"Mr. Montgomery? That no count investigator you like so much is here to see you."

Alyssa stood in my office doorway looking more official than normal as she performed her role of the efficient office lioness that she liked to portray when we had visitors. Especially the ones she disliked. I had no idea what the problem was, but my assistant had no love lost for my buddy. I grinned and waved a hand for her to let him in.

"Hey, Ian! How's it hangin', buddy?" I set my pen down and stood to shake the extended hand of my old friend, Grazer. His real name was Grayson, but the fact that he was always eating despite being a tall, skinny fucker had earned him his name back in our college days.

"What up, Grazer? Nice of you to grace me with your presence." I sniffed the air. "Although a phone call would have been kinder. Shit, man. You been on stake out again?"

"Yep. In your old man's closet, bitch." He grinned and plopped down in the seat across from my desk, drumming a clean file folder across his thigh. "Seriously though. How is your hot old man? Still a widower? Nobody snatch that daddy off the market yet."

I rolled my eyes at his teasing. "Grazer, you're not getting within ten feet of my dad's ass, so shut the hell up. Besides," I lowered my voice confidentially. "I'm pretty sure he's hitting the sheets with some young guy that lives in his building. I keep seeing him pop up on Dad's facebook feed, but so far I've been afraid to ask."

Grazer grinned. "So what I'm hearing is that Papa wouldn't mind a little sugar baby. Good to know."

I threw a pencil at him, grinning when he ducked as it flew over his head. "Shut the fuck up, dude. Now tell me what I want to hear. Did you find the fucker?"

Grazer frowned and shook his head. "Bad news, bud. I finally tracked him down. He was a local alpha attorney by the name of Luther Devereaux, but he passed away last year. Got killed when he was driving drunk and rammed his Benz into a tree."

I shook my head. "I remember him. Went by The Dev. Half the state worshiped him, the half that knew him stayed as far away as possible." I tapped my fingers on my desk. Something about his name was ringing a bell in my mind, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was.

"So tell me about the omega that I'm smelling all over you. That's new. You've never hung around one long enough to carry their scent. That only comes from nights of cuddling up under the covers with them." Grazer waggled his eyebrows and leered at me, well aware of my propensity to not spend a full night with an omega.

Before Cecil, I'd never slept well with another person's body heat in the bed. It was funny though, I missed it now that I was sleeping home again on work nights. Over the past three months, we'd somehow fallen into a relationship or a reasonable facsimile of one. We'd never discussed it, but it was pretty much expected that I'd sleep over on Luke's nights off.

All of sudden, the connection clicked into place. I slammed my palm down. "Son of a bitch! Grazer, I have another job for you." Grazer looked at me curiously. "The omega you smell on me? He inherited a ward the day after Christmas when his college roommate died. The omega had been beaten up by his alpha boyfriend, even though he was at full-term on his pregnancy. As far as I know, the dude is still at large."

Grazer's eyes narrowed as he pulled out his phone and started tapping on the screen to take notes. "The omega's name?"

"Bruce Milton. He died on 12/26. His child was born 12/24, a little guy named Joshua Andrew. My omega, for lack of a better term, is his legal guardian per his friend's will. If this guy can be tracked down and charges brought against him, I think my Cecil will sleep better."

Grazer smirked. "Your omega? Your Cecil? Getting a little possessive there, alpha. Watch out, or your boyfriend will become your husband. Now tell me, do we have a name for the alphahole in question?"

I nodded, my spidey senses tingling. "All I know is the social worker referred to him as Mr. Devereaux. That name isn't common in this region, so I'm curious if there's a link."

Grazer shook his head. "Dude. No matter how big a douche he is, you can’t pin the sins of the father on the son. Just keep that in mind."

"I know that, Grazer. But that family is more crooked than a barrel of fish hooks. If we can find any dirt on him that will help nail a conviction in the assault and subsequent death of his omega partner, I'd like to do whatever it takes to make that happen. Not just so Cecil can retain custody, but also so that he knows his friend's abuser was brought to justice."

Grazer nodded solemnly and slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Consider it done."

After Grazer left, I pulled out my phone and flipped through my photos of Cecil and Josh. Or Joshua, as my uptight Cecil insisted he be called. He'd grown so much in the past three months, it was amazing to me. It seemed like every time I saw him now, he'd grown more.

I also hadn't missed the fact that he seemed to recognize me now, and smiled every time I showed up. I ran my finger over his little face thoughtfully. I hadn't been picking up as many cases lately. I'd been pushing them off to the junior partners and slipping out at normal people's hours ever since Cecil and Josh had come into my life.

I looked out the window, staring at a whole lot of nothing as images of Cecil and Josh ran through my mind. What would it be like to come home to them every night? I hadn't been to the Big O since before Christmas, and had no desire to either. The club and bar scene just wasn't calling my name these days. I found more satisfaction the first time Josh lifted his head or when he rolled over than I'd ever found watching a glitter-covered omega cage dancer at the Big O.

And Cecil. Cecil was something entirely separate from any omega I'd ever been with. I'd had fun with Tom, and my other boyfriends before him. But none of them held a candle to Cecil. Under his buttoned up, nerdy little outfits was a tightly toned body to rival any omega I'd ever seen. And the way he laughed, and did a little snort at the end? And then giggled because he'd snorted? That was adorable, I don't care what anyone else thought.

I sighed and pulled my attention back to the paperwork on my desk. While I couldn't shake the feeling that things were on a good path with Cecil with the possibility of the long term, I still needed to bill some hours and focus on my job.

There would be time enough to think about Cecil later. Probably when I was in the shower stroking myself tonight, but... yeah... better not go there if I was going to focus on work. I laughed at myself and got back to work.

