Green finished warming up the last four cinnamon rolls. “You want some more coffee? Or some plain toast?” he asked Ruxs while he sat at the table reading the newspaper.

“Sure.” He smiled.

Green was elated. He’d been scared when his massage hadn’t worked to soothe his friend. Especially when it had every time for the last five years, but Ruxs looked relaxed now. Comfortable in his Stones T-shirt and black cargo pants. Green started the Keurig and went back to putting Curtis’ breakfast bagel together.

When the machine stopped whirring, Green mixed two packs of Equal and a splash of hazelnut cream in the cup and brought it to the table. Ruxs looked up from his paper. When Green set the cup down and turned to walk away, Green felt Ruxs’ arm snake around his waist and pull him back to him. Striking pale green eyes looked up at him and Green almost reached out to caress the freshly trimmed stubble on that handsome face. He saw something there in that look, he just wasn’t sure what. Or maybe he didn’t want to believe the what that he saw.

“Hey. What’s up?” he whispered.

“I just wanted to say thank you for last night,” Ruxs said back just as softly. Although his deep voice was anything but.

Green ran his hand over the soft clipped strands of Ruxs’ hair, loving the way his head tilted back into the touch. “You’re welcome.”

“Hey guys,” Curtis called out, distracting their intimate contact, causing Green to jump out of Ruxs’ hold. His partner narrowed his eyes at him, before turning back to his paper.

Curtis was in the kitchen pouring himself some orange juice, oblivious to what they’d been doing. “Oh. One of these mine?” Curtis pointed to the sandwiches.

“Yeah, buddy.” Green turned on a smile for Curtis, but his heart was beating fiercely. What the fuck was that look all about? He watched Curtis gather up his sandwich and two more cinnamon rolls, trying to juggle everything along with his books.

“Curtis. Why don’t you sit down and eat with Ruxs and me. You got time.” Green shook his head when the boy shoved half the roll in his mouth.

“Ah man, you know I would, but I need to meet with my guidance counselor about the college applications I submitted a couple months ago.” Curtis smiled broadly.

“All right, bud. High five.” Green slapped Curtis’ hand. He was so proud of him. He basically had his pick of any school, not only was he extremely smart but all the work he did down at the police station constituted internship credits. No one had to know he was being paid.

Ruxs came over and grabbed him in a playful headlock. “Georgia State right… right… right?”

“Hey, leave him alone. He’s going wherever he wants,” Green added, turning back to his job of loading the dishwasher. “Now let him go before you make him choke on his food.”

Curtis wiggled and squirmed until Ruxs let him go. He dropped his books on the counter, put his fist up and started bouncing on his feet like he was ready to box with him.

“Oh really.” Ruxs smiled moving towards Curtis again.

He scurried and grabbed his books, bounding around the kitchen safely onto the other side before Ruxs could get some shots in on him.

“You better run, ya chicken.” Ruxs taunted him.

“Hey. My momma ain’t raise no fools,” he yelled, walking towards the door.

“Hey Curtis. Are you going to sit with your mom after school?” Green called after him before he could leave.

He hated to dampen the mood when they were having such a fun morning, but he always liked to know where Curtis was going to be.

“Yeah. Then I’m gonna go home and study a bit. Probably fix that doggone light fixture in the front room. It’s been driving me crazy. But I didn’t forget about going to the park with you guys this evening.”

“Okay. Great. Tell your mom I said hello. Okay.”

“Will do, Green.”

“Hey Curtis. Don’t worry about the broken light tonight. After we finish playing catch tomorrow, I’ll come over and help you with it.”

“Okay. Cool. I gotta go now, guys. Geez. You two are like mother hens.” Curtis hurried to get out the door when he saw Ruxs pick up an apple off the breakfast bar and aim it like he was going to beam it at him.

“Did he really just call us mother hens?” Green mumbled. 

“Yeah, well you were trying to make him sit down and eat his breakfast like a good boy.” Ruxs came and stood behind him. His deep chuckle making the fine hairs on is neck stand up.

Green turned around, narrowing his eyes at Ruxs. “And you think I didn’t pick up that you don’t want him working on a light fixture without you? Mmm hmm. Scared he might shock himself, mother hen number two?”

Ruxs stepped in closer to Green, leaving just a few inches between them. His heart sped up. Damn, his partner had been acting bizarre the last few weeks, but more recently he’d been giving Green different looks… hungry looks. Ruxs’ nose flared and his eyes dropped slightly as he watched him with those pale green eyes. Green tried not to squirm under the heavy scrutiny.

“You smell so —” Ruxs paused.

Green didn’t interrupt, he waited, wanted him to finish. He watched his partner shake his head as if jarring his thoughts and step away from him.

