A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4)

by Jaime Reese

  "So call Jessie and ask him if he's interested. If you want to offer him a consulting job, then make him an offer."

  "Would you be fine with him working from here?" Travis asked.

  "Up to him. I know he does most of his legal research from home."

  Travis flinched. "Yeah…but we can grant him full access to the different agency databases from here. Agencies are all on board with whatever we need on these cases, but they're a no-go regarding remote access outside of the designated terminal we have in-house."

  Aidan wouldn't deny he'd be at peace with Jessie nearby rather than alone at home or off visiting a client. "The decision is his."

  Travis nodded in acknowledgment and headed toward the captain's office.

  Sunny stood at his side, crossing her arms and mirroring his stance, watching Travis head down the hallway. "And you know you're dying to have Vega close by with everything that's happened."

  "Damn right."

  "So are we," she said solemnly.

  He looked over at his partner. "I had a feeling you were in on this."

  "Of course." Sunny gave him a sideways glance. "He makes you happy…and tolerable." A snort of humor escaped her, evaporating all seriousness from the moment.

  "That's so attractive."

  "Shut up. We're going to love sitting back and watching him walk all over you. Vega's got you by the balls."

  Aidan's laugh echoed through the corridor—at both the truth of Sunny's statement and imagining Jessie standing there smiling at the mention of balls.

  Aidan walked through the door at the end of another long day, smiling when he spotted Jessie sitting at the dining room table with his laptop open. "Hey."

  Jessie returned the smile and stood. "Hey yourself." He wrapped his arms around Aidan's neck and delivered a kiss, slow and sweet with an unmistakable undercurrent of want and need.

  "Mmm." Aidan snaked his arm around Jessie's waist. "I love coming home."

  Jessie bit his lower lip, ducking his head and brushing his nose along Aidan's stubble. "I lost track of time wrapping up this case file I have to finish up. Do you mind if we order in?"

  "Not at all."

  They separated from the embrace, Jessie returning to his work while Aidan stripped out of his sport coat and holster.

  "Um…" Jessie began, turning in the seat then hesitating. "I got a call from your captain today."

  "Yeah?"

  Jessie nodded, draping his arm across the back of his chair. "He offered me a consulting job."

  Aidan pulled the shirttails out of his pants and began unbuttoning his shirt. "I know."

  "To research names from a list Rick gave you." He worried his lip. "I'm assuming he wants something in return. Is it doable without getting into trouble?"

  A smile tugged at the corner of Aidan's mouth. He loved how Jessie always worried about him. "I think so."

  "You'd pretty much do anything to get Hunter back home," Jessie said, resting his chin on his forearm. "If you need help, just let me know."

  "You will be helping if you take the job."

  "You're okay with that?" Jessie asked, unable to hide his surprise. "Me accepting the offer?"

  "Why wouldn't I be?"

  Jessie stood and shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, taking the few steps to stand in front of Aidan. "Because I'd be working with you and your team. At your precinct," he said, as if stressing the location was a huge factor. "I can access my legal research databases from my laptop, but they'd grant me full access to all other databases I can't normally touch with a promise of expedited warrants for detailed info if I can find something basic requiring a deeper investigation. That's the deal-maker for me coming in." He was twitching with anticipation and talking a million miles a minute. It was that love for what he did that made him so damn good at his job.

  Aidan reached out, placing his hands on Jessie's shoulders. "It's a huge undertaking, and so far, everyone on that list has been incredibly careful about everything they've done. And I can't imagine anyone more thorough than you to spot the tiniest of details that will take each of them down." He squeezed Jessie's shoulder, emphasizing his words. "And I know you're the best person for this job. So there's no way in hell I'd stand in your way."

  "I love you so damn much." Jessie grabbed Aidan's stubbled face and pulled him in for a fiery kiss.

  Aidan separated from the kiss, his eyes still closed not wanting to distance himself any more than the mere inch needed to take a breath. "Every second of every day?"

