Mitch closed the door behind him before placing Connors’s laptop back in his room and shutting and locking that door as well. He had a phone call to make.
Chapter 15
Cody rode with the window to his patrol car rolled down, enjoying the warmth of the October evening sun. He drove the long stretch of the country road, easily navigating the sweeping turns and speed changes like a guy who had traveled these roads for most of his life, which technically was completely true. The only difference in today than any other before, after the end of this shift, he had two weeks of vacation, then he’d be trading in his Dodge Charger for a horse named Ranger.
Cody smiled with pride at being selected for the new detail. This evening, he would turn in his keys and clear out his desk, then he’d be off for his two weeks of R&R.
As the street came to an end, Cody slowed and gave a nod to a gardener watering the flowers outside the old nursery in town. He pulled off the road, somewhat hidden behind a cluster of trees. He thought he’d spend the next few hours clocking drivers who loved to speed past this intersection, before heading back to the office.
Earlier today, he’d heard the women at headquarters whispering about a small party in honor of his new assignment. He was certain the celebration would include some of Darlene’s homemade chocolate cake. First his mom’s cake and now Darlene’s, two of his favorite desserts, all in the same day. Cody wasn’t quite sure life got any better than that.
As Cody settled in, his personal cell phone caught him off guard. It was too early in the evening to be called back to the office, beside they would do that through dispatch and his family never interrupted while he was on duty. Cody pulled the phone from his front pocket. He didn’t recognize the number and the ID came up as United States. Now, that was completely weird. With a slide of his finger, he answered the phone.
“State Trooper Turner,” he said, just in case this was an official call.
“Even your voice is sexy as fuck,” Mitch Knox said on the other end of the line. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
There was a pause. Something about his heart drumming in his chest and his brain going numb had Cody at a loss for words. Mitch had been on his mind pretty much since he’d left him last night at JR’s. He’d caught himself about two dozen times today daydreaming about the guy. That dark, deep rich voice gave a devious chuckle during his silence.
“How did you get this number?” Cody asked lamely, trying to say something to fill the silence.
“I told you I would find you,” Mitch replied with a hint of arrogance in his tone.
“I don’t remember you saying that.” Right then, Cody banged his forehead against the steering wheel. Was that truly the best he had? There was something about Mitch that screwed up his thought processes every single time he talked to him.
“Let’s see…Cody Turner. Age twenty-six. Our birthdays are close together, yours is June twenty-third, mine’s the eighteenth. Your address is 10410 Main Street, Apt 9B. Want your social?” Mitch asked.
“No, that’s enough,” Cody replied, and then nothing else came out; they were back to silence. He couldn’t think of anything to say…again. He heard Mitch’s laughter and felt the heat creeping up his cheeks.
Dammit! He must’ve come off like a complete idiot.
“You sure have a way of being incredibly tight-lipped. That’s okay. I talk enough for the both of us. Are you working right now?” Mitch asked, filling in his silence.
“Yes, sir,” he answered, watching as a car flew past him on the highway at a high rate of speed. He let them go. Did I just say sir?
“Why is everyone calling me sir these days? When do you get off?” Mitch asked, the humor gone, leaving just the low deep voice that sent shivers up his spine. Cody closed his eyes, and his dick perked up, tightening in his pants.
“In a few hours,” Cody mumbled.
“Good, me too. Can I call you tonight? Like after ten o’clock your time?” Mitch questioned.
“Mmmm, ten? Yeah I think so… I mean, no. I’ve got something going on later, I think,” Cody stuttered, caught off guard by the question, trying to clear his head. He had no idea how long the party at headquarters would last. And since his brain stopped working, he pretty much couldn’t come up with any answers. It took a minute for him to realize Mitch had gone silent. Cody tried to explain.
“I overheard something about them having some kind of party for me this evening at the station. For the new job I got,” Cody rambled, trying to fill the dead space.
“Well, text me when you’re done. I should be off too. Do you ever Skype?” Mitch asked.
