hero worship, but apparently not.

“Sorry, man,” I said with a grin. “I’m a deputy, so I really can’t condone theft.”

“But you— That’s not—” He threw up his hands. “The world is unjust!”

“It sure is,” I agreed before popping the last bite of cookie into my mouth.

“Make yourselves useful,” Mom said, handing me a serving platter. “Put the pork chops on there. Bodie, grab the gravy boat.”

She put us to work carrying food out to the dining table. My sister, Camille, had already laid out dishes and silverware.

Dad was the last to join us, having to be coaxed into leaving the TV.

Mom tsked. “I swear, that man is more in love with the television than he ever was with me.”

“Blasphemy.” Dad kissed Mom’s pouting lips and dropped his hand to pat her butt on the sly. “I worship at the altar of Julia.”

“Gross,” Bodie mumbled under his breath.

“I think it’s sweet,” Krissy said.

Bodie rolled his eyes. “You would think that.”

“Bodie,” Camille said, exasperated. “Be polite. You’d be lucky to find that kind of love. We all would.”

I nudged Camille’s foot under the table in a show of support. She’d gotten divorced two years ago, and she was still hurting. She smiled faintly at me.

“Uncle Dalton isn’t looking for love,” Bodie said. “He never has a boyfriend. And Dad left you, so?—”

“Bodie,” I cut in. “How’s football going? When’s your next game?”

Camille sent me a grateful look as Bodie took the bait, chattering about their upcoming game and how brutal practice had been as they got ready for it. Bodie had filled out a lot in the past year, and if he kept playing football, he’d soon be in the best shape of his life.

I remembered those days. I still ran regularly and hit the gym twice a week, but it didn’t come as easily as it once did.

We passed around serving dishes until everyone’s plate was full. I fell on the smothered pork chops like a starving man. With the hours I’d been keeping, I’d been surviving on sandwiches and coffee, not to mention too many damn MoonShakes at Jerkers.

Even if smothered pork chops weren’t my favorite—and they so were; Mom spoiled me—I’d devour them after the week I’d had.

Bodie eventually ran out of steam about football, and Dad cleared his throat. “So, Dalton, anything new to share with us?”

I paused, fork midway to my mouth. There was no way my family could know anything about Axel or the dognapping. Unless they’d bumped into Hunter and he said something? But no. He wouldn’t have.

“What would I have to share?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know.” Dad chuckled. “We don’t see you much. I was just wondering.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “Nothing much to report.”

Dad wasn’t the small-talk type. If he was asking, he was after something specific. Sure enough, after taking another bite, he said, “You give any more thought to running for sheriff?”

Everyone looked at me expectantly.

“Not really.” I stuffed my mouth full of mashed potatoes.

The rumors about the upcoming sheriff’s election and my name as a potential candidate had made it all the way to Granville. My family had been excited about the prospect because they wanted to see me settle down.

And like Bodie had pointed out, I never brought home a boyfriend. My job was the only thing anchoring me here. Well, that, and my family.

When I graduated high school, I’d gone off to get a criminal justice degree, and then it had seemed like a shame to waste it on a small sheriff’s department.

I’d had bigger dreams when I was twenty.

Not to mention, I’d been a gay man, and I’d wanted to live somewhere with more of a queer community than Nebraska.

Things changed, though. When my partner died, I’d needed the comfort of home. Needed the slower pace of a small department. My line of work was never entirely safe, but it was a hell of a lot safer here than the Phoenix metro area.

Around here, we got to know the people we worked with. We had more knowledge, which meant we could do our job more safely and fairly.

In a place like Phoenix, I’d have arrested and jailed Axel, no questions asked. Here, I could assess the situation and understand the context. I could do what was just , even if it took a little creativity and extra legwork.

“Why don’t you want to be sheriff?” Bodie asked. “I think it would be cool. You’d be the boss of, like, everyone.”

I chuckled. “Well, actually, I like to think of it as protecting everyone. Keeping folks safe. I’m not really in it for the power.”

Dad pounced. “So you are considering it.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. They can bring in someone with more experience.”

“But you worked in Phoenix all that time,” Mom said.

“And it was different there,” I said shortly. “It hardly qualifies me to run this department.”

“Okay, but…” She trailed off, looking concerned. “You know best, Dalton. We just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” I said, aware that I sounded very un happy as I said it. “Just please, stop pushing, okay? You don’t know what I want.”

I pushed back from the table and grabbed my plate, carrying it into the kitchen. Camille followed.

“Whatever your deal is, don’t take it out on Mom and Dad.”

I rinsed my plate in the sink and reached out for Camille’s. “Sorry. I just hate the way you all look at me when you ask.”

“How do we look?”

“Hopeful, I guess. It makes me feel like I’m disappointing everyone. But I can’t pursue that job. I’m not ready. Not after—” I stopped short, swallowing hard.

Camille rubbed my arm. “I know. Mom and Dad just want to see you put that behind you. They want to know you’re here to stay, too.”