  "With every breath and heartbeat," Jessie whispered, delivering a tender kiss.

  "I do have a request."

  "Okay."

  He tugged Jessie close, flush against his body. "Can you wear a suit at least once a week for me?"

  "Deal." Jessie chuckled, resting his head on Aidan's shoulder. "You and your suits. It's kinda cute."

  "You and your balls. It's kinda twisted."

  "And you love it," Jessie said with a smile in his voice.

  Aidan tugged him closer, pushing his nose into Jessie's hair. "I do."

  Working with Jessie for the last two weeks seemed to give Aidan a sense of peace and allowed him to focus on the case files more closely. Assuming he wasn't stealing a glance at Jessie from across the room. Today he wore a fitted, deep blue dress shirt with the shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbow and dark slacks that accentuated his fair skin and fit frame. Aidan stilled, taking a deep breath when Jessie reached for the stack of folders from the corner of his workspace. The muscles flexed in Jessie's forearms and Aidan's dick immediately hardened with the reminder flashing in his mind of Jessie during sex, gripping the headboard behind him, his biceps flexing and his ab muscles tightening as Aidan thrust into his body.

  Watching him move with fluid grace and confidence, dressed in his always neat business attire, aroused every microscopic atom in Aidan's body. He loved seeing all that polish and perfection go to shit at home. It was his mission to totally ruin the pristine appearance everyone else saw, giving him kiss-swollen lips and bedhead tousled hair. The thought alone was enough to leave him rock-hard all day long until he could get back home and do it all over again.

  Aidan had suspected but now confirmed Jessie was a workaholic. The man never took a break unless the team pried him away from his desk for lunch or a recap meeting. And that turned Aidan on far more than he could have imagined. Seemed a fierce and determined man spiked his blood pressure. The building tension throughout the day always exploded each night in a tangle of tongues and limbs as soon as they passed the threshold of their home.

  He ignored the mild spike of jealousy when Wall left a cup of coffee on his desk and Jessie mouthed a thank-you, handing him a case file in return. If Aidan did that, the team would tease him. And he wasn't in the mood to fight them off while the evidence stood upright and at full attention in his pants.

  He reached over to his chirping phone to retrieve the new text message.

  You look hot in that shirt.

  He tightened his lips, hiding a grin. He glanced up, spotting a subtle smile playing on Jessie's lips. Aidan grabbed his pen, opened the case file on his desk, and then casually responded to Jessie's text.

  Two could play that game, and he loved to win.

  * * * *

  Jessie jotted down a note in the case file then reached for his phone, anxious to read Aidan's text reply that would include something equally teasing to spike the anticipation for their evening.

  Come rip it off and lick my ink.

  Jessie rolled his bottom lip into his mouth and bit down, holding back a groan. Aidan knew how to make his body stir. He sensed when Aidan glanced at him from across the room and when he entered the breakroom nearby. The hushed chatter and the curious glances from the detectives he passed on the way to the team work area were hard to miss, so they kept it professional while at work. Working with him every day for the last two weeks, his intensity, his confidence, it was no wonder others in the precinct both feared a
nd respected him. The captain had pulled Jessie aside on the first day to give him a heads up that all the detectives were…curious. Seemed something—well, anything—personal relating to Detective Calloway piqued everyone's interest.

  A secret smile tugged at his lips as he absently dipped his finger along the neck of his shirt, sighing when his fingertips touched the edges of the key and chain. He was the only one who held all the secret pieces to the Calloway puzzle.

  He looked up from the case file and watched Aidan reading something on his computer screen. He casually rubbed the edge of his lower lip with his index finger, slowly, back and forth. Jessie's lips parted and his breathing sped. He crossed his legs, wincing, trying to tear his eyes away from the very familiar roughened fingertip against that soft, full lip he loved to tug between his teeth. He ripped his gaze from the teasing motion. Either that or risk coming in his pants and granting the team entirely too much ammunition to tease them with for a lifetime. He looked up again a few moments later and Aidan's posture had transformed. The teasing now replaced with a look of deep concentration.

