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“McHugh often cares more about us all having a good time. But our staff is great, and we hit our numbers, and he at least gets the paperwork right, most of the time.”
They sat in silence for a moment, Garrett using the time to figure out if he should tell Rafe about his file being on McHugh’s computer. After he and Riley found the file, they studied the rest of the documents. Riley couldn’t figure out their origins. Fuck it. If he wanted a future with Rafe, he had to be honest with him.
“I found—”
“What if—”
They cut each other off as they spoke at the same time, and Garrett gestured for Rafe to go first.
“I was gonna say, what if it isn’t someone in your department, but someone else in the building? Isn’t the mayor’s office in the same building? Maybe we should do a deep dive into all the departments.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We should expand our search.”
“What were you saying?” Rafe prodded.
Garrett winced before he spoke. “The reason I moved up the timeline is because I found your personnel file on McHugh’s computer, but when you two saw each other today, it didn’t seem like he recognized you or anything. He did have a lot of random files on his computer, though, so I can’t be sure it’s anything related to this case.”
Rafe narrowed his eyes for a moment, and Garrett watched him carefully. Eventually, his eyes lit up with recognition.
“Oh, I think when my cover was blown, the CIA had trouble finding me so they sent out my information to places I might have been. It was pretty well known how close we were, so that’s probably why they sent it to your jurisdiction.”
Garrett furrowed his brow. “Why didn’t they ask me directly if I’d seen you?”
Rafe’s eyes drifted away. “Probably because they found me, so they didn’t need to. Luckily, I tied everything up with them and went out on my own.”
That… didn’t make sense. Especially since McHugh only became captain at the start of this year, less than three months ago, and Rafe said he left the CIA a couple years ago.
The next second, the doorbell rang and Rafe popped off the couch, hustling away to grab their dinner.
Garrett decided to give Rafe the benefit of the doubt. For now.
18
RAFE GRINNED AS HE walked into the gym the next morning with Garrett. They’d had a great night together, despite the lies he had to tell.
He was ready to sweat out all his nerves with the ass-kicking Tobias would throw at them.
That thought had Rafe’s eyes darting to the boxing ring in the corner of the gym. It had been a bit since he’d sparred with anyone and he wondered if Garrett would want to take a turn with him. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get a semi from thinking about it.
Working out with a hard-on was an uncomfortable affair.
Ask me how I know.
Rafe struggled with it every time he worked out with Garrett, but he didn’t want to skip it.
All this time with Garrett was a gift he never thought he’d get. He’d planned on tracking Garrett down once he’d retired from the CIA, or if he walked away at some point earlier, but a part of him always thought he’d die before he had the chance. With all the risks he’d taken over the years, it was a miracle he’d made it back to Garrett in one piece.
“You ever get in the ring over there?” Rafe asked as they entered the big open room of the gym.
“Not in a while, but I have. There’s another trainer who does the kickboxing classes and everything else,” Garrett said, then shouted a hello to Tobias and Chase, who stood at the computer at the front of the room. “Why, you wanna hop in there?”
“Could be fun. More fun if we had the gym to ourselves to do it, but I doubt Tobias would let us.”
Garrett chuckled. “Yeah, no chance of that. He might let us jump in outside of the class though if we asked.”
“You think he’d say yes?”
“If Chase is next to him, absolutely. He’s always in a better mood when Chase is around.”
