by Pandora Pine
“You know Mom and Dad would be pissed at you pulling this kind of stunt. This isn’t the kind of man they raised you to be. On the other hand, we both know what it’s like when a superior officer gives you an order.” Hennessey’s eyes lost focus for a second. I knew he was lost in bad memories. If anyone knew about the pains and penalties of obeying an order, it was Hennessey.
“True,” I admitted. “I feel like I’m being cut in two, like in those magic acts. One half of me wants to get this job done and over with. The other half of me wants to grab Deacon and get the hell out of town. I don’t know which half of me to side with.”
Hennessey gave my shoulder a squeeze. “You’re definitely caught between a rock and a hard place. I honestly don’t know what I would do in your position.”
My heart sank. Hennessey was the one person I could come to for advice and know he would be able to help me.
“Don’t give me those sad eyes. I said I didn’t know what I would do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have some words of wisdom for you.” Hennessey was out of his seat and walking back around to the other side of the bar. “Follow your heart. Play the double agent.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Double agent? This isn’t one of those cheesy spy movies we used to like when we were kids. This is real life. With real-life consequences.” What the hell was my brother talking about?
“That’s my point exactly. The chiefs want you to prove Deacon is the arsonist. So, play a double agent and prove he’s innocent.” Hennessey wore a self-satisfied smirk. Slipping the elastic off his wrist he pulled his long blonde hair into a messy topknot.
Maybe Hennessey was making sense after all. What if, instead of being the one persecuting Deacon, I was the one defending him?
16
Deacon
I’d reached the part of my day when I had nothing left to give. The last couple of hours had gone by pretty quickly, because I’d put my phone on vibrate and shoved it in a drawer. Ozzy’s hang-up call had affected me more than I imagined it would, and I had work to do. I couldn’t spend the entire day staring at my phone waiting for a call that obviously wasn’t going to come.
My stomach grumbling, I opened the desk drawer where I’d hidden my phone and grabbed for the stack of take-out menus I kept there. I accidentally-on purpose flipped my phone over and saw that there hadn’t been another call from Ozzy. I felt proud of myself for having kept my eyes off the phone for as many hours as I had.
Stella’s was my favorite sandwich shop in Gloucester. It had been a family run business for the last thirty-five years. They made the best steak and cheese subs in town. I had my traitorous phone in my hand and was searching through my contacts for the sub shop when a low rumble started at the front of the office. Something was going on that was for sure, but it had nothing to do with me. I went back to the menu, trying to decide if I wanted a slice of baklava with my meal. Yes, I did, especially after the day I was having.
Someone standing behind my cubicle cleared their throat. It was loud and intentional. There was nothing more annoying than people who did that. If you had something to say, say it. Stop wasting my time. Damn, I guess I was in a worse mood than I thought. I turned around slowly, pasting a fake smile on my face, and was shocked to see Ozzy. He had a vase full of red roses in one hand and held a brown paper bag from Stella’s in his other.
“Surprise! I brought you dinner. I hope you’re hungry.” Ozzy wore a shy smile. He was dressed in a pair of faded Wrangler jeans and a Van Halen concert tee that had seen better days.
“This really is a surprise.” I took the flowers from him. They smelled absolutely heavenly. Red roses were my favorite, but I know I’d never mentioned that to Ozzy before. Same with ordering from Stella’s. “Why don’t we grab a conference room so that we can eat without the rest of the newsroom staring at us.”
Ozzy laughed. “Oh, they’re staring at us all right. Half of the office followed me from the front desk to your cubicle.”
Peeking out from around my wall, I could see what he was talking about. Waving at my coworkers, I grabbed Ozzy with my free hand and led him toward the back conference room, which looked out over the harbor.
When the door was shut behind us, Ozzy started unpacking the food. There were two large steak and cheese subs, along with two small garden salads. Ozzy set a container of their house dressing next to my salad while keeping the prepackaged blue cheese dressing for himself. “How on earth did you know what my favorite meal is at Stella’s?”