Ruxs cleared his throat. He moved to the other side of the kitchen and began to put his wallet and badge in his pants. “We better get going. We have to put in our hours at the shooting range today and go back to talk to JJ.”

Green watched Ruxs with bewilderment. Damn, this behavior was getting confusing. He wasn’t new to lust. His partner was looking at him like he’d never seen him before… never smelled him before. Does he know I’m bisexual? Their sexuality had never really been an issue or topic of conversation. They’d always dated women, but neither of them having time to get into anything too serious. Their jobs had hectic schedules and quite frankly were too dangerous for most people to stomach. It would be just another typical day in the office if they were running and dodging bullets in a crack neighborhood. But they loved that about each other. He loved how fucking crazy his partner was. Wait, this is Ruxs. Uber macho, I love to fuck girls, Ruxs. I’m being ridiculous. I need to get fuckin’ laid myself. I’m imagining shit now.

“You going to get JJ out of here soon?” Green asked, putting on his own hardware and grabbing his keys before meeting Ruxs at the front door.

Ruxs just nodded his head, yes. “We need to go by his job before the range. I have to let him know how this is going to work.”

“Cool. Should be an easy day for us.” Green led them out the door to his truck, waving at the building owner on his way.

They were back to waiting on JJ to make his route to the back of the strip mall he did security for. Ruxs’d been pretty quiet on the ride there, only answering Green’s questions here and there. He was trying to work up his nerve to say what he needed to say to his partner. He didn’t know if he should just ask him out, but that would be stupid, they were always out together. Green wouldn’t think anything was different about that.

“You’re awfully quiet. Thought you felt better today,” Green mumbled, still staring at his phone screen while they sat in the truck.

“I’m fine.” Ruxs’ voice was gruff. “Just a little tired, I guess.”

“You still want to go play catch with Curtis? I can take you home after we finish the shooting range, so you can rest.” Green turned to look at him. Ruxs was sure he looked crazy right now because his mouth was hanging open. Green never mentioned taking him home or wanted him to go home. Ruxs hated his place. It was shitty, and dark, and nothing to do there. He didn’t even have cable. He’d shaken his head, trying to think of the right question to ask Green when he dropped his bomb.

“I got a date tonight.” Green smiled broadly, waving his phone in his hand.

Is that what he’d been doing the last fifty minutes while they’d been sitting there? Texting and setting up a date with some chick? Ruxs felt like his chest was on fire. He was angry. Here he was thinking that Green had to be picking up on his changes in behavior towards him. The longing looks, the extra touches. He thought Green was okay with the direction they were going. His partner wasn’t dumb by any means, so Ruxs could only assume that Green had hurriedly set up a date to let him know that he wasn’t interested in what Ruxs was selling. He didn’t want him. Ruxs brought his hand up to the back of his neck to squeeze and quickly changed it to adjusting his collar because Green knew he did that when he was upset.

“You got a date,” Ruxs said incredulously, trying to sound normal. “Just now.”

“Yeah. Well, this girl had given me her number a while ago. She’s a forensics analyst in Buckhead. Ran into her on the Charleston bust… you remember. Dark hair, kind of tall, brown eyes. She talked to us for a while.”

Ruxs was shaking his head no, but hell yes he remembered. Goddammit. That was like six months ago. He’d got her number? What the fuck? He also remembered how attractive she was. Shit.

“Well anyway.” Green put his phone in the center console, continuing his attack on Ruxs’ mental state. “I messaged her about a half-hour ago. She said she remembered me and would love to go out tonight. I figured since you are obviously getting back out there, maybe I should too.”

“What?” Ruxs yelled. “I’m not out there!”

“Dude, you just had a date… remember?” Green narrowed his eyes at him.

“I wouldn’t call that a date.”

“Whatever. Yeah, so she wasn’t the one, but I’m sure you will find her. And I don’t want to be that irritating third wheel like you made me be the other night.” Green tilted his head and Ruxs turned his attention from him and saw JJ walking towards them.  Green got out of the truck, but Ruxs was stunned. This couldn’t be fucking happening to him. Just when he’d practically worked up the nerve. There was no doubt this girl would fall for Green. What’s not to like?

Ruxs looked up and saw that JJ and Green were both staring at him. He huffed a deep breath, trying to loosen the vise grip strangling him. His throat felt like it was closing up.

“So what’s the deal?” JJ looked nervously at Ruxs. He saw the dark circles under the man’s eyes, knew he was sleeping with one eye open these days.

Ruxs pulled out the large envelope that contained money and a new identification, along with a one-way plane ticket, and slapped in JJ’s palm. “Don’t be late. There will be a couple undercover officers watching you, just to be sure you get to your location safely. They’ll see you, but you won’t see them.”

