Adrian — 4
“Adrian? Aaaadrrriannnn…”
“Huh, wha…” I finally turned and Bishop had a smirk on his face.
“See something you like?”
“Shut up. Are you finished eating?” That was a dumb question because neither of us had even gotten our food yet. Our numbers were called just after Bishop pulled my attention away from the trio I’d first seen at the Blue Diamond and who’d just walked into the restaurant. The dark-haired one that had broad shoulders had caught my attention, and after staring at him for about an hour, I’d finally worked up enough courage to approach him and ask him to dance.
He’d turned me down, and like the idiot I often was when it came to men—look at my ex-husband—I followed him around hoping persistence paid off. It hadn’t. Turns out, the other dark-haired guy was his boyfriend. Just my luck.
I got up from the table and grabbed my bag of food from the guy behind the counter. Bishop was right behind me and took his bag as well. We went back to our table and sat down, and I did my best to ignore the trio that had come in. They were ordering their own food, which meant I was going to have to stare at the beautiful young man that had captured my attention.
In the bright lights of the restaurant, I realized he was quite a bit younger than I thought, but I knew he had to be over eighteen to get into the club. But still. Looking at them now, they couldn’t be much older than legal, and that caused me to groan, which Bishop took for permission to tease me.
“You know, I never realized you were into younger guys.”
“Shut up.” I unpacked my food and did my best to concentrate on eating. But of course, the little twink that was with them came and sat down at the table beside ours. Right. Next. To. Us. Fuck. My. Life. “Not one word.”
I went back to eating, or at least trying to.
“Really, Hawke? Half of the restaurant is empty and you have to practically sit on top of another couple?” the object of my desires said as he joined his friend.
“What? I like this table; it has a good view of the door, and I can people watch.”
Smart man. That was exactly why Bishop and I were sitting where we were as well. Although, I’d never admit that to them. Their third companion came limping up to the table before plopping down beside the smaller one.
“Damn, I should have brought my crutches. My leg is throbbing.”
“Shit, we didn’t even think about that. Do we need to take you home?” Hawke asked. I only knew his name because my cutie had said his name moments ago.
“Naw, it’ll be okay. But don’t expect me to do much walking.”
I did my best to tune them out and focus on Bishop and what he was saying. “You’d rather be anywhere but here, wouldn’t you?” my partner asked. That made me stop and think.
“Why do you say that? I’m enjoying dinner with you. Surprisingly.” And honestly, I was. Until just a few moments ago that is. After the incident at the courthouse this morning, I did a lot of thinking about everything that had happened in my life and how I’d responded to it all. I had a sister I loved and a niece and nephew I adored. But was it enough?
“Adrian?”
“Huh?”
“See. That there. You’re a million miles away, and that’s not like you. What gives?”
“Nothing. Just thinking.”
“Fine. Do you want to go out tonight?”
“Not really, no. I’d much rather go home and relax.”
I watched as Bishop discreetly glanced to his left but didn’t understand exactly why at first. Then it dawned on me as his eyes followed the guy I’d chased around as he got up to go collect food once their numbers were called. He quickly came back with three bags and passed them out.
“So, do you want company tonight? I could…you know…go home with you if you’re interested.”
I choked on my food. There was no other option. What the fuck? As I sputtered and coughed and tried to dislodge the cheeseburger that was stuck in my throat, the one that had been limping came up beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. As he did, I finally got the food I’d been trying to swallow out of my throat and spit it out onto a napkin.
“You okay? Can you breathe? Do you feel light-headed? Do you need assistance?” I cut off any more questions by holding up my hand.
“I’m fine,” I rasped out and then cleared my throat. Damn, I could hardly talk.
“I’m an EMT—well, firefighter. Do you need assistance?”
“No, I’m good,” I said after I cleared my throat again. I really was going to kill Bishop. What the hell? I shook my head and, for the first time, looked up into the brown eyes of the young man that had offered assistance. The boyfriend of the man I was interested in.
“I’m Tristan, by the way. Are you sure you don’t need any help?”
I grabbed my cup and took several swigs of Diet Coke as I shook my head. “No, I’m good. Bishop just surprised me is all.”
I watched as all eyes turned to my partner, who was as white as a sheet in a hotel. “Bishop? You okay?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Fuck, Adrian, I’m sorry.”
“No worries. I’m fine. Besides, what better time to start choking than when there’s a firefighter sitting beside us?”
