Chapter 21

After the few weeks we'd been together, I'd stopped waking up shocked to find Daddy beside me in bed. The first few times, I jumped out of bed like my ass was on fire because I'd forgotten he was there. Now, I remembered, but it was still a shock that he hadn't gotten sick of me yet. More and more of his stuff had migrated across the yard too. He'd even taken to staying overnight at my house when I worked third shift.

In fairness, it was my idea that he stay over rather than at his rental because the locks and doors were better at my place. I worried less if I knew he was safe.

He'd started directing his grocery deliveries to my house rather than his own since we never cooked over there. He'd mentioned his parents were thinking of a summer trip and looking for a hotel on the mainland or a bed and breakfast on the island.

Every time they sent him a text with options, I resisted the urge to say that they could stay in his little rental and he could stay with me. His one-bedroom cottage would be plenty big enough for them, and I liked the idea of claiming him as mine. I hadn't gotten that brave yet, but the idea refused to stop rattling around in my head. Once he was there, no one would bat an eye if I kept him.

My five a.m. snooze alarm rang for the second time, forcing me out of bed. I padded into the bathroom to get dressed in my gym clothes as quietly as heavy steps could manage.

If I quit fucking around, I'd be able to get in some cardio and weights before breakfast and make shift change on time. When I finished my morning business, Daddy was still buried under the covers, and his snuffly snoring sounds were pretty damn cute.

He claimed he didn't snore at all, but he also said that he hadn't snuck into my phone and added his name into my contacts as Daddy. Pearls had been clutched, and in his best Blanche impression, which was pretty fucking awful, he assured me he had no idea how it got there and bless my heart for thinking that he did. All lies.

The pole barn sat at the back of my property and housed my workout machines. The downtown gym was better, but my machines were good enough. I felt self-conscious when I went when fellow officers or cousins were down there, and no one spoke to me.

Granted, I knew I was unapproachable, but watching them laugh and joke with each other reminded me how I had always been on the outside looking in. I'd honed the I don't give a fuck persona for so long that somewhere along the way, I'd forgotten I really did give a fuck. Since Will came into my life, I'd realized just how lonely I was. My books were always a favorite, but having him there was a whole other level.

After last night, my backside was sore, but not enough that I couldn't work out. As far as I could tell, there weren't any bruises or red spots. If we ever did it again, maybe he could go harder next time, so there'd be some evidence left behind.

If I hadn't been so worried about my dad's imminent retirement, I could have seen my dick being into it. The minute Daddy told me to strip, it tried to take notice. Subspace—thank you, previous research—was pretty fucking fantastic. Ten out of ten would recommend.

My plan this morning was to get in at least five miles on the treadmill and work on my upper body. I wasn't too sore, but trying for a leg day might be uncomfortable. My audiobook this morning was about life in Victorian England, around the time of the Jack of the Ripper. It included detailed descriptions of how London was organized during the time and its effect on the investigation.

The department sent out a notice that I had mandatory leave required this year, or I'd lose it. I needed to figure out how to spend two weeks off before next September. My library overflowed with travel books with suggested itineraries and this book had me thinking that England would be an interesting place to go. Instead of just reading about a trip overseas, this could be the year I actually went to the places I'd spent so much time reading about.

During our trip to Victoria, it struck me that Canada was the only place I'd been to that was out of the country, and I wanted to change that. And I didn't want to go alone. I wanted Will to come with me. I had nothing to spend my money on, so I had plenty saved. Sure, he was my Daddy, but we weren't of the rich variety. I had plenty in the bank to cover the trip, so it wasn't like I'd ask him to buy a ticket. Maybe he'd want to go with me? It was a big ask, and if he wasn't that into me, it would be torture.

Regardless, I wasn't ready to ask Daddy yet. I needed to make sure he'd say yes before I did it. As much as I hated to even think about it, I wanted more with Daddy. He'd hinted that he wanted more with me, too, but had never outright said it.

What the hell did I know about relationships? I'd never had one that lasted more than a night, except with Daddy. I didn't even know who I could ask who might know how to do it. I sure as fuck wasn't going to ask my mom or dad. I could already see a nonstop stream of bullshit from Cameron if I asked him. Fuck. The only person I knew to ask was Will. Whenever I wanted to talk something out, his name was the only one that crossed my mind.

I'd never been more grateful when the distance timer went off on the treadmill. If I had to concentrate on weights, I couldn't wonder how to ask Daddy to leave the country with me. After weights, I'd have just enough time to shower and get to the station. No way would Cameron shut up long enough for me to think about it there either.

"So you and Will, huh?" Cameron was kicked back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. He was twirling a pen and trying not to hit himself in the face. Jesus Christ. "Is he a power bottom? I respect a guy who knows what he wants."

His wicked grin told me he was trying to see if he could annoy me. I knew I shouldn't feed it, but I was only human. I did no more than grumble under my breath and ignored him.

"Maybe when you guys stop doing what you're doing, I'll give him a call. He'll probably be up for some company that actually talks to him after you."

"No, you fucking will not." Dammit. Cameron fell out of his chair, laughing at me when I played right into his hands. "You're gonna stay the fuck away from him."

