Tied Up in Knots (Marshals 3)

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I groused. “I thought you were with your goddamn relatives. Don’t blame me ’cause you communicate for shit.”

“I wanna cook.”

“Why?”

“Because it calms me!”

Of course it did.

“Fine. I’d love you to cook. You know that.”

“Good!”

“Fine!”

“Good!”

We were silent a minute.

“I’ll pick up Janet at the airport,” she squealed, excited now as she smiled, her shoulders lifting in happiness. “I can’t wait to see her.”

“You’re insane,” I assured her as she leaned up to kiss me.

I bent and offered her my cheek, and she patted it after giving me a gentle buss.

“We’ll be here when you get home, so don’t come in here thinking you’re gonna get your kink on with your man.”

“I’d pay to see that, actually,” Josue piped up, looking around me, tilting his head, clearly admiring Ian’s form. “That man is hot.”

She put her hand on Josue’s shoulder. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait’ll you meet my husband. He’s got muscles on top of muscles, and he’s all burly and gorgeous—you’re gonna die.”

His face lit up as he looked at her.

“And”—she waggled her eyebrows at him—“he’s a fireman.”

“Oh girl,” Josue said, fanning his face.

“I’ll introduce you tomorrow, uhm….”

“Josue,” he sighed, offering her his hand.

“I’m Aruna,” she said, sounding all sweet and nice, which was a total lie since she was a harpy through and through. “Who are your friends?”

Somehow they all exchanged names and got to chatting, and Aruna offered to drive the boys downtown since that’s the way she was going. I didn’t care. They all left, so I was happy.

Closing the door, I faced a very distraught-looking Ian, whose hair was all standing up on one side.

“What’d you do?”

Apparently Chickie had licked it up that way.

“Your hair is full of dog drool,” I said, laughing.

“Horde?” he repeated, sounding a bit unhinged.

“Group,” I amended helpfully.

He left me for the kitchen in search of coffee.

LATER THAT morning, in the office, Kage wanted to see Ian alone, and while he was in with the boss, I got a call from downstairs that I had visitors at the security checkpoint. As I got closer to the front doors, I heard my name.

I was halfway expecting Janet, even though Aruna said she was picking her up, and Josue and the boys would not have been a surprise, though with Josue being a present witness, he could have come through security. So it was a surprise to see Colin Doyle, Ian’s estranged father, standing there with his wife, Linda, Ian’s stepmother.

After walking out through the checkpoint, I offered him my hand as soon as I was close enough.

“Hello, sir,” I greeted him, and then Linda, who I was surprised reached for me as well. “How are you?”

“Good,” he said quickly, looking uncomfortable. “But we’re having a problem with Lorcan, our youngest.”

“And what’s that?”

“His friends told us that he was picked up by the police, but we’ve been calling since last night and can’t find him anywhere,” Linda said frantically, looking sheepish for having blurted all that out.

“What was he arrested for?”

“We don’t know,” Colin told me.

“Okay, let’s go upstairs.” I moved them both in front of me, and the three of us went through the express line reserved for officers of the court. I put lanyards on both of them once we were through and signed them in to the visitor log.

As we got off the elevator, I looked toward my desk, and in that instant when Ian saw me, his face lit up, and then he saw his father, and his face fell.

“He hates me,” Colin mumbled.

“No, sir,” I corrected him. “Begging your pardon, but no, Ian hasn’t reached out, but neither have you.”

“That’s what I told him,” Linda explained, and I took a moment to look at her. Even though I would never like her after what she pulled on Colin’s 60th birthday party—excluding Ian, and his dead mother, from a slideshow of his father’s life—she was, empirically, a very beautiful woman. She had grace and a delicate voice, was immaculately dressed, and her makeup and jewelry were elegant and understated. What she was doing with Colin, I had no idea. He was a bull; she was a ballerina. I didn’t really get it, but I didn’t have to. “I said that if he wants a relationship with Ian, he has to call him and stop waiting for him to need a dog sitter.”

“Yes,” I said, leading them into one of the smaller conference rooms and sitting them down. After I checked to see if they were thirsty, I left them there to go back to my desk and get on my computer.

“What’re they doing here?” Ian asked, rolling around his desk and coming to a stop beside me. He crowded close, as he’d always done. I’d missed seeing that the first three years of our partnership, before we got together.