“This is the sandwich shop closest to the newspaper office. I assumed a lot of the writers and staffers called out to Stella’s. I asked the counter staff if any of them knew you and they were very quick to tell me what your favorite meal was. I hope I’m not overstepping.”
“This is a very nice surprise. You’re not overstepping at all.” I was still stunned.
Ozzy tossed a stack of napkins on the table and sat down across from me. “How was your day?” He took a big bite from his sandwich. A smear of American cheese stuck to his upper lip.
I watched, fascinated, as Ozzy licked his lips to clean them off. Much more of this, and I was going to start drooling right in front of him. “I spent the afternoon working on questions for our interview. You haven’t said whether or not we were on, so I figured I would get ahead of the game and be prepared just in case.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I was supposed to get back to you about that. My week has been a bit hectic, what with Dallas joining the firehouse and my boss having a serious meeting with me about the hunt for the arsonist.” Ozzy’s eyes widened, as if he were regretting what he had just said to me.
“What did the chief say? If you don’t mind me asking?” I might be just a guy having sandwiches in the conference room, with the hunk I’d been crushing on for over a year, but at heart, I was still a reporter looking for a scoop.
Taking another bite from his sandwich, Ozzy seemed to be considering the best way to answer my question. Nothing got my hackles up faster than someone who was desperately trying to format the best answer to give me.
“He’s upset that we don’t have a suspect yet. Even though it’s not the job of the Gloucester Fire Department to find and catch this butthole on the ass of humanity, he wants my team to keep an eye out for anything funny or suspicious.”
“Where has Gunnar Prince been? Wasn’t he the rookie who’d been riding along on fire calls looking for those very things?” I’d known Gunnar when we were kids and I spent time in Gloucester with my grandparents. He’d been a bit of a jerk back then, always talking about how much money his father had. I’d been surprised to find he’d grown up to be a good guy. Now he was engaged to Ozzy’s brother, Kennedy.
“Gunnar is in training to join the 911 dispatch team. He’s been around the station, but not as much as before. Do you know him?”
“I knew him from camp when we were about eleven years old. He was a snotty little thing back then, but from what I’ve seen of him so far, he seems to have turned it all around.” I tried to be as kind as I could, knowing Gunnar was going to be Ozzy’s brother-in-law.
“Life has a way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it. From what I understand from talking to Kennedy, his parents couldn’t handle the fact he was gay.” A thoughtful look came over Ozzy’s face. “Thankfully, that was one thing I never had to worry about with my parents.”
I burst out laughing. Afraid of what Ozzy would think, I slapped both hands over my mouth.
“What’s so funny?” Ozzy grinned at me over the top of his sub.
“Well, uh, your mother certainly had her hands full with all of you coming out.”
Ozzy lifted an eyebrow at me. I thought I was dead, or at the very least, he would pack up his stuff and walk out the door. “Are you trying to say my mother had sons coming out all over the place?”
I grimaced. “Yeah, something like that. Being an only child, I have no idea what it must be like to have all that activity going on around
me. My house was very quiet. My parents were studious people and that’s what I learned from them. When I came out, I knew they would accept me, so it wasn’t as scary as it probably could have been.”
“Everyone’s coming out is different. Having parents who understood from the moment you open your mouth doesn’t make your experience any less. You’re not less gay because your parents cheered for you. It was the same with me and my brothers. I always got the feeling my mom knew when she brought us into her home for good.”
“You mean you think Mandy knew all of you were gay when she and David adopted you?” It blew my mind thinking about a mother deliberately choosing gay children to adopt.
“I’ve never asked her, but I think that’s exactly what happened. She never seemed surprised when one by one, we all came out like falling dominoes. I remember Hennessey asking her once what she thought about having five gay sons.” Ozzy’s voice trembled on those last words. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Mandy said we were the sons she was meant to mother. As if it were divine fate, rather than tragedy, that brought all of us into her life. Somehow, she was able to deal with our individual traumas, and raise us to be the best men we could possibly be.”
