“You’re reading into things,” Aiden said.
“You cut your hair every time you FaceTime him.” He did not. Did he? “You never bring Dad up in conversation. You go out of your way not to bring him up, go so far as to pretend he doesn’t exist, but, on FaceTime—in front of God and everyone—you stare at him like he’s the only person there and so does he. It’s…awkward.”
Aiden opened his mouth and closed it again, unsure what to say to that.
“Yeah, you two are so fucking weird, we had to call a meeting to discuss it,” Adam said.
Noah snorted. “Youhad to call a meeting to discuss it.”
“You were the one who pointed it out in the first place,” Adam countered.
Aiden ground his teeth, tired of their bickering. “You what?”
“Called a meeting. Keep up, dude,” Adam said. “Everybody just wants Thomas to be happy. You make him happy. Well, when you aren’t making him a short-tempered, day-drinking lunatic. But I think you and him being together forever would fix that.”
This conversation was killing Aiden. Of course, he wanted that. He’d wanted nothing but that since he’d known him. But it had been dangled and snatched away so many times over the last two decades, he definitely didn’t have the strength or courage to reach for it again. Just being alone with Thomas was masochistic enough.
“Whatever he did…whatever happened to his family…it convinced him that he doesn’t deserve happiness. He’s going to spend the rest of his life torturing himself, and by extension me, if I don’t break this off. We’re not leaving this cabin until I get to the bottom of what happened to his family and why he’s let it shape his entire fucking life. Once we find this blackmailer and punish them, I’m going back to my life…alone. Once and for all. Thomas can do whatever he wants after that.”
“Aiden—”
Aiden cut Noah off. “Have Calliope call me if she gets a break on the video. Otherwise, leave us alone. We’ll be back when we get back.”
He disconnected before Noah could keep the conversation going. He stood, trudging down the stairs to the bar tucked into the corner of the living room. He poured himself two fingers of whiskey and sprawled into the large chair in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames.
How long had he and Thomas been public knowledge? A while, it seemed. Aiden didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, at least Thomas could no longer hide behind the family as an excuse not to be together. But on the other, the amount of ribbing they were going to take over this was going to be beyond painful.
Ifthey made it past this. Adam seemed to think there was nothing to worry about. That this was some garden variety bad guy, but it didn’t make any sense. Who knew any of this? Thomas had said those photos of the crime scene shouldn’t even exist. Yet, they did. They did and someone had sat on them this entire time…for what? To what end? Who were they trying to avenge?
There were no Mulvaneys left outside of Thomas’s children. No aunts or uncles. No nieces and nephews. They’d all died. That left cops. Maybe a prosecutor. But why would any of them wait this long to blackmail Thomas? Were any of them still alive? The case had happened almost forty years ago.
Nothing made any goddamn sense. He was tempted to harass Lola for more information but she would have called if she had something. She was also picking up his other cases. He couldn’t nag her about this also.
He heard Thomas before he saw him, but when he rounded the corner, it still sent Aiden’s heart racing. He wore gray sweatpants and a pale blue hoodie that made his eyes look the same light shade.
“I didn’t expect to see you down here again before dinner,” Aiden said.
“I tried to sleep but couldn’t.” He took one look at the drink in Aiden’s hand and frowned. “Is this about…” He pointed upwards. “Upstairs?”
Aiden shook his head and took another large swallow. “No. Calliope has the video. She’s analyzing it as we speak.”
Thomas’s brow furrowed. “I thought we weren’t involving them.”
Aiden snorted. “So did I. Do you know she goes through your emails?”
“What?” Thomas said. “Who? Oh,” he said as he seemed to catch up with the conversation.
Aiden didn’t know why he was taking this out on Thomas. It wasn’t his fault his kids were nosey. Or maybe it was. It wasn’t like they’d had much supervision once they’d come of age. Thomas had been super strict with all of them growing up, but he’d softened by the time each of them were eighteen.
All of them except Aiden.
But, to be fair, Aiden was practically eighteen when he’d arrived. Neither of them had ever truly known what to do with each other. While Aiden had developed the world’s biggest crush, Thomas had been trying to treat him like a little brother, like he might someday be his future protégé, as Noah was now. It had all gotten so messy so quickly.
“Yeah, and do you know your kids are hoping we eloped because they think we’re in love with each other?” Aiden asked.
“What?” Thomas said again, looking more bewildered and distressed with every new statement. “Stop calling them ‘mykids,’” he air-quoted.
Again, Aiden ignored him. “They have clandestine meetings about the two of us. They think we should be together so we’re not…what was it they called us? Oh, right, an antisocial survivalist nut-bag and a short-tempered, day-drinking lunatic.”