“We have first-aid training as well, asshole. Fuck, don’t do that shit!”
“You’re the one who asked if I wanted company while relaxing!”
“Yeah, but I was referring to the guy sitting at the table there,” Bishop said as he pointed at the only one left that I didn’t know the name of. Everyone turned and looked at the young man, and I realized just how young they were. Especially with Tristan standing right next to me. Shit. Was he really a firefighter? Was he even old enough?
“Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not interested in a threesome.”
“What are you talking about, Cody?” Tristan asked.
“Tris, it’s obvious they’re together. Nope, I’m not jumping into that mess.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“You two. You’re together, right? And if you already had a boyfriend, why did you ask me for my number? Wait, do you two do this all the time? Add a third?”
“Fuck no!” I shouted the same time that Bishop started laughing. Cody looked back and forth between the two of us like we were both crazy. On some level, we probably were.
“Adrian is my partner.”
“Yeah. That’s obvious. But I don’t—”
“No. You don’t. He’s my partner at work. We work together, not sleep together. I’m not into cantankerous old guys.”
I turned a glare toward Bishop, who was back on my shit-list. Why did I always get stuck with the rookies? Hadn’t I already paid my dues when I put up with my ex? I watched as Cody looked back and forth between me and Bishop before looking up at his friend, who I thought was his boyfriend. Hell, why would he be interested in me if he had a guy his own age that had his shit together? If he truly was a firefighter, he had things figured out. At least, mostly.
“Bishop, just…stop. You’re making things worse. They don’t need to know our story, and probably don’t want to. Besides—”
“I wanna know. You chased Cody around at the Blue Diamond, and now I’m really curious about the whole dynamic of everything.”
Tristan and Cody both groaned with me, and Bishop got a sinister smile on his face. That was all I needed. I was never going to hear the end of it now. Ever. Thankfully, my phone rang and Bishop got serious.
“Fisher.”
“Agent Fisher. It’s Sheriff McCoy. I needed to let you know that Deputy Hamilton has gone missing.”
“What do you mean, missing?”
“You know he was suspended, but he’s gone missing and we’re not sure where he is. I’m unsure of his whereabouts, and I couldn’t tell you if he’s a threat or not.”
“Please tell me you aren’t serious.”
“I wish I was. But Deputy Hamilton has only been with my department for a couple of months. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know much about him. He’s been quiet when he’s in the office, and he’s been stationed at the courthouse for the past few weeks.”
“Shit. Okay, so are we on the lookout or what?” This was so not good. Not at all.
“I’d say be extra observant.”
“That comes with our jobs, but we will be. So you’ll be in touch?”
“Yes. Just as soon as we know more. We have people out looking for him, but he’s not from this area, so we don’t really know where to look.”
“Damn. All right. I’ll let Bishop know. Thanks, Sheriff.”
“No problem.”
I looked at my screen, but the call had already disconnected. When I glanced at the table beside us, the trio of trouble wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that they were listening.
“So, Sheriff McCoy called?” Bishop asked, causing me to look his direction.
“Yes. He said Deputy Hamilton is missing and we need to be extra cautious until he’s located.”
“Great. That’s all we need. Why does shit always seem to happen to us? You know, I’d blame you, but it’s been like this for me my entire life.”
“Same.” I looked over to the other table and thought what the hell? “You three wouldn’t happen to know Deputy Hamilton, would you? Although, Sheriff McCoy said he wasn’t from the area so I’m not sure you’d know him or not. But he’s younger, so I thought it might be worth a shot.” I watched as they all looked at each other and shook their heads.
“No, never heard of him. Do you know where he’s from? Maybe one of the guys from the firehouse knows him or something,” Tristan told me. That was a thought, but I had no clue as to the answer, and it was my turn to shake my head.
“I can ask Dalton. Maybe he knows,” Hawke told us. Why did that name sound familiar?
“Umm…that’s not really necessary. The sheriff said he’d let us know if he found out any more information,” I told them.
“Oh, well, then Dalton probably wouldn’t know any more either.”
I looked to Bishop, who rolled his eyes. “Dalton was the deputy who showed you where the coffee was earlier.”
“Oh, yeah! The one you were drooling over.” I couldn’t help it; I had to tease Bishop after what he’d done earlier.
