Page 64 of Oddly Fine

The rest of the day dragged along at a snail’s pace. There wasn’t much for Hayes and Beckett to do until they got a call from Officer Carrier about the film footage of Franklin. The rest of the household seemed to wander aimlessly from one room to another, not really interested in doing anything. Later in the day, the children were dropped off and various friends and relatives dropped by to offer their condolences. Having the children back in the house proved to be beneficial to everyone. They were a good distraction. The adults enjoyed taking turns entertaining Allison with different board games and built her a pillow fort. Maggie’s son, Raphael, who was now an active toddler, raced around in tiny orange Crocs, running his grandmother ragged.

At 2:00 p.m., Beckett and Hayes decided to call Gill, hiding out in the small office off the living room so they wouldn’t be interrupted by screaming children. There wasn’t much to tell him other than the basic facts presented to them by the cops. Gill didn’t have much to say to them during the call beyond expressing his sympathy. They’d grown closer to him over the past year, no doubt because he’d been forced to save their asses multiple times. As Beckett explained the situation in detail, Gill sounded distant. Not really skeptical but—

“I really am sorry, son,” Gill said, the words expressing the proper sentiment, but his tone was rather cool. Perhaps—well, they hadn’t spoken much since the babysitting incident. Hayes had figured the dust would settle, and their boss would quickly get over how they had threatened his mother-in-law, but maybe that hadn’t happened yet, based on his rather detached attitude regarding Beckett’s situation.

“I—” Beckett said, turning to Hayes questioningly as he hesitantly finished with, “Thank you, sir.”

“You take all the time you need, and you let me know if you need anything,” he said, but before Beckett could respond or even ask for anything, he said goodbye and hung up.

“That was—”

“He’s not the best at handling emotional issues,” Hayes pointed out, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to go down the rabbit hole Beckett was currently sniffing around.

Beckett merely shrugged and crossed his arms. His very lack of rebuttal was a clear sign of the depth of his distress. Hayes sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Beckett was staring at the wall of books, not reaching out to touch any of them, but simply staring blindly at the titles.

“Sweetheart,” Hayes said, waiting a few moments for Beckett to snap out of it. But Beckett didn’t turn to look at him. His body was stiff and unmoving. Hayes approached him and laid a gentle hand on Beckett’s shoulder. He desperately wanted to hug him, but he wouldn’t do that unless Beckett let him know he wanted it. His boyfriend usually craved touch when he was upset, but right then—he wasn’t acting like his usual self.

As soon as Hayes’ hand touched on his shoulder, Beckett spun around and reached for him. Hayes closed his arms around him and pressed a gentle kiss to Beckett’s temple.

“I can’t believe it,” Beckett whispered hoarsely. “I know Maggie’s right and it’s probably just because I feel guilty, or some shit, but—” he shook his head against Hayes’ chest. “Something doesn’t feel right,” he confessed, sounding perplexed. “I sound insane, I know—” he said with a self-deprecating snort.

“No more than usual,” Hayes commented mildly, and much to his relief, Beckett punched his shoulder lightly in retaliation and chuckled as well. “I got you, Beckett. If you say it doesn’t feel right, then—” he shrugged, “it doesn’t.”

Beckett looked up at Hayes with affection shining from the depths of his jade green eyes. “I know you’re straight, and everything, but I fucking love you, Daisy-doo.”

Hayes’ gut tightened in response. He shook his head as he bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling as he cupped his boyfriend’s cheek and pulled him forward to press a tender kiss to his lips. It was light and brief. Nothing compared to the passionate ones they’d shared the night before. There was no fever, no rush, no blaze burning in his gut, but it was everything that mattered all the same.

“Bros—” Jackson’s deep voice interrupted them, as the door opened suddenly. “Oh, God,” he groaned and frowned when he saw them kissing, their arms wrapped around each other.

Beckett pulled back slightly, turning to look at Jackson who had covered his eyes like he’d walked in on his parents having sex.

“It’s a kiss, you big-assed drama-queen,” Beckett said sarcastically, scowling at his older brother. He didn’t move from Hayes’ hold. On purpose, of course.

“Right—well, you never know—the door was closed and shit—”

“And you’re a giant homophobe,” Beckett said accusingly, another clever attempt to get a rise out of Jackson. It worked remarkably well. His older brother gasped, looking panic-stricken as he lifted his hands defensively.

“What? No! It’s cool! I love that you like dudes—”

“You love dudes?” Beckett asked, pretending to be shocked. “Does Katerina know?”

“What! No, I don’t like dudes, I’m just saying it’s cool that you do,” he replied hastily, looking back and forth between Beckett and Hayes.

“You just find it disgusting when we kiss,” Beckett surmised as he crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.

Hayes fought the urge to roll his eyes. The fact that Jackson was playing right into his younger brother’s hands was further proof that his family didn’t know Beckett Thérault quite as well as they thought they did.

“No! I just didn’t want to walk in on something—you know—”

“Right, ‘cause gays fuck in inappropriate settings all the time,” Beckett stated with a sneer, clearly having too much fun torturing Jackson this way.

“What!” Jackson sounded horrified, raising both hands in front of him again.

“That’s enough, Beckett Thérault! Stop yanking your brother’s chain! He’s going to have a panic attack,” Ma Thérault chastised as she appeared from behind Jackson. She chuckled as she peered around Jackson’s massive shoulders.

Hayes thought Beckett might pull away from him at the sight of his mother, but he didn’t. Instead, he burrowed deeper into Hayes’ arms.

“Ah—Maman! I was just having fun,” he said, like she was ruining his good time.