I blew out a breath. “I don’t know if I am. I came back because this place felt safe. But eventually…”

“I know,” she said quietly. “But you can bring a boyfriend home to us, Dalton. You don’t have to live somewhere else for that.”

Leave it to my sister to cut right to the issue. I liked it here. Liked being close to my family. But it limited my romantic prospects.

I wasn’t closeted, but I never dated either. I wasn’t sure that Elkhorn County could handle seeing their sheriff’s deputy with a boyfriend. My life was a hell of a lot more compartmentalized now than it had been in Phoenix.

In the city, I could be anonymous when I wasn’t in uniform. That would never be the case here.

This whole mess with Axel had shown me one thing, though. Maybe I wasn’t as content with my occasional trips to Omaha and my Miami sex-cations as I’d thought I was.

We finished clearing the dishes, and I let Mom pack me up three containers of leftovers. I was too greedy to offer to share with Camille, even though she had two kids.

Mom hugged me goodbye. “We’ll always be in your corner, Dalton. Whether it’s as sheriff or not.”

“I know, Mom. Sorry I got snappy. This whole sheriff mess has stressed me out.”

She nodded, forehead creasing. “If you’re not ready, then of course we support that. But if this is some sort of atonement, well, you have nothing to atone, sweetheart. Your dad and I just want you to forgive yourself and move on from that tragedy.”

I nodded, eyes burning. “Yeah. I know.”

Shane would never get to move on, though. It didn’t seem fair that I could.

“Good luck on your game, Bodie!” I called as I crossed the living room. “I’ll be there if I can.”

“Awesome!” Bodie hopped up and approached me. “You know, it’s cool if you don’t want to be sheriff. I bet there’s lots of paperwork, anyway.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, there is.”

“What you do is really cool. I’m thinking of going into criminal justice when I graduate.”

My heart dropped. “I didn’t know you were considering that.”

“Well, yeah. Protect and serve. It’s the noblest profession, right?”

All I could see was Shane’s young face superimposed over Bodie’s features. “Not always.”

He looked confused, and I’d snapped at enough family members for one night, so I squeezed his shoulder. “Just do your research before you decide on anything. You’ve got great grades. There’s a lot of noble professions that pay a heck of a lot better.”

He cracked a smile. “Money is cool.”

By the time I said the rest of my goodbyes and got over to the Stag Pub, I was fifteen minutes late to meet Hunter. He was there with Clark and their friends Wes and Beckett.

Two married couples…and me. The joys of being single.

Hunter kicked out a chair for me, and I dropped down beside him. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s cool. We’ve got nowhere to be for another hour,” Hunter said. “You remember Clark?”

“Of course. How could I forget the guy who turned you?” I said with a wink. “Though now I feel a little inadequate. Why was my gay ass never enough to turn your head?”

Wes and Beckett laughed, while Clark blushed. “Guess he likes the nerdy type.”

“No, I like the adorable type,” Hunter said, leaning over to kiss Clark.

“Knock it off. Lonely single guy right here.”

Hunter pulled back, raising an eyebrow. “So lonely you were hooking it up with some bad boy in Riverton.”

“Well, why do you think that happened?” I said with a glower. “Obviously, I’m getting desperate.”

“Aw,” Clark said. “My nana could find you someone.”

“Your nana?”

“Iola is a riot,” Wes said. “She runs a matchmaking service. She tried to set up me and Beckett.”

“What do you mean, tried? You’re married, right?”

They were stepbrothers first, so it had been a little bit of a shock to the town when they got hitched, but considering they’d gotten drunk married in Vegas, I couldn’t see what Iola had to do with it.

“Well, she didn’t set us up with each other because she didn’t know we were into guys.” Wes took a swallow of his beer. “She set up Beck with an ex before anyone knew we were together. But obviously, Beck wanted me more because I’m awesome.”

“Obviously,” Beckett said with an eye roll, but he couldn’t hide his smile.

“You could sign up,” Clark said. “They need more applicants.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think blind dates are a good idea. I’m a sheriff’s deputy. I can’t just go out with anyone. What if she hooks me up with someone sketchy?”

“You mean like the dude you’re doing on the DL?” Clark asked, raising an eyebrow.

Oh, the cute geek was a little spicier than I expected. I swiped Hunter’s beer and took a long drink. “I’m not doing anyone on the DL. I just slipped. Once. Won’t happen again.”

“Famous last words,” Wes said.

Beck smirked knowingly. “I remember saying a few words like that once upon a time.”

“Yup, and then I showed you what you’d be missing.” Wes waggled his eyebrows, playing the goof.

But I saw the connection between them. That was what was missing from the sex-cations. Really knowing a guy and having him know you.

Being comfortable, accepted.

Loved.

I’d never had that before. Honestly, I hadn’t even known I’d wanted it until I started hanging around Hunter and Clark and their coupled-up friends.

Seeing how open and loving they were, just like any straight couple in town, had made me want something more than quick hookups.

Maybe I should agree to the matchmaking, but there was just one problem.

I couldn’t get Axel out of my head.