I’d texted Eldin to make sure he was home because he wouldn’t lie to my father for any reason, and I couldn’t take it if my dad looked at me again the way he had earlier. It would be too painful. Almost like this car ride had been. Dom had been curiously silent as I gave him directions to Eldin’s place.
“If you take this next right, he the second house on the right.” I pointed to Summit Street. “He lives in his parents’ place.”
“With his parents?”
“No. They moved to a small place outside of town and gave Eldin the house. I think they were trying to distance themselves from Peculiar after the whole thing with Neville Lutjen selling our kind to hunters for big sport.”
“I was read in on the council’s report.”
“By Willy?” I asked.
Dom grimaced. “Yep.”
“What happened between you two? Did you break her heart?” I glanced at him to read his expression. It was blank, but his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel to make the turn.
“I thought I loved her. She didn’t think she loved me. She was the wild girl everyone wanted to tame.”
Was that his type? The wild girl. If so, there was no way I’d keep his interest. “I’m not a wild girl,” I said.
“Good.”
“Oh, I get it,” I said. “She hurt you, so you are determined to date her opposite. I’m no one’s consolation prize. This thing between us isn’t going to work if your only interest in me is that I’m not her.”
Dom slammed on the brakes out front of Eldin’s house. “My interest in you has nothing to do with Willy Boden.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He turned in his seat, gripped my shoulders, and kissed me completely breathless.
“That’s not an answer,” I said airily. My pulse thudded in my throat and much lower parts of my anatomy.
“Isn’t it?” He stroked my cheek. “I told you that I’d thought I loved her. It’s only been this week that I realized what I felt for Willy was trivial, it was nothing, a brief infatuation. I’ve never had a woman make me feel like you make me feel.”
“And how’s that?”
“Excited, protective, frustrated, worried, hopeful.”
“Anything else?”
“Scared.”
“Scared?”
“Scared that I’ll lose you. I don’t want to be without you, Nic.”
“We haven’t known each but a few days.”
“I know you have feelings for me. What’s holding you back?” He raised his brows. “Eldin Farraday? Are you in love with him?”
A knock on the window had us both jumping to our respective sides of the car.
Eldin’s face pressed against the glass. “Nicole? Agent Tartan? What are you all doing out here?”
I met Dom’s gaze. “Setting the record straight,” I said. “I’m not in love with Eldin.”
Dominic’s chiseled features softened. “Okay.”
Eldin, who looked even more confused, said, “Good to know. Why don’t you park this sedan and come on in? I have cold beer in the fridge. I think we’re all going to need it.”
Dom parked the car and raced around to the passenger side to help me out. He got my crutches, and, even though I hated being babied, the way he hovered over me was actually sort of sweet. Eldin held to door open as I swung my feet inside. As we made our way into the living room, I saw a man in jeans and a vee-neck forest green sweater sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer in hand. “Deputy Thompson?” I asked.
“Nope, wrong brother,” the guy said, standing up. Now I could see, while he looked almost identical to Tyler Thompson, this man was a bit thinner, more muscular. This was Taylor Thompson.
Eldin went and stood beside him, “Nic, I have been trying to tell you something ever since I saw you in Springfield.”
“You have?” I blinked because I hadn’t noticed. Had I really been so self-absorbed?
“I’m just going to say it quick. Like a bandage ripped off a wound.”
Taylor gave Eldin a sour look. “I’m not a wound.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Anyhow. He flexed his fingers. “Nicole. This is Taylor Thompson.”
I nodded. “I’m aware.”
“My boyfriend.”
“I’m...” Clueless? Blind? Stymied? Oblivious? Jesus H. Christ and the whole choir of angels, I had been completely obtuse. “How long have you...?” It was a dumb question. I was a freaking shrink. I knew sexuality didn’t just happen magically out of the blue. Eldin Farraday was gay. And he’d been gay his whole life. “But we...” I was handling this soooo badly. “But you...God, Eldin. You broke my heart our senior year.”
“Please don’t be mad at me,” he said. His fingers laced with Taylor’s.
