Chapter Three

By the time they got to Tahoe, Ari was tired and sore from sitting in the car all day. He knew Eoghan wanted to make good time so he'd encouraged him to keep driving, stopping only to grab lunch at a small diner and only one other time to fill up and use the men's room at a truck stop. Otherwise, they'd driven straight on through. They'd spoken to tribal police chief, Joe Two Trees, while they were on the road and arranged to meet him in the morning along with his deputy. When they finally pulled into an Embassy Suites in Tahoe, Ari got out of the Charger and cracked his back loudly. Eoghan started laughing as he unfolded himself from the driver's seat.

Ari shot him a frown as he looked at him across the top of the car. "I'm almost six foot three. You think it's easy for a guy my size to fold themselves into a car seat and drive for four hundred miles without aches and pains? I can't feel my butt." Ari massaged the area with both hands.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I suppose it's easier being a mere five ten, but don't think my ass hurts any less than yours," Eoghan said, making a face of his own.

Ari tried not to smile but lost the battle. "I'll believe it when I see it. Let's go check in and once we're in our room, I'll give it a good look see. The last thing we need is your poor abused ass cutting into our playtime."

Eoghan smirked as he stared at him, hugging himself. There was a cold snap in the air up here in Tahoe. "Wow, your concern for my poor butt is really touching. Thanks, partner." He slammed the car door as Ari did the same. He joined him on his side of the car, and they walked to the motel's office together.

"I am very concerned about your poor ass," Ari said, pulling open the door for Eoghan to let him in first. "I hope you know I was only kidding…about the playtime thing, I mean."

Eoghan stopped and turned toward him before walking through the door. "I know you have tons of feels for me, Ari. I also know they don't all involve my sore ass." He laid his hand over Ari's heart. "You can tell me all about them later…in sexy detail." He dropped his hand but not before gifting him with a hot stare. "Now, let's get a room, find out where we can get some food, and then get a good night's sleep."

Ari rubbed his belly, finding the suggestion extremely appealing. "That sounds like a great idea."

After checking in, they collected their duffel bags from the trunk, and headed upstairs to their room. As soon as they were inside, Ari used the facilities, washed his hands, and sat on the bed, waiting for Eoghan to do the same before heading out. He thought about the cases they'd had in the two months since they'd been partners. After Derwin, the honeybee, there'd been albats, space faeries, and at least five others, all involving road trips for fugitive recovery and handoff…and all of them out of town.

Of course, they still had the ongoing vampire case with King John Townsend and his flight from the Flagstaff clan's new leadership and the man who'd usurped him as king simmering on the back burner as well. On the rare day they had in the office, they'd kept their eyes on Tillis Bradshaw, the scummy methamphetamine dealer. They'd learned that he'd spread the tendrils of his organization, branching out to become one of the top drug dealers in underground vampire clubs throughout the Southwest.

Ari wished he'd had more time to follow up on the case but as shorthanded as they were, free time was precious and rare. Following an ongoing case when it wasn't actual marshal business—except for the fact that King John was still considered a fugitive—was hard when other cases like missing opossum mothers and children always seemed to take precedent. Overall, though, Ari was glad he'd decided to make the move from Lexington to Los Angeles. Learning about a whole new world was as exciting as it sounded but honestly, it still freaked him out at times. Then again, if he hadn't taken the leap to change his future, he wouldn't have met Eoghan, and that thought was simply inconceivable. He smiled to himself as his boyfriend walked out of the bathroom.

"What's that look on your face?" Eoghan asked, walking over to him and coming to stand between his spread knees. Ari slid his arms around him, pressing his cheek to his man's flat belly and sliding his hands up under his shirt to feel the smooth ridges of his back muscles. He shut his eyes when Eoghan's long fingers threaded into his hair, tenderly rubbing his scalp. It felt so good, he didn't want it to end.

"I was just thinking about the changes that have happened in my life in the last two months. I moved across country, started a new job in a crazy place, and—" He looked up into Eoghan's downturned face. "And I met you." He swallowed hard, knowing what he wanted to say but also knowing it was way too soon to say it. Embarrassingly, he felt tears pricking the back of his eyes, so he shut them tightly and let go, standing up and pulling Eoghan into his arms. Before he could protest, Ari lowered his mouth and kissed him soundly.

The sensation of Eoghan surrendering to his kisses as he rested his weight against Ari's taller frame was as incredible as was the way he kissed him back. Ari forced himself to pull away, noting the dreamy way Eoghan's half-lidded eyes appeared as he blinked up at him. The blue of his eyes was clear, bright, and filled with emotions of his own. He leaned down and pecked his lips one last time before letting go.