"Ha! So you do like him?"

"I like him a fuck ton more than your ass."

"I need to get a diary so I can write in it that you said twenty-five words to me in one sitting."

"Twenty-three, asshole. But that was twenty-five."

There was no chance I was going to have a heart-to-heart with Cameron. Aside from Laken, Cameron was always down for a good time. I had hookups because I thought I couldn't sustain a relationship. Cameron had hookups because he didn't want to sustain a relationship with anyone.

We still didn't have many more leads on the burglaries, which had continued sporadically over the last month. Some of them could be attributed to teenagers we'd caught borrowing docks and breaking into garages to help themselves to leftover summer beer, but those were the exceptions. No one else had been hurt in the break-ins, but that luck could only take you so far. We needed to figure it out sooner rather than later.

"Gentlemen, and that barely includes you, Cam," the chief said as he strode past us on his way back to his office, "Cap just called. His crew reported a car to him, but then they had a mechanical docking issue that took precedence. The crew didn't get a plate, but we can check the cameras. I need you to go get a statement. After their current run, they'll go to the refueling depot, so you can meet them there in about an hour."

I immediately nodded and turned to my computer to review our notes on potential sightings. Cam stayed exactly where he was and played with that pen.

"Hey, Chief, you hear that Hagen got himself a new friend?" Cam's smirk was pure mischief. "He's pretty cute. I don't know what he sees in Beckett though."

"Cam, you jealous?" Chief asked as he turned back toward us. Chief was in his mid-forties and carried himself with a commanding presence. That was probably what pissed my dad off about him.

Cam guffawed and shook his head. "Nah, if Will is into Beckett, then I'm sure his taste isn't so good."

Whatever. My Daddy liked me, so Cam could get fucked..

"Hagen, can I see you in my office?"

I shot Cam a look because being called to the boss's office was rarely great news, but I got up and followed him anyway.

He waved me in the direction of the chairs facing his desk when we got inside. Chief busied himself with pouring a cup of coffee out of the pot on the counter on the back wall. He was stalling. Shit. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what I had done that warranted this.

"You want some?"

"No, thanks. I'm good. Chief, what's this about?"

He leaned back in his chair and gave me a pensive look. He looked like a cop's cop with a tidy military-style haircut, pressed uniform, and professional tone, which never dropped except when he gave shit to Cam. His dark hair was a sharp contrast to his blue eyes and neatly trimmed beard. He wasn't my type, even before Will, but I understood why the ladies—and some men—dropped off cookies for the officers but always wanted to deliver them personally to the chief.

"I read the report from the Rutledge place, but I wanted to hear it directly from you."

What the hell was going on? Rutledge and the kid had come to whatever agreement, and I'd checked on him the next day. Hell, I'd gone back out there the following week to "give him some paperwork," and everything seemed fine. My gut clenched at the thought of something happening to the kid.

"Jesus, Hagen. You're going to give yourself a heart attack. The kid is fine."

"Oh, good. Um, Jonas—he's another cousin of ours—called because he found someone out in Rutledge's shed."

"Are you guys rabbits? Why the hell are there so many of you? Never mind, don't answer that. Go on."

"Yeah, so I talked to him, and it was pretty obvious he wasn't part of the burglaries. I figured he was just without housing and had stumbled on the shed. He didn't want to give me his name, but he did after Rutledge told him to do it." Chief muttered some noncommittal noises but didn't interrupt beyond that. "Rutledge asked if he could talk to the kid alone, and the kid said yes. When they came out, Rutledge said it was all a misunderstanding, and the guy was allowed to be there. I called both of them the next day to make sure everything was okay."

"Did you see him again?"

"Yeah, I went out the next week to bring him some papers about resource options on the mainland. I spoke with a social worker up at the hospital, and they said there weren't many options or assistance over here for adults in a bad way."

"Did anyone ask you to check on him? Was there something about Rutledge that concerned you?"

"Nah, he said he knew you, and he was the one who suggested I call the guy too. When I showed up to see him, Rutledge was there and let me speak with him alone. Are you sure he's all right?"

"Did you say anything else to Rutledge or the guy?"

"Not really… Well, I did explain about the trespassing charge, but that was it. Chief, what's this about?"

Chief leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. I had no fucking clue he wanted to be a goddamned actor, but his flair for the dramatic was annoying the piss out of me.

"Rutledge called me. He was impressed with how you handled the situation. He said you made the scene secure without creating undue drama, and he appreciated how you spoke with…Micah?"

"Yeah, that's the guy from the shed's name. And we needed a meeting for that?"

Chief barked out a laugh. "Christ, Hagen, I hope you never change." He gathered some papers from his desk and handed them to me. "No, that's not why we needed the meeting. We need the meeting because you made an impression on him. Every fall, Rutledge has a fundraiser for the community, and there's an officer who attends as a representative of the department. He'd like you to be the guy this year."

"You're fucking crazy. I'm not going to that shit."

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't clear." Chief's smirk sealed my fate. "Officer Hagen, you are the department's designated representative for the fundraiser, and you'll probably need a plus one. Maybe that cute guy I've seen you have lunch with?"

