“Climbing the walls while she has another surgery?” Cam shook his head. “No, and I’m doing what she asked.”
“Need the distraction, I get that.” He clapped his shoulder before turning to Jamie. “Whiskey, I heard you bagged a hot-as-hell Irishman.”
Jamie side-eyed Cam, who shrugged. “Hey, you said it.”
“Whole city full,” Matt teased, waving his arms around, “and you had to go to San Francisco to get one.”
“I got the right one,” Jamie said. “That’s all that matters.”
Matt cringed dramatically, like he was smelling something foul. “Oh God, he’s a lovesick fool. Keep him away!”
Cam laughed. “You have no idea.” As if to cover his own current state of foolishness, he turned to Nic, introducing him formally. “Matthew Kim, this is AUSA Dominic Price.”
The two men shook hands. “You overseeing this for Justice?” Matt asked.
Nic nodded. “I am now.”
“We work together in San Francisco,” Cam said. Nic didn’t flinch but Cam saw that telltale lift of his broad shoulders. Cam talked over it, continuing to ignore his own foolishness. “The SAC filled you in?”
“She did,” Matt said. “And now that we’re official, I can speak freely.” Leading them to one of the picnic tables in the station courtyard, Matt switched from jovial bro to the impeccable agent who’d always had Cam’s back. “We know why Officer Murphy wants to keep this quiet.” He pulled a file out of his messenger bag and dropped it on the table. “It’s not just the daughter who’s into some shit. He’s knee-deep in it too.”
“Trying to protect her?” Nic asked.
“She’s a street dealer for Koehler.” One of the local thugs that Cam knew all too well. “He’s been using it as leverage against her dad,” Matt said. “Favors from BPD. Looking the other way when shipments go missing and such.”
“That’s a tougher sell to DOJ,” Nic said. Cam didn’t do a good job of hiding the frustration on his face. Seeing it, Nic hastened to add, “I’ll do what I can to sell it, but Murphy’s law enforcement. He knows better. It’ll go smoother if he cooperates.”
“He hasn’t so far,” Jamie weighed in.
Matt eyed the bulging folder in the middle of the table. “We’ve got enough there to make that happen.”
Cam’s phone vibrated with an incoming text from Di. “We better make it happen soon,” he said, looking back up at the group. “Murphy just got a ransom demand.”
“Let’s do this, then.” Matt grabbed his file, standing with a grin. “Just like old times.” He elbowed Jamie in the side. “You still aren’t official.”
Jamie shrugged, explaining to Nic, “I may have consulted a bit when I was at MIT.”
Nic rolled his eyes, chuckling. “I would have never guessed.”
He started to stand but Cam laid a hand on his knee beneath the table, keeping him seated. “Go on in,” Cam told Matt and Jamie. “Need to check one more thing with Justice. We’re right behind you.”
Matt was about to say something, but Jamie pushed him on ahead.
As soon as they rounded the corner, Nic’s attention whipped back to Cam. A blush stained his high cheekbones, highlighting his handsome, angular face, and made Cam want to do more than just talk.
But talk was what they had to do before moving forward on the case or otherwise. “Thank you for wrangling with DOJ,” he said.
“You can quit thanking me. I told?—”
Cam squeezed his knee, then inched his hand higher. “But I didn’t tell you, not everything.”
Nic laid a hand atop his, stopping it from climbing higher. He left it there, though, tangling their fingers. “You’re not out to your family.”
Of course he’d figured it out. He was one of the smartest men Cam knew. “It was never the right time and now . . .”
“I’m not going to ask you to, Cam. That’s your decision.”
Cam’s gaze shot up from their hands. “I expected you to argue.”