"If I don't eat now, I'll never have time to digest my food before bed," he said, clearing his throat when his words came out shakily.

They found a pub called the Lucky Beaver which sounded amazing. It promised to serve meals until midnight with the best pub food in Tahoe. That sounded perfect to Ari. He never turned down good pub food with a craft beer to go along with it. Lucky for them, at this hour, the dinner crowd had cleared out and they snagged a booth in the back. After ordering homemade pizzas from their woodfired ovens and pale ales, they discussed anything but the case. They'd talked it to death on the nine hour drive up north and were both aware that there was nothing else to say until they got a look at Riversong's house in the morning.

Ari sipped his ale, hearing his stomach growl as Eoghan scrolled through his phone. When he finally looked up at him and met his eyes, Ari canted his head toward the device. "Something exciting going on?"

Eoghan lifted the phone. "No. I just thought I'd check to see if there was a message from the chief."

"Anything?"

"Nope. It looks like the ball is in our court until tomorrow."

Ari gestured toward the phone. "Is this how things usually go when you're on the road?"

A tiny crease appeared between his eyebrows as he glanced down at the phone and back up again. "Are you asking if I always check in with the chief or whether she's inserting herself into this case more than the usual?"

Ari shrugged. "Maybe. I wondered whether that's her normal modus operandi, to message you for updates all the time. I haven't noticed it in the past, that's all."

Eoghan shook his head. "No, I usually give her status before bed when I'm on the road. She hates being out of the loop because it makes it embarrassing when she doesn't have answers for the Agency if they call. You haven't seen me do that?"

Ari shook his head. "No, but would you mind turning it off while we eat, please?"

Eoghan frowned. "Off?"

"Yeah, I just thought it would be nice to talk to my partner without you being tempted to check your phone all the time."

Eoghan frowned harder. "Okay, if it means that much to you, I'll turn it off. Sheesh."

Ari smiled. "Thank you." He pulled out his own cell phone and typed something before turning the screen toward Eoghan who leaned forward and read the words. "Where're the cages?"

"Oh," Eoghan mouthed, finally getting his meaning.

Ari rolled his eyes, making sure Eoghan caught sight of his smirk as he turned off his own phone. Eoghan pulled out two tiny devices, handing one to him. Ari followed Eoghan and slipped the miniature Faraday cage into his iPhone's charging port, effectively blocking all signals to and from his phone even after it had been turned off. With both devices now safe, he sat back in the booth and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I assume you want to talk about the Agency," Eoghan said.

"We sweep our apartments every day as well as the vehicles, Eoghan, but we haven't talked about it much since the chief first asked us to take precautions two months ago. I wanted to ask you if she'd said anything to you about it recently," Ari said.

Eoghan frowned, shaking his head. "Is that really something you think I wouldn't have mentioned? It's not like we don't spend most of our time in each other's company at work or at home. We spend the night in each other's beds all the time, Ari. I can't believe you think I'd hold out on something that important." He picked up his phone. "Did you have me turn it off because you think someone's listening in, because you know we have burners to talk to her about that, right?"

Ari sighed. "Yeah, I know we have burners." He patted his coat where the low-tech flip phone was tucked away, fully charged. "And in answer to your question, first of all, no, I don't think you're holding out. Second, remember when I was picking up darts before we went out on that walrus shifter case last week?" He shook his head. "I can't believe I just said that."

Eoghan chuckled. "Walrus shifter?"

"Yeah, Malcom really is a big, roly-poly love muffin. I'm glad he and his wife reunited after he was released from jail. I knew he wasn't drunk. Doc Patterson said something about walrus DNA screwing with the breathalyzer every time."

"Wait," Eoghan said, grinning. "Did you just call Malcom a big love muffin?"

Ari laughed. "That's what his wife, Patrice called him."

"I'm not surprised," Eoghan said. "Do you know that the walrus has the largest penis bone on earth?"

Ari almost spat out his beer. He grabbed a napkin as some dribbled out of his nose and his eyes watered. Meanwhile his partner laughed at him from the other side of the booth. "Idiot! Don't say shit like that when I'm drinking my beer." He pinched his nostrils together. "Bubbles sting."

"Bad timing, I'm sorry."

"You said something about walrus' penis."

"Penis bone to be accurate. They actually have something called the baculum. I've…ah…seen Malcom's."

Ari burst out laughing, drawing the attention from several customers who were sitting around them. When he could finally compose himself, he leaned forward. "Are you shitting me? When?"

"The chief confiscated his file from the L.A. County Sheriffs as part of his release from custody. You didn't notice that I got an envelope from them when I collected his belongings?"

