The Last Thing He Needs (7 page)

He blushed furiously as he pulled the little floral spray out, his hands shaking. Tommy thought maybe Colleen would be all right tonight. Wyatt was the least threatening teenager he’d ever met. He thought Carrie could take him in a fight.

“It’s beautiful,” Colleen said as she took the last step. “I got you one too.”

Tommy hadn’t noticed she was holding a small box, a simple pink rose in it to match her dress and Wyatt’s tie.

Tommy took a step back and bumped into Bobby. “Jesus, copper, you’re a sneaky little bastard, you know that?”

Bobby didn’t pull back when Tommy brushed against him. Instead he laughed softly in Tommy’s ear and reached around to show his phone in his hand. “Thought you might want a couple pictures.”

It hadn’t even occurred to Tommy, and he felt like an idiot for it. “Thanks,” he muttered, stepping out of the way as Wyatt and Colleen fussed with their flowers and got into position. Bobby snapped a few shots with his phone. Before they finished, Tommy leaned close to Bobby and whispered, “Get one of just Colleen too.” Bobby nodded and adjusted his angle to crop Wyatt out of the last shot.

When they were done, Colleen reached for her shoulder wrap on the coat hook by the door. Tommy looked at Wyatt. “Remember what we talked about, all right?” Wyatt nodded and Tommy added, “I want her home by midnight.”

Colleen shot a glare at Tommy as she told Wyatt, “Don’t listen to him. I can come home whenever I want.”

Wyatt looked relieved, smiling as he asked, “Oh, is his bark worse than his bite?”

It might have been the loud “ha!” from Bobby or the sharp look on Tommy’s face. Maybe it was the way Colleen grabbed Wyatt’s arm and started to pull him out the door. But when they left, Tommy felt sure Colleen would be coming home safe and sound long before dawn.

Tommy watched out the window as Colleen and Wyatt went down the shabby walkway and ducked into the limo together.

Bobby’s voice sounded over his shoulder. “You remind me of an overprotective father cleaning his shotgun in front of his daughter’s date.”

“If he hurts her, I’m not gonna shoot him. That’d be over too quick.”

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“You should probably do that more often than not around here.”

B
Y
TEN
o’clock, the house was clean, the kids were all in their rooms, and the twins were sound asleep. The evening had been nice, though Tommy hated to admit it. They finished dinner as a family after Colleen left. Bobby was the star of the show, talking to the kids and helping Max and Zoe with their food. They all did the dishes together, laughing and telling stories, making the job take a lot longer than necessary. But every time Bobby picked up one of the twins or helped Davey with his homework, Tommy was flooded with a number of emotions, some of which he didn’t even want to name. A twinge of jealousy itched inside him, as he wasn’t used to other people butting in when it came to the kids. He felt traces of contentment, too, which he didn’t want to look at. There was even a little longing as they played house together.

Tommy found it harder and harder to remind himself that Bobby wasn’t just a friend, but a cop. Even if he were gay—which Tommy was starting to wonder about—Bobby was off-limits in more ways than one.

Now with the house so quiet it almost felt empty, the lights dimmed, and the soft glow of the television keeping them company, Tommy and Bobby relaxed on the couch together. One of the action movies Bobby had brought over played in the background as they talked.

“Where’s your folks?” Bobby stretched out a little more, his arm on the back of the couch nearly wrapping around Tommy’s shoulders.

Tommy snorted a laugh, willing himself not to lean closer to Bobby. “Who the hell knows? They haven’t been around for a couple days.”

“Did you file a missing persons?” When Tommy cut an incredulous look in his direction, Bobby laughed. “Never mind, stupid question.”

“It’s always nice when they take off for a while,” Tommy said slowly, holding a bottle of imported beer in his hand, picking at the label. “But it’s like…. I get everything all set up and on track and we’re doing good, ya know? Then they come back, and it’s a fuckin’ disaster again.”

Bobby took a long pull off his own beer before setting it down on the table. When he shifted to do that, Tommy couldn’t help but notice they were closer on the couch than they had been.

“Your situation is unfair on a lot of levels, Tom.”

Breathing a soft laugh, Tommy took a swig then said, “You’re tellin’ me. But no one ever said life was fair, right?”

