Dropping the letter onto the table like it was on fire, Ten stared at the paper and its venomous contents. He reread the message once, then twice. The words didn’t make any more sense the second or third time around.
Ten would have known if Ronan had been drinking, wouldn’t he? Ten sat with that notion for a few seconds before reaching out with his gift, which gave him nothing. He could see Ronan sitting at Jude’s kitchen table, the men looked to be having a serious conversation. Truth be told, every chat with Jude over the last month had been of a serious nature. Ten saw Ronan get up from the table, hug Cope and head for the front door.
His heart pounding like a jackhammer, Ten took several pictures of the letter with his phone. When he was finished, he snatched up the letter and bolted toward the pantry. Grabbing his box of bran cereal, he folded the letter back into thirds, stuck it in the envelope, and shoved it into the box. No one ate bran flakes, hell, after one bowl, Ten hadn’t eaten them again. He’d thought of throwing the awful cereal away, but for whatever reason left the box on the shelf, where it was now earning its keep. Setting the box back on the shelf, he hurriedly shut the doors, just as the front door alarm went off, signaling Ronan’s arrival.
Seating himself quickly back at the table, Ten grabbed a sales flyer and tried to calm his breathing.
“Hey, babe!” Ronan said. “Oh, good, you’re sorting through the mail. If much more piled up, we were gonna have to move or be buried under L.L. Bean catalogs and reverse mortgage solicitations.” He pressed a kiss to Ten’s cheek before going to the fridge to grab a can of ginger ale.
Ten watched as Ronan cracked the can and took a long sip. He burped, getting as far as the letter “F” in the alphabet, before setting the drink down and focusing on his husband. “You okay?” Ronan’s detective’s eyes narrowed on Ten.
Ten wanted to shoot the same question back at Ronan, but held his tongue. It wouldn’t do him any good to fly off the handle. The letter was probably from some crank who had nothing betterto do than to stir the pot. “I’m good, just tired.” He shrugged, hoping it seemed casual as he’d intended.
“God, me too,” Ronan tipped his soda to his lips and drained the can. He got up from his seat and tossed it into the recycling bin. “I’m gonna grab a shower. Kids are almost done with their movie, we’ll all go to bed when it ends.”
“Bed sounds great,” Ten agreed.
“See you in a bit.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows suggestively and left the room.
Ten managed a smile. He could see how tired Ronan was. His posture was a bit stooped, his eyes were dull and the usual spring in his step was gone. Seconds later, the kids erupted in laughter at something Ronan said, which had been too soft for Tennyson to hear.
Reaching out with his gift, Ten read Ronan again and again. He didn’t see anything that would indicate Ronan had been drinking. Yes, he was stressed out over being a man down at work, worried about Jude’s health, and tired to his bones, but nothing suggested his husband had come anywhere close to falling off the wagon.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Ten pulled back from Ronan. They’d been married for eight years. There had been bad times sprinkled among the good, but the one thing Ten could count on was his husband’s honesty, not because he could use his gift to see if he was lying, but because Ten trusted his husband with his whole heart and soul.
At least he had until tonight.
What if the letter writer had seen what he claimed? What if Ronan was drinking again? What the hell would he do if that was the case?
Feeling his emotions spiraling out of control, he ran into the bathroom, hit his knees and threw up.
3
Ronan
Walking into work the next morning, Ronan’s eyes lingered on Jude’s desk and empty chair. It had been over a month since Jude had been in the office, laughing, insulting Ronan and doing damn fine detective work on the Hienz case. He and Fitz had put the rest of the pieces together and had arrested the killer three days after Christmas.
In the weeks that followed, Ronan threw himself into the cold case archives, reading case file after case file, trying to figure out which investigation to start next. He was killing time, hoping to hold off the next case until Jude was back at his desk.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Fitz said, as he walked out of his office straight to the coffee pot. “We need to talk.”
Ronan nodded. He knew exactly what his boss was going to say, that he needed to stop fucking around and pick a new case to work. Grabbing a mug, he poured himself some coffee and set his attention on Fitz, who was about to lash into him. “What’s up?”
“Got a call from Cisco this morning,” Fitz began, his voice more somber than usual.
“He’s not getting rid of Jude, is he?” Ronan couldn’t think of a worse scenario. It would kill him not to work with his best friend everyday and knew Jude would feel the same way. Well, most of the time, anyway.
Fitz shook his head. “No, Jude’s not going anywhere. His job will be waiting for him when he’s cleared to return to active duty.”
Feeling relief wash over him, Ronan began to relax. His mind turned to the obvious reason why Cisco had called Fitz. “What idiotic thing have I done this time?” If Cisco wasn’t getting rid of Jude, Ronan’s behavior, or lack thereof, was the only other thing Cisco ever called about.
“Shockingly, the call wasn’t about you. Not directly, anyway. He wanted to talk to me about bringing on another detective.”
“What?” Ronan felt his head spin. “I thought you just said Jude’s job was safe.”
“It is,” Fitz confirmed. “What I didn’t know was that Cisco had a meeting before the holidays with the city council. He presented all of the work and cases that we’d successfully solved, while highlighting just how many unsolved cold cases remained on the books. Cisco asked the council to approve budget money for another detective to join our unit. Unbelievably, the council said yes. Even more unbelievably, was that the mayor’s budget passed unanimously.”
“Wow, that’s huge news.” Ronan wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet. Would it be nice to have a fourth member of the team? Yes. Probably. The problem wasn’t finding someone to fill the position, but to find someone who’d fit in with the team and would work as hard as he, Jude, and Fitz.