“I’m not mad,” I said. I had a gazillion feelings going on. Anger wasn’t one of them. “I’m a little hurt that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me, but I’m not mad.” I did what I should have done when he first announced he had a boyfriend, I limped forward and threw my arms around his neck. “Are you happy?”
“Yes,” Eldin said. “I’m very happy.”
“Then I’m happy for you.”
He must have dropped Taylor’s hand because both his arms went around me. “You know, Nic, you’re the only girl I ever loved. I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you needed.”
I cast a quick glance over my shoulder at Dom, who, for the record, was grinning like a fool. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. Not at all.” I jumped back on one foot and used Dom’s forearm to steady me. “So,” I asked, “how many people know?”
Taylor took the lead. “My family knows. And if my mom knows something, everyone in earshot knows.”
I laughed. “Ruth still make the best pies in town.”
“There’s one in the fridge I can heat up if you’d like.”
I fist pumped my arm. “If you have some vanilla ice cream the answer is yes, yes, yes. Oh, hell, even if you don’t have ice cream, I will definitely take the warm pie.”
Eldin and Dom helped me to the couch when Taylor ducked into the kitchen. I turned to my high school sweetheart and took his hand. “How did I miss the signs?”
“I’m very macho,” Eldin said. His narrow features and high cheekbones always made him look a little elfish. Manly, yes. Macho, not so much. We both chuckled. “I’m terrible at this profiling thing.”
“So, tell me about your ankle. What happened?”
“Can Taylor keep a secret or will he tell Deputy Thompson?”
“My identical twin didn’t find out I was gay until I told him on our twentieth birthday,” Taylor said from the other room. “I’m awesome with secrets.”
We laid out the entire afternoon for Eldin and Taylor over some of the most magnificent blueberry pie I’d ever eaten. “You mom should box this crust and sell it as magic. She would make a million dollars.”
“I’ll tell her you said so. It’ll make her feel good,” the blond deer shifter said.
Eldin leaned forward. “So, you guys found a hidden cellar through a dusty trap door with a secret entrance underground? That’s some Silence of the Lambs’ shit there. Do you think this has anything to do with your case? Or just Lloyd’s murder? Or the guns?”
“Maybe all three. We don’t know. We have to find out where that door leads, though.” Dom said.
I nodded. “My gut is telling me that tomorrow will be too late.”
Eldin tilted his head at me. “It’s now or never.”
“Do not break out in song,” I told him.
He laughed. “You know you love my Elvis impersonation.”
Taylor snapped his fingers. “Hey. Some old bomb shelters and tunnels had been built—back in the late fifties when people were worried about atomic warfare. I’m pretty sure I could get into the zoning office and find some of the old property maps for that area.”
Eldin hugged Taylor to him. “You’re brilliant, babe.” He turned to me. “Taylor is the human resource manager at City Hall. He does all the hiring and managing of the non-elected positions.”
“I have the master key, so I can get into any room I want.”
I looked at Dom, and I could see his excitement level had kicked up a notch. “I’m in.”
“This is some real James Bond shit,” Taylor said.
Eldin grinned. “Sean Connery?”
“Who else?” Taylor stood up and gave Eldin a hand up. In a fairly good imitation of the original, he said in a spot on Scottish accent, “Shall we go, Money Penny?”
Dom helped me to my feet next. In my ear, he said, “I can’t believe I was worried about this dork.”
I giggled. “Come on, double-o-nerds. We have a City Hall to break into.”
Taylor shook his head. “It’s not breaking if you have the keys.”
“I like you, Taylor Thompson.”
“Thank heavens, because I think Eldin would have dumped me if you didn’t approve.”
At least three of us walked out of Eldin’s house humming the theme song for Mission Impossible.
When we got into the car, Dom's eyes were bright. Happy. “Thanks for rescuing me from Judy at dinner. That woman is grabby.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “It was either rescue you or come flying across the pot roast to snatch her hair extensions form her head. I did not like that woman touching you.”
“Really?”
“I was already thinking about places to bury the body.”
Dom’s grin grew ridiculously wide. “I’ve had Eldin buried several times since he met us in Springfield.”
“We’re a pair,” I said as Dom started the engine and followed Taylor and Eldin in Taylor’s car.
“We sure are, partner.”