“I haven’t before, but it’s on my computer,” Cody answered.
“All right, this is my cell. Save it, okay?” Mitch asked.
“Okay. It was good to hear from you.” The words were out of Cody’s mouth before he could stop himself, and this time he banged his head hard enough to actually make it hurt. Who said stupid shit like that?
“I bet,” Mitch growled and gave that chuckle again. The call disconnected. Cody was slower to lower his hand. He was panting just from the sound of Mitch’s voice. His heart had accelerated, and he was sweating from that one phone call. He’d never expected to hear that voice again.
Would he text Mitch later? Absolutely not. The whole way he’d just handled this call and the blush still on his face proved what he already suspected, Mitch Knox was far out of his league. Cody was a small town country boy. Mitch was sexy and worldly. He carried that fuck you attitude. Not to mention, Cody didn’t seem to have a mind of his own when Mitch was within his vicinity. Apparently that included the phone too. Damn, just thinking of that voice and remembering their time together in the car… There was no way in hell Cody would call him. He couldn’t afford this distraction. Mitch messed him up too badly.
After a solid ten minutes of staring out the front window, Cody realized he was doing it again. He was getting hard and worked up just thinking about Mitch. Damn, he really had to get a hold of himself. He just couldn’t afford the trouble he imagined Mitch would bring to his life. What he needed to do was concentrate on his job and his future, nothing else.
On that thought, Cody adjusted himself, lifted his radar gun, and pretended to track the speed of the cars as his mind stayed focused on the best ways he could think of to forget Mitch.
Chapter 16
Mitch sat back, his phone still resting in the palm of his hand. He stared at the picture he’d put above the number. Why was his mind constantly on Cody Turner? Especially when he’d gotten the first real break on a case he’d not only worked but lived for the last several months?
He couldn’t answer those questions, except to say Cody Turner intrigued him.
The vibration of the phone had him pushing those thoughts aside. Colt Michael’s face popped up on his screen. He answered with a slide of the finger. “Hey.”
“Papa Montgomery’s worried. He says you should have been home hours ago,” Colt said in his usual mocking tone.
“I love to think Jace is thinking about me. Makes me all warm and fluttery,” Mitch shot back, laughter in his voice. “Hey, let me talk to him, so I can assure him I’m fine.”
“Like hell you’re talking to him. Your shit’s on the front porch, Knox. No need to even ring the bell,” Colt baited him.
“No, it’s not, Colt. Quit being so melodramatic.” Jace’s voice on the other end of the line had him grinning.
“He does that ‘let me talk to Jace thing’ on purpose, honey. He knows it drives me crazy,” Colt grumbled, but Jace got on the phone, taking over the call.
“There’s no rush on coming back, we just wanted to make sure everything was good on your end,” Jace said in his always reasonable tone. The man was laid-back and level-headed, which was probably why Mitch liked him so much.
“I got called out last night. I left before four this morning. I didn’t want to wake you. Can you hang on to my stuff for a while? I’ll be back through there soo
n, I’m sure.”
“Sure, or I can ship it to you,” Jace offered.
“If it’s in the way, you can ship it. If not, I’m sure it’ll be a week or so before I’m back.”
“Is it the case?” Jace asked hopefully.
“I can’t talk about it, you know that,” Mitch answered.
“I’m wearing your ball cap,” Colt yelled in the background. That was the one thing that crossed every line. It was all fun and games until his beloved baseball cap that he’d had for many years and fit him perfectly was brought into play.
“Jace, make him take it off and ask him about the sixteen to twenty pieces of bacon he ate,” Mitch said, feeling completely justified that he’d just pulled out the big guns.
“Sixteen pieces of bacon?” Jace asked, clearly not talking to him.
“You suck, man. I wasn’t even wearing your stupid hat,” Colt hollered in the background.
“Jace, protect my hat. I’ll see you guys soon.” All he could hear was Colt getting the negative nutritional facts about bacon, and he laughed as he hung up. That was exactly what he needed to take his mind off a certain hot young blond.