"I didn't realize," Ari said, picturing it in his mind. He remembered Eoghan taking possession of the manila envelope but figured they were his property and nothing else. "So, what you're telling me is that there was a picture of Malcom's…what did you call it?"

"His baculum."

"Yeah, whatever. So, there was a picture of his dick in the sheriff's file?"

Eoghan nodded. "When they arrested him, he was in human form obviously, but he was strip searched and I guess a couple of the sheriff idiots couldn't believe what they saw, so they snapped some pics. The chief had an inkling they might have done something cringy. There've been rumors flying around about that sheriff's station for a while. She warned the sheriff if he didn't turn over any and all photos to the I.S.R., she'd make sure he and all his deputy idiots got pink slips."

"Wow, that's some Abu Ghraib level bullshit, right there," Ari said with a frown.

Eoghan pursed his lips like he was sucking on a lemon. "You're telling me."

"Some people never grow up but everyone knows if there's a weak leader at the top, fraternity crap like this goes on all the time."

"That's right." Eoghan nodded.

"I get it. You just couldn't help yourself and snooped by looking in the envelope," Ari said, so offhandedly, it took a minute for his words to register on Eoghan's face.

"I wasn't snooping! I…ah…accidentally flipped open his file when I saw it in Priest's office. I walked in to give her our report on the incident, and it was laying there…and I—" He had the good sense to at least blush bright red accompanied by the guilty as hell expression on his face. "Anyway, I peeked, okay? I wasn't planning on it. It just happened."

Ari smiled and nodded, knowingly. "Fine. You snooped. So, if he wasn't in shifted form, you wouldn't have seen his—" He tapped his chin, looking at the ceiling as if trying to remember.

"Baculum," Eoghan supplied with a growl.

"Baculum," Ari repeated, glancing back at him.

Eoghan looked side to side, lowering his voice as he glanced around the room. "Oh, hell, it's long when he's in human form as well."

"Really?" Ari asked, curious now.

"I'd swear it's eighteen inches long…and even flaccid, it hung past his knee," Eoghan said.

Ari sat back, biting his fist as he stared back at his man in horror. "Ouch!"

"Right? And they say in walrus form, they're over two and a half feet long."

Ari shook his head, trying to imagine sitting on a walrus dick and then picturing needing a colostomy bag for the rest of his life. Nope. "That's some next level love muffin shit."

Eoghan laughed so hard he startled the people sitting next to them who turned and glared. Thankfully, their server walked up holding two personal pizzas at just that moment. After she set them down and walked away, he leaned toward him. "Back to the Faraday cages. You were saying something about getting darts at the armory."

"Oh…yeah…I ran into Sherri Brady. She was there with her partner…I can't remember his name."

"Ted Acres," Eoghan supplied. "Nice guy if you like the scent of fish."

Ari snorted, almost choking on his beer. "I was gonna ask about that. I thought it was just me. That guy really smells like fish, yeah? I got caught in an elevator with him and the whole thing stunk of fish. I thought it was because someone ordered some for lunch in the cafeteria and took it back to their desk."

Eoghan chuckled. "No, the dude smells like fish." He held up his hands. "I don't want to know why. Anyway, you were saying something about running into Sherri."

"Yeah, she and Ted were talking with Wordy about how he'd figured out that the alien tech they took off an alien can listen in on conversations even if it looks like it's been turned off. Wordy confirmed that there's human spyware that can do the same thing. So, if I was sitting on a bus bench with my phone on me and the owner of the spyware sat down next to me, he could infect my phone without me even knowing it. Cyber criminals have been using it for years to steal credit card information and other things, but this is sort of the reverse. Instead of stealing something from the phone of an unsuspecting person, they plant this spyware in order to listen in. Thus…the Faraday cage." He pointed to their phones.

Eoghan nodded at the pizzas which sat there looking delicious. "Now, are you gonna let me eat before talking about this anymore? I'm starving." He picked up a piece of pizza with mushrooms, jalapenos, and black olives and bit into it without waiting for him to reply.

"Sounds good," Ari said, taking his own piece of cheeseburger pizza, smothered with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles, and biting into it. "Oh. My. God. The guidebook was right about this place. This pizza's amazing."

Eoghan nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah…amazing," he muttered around a massive bite of pizza.

"God, watching you eat pizza is better than porn," Ari said as he smiled around his own bite. He'd been right. The thin crust pizza, cooked in the pub's wood fired pizza ovens was delicious. They both tucked into their food, polishing off the pizzas and drinking the last of their beer before they sat back in the booth.

"So, talk to me about King John," Ari said, wiping his lips. "Has the chief mentioned anything to you about how the Agency plans on resolving his escape, Eoghan?"