JJ looked relieved for probably the first time in months. “Holy fuck. I’m going home, man. For real? Oh my god. This is unbelievable. I can’t believe you got God to agree to this.”

“He never thought you were one of the fucked up ones. He knew you didn’t like being under Chainz’s control.” Green shook JJ’s hand. “Go be with your family. Stay straight man. Don’t get caught up over there either. Drug kings are every fuckin’ where.”

“Aww, man. I’m serious, man. Y’all ain’t got to worry about me —” JJ’s eyes focused on something behind them and both he and Ruxs turned to look. “Oh shit! That’s Aaron!”

“Shit! Shit! Go, Ruxs!” Green yelled, but Ruxs had already taken off in the direction Aaron had turned to flee. Aaron was Chainz’s little brother, but also his closest companion. If he got away, their bust was as good as tanked. Chainz would get word that JJ was talking with them and he’d know JJ had ratted him out. He’d no doubt try to kill him and then change everything regarding the drug deal.

Ruxs was already rounding the corner and he saw Aaron dart in between the cars, running across the parking lot. He was fast but Ruxs was definitely faster. He was closing the distance and hoping the whole time that Aaron was alone. He heard the squealing of tires and the rumble of a diesel engine, knowing Green was coming in fast.

“Stop, Aaron and I won’t put a bullet in your back!” Ruxs yelled, hoping his lie would make Aaron nervous enough to stop or make a mistake.

Green skidded just as Aaron cleared the parking lot but the man ran around the truck into the large supermarket at the end of the mall. He kept up his pursuit and could hear Green’s quick footsteps on his heels. They barreled through the doors and people were already screaming and yelling, since Aaron had just now knocked over a huge display case of canned goods. Oh great, more damage.

“If Syn grounds us, I’m going to kill you,” Green said huffing as they ran up the condiments aisle, trying desperately not to run anyone over. People were scrambling and yelling as he and Green shouted, “Police! Get out of the way!”

As soon as he turned the corner, Ruxs had to jump a woman’s cart to keep from knocking her over and ended up slamming into some shelves that were full of cereal boxes. The display went flying across the floor along with Ruxs. “Fuck!” Green was coming up the aisle to take the corner when Ruxs saw Aaron pull his weapon. “Gun!”

Green hurled himself at the stunned woman Ruxs had dived to avoid and crashed his huge body to hers taking her down to the unforgiving floor. Gunshots rang out in quick succession, and Ruxs pulled his weapon, hesitating to return the fire, not wanting an innocent hit by his bullet. He heard shots from Green’s Glock, and prayed he had clear shots.

“Up!” Green yelled.

Ruxs didn’t hesitate; he was on his feet and running along with his partner. They skidded to a halt at the end of the meat aisle and quickly peeked around the corner at the sound of the commotion. Aaron had run into a stocker that was unloading some large canned goods.

“Get that bastard, Ruxs,” Green yelled at him.

Why the fuck was he always responsible for catching the bad guys? Shit. Green could run too. Aaron was almost back to the front of the store. It looked like he’d lost his gun but the cell phone in his hand was very visible. If he gets through to Chainz, it’s a wrap. Ruxs picked up one of the large cans of green beans and hurled at the back of Aaron’s head, unfortunately it sailed over his head and into the store’s front window, shattering it to pieces. The sound was loud and had store patrons and register clerks taking cover. Aaron was just in front of him, too much activity at the front of the store for him to get out the doors. Ruxs jumped on his back, taking him down to the ground with an angry thud. 

“Don’t fuckin’ move, Aaron,” Ruxs growled, yanking Aaron’s hand behind his back, while he kept his other arm around his throat.

“Hey! Get off that kid!”

“Someone stop that guy!”

Customers who’d fled to the parking lot were yelling at Ruxs. Some taking pictures with their phones. He was sure he looked like a huge thug himself. He couldn’t worry about them. He put his knee into Aaron’s back to hold his pinned arm in place and took the cell phone out of his hand. He checked to see if the call had gone through, but it didn’t look like it. Thank you for huge fuckin’ favors.

“Put your hands up! Get off the kid and put your hands up right now!”

Oh fuck. Not the police. He and Green were way out of their jurisdiction. These guys probably didn’t recognize them, but he was sure they knew of God and Day. He heard the cop yelling more orders at his back, but there was no way he was going to let Aaron up. Ruxs kept his knee in Aaron’s back and snarled at him. “You better not fuckin’ move, or I’ll knock your ass out.”

“I will tase you if I have to. Get your hands up right now!” This cop was at the end of his patience already. Cops loved tasing people, he had no doubt the man was getting ready to follow through on his threat.

Where the hell is Green?