Cody felt real good. Last call just got hollered, meaning it was close to one thirty in the morning. That meant he’d been at his regular hangout for a solid couple of hours. He’d ended up here after the celebration at DPS headquarters, and since he’d arrived, he drank his way to pretty damn drunk.
His going away slash welcome to the new mounted division party had lasted longer than he’d anticipated. He hadn’t made it to the local gay club he sometimes hung out at. He also hadn’t called his last boyfriend who was generally always up for a good time even though they had broken up a couple of months ago. Instead he hit The Barn, a bar below his downtown Austin apartment. They knew him by name there, and he didn’t have far to get home. A nine-flight elevator ride up was all the traveling he’d have to do.
The one thing he’d needed the most hadn’t happened tonight and that was sex. Man, he’d needed a good fuck, but pretty much his whole concentration now centered on not calling or texting Mitch back. After a couple of drinks, he decided it would have been simpler had he just deleted Mitch’s number from his phone, but for some reason, that didn’t seem to be an option. After a considerable amount of time and a few more beers, he reasoned if he deleted the number, he might not know if Mitch called again and might answer unexpectedly. So at least if he kept the number, he could ignore the call.
Yeah, that was it…
“You got my tab?” Cody called out from his end of the bar.
“Yeah, close it out?” the bartender asked.
“Yeah, tip yourself appropriately. Don’t make me think tonight,” Cody said, laughing at his joke that no one else seemed to think was funny. That was okay; he laughed enough for the few stragglers still lingering in the place.
Chapter 17
What the fuck! Mitch felt like a schoolboy waiting to hear from his first crush. Damn, that was so unlike him, but memories of that hot cowboy in the front seat continued to make encore appearances in his mind all night.
Mitch had spent the last few hours going over every detail of the case with Connors. In his newfound ecstatic mood, he’d even refrained from the smart-ass remarks he would have normally made to his uptight partner over things like…his less than desirable wardrobe, or frou-frou eating habits, because seriously, who still cut their hamburger with a knife and fork in this day and age? But he hadn’t said a word. Mitch had other more important things to occupy his thoughts.
They had gone to the local diner earlier, asking obvious and stupid questions as they polished off homemade chocolate meringue pie, and made sure the townsfolk left talking about the two government agents in town on the outside chance they were being watched.
Even though Mitch hadn’t slept, he wouldn’t let them call it a night. Mitch forced an online meeting between Connors and Aaron, and Connors remained skeptical until Aaron presented them the list of the agents assigned to the Greyson family. It hadn’t taken him two hours to put that information together, and the list was long. They spent the next few hours going over the list, dissecting each person and the possibility of their involvement.
In what he now considered a lame move, Mitch had left his cellphone out, close at hand the entire time they had dinner, through their impromptu meeting with Aaron, through his shower, and while he changed into the SpongeBob pajama pants Kreed loaned him. Cody never called. Why hadn’t he called?
He’d thought Cody was into him. At least last night he had been. Mitch had just put all those nerves off to Cody being newly out or something like that. Mitch was reasonably certain he and Cody would have ended up doing the deed if he’d stayed in town. But on that thought, last night could have just been a hook-up for Cody. Actually, it should have just been a hook-up for Mitch too, but hell, he couldn’t let this go.
If Mitch was honest with himself, Cody had walked away last night with all his information. He knew exactly who he was and how to reach him, and yet, Mitch had been the one to make the first move. Actually, he’d been the one to make all the moves—that thought caused a scowl to form as he brushed his teeth and ran a comb through his short hair. Why was he so hung up on that shy country boy?
“Fuck it. I’ll call him again. I’ll call him until he tells me to stop. Fuck that, I might still call him even then,” he said aloud, making sure the door separating his and Connors’s rooms was fully closed and locked. Mitch rolled his thick shoulders, grabbed his phone, scrolled through the numbers, and hit call. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and waited. It was two fifteen in the morning. Whatever. Cody should have called like he said he would. If he woke Cody’s ass up, well that was his own damn fault.
