“You want what?”
“You heard me, Robby,”
John Henry replied, his face clouded as if he was hiding something. “Turn in
your badge and your gun.”
“But why?” Robert Peter
Harrison asked as he stood there in utter shock, not sure if he should reach
for his badge or punch his brother in the mouth. His stomach twisted with
anxiety and disbelief at what he was hearing. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
He was a good deputy and
he knew it. He did his job to the best of his ability but with care and
consideration for the people he dealt with. There were no reasons he could
think of that John Henry would be demanding his resignation. He hadn’t broken
any laws, been late for work, or anything else that would result in John Henry
standing here demanding he give up his badge and gun.
“It’s better this way,
Robby.” John Henry seemed pensive and almost hesitant as he folded his hands
together and rested them on his desk. “You’re not happy here. You’ll never be
happy here. It’s time for you to move on.”
What in the hell was John
Henry talking about? Robby loved his job. He loved being a deputy, working
alongside of his brother, and protecting the people in their county. He
actually couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather do.
“I don’t want to move on,
John Henry. I like it here.”
Robby knew he wasn’t
going to get John Henry to see reason when he saw the man’s jaw tighten and
his lips spread into a thin line. John Henry Harrison was a stubborn ass
bastard when he wanted to be. It could be a redeeming quality at times.
This wasn’t one of those
times.
“Robby, I’m the sheriff
here, and your older brother, and—”
Robby barely contained
the angry words gagging him when John Henry started talking. It was the same
speech he had heard more times than he could count. And he knew, no matter
what he said, John Henry’s mind was made up.
Robby had just been
fired.
Robby clenched his jaw as
he pulled the badge off of his uniform shirt and set it down on the desk. Next
was his gun. He carefully unloaded it then set both the gun and the magazine
down next to his badge before turning and walking toward the door off John
Henry’s office.
Robby paused at the door
with one hand on the door handle, then glanced over his shoulder at his
brother, a man he had respected almost more than anyone—until today.
“You know, John Henry,
one of these days, you’re going to interfere in my life one too many times and
you’re not going to be able to fix what you’ve done.” Robby glowered at John
Henry then turned away.
He yanked the door open
and stormed out, slamming the door loudly behind him. It was better than
smacking his brother. He could feel the stares of the other deputies and
office personnel as he walked to the closet and grabbed a cardboard box.
It seemed almost
anti-climatic that it took less than five minutes to gather all of his
belongings out of his desk and put them in the box. Five years of a career and
all he had to show for it was a small cardboard box full of crap.
When Robby heard John
Henry’s office door open, he grit his teeth and fought for control as he
grabbed his stuff and walked out, not bothering to acknowledge his brother was
even in the room. If he did—if he even looked at John Henry—he was likely to
punch the man right in the mouth.
Robby walked out and then
dropped the box of his belongings into the bed of his pickup truck, climbed
into the cab, and slammed the driver’s door closed. He took a moment to
breathe, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and resting his forehead
against it. If he didn’t get himself under control, he’d march right back into
the sheriff’s station and give into his urge to hurt his brother.
Robby couldn’t remember
when he had ever been so angry at the man. He adored him and had for his
entire life. John Henry was the very example of the man Robby wanted to
be—until today.
Robby didn’t know whether
to go with the anger clouding his mind or the heartache wrapping around his
heart. He felt like he had been betrayed, like John Henry was taking something
precious from him that Robby wanted more than almost anything in the world.
Well, almost anything.
There was still one thing
Robby wanted more.
Robby held onto his
control by a thread as he pulled his cell phone out and dialed a number he had
memorized months ago. He tried not to call it too often but right now, he
needed the voice on the other end more than he needed air.
The corner of Robby’s
mouth curved up when he heard the phone connect but no one spoke. That’s how
it always was. Wren never said a word until he knew who was at the other end
of the line. It was just one of the man’s odd quirks.
He had many.
“Hey, it’s Robby. Want to
hang out?”
They had spent a lot of
time together when Wren wasn’t gone on a mission, both at Robby’s house and
Charlie and John Henry’s. But most of their time together was at Robby’s
place, and usually spent just watching movies or hanging out. No matter how
many hints Robby dropped, Wren never crossed that line to take things further
between them.
“Leaving work early?”
Robby swallowed the bile
that suddenly threatening to come up as he thought about the job he had just
lost. He stared down at his fingers, pulling at a loose thread on his jeans.
“Yeah, something like that.”
The man on the other end
of the phone—the one Robby dreamed about at night and fantasized might someday
want something more from him than just a few hours together here and
there—grunted.
“I’ll meet you at your
place.”
And just like that, the
phone went dead.
Robby snapped his phone
closed and slid it back into his pocket. It felt like knives stabbing into him
every time he called Wren and got the same blasé response. He didn’t know how
to define his relationship with the man. He didn’t even know if they had one.
Robby called, they hung
out, and then they went their separate ways. There seemed to be this wall
between them that Robby had never been able to breach. He shook his head at
the tears that suddenly appeared. He ached with need and loneliness and it
felt like it had just quadrupled.
Robby tried desperately
to give Wren the space he seemed to need so much but sometimes it was really
hard—like now, when Robby wanted nothing more than to feel Wren’s big muscular
arms wrap around him and make him feel like everything would be okay.
And as much as he knew he
would suck up whatever attention Wren gave him, he couldn’t help but want for
more. He just knew if Wren gave in, things would be explosive between them.
Wren never seemed to
budge. He had made it very clear in the beginning of their friendship that
there was a line that Robby wasn’t allowed to cross. Robby had tried a few
times—flirted, made some passes, dropped some verbal hints—only to be
rebuffed. He was starting to doubt that even walking around naked in front of
the man would get him anything.
Maybe getting fired was
finally making him see the truth. Wren just wanted to be friends. And no
wanting for something more on Robby’s part would change that.
“God!” Robby dropped his
head back against his seat and stared up at his ceiling. “I am so fucking
pathetic.”
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