“Why is she mad?”
There was a long pause.
“I have no idea what you mean,” Simon finally let out.
“Is it flowers and chocolates? Or diamonds and a mini-vacation?” Reid asked, taking a seat on the couch as he waited for his friend to confess to his crimes.
“It’s barely an orchid. Okay, fine. It might be a weekend spa trip for just the Mrs.”
Reid smirked. The man always caved.
“I hear Passion Springs is very romantic. They even have couples massages if you feel like groveling.”
Simon groaned. “I’ll think about it.”
The man didn’t seem interested in talking about it, so Reid decided to let his buddy have his privacy.
“So what’s the code name?” Reid asked now that his friend’s life was back on track.
“Morning sun and September sixteenth.”
Reid had never heard the code name mentioned before with this group they were investigating.
“Never heard of it.”
“We’ll keep investigating on our side and see what we can dig up. We got a few weeks, so at least we have that on our side,” Simon noted.
“Yeah, it’s just that the longer this asshole goes unpunished, the more people are going to continue to get hurt.”
“I hear ya. But we’re just a small organization. We can only do so much,” Simon reminded him.
That was true. They had to make do with what they had.
“Let me know what I can do on my end to help. I have a bit of time before I have to go meet up with Niko.”
“Is this the same Niko from back in the day?” Simon asked.
Reid took in a breath, then slowly exhaled. He didn’t want to get into too much detail with Simon, but he knew that the man was going to keep probing. Not because he was nosy, but because he genuinely cared.
“Yeah, he’s the guy I used to live with.”
“Hmm, sounds like you’ve got a few things to look into while you’re down there.” Simon let out a chuckle.
“Shut up, man. I’m here to work, not…”
“What? Not there to rekindle an old flame? Not there to confess your undying love for the man? Not there to?—”
“I’m hanging up now,” Reid blurted, not giving his friend a chance to finish his teasing.
He’d mentioned Niko a few times over the years, usually sharing funny stories or memories from their time working for Mikhail, but he never talked about having feelings or discussed any of the sexual acts they performed together while working with clients. Any conclusions Simon had made were entirely his own.
Staring at the blank television, his mind drifted back to how it all started…
Reid stumbled again, this time hitting the brick wall in front of him and using it to keep himself standing upright.
The Earth had once again decided to do one of its sudden tilts to the side.
But this time, Reid was prepared. He had his trusty, solid wall to help him keep standing. Or leaning.