“Your mom is a hero.” While it hadn’t been a big deal to my mother that I was gay, she wasn’t exactly out carrying banners at Pride parades either. It was more a fact of life for her than anything else.
“She definitely is. So are you.” Ozzy grinned at me. He’d finished his sandwich and threw the wrapper in the bag. “Is that one of the things you wanted to talk about in our interview?”
“Uh, no. My readers want to learn all about you. They don’t care about me. I’m not supposed to be the story, I’m supposed to tell it.” I’d never wanted to be part of a story more in my life. With all of those brothers and Mandy and David as my parents. Not to mention being with Ozzy.
“Bullshit, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Ozzy challenged. “Your fans read your byline every day because they care about you. Finding out you were able to save two families from certain death in those fires would send them over the moon.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been in the shadows my entire life. Never too flamboyant, never too rough and tumble. I even chose a career where it’s my job to be invisible.” I never felt like I was seen at home, so I continued that trend into adulthood.
“I’ve always been an over-the-top alpha male.” Ozzy winked at me.
“Yeah, I noticed. You’re tall, dark, and dark.” I laughed.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ozzy’s brows knit together.
“There’s nothing vanilla about you, Ozzy. The way you kissed me last night was possessive, like you owned me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Ozzy looked like he was going to eat me alive. He clacked his teeth together as if he were taking a bite out of me.
I was just in the mood to let him.
“Since you’re trying to be in the background of the story, what do you think about this arsonist? Who they are? What is their endgame?” Ozzy leaned forward. He looked like he was really interested in hearing my opinion.
What did I think about the arsonist? “I don’t know. I want to think they’re some evil monster, but I have a feeling there’s more to it than just being bent on destruction.”
“What do you mean you have a feeling there’s something more? More as a motive?”
“Maybe. I mean, I guess there are people who just like to watch things burn, but we’ve gone beyond that, haven’t we, with these last few fires? Whoever the arsonist is, they seem to want to destroy families more than anything else. Nailing doors shut and then gluing them at this last fire scene? Those fires didn’t seem to be set to satisfy someone’s pyromania. They seemed to be set to satisfy some darker urge.” I had no idea why Ozzy was asking me about the arsonist. I was a newspaper reporter, not a cop or one of the Massachusetts State Fire Marshals.
I knew Ozzy was on edge to catch this creep. Maybe something I rambled off could help him do that very thing. One thing was for certain, until this arsonist was caught, no one was safe.
17
Ozzy
How ballsy was it of me to ask Deacon what he thought of the arsonist? Christ, I’d been quaking in my boots through the entire conversation. I kept waiting for his blue eyes to widen in recognition of the God-awful thing I was doing.
I’d been so nervous walking into the office with flowers and dinner. I’d never done anything like that for a boyfriend. Wait, was Deacon my boyfriend? Did I want him to be? Was it fair to even ask since I was playing the role of double agent, as Hennessey put it?
I was so mixed up. I figured all I could do was keep my eye on the endzone and move forward.
Thankfully, the dinner and flowers had gone over well. I had to admit, it was a stroke of genius asking the counter help at the sub shop if they knew Deacon. The three young women raved about him. He was a big tipper, often paid for the meal of the person in line behind him, and in a word, he was their favorite customer of all time.
While I finished cleaning up the remains of dinner in the conference room, Deacon ran back to his desk to grab his interview questions and tape recorder. It was the absolute least I could do for him in light of everything else going on. I’d answer every one of his questions in my usual charming and easy-going manner. I never imagined when I’d been a student at the fire academy that part of my job would include giving interviews to members of the media. I was a humble firefighter, not a politician.