  Damn. That intensity was equally arousing. He remembered watching Aidan during one of the interrogations related to the first file he had researched. Reyes had headed up the questioning and Aidan had sat in as the secondary. He'd backed away, almost into the metaphorical shadows, watching the exchange closely between Detective Reyes and the suspect with his panel of attorneys, quietly observing everything with deep concentration—every gesture and unspoken word that transpired between everyone in the room.

  In that moment, Jessie realized he had witnessed the trait most people probably found terrifying in Aidan—that measured, calculated control.

  Jessie sighed. Aidan could sit, stand, run, crouch, and still look hot as hell and spur on his Calloway-hyperactive libido. Anything Aidan did shot a jolt of need throughout his body unlike anything he had experienced in his entire life. He'd always had self-control, but all bets were off when it came to Aidan. He wanted every soft and hard edge of him and cherished the private moments they shared.

  He took a sip of his coffee and made a final note in the current file.

  "Got anything yet?" Reyes asked, pulling him from his thoughts, as he not-so-casually circled Jessie's desk for the umpteenth time, waiting for the latest file.

  Jessie closed the folder and handed it to him. "Just finished."

  Reyes thumbed through the file, scanning each page and flipping to the next. "How the hell did you get this?" he absently commented, turning to the next page.

  Jessie smiled. "You should have enough there to get the judge to sign off on a warrant." The people from Rick's snitch list had carefully covered their tracks after the corruption issue came to light in the last year, but Jessie had a knack for working patterns. Simply ignoring the last twelve months and focusing on behavior trends from prior years revealed those patterns with striking clarity. "If they give you any resistance, the blue highlights are non-privacy issue events which don't require the warrant, and the yellow highlighted items are the legal violations you can use for the charges."

  He snuck a glance at Aidan again, the intense scowl still in place.

  "Thanks, Vega," Reyes said before rushing off to his desk to grab his suit jacket and beckon Travis to follow.

  Jessie stood from his desk, making his way over to Aidan's area.

  Aidan's focus shifted to him as he approached and his features softened. "Hey you."

  "Hey yourself." Jessie gave him a lopsided grin and sat on the corner edge of Aidan's desk. "How can I turn that frown upside down?"

  Aidan quietly chuckled. He glanced to each side and leaned in to whisper. "You always do."

  "Yeah, but something is bothering you."

  Aidan leaned back in his chair and gave him a tired smile. "All this is based on a promise I'm not sure I can deliver."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Rick's list."

  Jessie straightened the fold on his rolled shirtsleeves then crossed his arms. "You never really told me how you managed to get him to fork over that goldmine."

  Aidan explained the details of the exchange and how Rick's sole request was to have his brother transferred. "I've already made all the phone calls I can make and tried to call in all kinds of favors."

  "But nothing is working?" Jessie asked, cocking his head.

  "The only way I can get someone on that roster to Strassburg is by swapping out one of the hand-picked names from the list. The problem is, the grand opening list of inmates have all been heavily screened and will be there for the next two years while they work out the kinks before opening it up to the general prison system for standard assignments."

  "And Rick won't wait two years."

  "I'm not going to attempt pissing him off with that discussion. This was his only request." Aidan rested his elbow on the desk and his head in his hand. "I already got a message from him earlier this week that the contract was now null and void on Cam."

  Jessie tightened his crossed arms, resisting the urge to reach out to comfort Aidan and ease some of the visible tension in his body.

  "Hey, guys," Sunny said, strolling by Aidan's desk in that not-so-casual way she did whenever she hoped to uncover a crumb of personal interaction between them. "We're all going out to grab an early dinner and drinks at the pub around the corner after work. You guys want to come?"

  Jessie smiled politely, immediately jumping in knowing Aidan hated the clubs, bars, and whatever other dark and claustrophobic gathering places existed with too many sensory elements. "Nah, we can't, thanks."