“Hello,” Cody answered in a hushed gravelly voice. He must have been asleep like Mitch really should have been.
“You didn’t call.” Mitch let his frustration run out of his mouth with that obvious statement. Fuck, had he already messed up calling him out like that? That was such a girl move. He tried to cover the tone he just used. “Are you home? Do you know who this is?” What was with him tonight? He lowered his head to his hand. What was it about this guy that had him so strung out?
“Yes,” Cody replied, he supposed that answered both questions. The yes was slightly slurred, not completely, but enough for him to ask the next question.
“Have you been drinking?” Mitch fiddled with the top sheet on his bed, rubbing the soft fabric between his fingers.
“Some,” Cody answered.
“Are you at home?” Mitch asked again.
“Yeah,” Cody said. The word coming out in at least three syllables.
“Are you alone?” Not that it was any of his business, and the guy had every right to tell him so, but he had to ask.
“Yes,” Cody responded. But damn what was up with the one word answers? Cody was going to make him work for any kind of conversation. Hell, why should their interactions be any different now? Cody had made him work for every single thing since the minute he approached him in the bar.
“You said you would call. Why didn’t you? Is everything okay?” Mitch questioned. He hoped that came out more concerned than confrontational.
“What do you want from me?” Cody asked. Where had that come from? Mitch took the phone from his ear and stared at the lit screen, confused. Did he imagine all the hot and heavy during their little rendezvous in the small rental car or what? Because that question damn sure didn’t answer anything Mitch asked, and he had no idea how to respond to Cody.
Okay, maybe what he asked wasn’t as dumb as he thought. What the hell did he want? He wasn’t exactly sure he knew. Sex? Sure, who didn’t want sex, but it wasn’t only that. Last night in the car with Cody still burned in his mind. The way he smelled, the way his lips moved against Mitch’s when they kissed, the way Cody’s firm body fit perfectly against his. He hadn’t been able to get any part of Cody Turner out of his head, and those thoughts were driving
him insane. So instead of saying all that, he said, “Are you in bed?”
That got Mitch nothing but silence. So he took the lack of response for a yes and grinned to himself. He pictured Cody’s big body stretched across the bed, an impressive cock barely covered by a thin sheet, his blond hair tousled from sleep. Fuck, what an image. Clearly, he had a very active imagination.
“Mmm…the strong silent type, huh? I like that.” Mitch joked, trying to get a reaction. “Cody? You still with me?” He was still there. Mitch could hear the even breathing on the other end of the line.
“Yeah.” One syllable word, not slurred. Mitch smiled.
“Good. Now answer my question. Are you in bed?” He scooted over to the middle of his bed and rested against the headboard.
“Yeah,” was all he got back again.
“Fuck, Cody, you’re not making this easy. You’re gonna make me work for this, aren’t you?” Mitch was starting to think he’d made a mistake in calling Cody. Maybe he was more interested, or more likely, maybe he’d turned into a teenage girl all of the sudden.
“Work for what?” Cody sounded confused.
“I’m putting myself out here. Did I get the signals crossed or something? I thought we hit it off, was I wrong? I wanna get to know you better. I can’t get you out of my fucking head…I—” Mitch stopped as he ran out of steam. It sucked being rejected.
“I…I’ve been thinking about you too,” Cody said quietly. That had Mitch perking up, a triumphant smirk curling the corners of his lips. No teenage girls here!
“Really? When you think about me what do you think about?” He slid his knees up to plant his feet firmly on the mattress eager to hear what Cody had to say and almost laughed as he caught a glimpse of a smiling SpongeBob on his pajama’s staring back at him. He was trying to be sexy and here he was in the goofiest possible set of pajamas pants. Good thing Cody couldn’t see him. “Honestly, I’d like to know.”
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