“True,” Bobby whispered, looking at him again. “Do you have any other family? Aunts or uncles or anyone that might be able to…
help
?”

Tommy laughed again, loving and hating at the same time the way Bobby always wanted to fix things, fix them. “Between Pop and my mom, there’s about a dozen aunts and uncles all over the country, and believe it or not, Cal and my mom, at least before she died, are the best of all of them.”

Bobby seemed like he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “How is that even possible?”

Tommy laughed loudly then. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He went on to explain, “There’s at least two on sex-offender registries, couple more serving time for petty shit. Oh, except for my uncle on my mother’s side—he’s doing four life sentences for killing a family for twenty-seven dollars. My grandma on my mother’s side has been dead for over a decade, and the best thing I can say about
her
is that we’re not homeless.” He lifted his hand and waved vaguely around the room. “I come from a long line of users and abusers, Bobby. You should run now while you still can.”

Bobby’s expression was unreadable, and Tommy wasn’t sure what to say after that. They sat in silence for a moment before Bobby spoke again.

“That might be where you came from, Tom, but it’s not where you’re gonna end up.”

His voice was rough and quiet, sounding to Tommy like he was overwhelmed with emotion, though it didn’t show on Bobby’s face.

“I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I’d put every dime on you and those kids.”

Before Tommy could respond to that, Bobby stood abruptly and went into the kitchen.

B
Y
THE
time Bobby came back, Tommy had switched movies. His beer was warm in his hand and his pulse thrummed through his veins like a freight train. He couldn’t figure out why being around Bobby was such a mix of terror and comfort. He couldn’t deny being attracted to Bobby, but he was attracted to a lot of guys. He couldn’t deny being a little cautious too, considering what Bobby did for a living. But hearing from someone like Bobby that he and the kids were worth betting on, worth taking a chance on, did things to Tommy, and he hated it.

“Did I miss the end?” Bobby asked, standing over Tommy and passing him a fresh beer and a bag of chips.

Confused at the question, Tommy glanced up at him as he took the offered beer. “Huh?” Bobby quirked another one of those half smiles and nodded at the television. “Oh yeah, figured I’d put in the other one,” Tommy said, reaching for the remote and hitting the play button.

When Bobby sat down again, he didn’t settle on the opposite side of the couch as he had earlier. Instead he was close to Tommy, not quite touching, but within reach. Tommy felt a surge of panic rise in him and grabbed a handful of chips. “I’m gonna get a gut if I keep hanging out with you.” He was trying to joke, trying to find his footing again, but it wasn’t working very well.

Bobby glanced over at him, his blue eyes seeming bright in the dim light as his gaze washed over Tommy. For one second Tommy thought he was going to say something dirty, some cheap come-on that would have them both reaching for each other, pulling each other into a hard kiss, but Bobby laughed after a long pause and said, “I’ll bring trail mix next time, okay?”

“I’ll settle for popcorn.”

“Deal.”

T
HE
TELEVISION
was back on the DVD main screen when Colleen let herself in. When the door creaked, Tommy stirred and looked over at Bobby. He was sound asleep, his arm over his head, feet on the coffee table. They’d ended up sharing the throw blanket and both dozed off before the movie ended. Not for the first time that night, Tommy wanted to lean over and kiss him.

“Did I wake you?” Colleen asked after she closed the door behind her.

Tommy rubbed his eyes with both hands, trying to chase away the crazy thoughts he was having about Bobby. “Nah, I was just getting up.” He stood and took a good look at his sister. “Did you have fun?”

Colleen nodded, looking tired and excited and maybe a little confused. “I did, yeah. Wyatt is really nice.” All of a sudden, she bit her lip and looked like she was about to cry.

Tommy clenched his hands into fists and was about to run after Wyatt, but first he asked, “What happened, Col?”

She shook her head and sniffled. “Nothing,” she whispered, glancing at Bobby asleep on the couch and then back at Tommy. “It was just so… nice. I can’t explain it, Tommy. It just felt so good to go out with him and dance and have fun and not…. He was so great. When we were dancing and his hand was on my waist, I told him I didn’t like to be touched there and he just moved his hand up, didn’t ask why or say anything, just made sure I was comfortable, ya know? The whole night he just made sure I was happy and that I felt good and that I was having fun and…. I didn’t know guys could be like that.”

