Javi sat down next to him on the beach.Grains of white California sand stuck to his dark navy jeans as he stretched his legs out in front of him.They’d both known this was coming.Joel had made it clear that it was non-negotiable after the threats Vesna Horvat had made since her son’s death.
“It did,” he said.
“And?”
Javi watched Bourneville wobble stubbornly along the shore, waves lapping her feet as she followed her cat across the sand.In the first sign that Javi had ever seen that the cat recognized Bon’s affections, the scruffy orange Siamese was walking slowly enough that the recuperating dog could keep up.
“How is she doing?”Javi asked.“Is she going to be able to work again?”
“Vet says yes,” Cloister said.“Her ribs are already on the mend.The broken shoulder will take a bit longer, but he’s confident it’s going to be good as new.”
Someone who didn’t know Cloister might take that as a statement of confidence in his vet.Javi knew better.He nudged his shoulder against Cloister’s.
“And if she isn’t?”
“I retire her, train a new dog,” Cloister said.He didn’t sound convinced somehow, but he shrugged the topic off as he put an arm around Javi’s waist.“Stop putting it off.They’re not moving you to LA?”
The thought of being under Kincaid’s thumb that way made Javi hackle instinctively.In some ways, it would have been easier, though.He’d have just quit.Instead…
He pulled the letter out of the breast pocket of his shirt, unfolding it with his thumb as he handed it over.Cloister took it with a confused look and smoothed it out to read it.
Twice.
“Montana,” he said eventually.
“Uh-huh,” Javi said.He had no proof, but the stink of Kincaid’s involvement was all over that.
Cloister swallowed as he read it again.“They’re making you an SSA, too.No more ‘acting.’That’s what you wanted.”
It was.
Just notthere.They both knew why.There was no need to put it into words.Javi did anyhow.
“You can’t go,” he pointed out.“It doesn’t matter how estranged you are, you’re still Vincent Witte’s stepson.No police force in the state will want to take that risk.”
“Probably not,” Cloister said.
“And you still hate the place,” Javi added.
“Probably, yeah,” Cloister agreed.
Good.Javi took a deep breath of salt and sun-warmed air.They were on the same page.That was what he wanted.
“The truth is…,” he said and had to hesitate so he could brace himself to say it out loud.“It probably wouldn’t look great for me, either.Even though I disclosed the relationship, it would call my integrity into question.People would have something to say about it.”
“They would,” Cloister said.
He paused to give a sharp whistle as Bon reached the edge of some mental boundary he’d drawn.She stopped, lay down stiffly, and watched Scraps wander off after a crab.
“So, we might as well face it,” Javi said.He kind of hadn’t expected it to get this far.But it had, and it was too late for second thoughts.“This isn’t going to work.There’s no point in dragging it out—”
Cloister turned his head and nuzzled Javi’s throat.“So you don’t want goodbye sex?”
The “no” seemed like therightthing to say, but Javi’s tongue was not going to be a party to that.He made a choked sound and then made himself pull away.
“I’m trying to be the adult,” he said.
“We’re not breaking up,” Cloister said.
