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Me and mom spending our first Thanksgiving away from the nightmare. It was a small little place in Elmwood, a ratty one bedroom above an Italian deli. The walls were paper thin, and the cockroaches were plentiful enough to carry off a small child—of which I was—and the faucets leaked. Every damn one of them. But it was ours. And he was not allowed to come near us. The courts had said so, and Mom had promised that what the judge had said that day was fact.
We’d had frozen turkey and stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, and a reduced for quick sale pumpkin pie for dessert. I was ten years old and fully the man of our rundown house.
“Next year we’ll have a real turkey and two pies,” Mom had promised. I didn’t care if we had frozen dinners or not. I was just happy that Mom wasn’t crying all the time and that neither of us had spent this holiday in the emergency room like last year. Rolling my arm, I felt the twinge of a dislocated shoulder that still gave me problems from time to time. That was what the monster had given me for my birthday the year before. Happy fuckin’ birthday, son.
“Hey, are you okay?” Tony asked as he poured more coffee from a white carafe into a cup that I didn’t know I even owned.
“Yep, fine. Just reminiscing,” I replied. He nodded softly. Tony knew my history. He might be the only person other than my mother that did. A soft snore floated by. We all turned to look at Teddy snoozing in his chair. “Guess he’s sleeping over,” I said with a sigh.
“He can have my room. I’ll bunk with you,” Tony offered. Mignon gave us a curious look but kept his questions to himself. Which seemed prudent as I was still trying to figure out if his mother had named him after a prime slice of beef or if he had chosen that name for himself. Which begs the question why, if he had, did he pick a name that makes people think of steak sauce?
“Sure, okay,” I replied, tossed back the dregs of my coffee, and rose. Mignon did as well. He nearly flew out of his seat, bussed Tony goodbye, and sped out the front door. “Was it something I said?” I asked Tony as I gave Teddy a good shake. My deputy roused enough to stand. Then he listed to the right. What a lightweight. “Here we go. You’re spending the night.”
“I’m okay.” He tripped over my foot, giggled, and then began whimpering about his missing lady whose name he was having trouble recalling. “Why did she leave me alone to eat stuffing? Shit, what was her name?”
He hung over my shoulders like a wet towel. “Fiona. And she left because you were hitting on that redhead outside the library.”
“I was just giving her directions,” he wailed as I led him to the guest room. We took off his shoes and his pants before he fell face first into Tony’s neatly made bed and passed out.
When I returned to the kitchen, Tony was filling the dishwasher. He glanced up when I flopped down to pour myself another cup of coffee to have with my third slice of pie.
“If you stay here until Christmas, I won’t fit into my uniform pants,” I lamented but spooned some whipped topping onto my pie, anyway.
“There are ways to work off my cooking,” he replied all Mr. Sassy Pants. My dick stirred in my boxers even though I was feeling the effects of the huge meal. A nap would be lovely. Maybe a nap after a blow job...
“Question,” I asked as he fiddled around, wiping up the counters, something that he did not have to do but insisted on doing. He disliked crumbs. Said they drew ants. I’d mentioned that it was winter now, so I didn’t think ants would be out and about. He’d waved me off and sponged the counters. It was quite the domestic moment. “Is sex part of dating? Asking for a friend.”
He chuckled, turned to face me, and gave me that wanton look. The one that made me hard in an instant.
“How would we know if we were compatible if we didn’t have sex?”
“Well, we kind of know that the sex is good. That was never an issue then or now.” A tiny bead of worry popped up. “You do think the sex is good, right?”
“Of course I do. The best that I’ve ever had.” I preened inside. Stupid, yes, I know, but it was nice to hear that I outfucked his ex-husband. “Did you not want to muddy things emotionally by having sex?”
“No!” I hurried to clarify. “No, I’m fine with sex, but I was just wondering if it was part of dating for you now.”
“Yes, it is. I’m not nineteen anymore, but I do still have a sex drive. Granted, it’s not as rambunctious as it was back in college, but it’s not too shabby.” He gave me a wink.
“It’s not shabby at all.” Now all I wanted was to go to bed. Knowing he would be there all night beside me was...something deep that I probably shouldn’t be as excited about as I was. I was supposed to be thinking about a possible reconciliation after all, and that would require a clear head. “So yeah I’m beat.”
“Subtle as a brick to the head,” he said, laughing. Just as he was placing the pink sponge back into its new ceramic holder—IknowI did not own that—my cell phone chirruped. The tone indicated that it was a call from the dispatcher on duty.
“I have to take this,” I said as I jumped on the call. There was really never a day off for small-town lawmen. We could be summoned at any time for anything. A call could range from a cat up a tree to a barn fire to a natural catastrophe. Hopefully, this was just a question from Wanda’s replacement, a young girl who had just finished her training.
“Sheriff King, this is Lana. We just had a domestic call asking for assistance out at the Clinton Marley residence.”
Damn it. I was on my feet before Lana was done relaying the news. “I’m on my way. What are we looking at?”
“According to the caller, a minor male who I suspect was Daniel their youngest, his parents were fighting and his father hurt his mother. I couldn’t get any other details as he then hung up and attempts to contact him failed.”
“I’m en route. Can you reach out to the state police barracks over in Presco County and see if they can send someone for backup? My deputy is indisposed.”
Teddy and I will have a long talk tomorrow morning, rest assured.
“Will do, Stillman. I mean ten-four, Sheriff. Sorry to disturb your holiday with your boyfriend.”
“It’s part of the job,” I answered as I always did when I got called out on a day off. I knew going in there would be days like this. I’d miss parties, birthdays, and anniversaries. Not that I had a lot of those things on my calendar being the confirmed curmudgeon that I was, but if I had someone important in my life, I would have. Also, as a side, her calling Tony my boyfriend should have freaked me out more than it did. “Damn Clinton,” I growled as I made my way to my room to pull on my uniform. Tony followed behind me, silent, easing into my room to hand me a clean shirt and then my trousers from the closet, his expression tight. His lips flattened into a paper cut when I pulled on my Kevlar.