“Here we go!” Deacon was all smiles as he ran back into the conference room. “Don’t feel like you have to do this interview, just because you brought me dinner and we bumped uglies for a couple of seconds last night.” Deacon waggled his eyebrows at me.
Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing. “I would never feel obligated to do anything because our hot cocks rubbed on each other.” Before I could stop myself, I was out of my seat and stalking across the room to kiss Deacon.
His lips were just as soft as I remembered. Deacon hungrily kissed me back. His free arm looped around my neck, while his fingers tangled in my hair. His right leg slid up my left, wrapping around my lower back. Christ, he was climbing me like he was a squirrel and I was a tree. If this went on for much longer, we’d both be naked on the conference table.
The visual of Deacon and I fucking like bunnies on the table made my dick jump in my pants. Deacon must have felt it, he moaned and hitched his erection against my thigh.
I pushed back, setting Deacon on his feet. There was a crazed, yet disappointed, look in his eyes. I had a feeling I was wearing a similar look myself. What was it about him that made me lose control of myself? Was this what people meant when they said their sex life was like gasoline thrown on a fire?
“Are you ready to start the interview?” Deacon had taken his original seat. He was wearing a bemused smile on his face while he flipped open his notebook.
My dick was still hard enough to cut glass. I wasn’t going to be able to think clearly for a couple more minutes, at the very least. “What was it like for you growing up?”
A thoughtful look came over Deacon’s face. “Living in Andover, the people were so stuck up and rich. I suppose my family fit into that mold, what with my parents being chemists for Boston Scientific. Even though we had money, my parents never acted like they did, which always made me the black sheep. I wasn’t the kid at school with the designer jeans or the latest high-top sneakers. I was the little dork wearing hand-me-down corduroys and plaid shirts my mother would buy at Sears.”
I remembered well what it was like going into school with hand-me-down clothes from my older brothers. Our sneakers were always brand-new, but they were never Nike or Converse. I didn’t own my first pair of designer sneakers until I graduated from the fire academy. “That must have been awful for you. All kids want to do is blend in, so we’re never singled out in front of our peers. I was always picked on for being a foster kid, even though David and Mandy had ad
opted me. Middle school was ruthless, but once I hit high school and started growing, all bets were off.” No one fucked with me after I hit six feet.
“As you can tell, I never really hit a growth spurt. I bided my time in Andover by being involved in activities like the school newspaper and the student council. Unlike most of the popular kids, who collected friends like boy band posters, I made myself a few solid friends who I still have to this day.”
“I was always that kind of kid too, although my brothers were and always will be the best friends I’ll ever have.” I wouldn’t be the man I was today without my brothers.
Deacon nodded. “Are you ready to start the interview?”
I was enjoying getting to know Deacon. I had a ton of other questions I wanted to follow up with, but for now, I was content to let him take control. “Sure thing.”
“How old were you when you decided to become a firefighter?”
Feeling torn, I couldn’t decide if I should tell the truth and bare my soul to the world, or at least to the City of Gloucester, or make something up. It was the truly curious look on Deacon’s face which settled the matter for me. “It was after I’d been with the McCoys for about a year. I hadn’t been sure at first if my new family was going to keep me. Every time my brothers and I would get into a fight, I was certain I’d be out the door the next day. I never was. Once I realized I was part of the McCoy family forever, I realized I wanted to pay David and Mandy’s generosity forward. What better way to do that than to serve the community where I’d been raised and loved?” Opening up to Deacon wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be.
“It seems as though your brothers also had that same connection to community service.” Deacon’s curious look stayed in place. I could tell how much he enjoyed his job.
“My brothers’ stories are their own to tell, but I will say Gloucester has been very good to all of us.” I couldn’t imagine Hennessey or Dallas sitting down to tell a story like this. Kennedy, on the other hand, would be all over it. Although, most of his comments would somehow circle back to Gunnar, his future husband. Even if you were talking about football, Kennedy’s responses always managed to circle back to his one true love.