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Grady couldn’t say he had. It did sound boring as fuck, like watching paint dry, but he had no comparison, so he just sent back, “Don’t you have work to do?” instead of responding to the question that had to be rhetorical.
LM:Probably. We’re going out for a flight in about an hour. Better go do some systems checks. Pray for me!
Jesus Christ. Someone let him fly a million-dollar piece of machinery? Grady hoped the helmet was made out of titanium. Or adamantium.
Grady:It was nice knowing you.
Lake sent back a string of heart-eyes emojis.
If anyone tried to tell him that he was smiling when he went out into the bullpen—that was thankfully empty of lawyers or dickhead detectives—he would vehemently deny it.
Lakesangloudlyashe vacuumed his living room, swinging his hips as he tried not to trip over the cord and mangling the words to songs he hadn’t listened to for years. He could have actuallyputsome music on, but where was the fun in that? He was way off-key, and he felt bad for his neighbours if they could hear him—hopefully not since there was a little distance between his house and the fence line—but chores were hard, and he had to do what he could to get through them.
His ears took a second to adjust when he flicked the vacuum off, and the loud sucking disappeared. He leaned it against the couch and then flopped back onto the soft cushions.
He wasbored.He pulled his phone out of his pocket and flicked across to the group chat with Zach and Felix. They hadn’t added Avery to it, and Lake had felt a bit bad at first, but they’d all agreed it was important that their friendship didn’t hinge on their new relationship with Avery. They’d all been friends first, and what they had was a separate entity and still important.
Lake typed out a random, meaningless message, his thumb hovering over the Send arrow.
He let out a sigh and then deleted it, dropping his phone on his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. He was trying to give them all some space while they navigated their new normal, but he missed his friends. And he missed his brother.
The ceiling fan had a layer of dust that he probably needed to take care of. He reached his hand up, pretending to pinch one of the blades between his fingers. That was a new low even for him.
He groaned and turned over, lying sideways. He stared at his TV, wondering if he could make it magically turn on with his mind so he didn’t have to get up and find the remote. If there was ever a time to learn he had Jedi powers, this was it. He squinted, but nothing happened. Bummer.
A night of TV and some kind of takeaway dinner had always been satisfying for him before because they were few and far between. He had friends, people he hung out with. He hadplans.Lately, he’d been on his own a lot, and he didn’t really know why. It wasn’t like Felix and Zach were the only people he hung out with. There were a lot of people he’d made friends with during his enlisted years. Not all of them lived in Sydney since people moved around a lot. Enough of them did, though. So why he didn’t want to call any of them up and be all, “Let’s hang out, douchebag,” like he normally would was beyond him.
Maybe he could pop into his parents’ house and demand to be fed. His mum would sit him down and stuff him full of everything in her pantry.
Lake huffed at himself and then awkwardly rolled himself off the couch and onto his knees. He groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. This was ridiculous. He needed todosomething.
He smiled as a thought occurred to him. He’d made a new friend, so maybe he could go and see said friend. That sounded like the best idea he’d had all day, and he’d suggested taping a huge water balloon full of glitter to the helicopter’s rotor and turning it on. No one had appreciated his genius, but it was fine; he was going to find a way to do it by himself. The punishment would fit the crime, and it would be worth it.
Traffic was on Lake’s side, and he managed to get to Grady’s in a record fifteen minutes. He should write that down. If he carried around a pen and paper, he might have. He pulled out his phone and texted the time to Grady. He didn’t respond, but that was okay; he was right there.
Lake hummed to himself as he made his way to Grady’s front door. The noise faltered as he noticed the second car in the driveway. That wasn’t Grady’s car. Obviously, since Grady’s car was parked in front of it.
Damn. He had guests already. Lake bit his lip as he got to the front door, wondering if he should leave or not. He shrugged after a second. If Grady wanted him to leave, Lake was sure that the detective would let him know. He wasn’t backwards in coming forward and didn’t seem like the kind of guy to keep quiet to save someone’s feelings. Maybe that was a characteristic some wouldn’t like, but Lake appreciated it; it meant he would always know where he stood. Straight to the point was something he was used to after over a decade in the military.
On a whim, he tried the door instead of knocking. He blinked in surprise when it swung open, unlocked. Lake grinned as he stepped inside. Bad detective; Lake was totally going to call him out on that. What kind of cop leaves their front door unlocked?
His grin faltered as angry voices registered. What the hell?
Some of the words filtered through before Lake entered the kitchen, and he didn’t like what he heard.
“I said I was sorry; there’s no reason for you to be such an asshole about it,” an unfamiliar voice growled. “Why don’t you pull that stick out of your ass and think about someone else for once in your life?”
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Grady shot back. “Ishould think about someone other than myself?”
Lake found Grady leaning back against the kitchen counter, with his arms folded, tension lining every part of him, a dark scowl on his face. A man Lake had never seen before was standing opposite in a similar position. If Lake were anywhere else—a mess hall or somewhere on a military base, specifically—he would have been bracing himself to break up a fight.
“Lake?” Grady said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“The door was unlocked,” Lake said slowly. He circled around so that he was on Grady’s side of the bench, keeping the unknown man in his sights. If Grady was acting like he wasn’t welcome, then so would Lake. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said to Grady.
“Who the hell is this?” the man scoffed. “You have some nerve being upset at me when it took you point five seconds to replace me with some little bottom slut.”
Lake didn’t understand some of that, but he was also well aware that he had just been insulted. “You want to repeat that?” he asked dangerously.