“He’s head over heels for his husband, so you won’t get anywhere with him,” Hawke replied. That caused me a little bit of satisfaction. I’d mentioned earlier how the deputy was wearing a ring, but maybe hearing it from someone else would drive it home. Who knew for sure though. But thus far, Bishop didn’t seem to chase after married men, which I found a plus.
“So we’re on the lookout for Deputy Hamilton. Did the sheriff have anything else to say?”
“Not really, no. Just that he’d call us if and when he heard anything.”
“Joy. All right, so you sure you don’t want company tonight?”
“You can crash at my place. But you’re not bringing anyone over. Got it? And no jizzing on my spare bed!”
“I wouldn’t. Damn, Adrian, you really need to relax some.”
I looked to the other three, who had all but lost interest in eating just as Bishop and I had. I still found it a little strange that Cody wasn’t sitting next to Tristan though. Didn’t couples like to sit next to each other? I know I did. It made it easier to reach for them and touch. I sighed again. Nope, he wasn’t for me.
“Hey, babe. What are you doing here?” I looked over to the door and watched as a tall, slim man strode over to the trio sitting next to us. Tristan got up and met the man halfway across the restaurant, and the way the two kissed, there was absolutely no way they weren’t intimately familiar with each other. I looked back to Cody and raised an eyebrow at him in question. His face flushed red before he looked down at his food.
Tristan came back, this time on his crutches. Well, I guess that answered why he was there. But what I wondered was, were Cody and Tristan ever a couple like they’d told me? Or was it a lie to get me to leave him alone? Either way, I’d decided that it was probably for the best that he’d turned me down. He was too young for me anyway.
“Hey, you ready to go?”
I looked back at Bishop and realized that he hadn’t eaten either.
“Yeah. You want to order pizza later? Or we can scrounge around in my kitchen. It’s fully stocked, but I usually only cook on the weekends if we’re here.”
“Hell, frozen pizza will probably sound good about midnight. Got any beer?”
“Yes. But we’re limiting it to two each. We are not going to be intoxicated if there’s a chance things could get messy.” After stuffing our sandwiches into our bags, we got up from the table to leave. “You three have a good evening.”
“What’s the badge say? And is the gun real?”
I looked over to Hawke, who seemed to be the most vocal of the group.
“Yes, the gun is real. The badge says US Marshal. Be safe, you three.”
I pushed in my chair, and after tossing my trash in the bin, I walked out of the restaurant with Bishop at my side.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“So that’s him, huh?”
“Yeah, that was him. But I don’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t interested, and now that we’re not in the club, I realize he’s way too young for me anyway.”
“I’m not buying it. You were really upset after that weekend. Now you’re saying it’s okay he wasn’t interested?”
I stopped and stared at Bishop over the hood of the SUV, contemplating my response.
“Honestly, it took me a lot to convince myself to ask him to dance anyway. Then he said he wasn’t interested. When I tried again, I got shot down again and was told that Tristan was his boyfriend.”
“No. No way. Tristan’s boyfriend showed up, and there was absolutely nothing but friendship vibes between those three.”
“Get in the SUV. I want to go home.” We both climbed in, and I thought again about the three we’d left in the restaurant. “How old do you think they are?”
“I dunno. Early twenties for sure. I’d say probably around twenty-one. Did you see any of them drinking at the club?”
“Not that I can recall. Why?”
“Well, if they were drinking, then they would be over twenty-one.”
I nodded as I backed out of the parking spot and headed back to the station to drop off Bishop.
“Think about it. He’s young, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“That’s not a good thing either. I’m old enough to be his dad. Hell, I might be older than his dad.”
“You’re only thirty-eight. That’s not older than his dad. Not unless he had him while in high school. You really need to get back in the game. Look, I know numb-nuts hurt you, but really, you should get out there and date. You’re not too old, you know.”
One, two, three, four, five…
“Adrian?”
Six, seven, eight, nine…
“Fine. Ignore me, but you know I’m right.”
I simply nodded as I pulled up behind Bishop’s SUV. “See you at my place? Or did you change your mind?” I asked as Bishop got out of the vehicle, turned, and leaned down to look at me.
“No. I’ll be there in about thirty. See you then. But I meant what I said. You might be an asshole to me, and I know I earn it, but you’re not too old to find someone again.” He closed the door and quickly strode to his SUV and climbed in. I pulled away thinking about what he’d said the whole way home.
Maybe I wasn’t too old, but I definitely was for someone like Cody. I didn’t stand a chance with him.