“Get that fucking gun off my partner right now, unless you want this size twelve up your ass.” Green’s deep voice cut off the cop’s orders. “I’m Detective Chris Green, Atlanta PD, and you are currently threatening Detective Mark Ruxsberg. Now move the fuck out of the way so I can secure my perp.”

Ruxs saw Green come into his line of sight and squat down next to him.

“About fuckin’ time. Did you stop to drink a damn bottle of water or something?” Ruxs snapped at his partner.

“No, I stopped to eat some green beans.”

Ruxs busted out laughing. “Fuck you.”

“What the fuck were you thinking, throwing that damn can like that?”

“You know I pitched college baseball.” Ruxs shrugged, trying to make his justification.

“Dude, that was over ten years ago.”

“I know. I was way the fuck off, wasn’t I?” Ruxs laughed again, pulling Aaron up by his arm.

“Hell yeah, you were. That’ll probably cost the department a pretty penny.” Green shook his head. “Syn should be here soon. I called as soon as you took off after him.”

“No it won’t cost the department anything, because he did it,” Ruxs said, bending down, just inches from Aaron’s sweaty face. “Didn’t you, asshole? You caused all that damage back there, and I’m going to make you pay for it.”

Aaron was only in his early twenties and he looked scared as shit right now. Ruxs had to be at least a foot taller than him and the more he glared the more Aaron seemed to shrink in on himself. Ruxs took Aaron’s cell phone and put it in his pocket as the local police approached them.

Ruxs secured handcuffs on Aaron and pushed him back down onto the curb. “Sit, and keep your fuckin’ mouth shut.”

“Um. Can I see your identification, sir? I saw his, but not yours.” The officer looked up at him. Damn, this guy looked like he had just graduated the academy yesterday. His face was void of any hard lines and his hair was moussed and slicked back. His uniform was so starched, Ruxs was surprised he could walk.

“Are you the one that said you’d tase me?” Ruxs made his voice deep and sinister and the rookie looked like he immediately wanted to take his request back.

“Yes, sir. But, I’m sure you understand my position and —”

“No, actually I don’t. Explain it to me. Your position.” Ruxs stepped into the officer’s personal space and the man tilted his head back to look at him or else he would’ve just stared at Ruxs’ chest.

“Sir, please don’t get hostile. What’s your badge number?” The officer stepped back, putting one hand up and one hand on the butt of his gun.

Ruxs could hear Green chuckling. He had to admit, he loved putting on a show for him. “I’m not hostile. Do I look hostile?” Ruxs took another couple of steps forward. “You want my badge number? It’s 612–not-gonna-fuckin-happen.”

“Sir. There’s no need to g-get upset.” The officer stuttered, looking over to his own robust partner that was providing him absolutely no help.

“I’m not upset. Do I look upset?” Ruxs hissed.

“Do I look upset?”

Damn. Ruxs stood up straighter at the sound of the deepest voice he’d ever heard and moved away from teasing the officer, but still not bothering to turn around. He faced Green and mock whispered to him. “Does he look really upset?”

Green smiled and shook his head yes.

Ruxs finally turning around to face his lieutenant. “How’s your day going, God? Good, I presume. I must say, you’re looking very malicious and spiteful today.”

“Shut up, idiot.” God grumbled, strutting over to them. God was only a couple inches taller than them but his bravado made him ten feet tall. He watched as God stopped, then approached the stunned officers.

“My name is Lieutenant Godfrey, this is my sergeant, Corbin Sydney of the Atlanta PD narcotics task force. I’m sorry you had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting my enforcers. Take my sergeant’s card. If you have any questions when completing your report, you can speak with him.” God didn’t wait to see if the cops had anything to say. He simply turned and walked away to let Syn handle the rest of the situation.

They waited for Syn to finish with the officers, tensing when he turned and headed in their direction. His cold dark glare focused on them. Green stood just a few inches behind Ruxs, and he had to admit he needed his sure, confident, presence. 

“This is Chainz’s brother, Aaron Thompson?” Syn looked at the young face sitting on the curb.

“Yes.” When Ruxs went to open his mouth to say more, Syn shook his head no, indicating he shouldn’t speak. “Get him down to the station. Make sure he doesn’t say a word to anyone. No one questions him. We can’t risk word leaking out to Chainz.”

“Aaron definitely saw JJ. He’s in the back of my truck now. I can’t let them ride together.” Green informed his sergeant.

“Ruxs you take your suspect back to the precinct in my car. I’ll ride with God. Which I’m really not happy about, but doesn’t look like I have a choice.” Syn grumbled. “You stay glued to Aaron’s side until I get there… If I make it back alive.”

Ruxs shook his head in pity for his sergeant. No one ever rode with God, except Day. The man drove like a complete maniac. Ruxs turned and faced Green. “I’ll see you at the station.”