“Arch?”
Focusing on the present again, Michael looked up. “Yeah?”
Frank nodded in the direction of the door. “What do we do with him?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” God, another headache they didn’t need right now. Arlington was going to be pissed off with them as it was for making little to no progress. They now had to somehow protect a potential witness, whose evidence would probably never see the light of day. They were going to be his favourite two people ever. “Keep him in there for now, unless he wants to leave.”
“Let’s go find out.”
As it turned out, Foster was very much against leaving. He couldn’t access either the labs or the upstairs offices from that room, only a couple of other meeting rooms and the toilets, so Michael and Frank left him there for the afternoon and night with sandwiches, drinks, a cushion and blankets they’d managed to rustle up, and the promise that security would check on him constantly.
Frank went back upstairs to finish his day, and Michael went home.
They’d fill Arlington in tomorrow. And wouldn’t that be fun.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Harry arrived at Aaron’s flat just after 3.00 p.m. for their usual Sunday dinner get together.
Aaron opened the door and managed a smile despite not feeling the least bit cheerful.
Taking one look at him, Harry sighed. “It’s not that bad,” then handed him a Sainsburys bag that smelt like chicken. “Here, I figured you wouldn’t have cooked anything.” He sniffed the air and huffed. “And I was right.”
“Sorry. I kind of lost track of the time.” Aaron rubbed his chest and glanced up at the ceiling. “I hate this part, Harry.” The part where he started to like someone, felt the stirrings of…something. Shifters didn’t bond with humans, at least it was extremely rare, but that didn’t mean Aaron felt nothing—far from it. And it was even worse this time because, in some cruel twist of fate, his wolf liked Michael too.
“Yeah, I know.” Harry walked in and clapped him on the shoulder, shutting the door behind him. “But it doesn’t last forever. Remember that.” He had another carrier bag with him and he held it up. “This is veg and other stuff.”
“Thanks.” Aaron had veg, he wasn’t totally useless, but he took them with a grateful smile. At least he thought it’d been grateful, but Harry stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Hey.”
“What?”
Harry peered at him, closely. “Ah fuck,” he whispered. “Your wolf likes him too?”
“Yep.” With a sigh, Aaron turned and led the way through to the kitchen. He placed the bags on the counter. “An SCTF detective, for fuck’s sake. I clearly have shitty taste in men.”
Nudging his shoulder, Harry smiled at him. “Oh, I don’t know. He’s hot, and Detective Sergeant Michael Archer rolls off the tongue nicely.”
Aaron grinned back. “Yes, he does.”
It took Harry all of two seconds to get his meaning, and he scrunched up his nose, giving Aaron a shove. “Not before we’re about to eat.” He pointed at the carrier bag with the veg in it. “Stick those in the microwave and I’ll carve this chicken. Then you can tell me what happened after I left Sam’s flat. Just because I was at work all day yesterday doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten.”
“Fine.” Aaron had actually thought he’d got away without having to relive it all.
Arse.
Being lectured by Sam and frowned at by Isaac had been bad enough. In no way did he want to give Harry all the gory details and get a similar reaction. And then there was hischatwith Michael after. Did he want to tell Harry about that part? He wasn’t entirely sure, for some reason.
They ate in relative silence. Only when Harry sat back and rubbed his belly did he fix his gaze on Aaron, intention obvious.
Aaron groaned. “Do you really need to know?”
Raising both eyebrows, Harry stared at him, then frowned.
Bollocks.
Aaron ran a hand over his face and sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.” They told each other everything, always had, right since they met in hospital and Harry became his best friend and then pack mate. “I’m just all…” He waved a hand to indicate something, everything.
“I know. I’ll let you off.” He gestured to Aaron’s face. “We need to talk about that too.”