Tommy reached for her and wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders. His voice was soft as he whispered against the top of her head, “That’s how they all should be, sis. Especially with you.”

He kissed her hair, thankful it had gone well and she’d had a nice time. He’d been dreading her coming home, afraid she’d be in tears, telling him some horror story about what happened. He’d seen too many prom-gone-wrong movies.

Colleen nodded and sniffled against his chest before she pulled back with a smile. “Wyatt’s always like that.”

“So are you two a steady thing now, or…?”

She actually blushed then, grinning at him. “Yeah, he said he’d like to be.” Her face fell a second later before she added, “I don’t know, though. He’s off to college next year, and….”

She didn’t have to finish the rest of her sentence. Tommy knew what she meant. If he could get her to graduate high school next year it would be a miracle. Getting her into college was so far off their map it didn’t bear consideration. “You two can figure something out if he really wants to be with ya,” he told her softly. He gave her one more hug before he let her go. “Get yourself changed and hit the sack. I’ll raise the dead over there and kick him out.”

Colleen seemed to hear the joke in his voice and glanced down at Bobby. “You could just let him crash here tonight.”

“The neighbors talk enough about us already. Last thing I need is a cop sleeping over.”

She gave him a disbelieving smile and asked, “Since when does an O’Shea care what the neighbors think?”

Tommy snorted a laugh. “Since we count on them as much as they count on us. If Old Man Morris gets nervous about the company we keep, he won’t let us run our cable off his, and if Kelly notices we’ve got a cop crashed on our couch, you think she’s gonna trust me to sell her extras? Not even Bobby could look away over that one.”

They both knew what he was talking about. Kelly wasn’t a big-time dealer, but she had a healthy crop of pot growing in her basement, and when she didn’t have the buyers for it, she sometimes let Tommy make a few deals for her and cut him in on the cash. It wasn’t the most honest living, but it was the difference between the grocery store and the food bank for them, so it was worth it, legal or not.

Yawning, Colleen nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right,” she muttered as she stretched her arms and turned for the stairs.

Tommy watched her go before turning his attention back to Bobby. What the hell was he supposed to do with a guy like that? He knew what he wanted to do, but that fell into the “No way, never gonna happen” category. He kicked at Bobby’s foot to rouse him. “Wake up, sunshine. Time for all the good little coppers to be home in their own beds.”

Bobby took a deep breath and blinked his eyes open. He smiled when he saw Tommy standing over him. He rubbed his eyes before stretching his arms over his head. “Time is it?”

His T-shirt hitched up and showed off an impressive patch of golden skin and sharp abdominal muscles. Tommy looked away.

“After one,” he said, collecting the beer bottles and empty bags of chips and candy he and Bobby had shared.

“Shit.” Bobby sat up, shaking his head like he had water in his ears as he grabbed his shoes and tugged them on.

“You on patrol tomorrow?” Tommy asked, hating that he was genuinely curious and not just passing the time with idle talk.

Bobby got to his feet. “Not till five, but I have a few things to do around the house tomorrow.” As he pulled on his jacket and dug his keys out of the pocket, he asked, “Did Colleen make it in okay?”

Tommy nodded, liking too much the way Bobby thought to ask after her. “Yeah, she’s upstairs getting ready for bed.”

“She have fun?”

“Yeah, she had a great time. Said Wyatt was a perfect little gentleman.”

Bobby laughed at that. “Thank God. I was afraid I’d have to arrest you if he wasn’t.” He paused as he headed for the door, adding, “Though, with your little
talk
,
he would’ve been a real idiot if he had tried something with her.”

“All teenage boys are idiots.”

Bobby agreed with a nod and another soft laugh, and then he surprised the hell out of Tommy. “Listen, next time we both have a night off, you wanna go out? Maybe play some pool or something?”

Tommy chewed the corner of his mouth so hard he thought it would draw blood, thinking too long before he answered. He had already started to seriously question Bobby’s sexuality, but he wasn’t sure how much of it was wishful thinking. Bobby was starting to look embarrassed for asking and it sent a wave of guilt through Tommy—something he wasn’t accustomed to. “Sounds good, man. Lemme know your schedule and I’ll swap with someone down at the pub.”