* * *

I decided to surprise Cecil and get my baby fix after work, so I headed toward his place. I was walking up the drive when I saw the old man from a few months back standing at the edge of the driveway, his feet planted on Cecil's lawn. Rude. But whatever. I wasn't about to call out someone older than Methuselah on manners.

"Ho, there. If it ain't fancy boy. Look at him, all dressed up in a three dollar suit." He jeered at me as I walked up, but I didn't miss the glint of humor in his eyes.

"Hey, gramps. Long time no see. What, you been haunting someone else's yard?"

His eyes flashed at me. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, fancy boy?"

I shrugged. "I figured if you were gonna dish it, you'd probably be able to take it. Was I wrong?"

The old geezer chortled at my words, his tobacco-stained teeth a dull yellow in the light of the dying sun of dusk. "Not bad, fancy boy. We might get you to graduate out of short pants yet."

I grinned and shifted my briefcase to my other hand. I waved my hand out toward the neighborhood. "So which one of these houses do you belong to, gramps? You should probably let me know so I won't freak out if I see the ambulance pull up to try and restart your shriveled heart one of these nights."

His eyes narrowed. "You spending a lot of nights here, fancy boy? Cecil's a good boy. He's the kind of omega that an alpha marries and settles down with, not a fucktoy. It'd serve you well to keep that in mind."

My mind was blown at hearing the term fucktoy come out of the grizzled old geezer’s mouth, and I especially didn't care to hear it used in conjunction with Cecil.

"Listen, gramps. I don't care how the alphas talked in your day, that's not a respectful term to use in the same sentence as Cecil. He's not like that, and I don't appreciate the insinuation that I would want him to be."

The old man's eyes lit up then. "Good lad. You can call me Harold, by the way. You've earned the right with that sentiment."

Alrighty then. "Thanks, Harold. And I'm Ian, if you'd like to call me by my name." I held out a hand but he waved me off.

"Naw, I think fancy pants works just fine for my liking. It kinda fits those tailored britches you always got on."

I raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that you were watching my comings and goings, Harold."

Harold nodded fiercely and raised two withered fingers to his brow in a salute. "I'm always watching this place. Until Cecil has an alpha to look out for him, I'll be on duty."

I nodded, unsure how to respond. "Okay, Harold. Well, you can take a break if you want. I'll be around the next few hours or so."

"Hmmph. Be better if you got off your ass and made an honest man outta that omega in there, but whatever. Damn, kids."

I walked away before I burst out laughing, lifting my hand in a belated wave as I went. I looked back to tell him to have a nice evening, but Harold had taken off again. Oh, well. At least I had a name for him now.

I opened the door without knocking and let myself in, as was our routine by now. Without paying attention to what was happening as I looked back out to see if I could spot Harold, I distractedly called out a joke greeting. "Honey, I'm home."

The sound of an inhaled gasp had me jerking my head around to see a roomful of people. Cecil's eyes were dancing with restrained laughter from where he sat on the floor with Liam, Milo, Luke... and Tom. Rafe and Christian were kicked back on the couch with a beer in hand, while the omegas all sat on the floor with a pile of babies crawling, tottering, or in Josh's case, rolling around. Tom's daughter, Allie, sat in the big recliner with a book in her lap. Every eye in the room over the age of four was looking speculatively back and forth between me and Cecil.

Tom giggled and turned to Cecil. "He never greeted me like that or just walked into my house. You must have the magic touch, Ceec. And why exactly have I not been told of the Cian?"

Cecil looked questioningly at Tom. "Cian? You mean the color? I don't understand."

Milo rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure he's doing a celeb style name merge. Cecil and Ian, Cian? Get it?"

Cecil turned and smack Tom lightly on the chest. "Behave, you impudent pest. If and when there's something for you to know, you'll know it."

Tom wasn't finished though. He looked over at Liam and batted his ginger lashes coyly. "How long has this been going on, Liam? You're over here all the time to advise about the adorable Master Joshie here. Dish, babycakes. Enquiring minds need to know."

Liam shot Cecil an apologetic smile as he replied. "All I know is when I came over the day after your wedding, Ian was here. And he's pretty much been around whenever I've dropped by ever since."

My heart sank because I didn't like Cecil being on the spot like this, but also because I didn't want to make Tom feel badly. In the three years we'd dated, or been fuck-buddies, whatever you called our non-relationship, I'd never hung out casually at his place or him at mine. I underestimated him though, because Tom sprang up and carefully stepped around the babies before coming over and flinging his arms around my waist with a big Tom-style hug.

"I'm happy for you, Ian. It's about time that you unchained yourself from your desk and got a life. The fact that you might be finding it with my friend is just icing on the cake." He pulled away and went over to Cecil next. Tom knelt down and gave Cecil a big hug too. "And you! It's about time that you spent more than one night with an alpha. I wouldn't have mentally matched you two, but I like it." He pulled away and looked back and forth between us. "I just hope that neither one of you mucks it up."

I had no response, but Colin, Tom's husband, stood and waved a hand. "Come on, Ian. You look like you need a beer now. We've got a case in the fridge and I need a refill anyway." I set my briefcase down by the coat rack that stood just inside the door and gratefully followed the other alpha. Christian rose to join me as I made my way to the kitchen.

Since I'm not a stupid man, I knew damn well these two were about to grill me about Cecil so they could fill their husbands in later. That was okay. I'd rather sit through that than have Tom nose around anymore. Although, poor Cecil was probably getting the brunt of that on his end now too. Oh, well. Maybe Josh would shit his pants or something to give him an out. A guy could hope.