When I return home, I’m pleasantly surprised to find Daniel already there. I thought he would be at work until later.
I drop my stuff on the table and walk over, ready for our usual greeting, except he doesn’t kneel.
In fact, he pulls away, arms hugging himself.
A chill sweeps through my soul. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know, Liam. Is anything wrong?”
His tone sounds completely…wrong.
My heart pounds a few times in my chest before another arctic blast engulfs me. A thousand responses flicker through my mind, then I jerk myself up short and let the attorney take over.
We could be talking about totally different things here, and I don’t want to faceplant myself into something far worse than Daniel might be thinking.
“I need more information than that, ba—”
“Donotfucking call me baby, Liam.Notright now.”
Oh, shit.
No one saw us doing anything. Ward wouldn’t say a word about it, either. “You’re scaring me, D.”
“Ward Callahan’s your ghost. Don’t deny it. Do notdareinsult my intelligence by lying, either.”
I mentally scramble for footing but it feels like I’m tap-dancing on quicksand. “What—”
“The day of the swearing in. You said you knew him from college. That day, he told me you were roommates in college. After the ceremony, when I asked him more about your college days. You’d stepped away to speak to the vice president. Ward confirmed you were roommates. Volunteered the info, like he was trying to see if I knew who that meant he was. And I know damn well you only had one fucking roommate in college. I remember everything, Liam. You know I do.”
Fuck.
Honestly? I never expected Ward to admit that to anyone, much less Daniel. I was so used tonottelling anyone being the default state, that…
Another thought slams into me. Maybe thatwasa test on Ward’s part, to see if Daniel knew who he was.
Oh, my god. I’m an idiot.
“The funny thing is,” he continues, “I think I knew just from the way you looked at him. I thought it was weird, but then I could see how he looked at you, too. Then how you quickly excused yourself, like you needed a moment to think. Except I knew it was bullshit you wanted to ‘pay your respects’ to Jackson, because I know damn well you hate the sonofabitch as much as I do.
“Good cover telling me about being asked to co-sponsor the bill, though. Oh, and the Kevin Markos chat. If I hadn’t known the full truth about you, I might have bought those excuses and left it alone. Except, I couldn’t. I saw the pattern and wanted to make sure. So I watched you, paid attention, and my suspicions grew. I thoughtsurelyyou would tell me if you were cashing in your hall-pass fuck.
“But you didn’t. Still thought I was being paranoid, totally stupid. Right? My husband would honor his word because I’venevercaught you in a lie before. Not to me. You have never lied to me, that I’m aware of. But, then there wasthis.”
He produces the old phone from his back pocket and drops it on the table. It spins a couple of lazy revolutions before it stops.
Meaning he went into my desk to get it.
I can’t feign righteous indignation at the violation of my privacy, because I’ve been balls-deep inside Ward Callahan dozens of times now over the past couple of weeks, and I think that’s worse, hall-pass fuck status or not.
If Daniel doesn’t make me unlock it, maybe this’ll be okay. Maybe I can talk him out of wanting to see it. I didn’t use any of my normal passcodes for it.
I take a deep breath. “I—”
“1016. That’s the lock code. His birthday. I tried your usual passwords on it, thinking okay, I’m being stupid. Then I looked up his birthday. Holy fuck, wouldn’t you just know it?”
My mouth snaps shut.
At this point, I realize I’m not even sure there is any damage control I can possibly do to save Ward from Daniel’s wrath.