"Cute guy?" I choked out. Since when did the chief notice if a man was cute? As far as I knew, he was straight. An ally, yeah, but straight. At least he had good taste because Will was hot as fuck.

"I'm straight, not blind. Anyway, here's the invitation and the information. You'll go to the dinner, they'll give out some awards, and then the silent auction winners are announced. The meal for you and your date is comped. No one expects you to buy anything at the auction and you'll just clap appropriately for people. You probably won't even have to talk to anyone. I'd ask you to smile every once in a while, but that's probably a hard limit."

I sure as fuck wasn't smiling now.

"Hey, boys," Cap called when we approached the ferry depot. "Sorry for the delayed call-in. One of the engines started acting up, so it took priority, and then we had to hustle to make the schedule."

"No worries," Cameron answered. "At this point, we'll take the breaks where we can get them."

Cap held up his greasy hands to avoid shaking ours. He'd changed out of his captain's clothes, was dressed in overalls that had seen better days, and was elbow-deep in cleaning something. I had no damn idea what it was other than messy and smelled like dirty seawater.

Cap and his twin brother, Reed, were the oldest of our cousins. His twin lived on the mainland and was a doctor at one of the hospitals there. I couldn't imagine Cap living anywhere but on Almstead Island, but Reed never came back permanently after college. Cap lived out on the edge of the island in a falling-down house he always swore he was working on that faced the passage leading to the open ocean. I can see why he'd never want to leave it.

"Let me get cleaned up, and we'll head into the office. I asked Cheryl to pull the video so it should be ready when we get inside. The car was a black SUV, but the guy was one we'd seen before. He changes cars pretty regularly, which, I mean, there might be an innocent explanation for, but it's still kinda strange, right?"

We followed Cap into his chaotic office with parts, manuals, and paperwork stacked everywhere. I had hives just looking at the mess. Cameron asked, "Cap, how the hell do you find anything in here?"

He shoved a stack of paper off some office chairs and gestured for us to sit before he answered, "Fuck off, Cameron. Hey, Beckett, how's Will?"

The problem with a small town was that everyone knew everything. A small town with a shitload of bored cousins without any love life of their own who all shared a nonstop group chat that I refused to join. I got enough shit from them at mandatory family gatherings. I didn't need to read it too. "Good."

Cap looked at me expectedly like I was supposed to say something else, but I just stared back at him. Will was good. What else was I supposed to say? I wasn't going to tell him that Will was teaching me to cook and that I could sometimes get the voice in my head to shut up about what a disaster I was. He probably didn't care that Will and I had a plant wish list for his existing garden and my new one.

It was possible he'd care that we'd spent our evening snuggled up on the couch together, with me reading and Will doing something or other, but I doubted it.

Last night, Will had read with me, but the night before, he'd watched a trash show about housewives that he swore was funny. I didn't get the appeal, but whatever, I'd watch it if Will wanted me to watch it with him.

It was unlikely Cap cared that we'd discovered a mutual love of competition shows that required actual talent, like baking or fashion design or glassblowing. So, yeah, Will was good.

Cap shrugged and then gave me a wry grin, "I guess that's all I'm going to get fro— Cameron, what the hell are you doing?"

"What?" he asked around a mouthful of pasta that hung from his mouth.

"That's my fucking lunch, asshole."

"It was just sitting here all lonely, waiting for someone to enjoy it." Cameron smirked with a shit-eating grin. He really was an ass.

Cap glowered at Cam but turned his laptop so we could see it. "Yeah, so the guy driving the SUV has come over several times but always in different cars. Sometimes with a passenger, sometimes not. Today, Mikey tried making small talk with him, and the guy told him to fuck off."

"To Mikey? That guy makes fucking sunshine seem depressed," I said.

"Yeah, I know. If you hate everyone in the world, it's because you haven't met him yet. He came back and said he just got a vibe from the guy. He didn't have a passenger today. He was gonna go back and get the plate number, but then the engine started acting up, and we had to focus on that. We do have a clear tape of the vehicle though."

As he spoke, Cap played the video, which showed Mikey talking to the man. Mikey's facial expression showed his surprise at the guy's aggressive words, but unfortunately, none of the camera angles had a good shot of his face or plates. Fuck. The arm resting on the window frame indicated he was a white guy, but that wasn't much of a description.

"Did Mikey say what he looked like? Where is Mikey, anyway?"

"He had to go back on the next ferry. He's got his certification class tonight, and they have exams coming up."

"He lookin' to take your job?"

"Nah, he's getting his vet tech certification. He only works here because he needed a way to pay for that." Cap's pride in his employee's accomplishments shone through.

"You sound like a proud Papa," Cameron teased, "but good for him. Woodland creatures probably follow that man home."

"Yeah, probably. Anyway, I had him write down everything he could remember about their encounter." Mikey's description was pretty vague, but maybe enough to rule some people out. A banged-up black SUV wasn't much to go on, but it was better than nothing.

Cap handed the paper over to me, and I tucked it into my notebook with my other notes. We made our excuses and headed out. Given that the last couple of days had involved more daytime burglaries, we needed to figure this out sooner rather than later.