“I came up in the elevator with AUSA Price and a Marine.”
“A Marine?”
“Yeah, full uniform and everything.”
Wariness crept up Cam’s spine, some instinct warning him this was not good.Outwardly, he played it cool for Cole.“AUSA Price was a SEAL.The Marine was probably an old Special Forces buddy.”
“Odd timing, don’t you think?”
“Big city, don’t you think?”
Cole chuckled, playing chastened well.“Guess you’re right.”
“Sit tight.”Cam stepped around him toward the stairwell door.“We’ll let you know if you’re needed.”
Not giving Cole a chance to reply, Cam exited through the stairwell door and hoofed it down to Nic’s floor.Striding across the USAO’s floor, he said good morning to the staff and attorneys he passed and only hesitated a moment outside Nic’s closed door.He’d texted him to come right down, after all.
He pushed it open.And greetings, questions, words, all died on his lips.
Nic stood next to the window talking to a shorter man, the Marine.Cam recognized the uniform from his younger brother’s closet, but Keith was nowhere near as highly ranked and decorated as this man.A major.Who was standing closer to Nic than an old Special Forces buddy probably would.Hand on his arm, he gazed up at Nic like they were the only two people in the world.
Jealousy snaked through Cam, and on its heels, the sharp claws of fear and doubt.The shared intimacy between the two was obvious, making Cam feel like an intruder.
“I’m sorry,” he said, making his presence known.“I should’ve?—”
Nic’s gaze shot to his, and he backed away from the other man.“I told you to come down here, didn’t I?”His voice was as terse as his text.
“Yes, but?—”
“Close the door, Boston.”
Still terse, but Cam read the use of his nickname as a good sign.He’d take all those he could get right now amid the weird tension.He closed the door and stepped farther into the room, intending to introduce himself.
Nic, however, spoke first.“There’s been a development.”
“On one of our cases?”he asked obliquely, not sure how to proceed with the other man in the room.Nic was speaking like he was somehow involved, yet...who was he, exactly?Did he have clearance?He trusted Nic not to compromise the case, but what the ever-loving fuck was going on?
“In a manner of speaking,” Nic said.
Not a fucking answer.“Don’t lawyer me.”
The major huffed a laugh.“He spoke like that as a kid too.”
Nic glowered at him.“I did not.”
“You so did.Not to your father but to everyone else.”A childhood friend, then.“Mom would catch him doing something he wasn’t supposed to, and he would dodge and swerve, making any argument he could as to why he shouldn’t be in hot water.”
“I was developing a skill.”
“I hope you’re better at that skill than dancing.”
The verbal roundhouse to his gut, combined with a lightning strike of clarity to his brain, forced Cam to grab the back of the closest chair.
The last time Nic had danced...Them...
The Marine stepped forward, hand outstretched.“Since Nic’s lost all his manners, I’m Major Garrett Sare.”
“GS,” Cam mumbled.