  Sunny waggled her eyebrows. "So, you guys have exciting plans?"

  "I've got an appointment to a private showing of an art piece and Aidan's going to watch over me while I do what I need to do."

  "Oh, okay," Sunny said with a pout, losing interest and turning away to return to her desk.

  Aidan rubbed his face, trying to disguise a devilish grin. "You didn't…just say that."

  "I so did. I didn't lie because my poker face sucks. You're going to give me a private showing of your art piece and then you're going to watch me while I lick every inch of it," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

  Aidan coughed to clear his throat.

  "Have you checked the inmates on the grand opening list for Strassburg?" Jessie could tease Aidan all day, but he wasn't cruel enough to push him too far in front of his team.

  "The board supposedly vetted each name. But who knows for sure. That was going to be my next step." Aidan reached into his drawer and withdrew a file folder, handing it to Jessie. "Each of them is serving anywhere between twenty years and multiple life sentences. So the chances are slim to none I can get any of them out on early parole."

  Jessie flipped through the criminal reports of each inmate. He'd learned long ago not to judge someone based on their report. "I'll look into them." Jessie looked up from the file. "Is that okay?"

  A soft smile spread across Aidan's face. He leaned in to whisper. "I love having you here."

  "I love being here."

  Jessie stood, tucking the folder under his arm. He turned to walk away but remembered something, returning to Aidan's desk and leaning in to whisper. "Don't you dare send me a text telling me my ass looks good when I walk away from you."

  Aidan's mouth tightened, obviously holding back a remark, but the spark of mischief screamed from his expression.

  Jessie raised an eyebrow, straightened, and walked away. He arrived at his desk and dropped the new folder by his workstation. He reached for his mug and took a sip of his coffee, grabbing his now chirping phone to read the new text message.

  Your ass always looks good. Feels even better.

  Jessie immediately dropped into his seat and cleared his screen of the message. He took a deep breath, hoping to cool the heat now racing through his body and thickening his dick. He glanced over at Aidan, narrowing his eyes at the mischief still firmly in place.

  Oh, he was so going to get it tonight.


  Aidan strolled back into the precinct with Manny and Travis after executing several warrants. More names checked off the list since bringing Jessie on board a month ago. They had arrested cops on the take, more dirty judges, and a shit-ton of corporations and government contractors along the line. Everyone pushed through their exhaustion and pulled extra hours with a sole goal: wrap this shit up. All this corruption made him feel entirely too dirty for his comfort.

  He straightened in the seat to look at Jessie across the room. Fuck stolen glances, they'd made a few busts today and he needed a good look.

  He frowned at the empty chair.

  "He's with Wall," Sunny yelled over to him from her desk, a little louder than needed, thumbing through a file. She peeked up with a wicked grin as if what she had said armed a ticking time bomb ready to explode, and she had front row seats and popcorn waiting for the show to begin.

  Travis looked up and Manny turned at his desk, a mix of worry and humor in their eyes.

  Jessie and Wall seemed to get along, far better than the others. Jessie never felt threatened around him and that, for Aidan, was the most important ingredient—knowing Jessie was safe and that Wall would be a rock-solid backup guardian in a pinch. Aidan knew there wasn't anything between them other than friendship, but he wouldn't deny the ugly green monster tried to pull him toward the dark side. He trusted Jessie and never questioned his love.

  Sunny flipped through another page, humming. She actually fucking hummed.

  Aidan clasped his hands behind his head, trying to remain casual, knowing his partner was setting the stage for a massive attack with whatever bomb she waited to drop. "Since you seem to be all-knowing, care to share where they are?"

  "Gun range."

  Travis covered the "O" of his mouth and Manny hid his face in his hand.

  Guns…were his thing. He slowly rose from the chair, ignoring the creaking under the force of his slow rise.

  He refused to give in and go batshit crazy or let that hideous green monster strangle him. He would remain calm, because that was what happened in relationships. That was what good partners, boyfriends—or whatever stupid label society decided to slap on him—did.