He shook his head. "Of course not. I would have told you about that. Honestly, I don't think she knows anything and if she did, she'd tell us."

"But he's still in contact with you, yes?"

Eoghan nodded. "Every two weeks like clockwork. I get a voice mail at the office. It's always the same message. A Hispanic woman named Luisa asks me to call as soon as I'm ready to order more of her homemade empanadas. She rattles off her number—always a different one—and says she's moved and will need to give me her new address before I drive over to pick them up."

Ari smiled. "I assume you don't know anyone named Luisa who makes homemade empanadas."

"No." Eoghan shook his head. "I know she's calling on the king's behalf and the reason the phone number is constantly changing is because he's dumping burner phones at regular intervals. I just feel terrible that I haven't been able to give the woman a message to pass on to him."

"I know, Eoghan." Ari reached across the table and took hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze as he looked into his eyes. "I know it seems hopeless but we'll figure this all out. You know Night has been working on identifying Flagstaff vampire king, Tillis Bradshaw's drug pipeline. She's confirmed that all the drivers of the trucks hauling synthetic blood have been replaced with members of the Phoenix Pagans, his motorcycle gang. I know it's been almost two months since he got away and I know it's frustrating that it's taking so long."

"It is frustrating but at the same time, it's necessary to be so careful. We can't get caught investigating this case right under the Agency's nose," Eoghan said. "And I know if it's frustrating for us, it's ten time worse for the chief. She never complains but I know that she's working extremely hard not to get us all caught before she can identify whoever's working with Bradshaw."

He suddenly yawned, and Ari let go of his hand, smiling. He glanced around and spotted their server walking down the aisle toward them, carrying two small plates. He nodded at her and she stopped beside their table. "Whenever you have a chance, we'll take the check, Kyla."

"No problem. Let me drop off this pie and I'll be right back with it."

"Um…did you say pie?" Ari asked, sitting up straighter as he looked longingly at the plates.

She grinned and lowered them to show him. "We have a wide selection of pie. Would you like a dessert menu?"

"Yeah. Thank you," he said.

"I'll be right back with those."

Ari watched her walk away and after she'd gone, he turned back and caught Eoghan staring with his mouth hanging open. "What?"

"Pie? You just ate a whole pizza."

Ari held up his hand, showing a small space between two fingers. "A little slice."

Eoghan shook his head and laughed. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"On the condition that you get up early and run five miles with me in the morning."

Ari groaned and reached up to scrub a hand over his face before glaring at him. "Really?"

Eoghan nodded, smirking at him.

"Ugh. Do I have to?"

"We need our exercise. We don't know how long we'll be on the road, and we missed our run this morning," Eoghan replied. "The lifestyle we lead and the food we eat is going to kill us if we don't take care of ourselves. That's one thing Gladys always stressed when I was her trainee and as your training officer, I'm telling you the same thing. If you want to live past fifty, you'll at the very least, get your exercise…especially when we eat like this." He pointed at the empty pizza plates.

In defiance, Ari reached out and grabbed a stray olive off the empty plate and popped it into his mouth.

"You're a horrible person," Eoghan said.

"Which is why you love me," Ari said, winking at him. To his delight, Eoghan didn't even flinch. They'd never said that little four-letter word to each other. After dating each other for two months, they hadn't moved into that phase of the relationship yet and Ari wasn't sure Eoghan wanted that. It wasn't that he doubted his lover. He knew their relationship was exclusive even though they'd never had that conversation but as far as Ari was concerned, he was in this for the long haul. Eoghan was a good man, a good marshal, and sexy as hell in bed when they weren't sitting in a car all day long on the road. As far as a good traveling companion, their chemistry was on point. It was a good thing too. Ari couldn't imagine traveling the highways and byways of California with someone he couldn't stand.

Their server came over and handed them two menus. "I'll give you a couple of minutes with those."

Ari caught her eye. "You know what, I changed my mind. We'll just take the check."

"Good enough." She held out her hand for the menus, and Ari handed his back before looking over at Eoghan who was perusing the inside of his.

He smiled up at her as he handed his back. "Let us have two Dutch apple pies and make them ala mode, please."

She grinned widely as she took his menu. "Good enough. Be right back."

He nodded as she walked away and when he looked back at Ari, he winked. "Okay, listen up," Eoghan said. "If you don't want to run, fine, but I'm not taking it lying down. I don't want to see you dead at fifty, so you can have your pie if you promise to let me find another way for you to work off all that spare energy you seem to have."

Ari grinned back at him. "I think I can agree to that, no problem. And how about this? If I can peel my ass off the bed in the morning, I'll do your damned run with you."

Eoghan smirked. "I figured."