Ex Meridian (Nothing Special 7)

“Sorry it took me a little while to get this information, but you guys won’t let me hire any extra help,” Slade murmured.

Ex didn’t respond, his face impassive once again while he watched Slade remove folder after folder from his messenger bag. He was aware of Meridian moving in close behind him and looking at the files over his shoulder. He could smell his partner’s subtle woodsy scent and feel his warm breath on the back of his neck. It wasn’t the first time he’d become ultra-aware of Meridian’s presence until he practically sought it out, but it’d been a long time since he’d felt that way. He’d been good at tamping down any intimate feelings and stifling his natural urges in the past. Maybe it was the gravity of what they were doing together that had old feelings brewing.

“What do you got?” Meridian addressed Slade, speaking too close to Ex’s ear. He barely suppressed the impulse to tremble and instead locked his knees and flexed his spine, suppressing his reaction.

“The task force is made up of nine men and some admin support staff. The main players are these eight detectives right here.” Slade started to arrange the manila folders in sets of twos. “Here’s the interesting part. These two have the same address, these two live together, and them right there, Detective Steele and Detective Murphy.”

“What... roommates?” Meridian asked.

“Roommates who do a lot more than just share the living expenses.” Slade waggled his thick eyebrows like a creep.

Ex turned away irritably and stared at the photos of the toughened-looking task force, then began to read the information Slade had collected on each of them. These were certainly not average beat cops. He had to admit that Lieutenant Godfrey had put together one badass squad to tackle Atlanta’s drug war crisis. All of the men had stellar law enforcement backgrounds and multiple commendations, but there were a couple of them who’d had decorated military careers as well. One in particular stood out to Ex. Steele—the Marine who’d been stationed in Yemen in 2001 and 2002 during the height of the Al Qaeda insurgence. It meant he was Special Forces, which meant Detective Edwin Steele could be a problem for them.

Meridian took Godfrey’s folder from the top of the pile. “He’s gay?”

“All day.” Slade pointed to some surveillance footage of Lieutenant Leonidis Day during a bust they’d done last year. “And married to this one.”

“He’s married to his partner?” Ex hid his surprise. “I didn’t think that was permitted. Couples can’t even work in the same precinct, not to mention being partners.”

“Well they are. It appears that Godfrey’s task force has received a lot of special treatment from the Chief and the Mayor... as long as they continue to produce results. And not just them. Day and Godfrey’s street enforcers are partners, living together.” Slade stressed the last couple of words. “Also his back-up technology specialist—Shawn Murphy—has prior convictions for computer crimes and is partnered up with this one. Steele. Let me tell you. Following him wasn’t easy, I think he gave me the slip actually.”

Fuck. Ex glanced over his shoulder at Meridian. A special forces Marine would be hard to fool.

“I’ve been following them when I’m not with you guys. They go to work; they go home and work.” Slade shrugged.

“Anything out of the norm at their homes?” Meridian asked, his deep voice and strong presence still just behind him.

“Nope. The usual,” Slade said then pulled a thumb drive out of the front pocket of his bag and popped it into his laptop. He clicked on a link dated three days ago and started playing a clip of four of the detectives leaving the precinct around six in the evening. Slade appeared to have been taping from maybe fifty feet away and the recording was clear and steady in the brightly lit parking lot.

Ex felt Meridian ease even closer as they watched the fifteen-inch monitor. Closeness was never weird for them, there had been countless instances where they’d been in confined quarters with danger even closer, pressed tightly to each other. Each time Ex had kept himself in check. Now, he struggled.

The four men broke off into pairs. The two main enforcers on the task force, Ruxsberg and Green gave fist bumps to their lieutenants as they headed towards their own vehicle. What made Ex freeze was the way Ruxsberg pressed Detective Green into the driver side door of the truck and kissed him passionately as if unconcerned that anyone might be watching. They kissed as if they’d been dying to do it all day and couldn’t wait another second once they were off the clock. Ex stared at the serenity and pleasure on their handsome faces. Love was all over the way they touched each other, the way they kept their eyes open while they sucked on each other’s tongues.