Page 30 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

“I’m his boyfriend. Fiancé. Husband to be.” Ellery paused before he added “soulmate” to that list. “Jesus God, I’m a man sorely in need of coffee,” he finished pitifully, and since he was normally a tea drinker, that spoke to his desperation. Jadedidhave pity on him then and pointed to the giant pot on the counter behind her perch at the reception window, where everybody’s mugs sat next to the sink.

“Thank the gods,” he muttered, moving forward to pour his coffee into the “World’s Most Uptight Boss” mug Jade and Mike had gotten him for Christmas. He liked to think it was a term of endearment, but if he kept harping on Jackson’s mystery partner, he suspected it might not be tongue-in-cheek anymore.After a grateful sip—cream, no sugar—he turned toward Jade and tried to start their conversation again. “Do we have any news on Henry?”

She nodded and took a sip of her own coffee.Hermug had been a gift from Jackson and Ellery, and Jackson had found it at a craft fair in Colton. It was of solid ceramic construction with a weighty base and a fiery black glaze with a magenta finish. Ellery remembered the conversation surrounding it. He’d been worried about it being dishwasher safe, and Jackson had pointed out that it would probably be used in the office—no dishwasher, just a sink. The point was, the object was beautiful, it was well suited for Jade, she was using it, and Jackson’s propensity for being thoughtful was one more reason Ellery was going to worry about him when he was out there on his own.

Gah!

“Dex texted me and Jackson this morning right before you got in,” Jade said, oblivious to Ellery’s rabbit hole. “He said Henry woke up for a few, got all cryey and slobbery because Dex was there, mooned at Lance, and said Jackson needed to get his ass in there the next time he’s awake. I suspect that might be Jackson’s final stop before backup.”

Ellery tried not to gulp coffee—even with cream it was rather hot. “Wait… where’s he going first?” Jackson may have told him, but honestly, Ellery’s memory of the night before was a little fractured. Worry, he knew, and sleep deprivation. And worry.

Jade scowled. “First he was going to visit K-Ski’s house and get Cowboy’s address and pick his brains a little more. Then he’s going to go visit Cowboy’s mother. We need to see if the kid was taken on false pretenses or kidnapped or what. C’mon, Ellery, I thought you were a lawyer!”

Ellery scowled at her. “I am,” he said. “I’m even a lawyer who was in the room last night.” He let out a breath andconceded defeat. “But I have to admit, I was really worried about Henry, and I may not have been on the top of my game.”

Jade gave him a measured once-over. “Wow—look at you. A year and a half ago, you wouldnothave admitted that.”

Ellery decided to give her a gift. “Well, a year and a half ago, Jackson wouldn’t have let me pump him with Airborne and Theraflu after a night in the rain, andyoumight have insisted on going out with him packing a weapon. We’ve all grown wiser.”

She cracked a smile then, a radiant one, and Ellery felt his fondness for Jackson’s sister steal back. “Yeah, we have.” She sobered. “And so has Henry. I willnotbe okay about that boy until they let him come home. This is like when you and Jackson were in the hospital for what? Three weeks? God, I can see why Jackson hates the place so much.”

Ellery could only nod. Jackson had hidden his discomfort well—and part of it had probably been fatigue—but he’d managed his phobia like a champ the night before. Now that Henry was better, though, and everybody’s fear wasn’t such an overriding stabilizer, Ellery hoped he could continue to manage today.

Also, “God, I wish I could see Henry with him,” he added, not even sure the words were going to come out.

Jade raised her eyebrows. “That was good, Ellery. Like a real person with friends and everything. What prompted that?”

Ellery didn’t even bother to scowl at her. He simply shook his head. Henry had carriedsucha chip on his shoulder when he’d first come to Jackson and Ellery—their first client, actually, with Galen by his side, forcing him to contain what they’d all thought was raging homophobia and chronic ingratitude.

It had turned out to be chronic self-hatred and raging embarrassment. Henry had spent his life parroting his father while at the same time knowing he was everything his father hated. Once he’d come to Sacramento, come out to his brother,and realized he had people here—and not just people,family—he’d turned not only into Dex’s little brother, buteverybody’slittle brother.

Even Ellery’s.

Ellery had seen how frantic Jackson had been as he’d driven them both to the crime scene the night before, but he hadn’t, until right now, told anybody—even Jackson—how worried he’d been for somebody he’d come to care for very much.

“It’s so easy for Jackson to care,” he said weakly, and then hedidtake a gulp of coffee because his voice sounded wobbly, and he wassupposedto be here to work on Henry’s behalf, dammit.

He was surprised to see Jade’s dark fingers, tipped with magenta polish, wrapping around his own as he cradled his mug.

“It’s not,” she said throatily. “But he does it anyway. Just like you. Who do you think you’re fooling, Ellery? You let the boy use your cabin on New Year’s so he could take Lance on a vacation. You asked your mother for a loan to pay him before we got up to speed so Galen could have him as an assistant and Jackson could have him as backup. Yeah, I do the bills. I know how much we make and how much we don’t. You’ve gone to the wall for him a thousand times since he and Galen walked in here last June—and not just because Jackson loves him. And not only because Galen loves him too. It’s okay to have friends, Ellery. In fact it makes you a better human.”

Ellery shrugged and lowered his hands so she didn’t have to reach so far to keep holding them. He liked it—it reminded him of his mother’s careful comforts. “I thought you and Mike were my hard limit,” he said, trying to be flippant, and he did manage to make her smile.

“Too bad, we’re family,” she said, practically singing. “And I know Galen is like your work wife. It’s almost sickening how good you two are as partners in this firm. And I know it’s not something you expected, but, you know, it’s not a bad thing.”

“It is forthem,” Ellery said, almost grumpily. “As thrilled as I am that it wasn’t Jackson this time, I wasnothappy to be in the hospital for Henry either. People aren’t going to be our friends for long if they find out taking a bullet is the cost of it.”

She dropped her hands and rolled her expressive eyes. Even after their late night, she’d come to the office in full makeup, and her hair—lately allowed to curl naturally into tight spirals but still tipped with magenta—looked “done” as his mother would say.

“I know you’re dumb,” she said, obviously out of patience, “but last night’s bullet was taken for Isabelle and a fourteen-year-old kid John and Galen saved from the streets. I mean, yeah, Henrywouldtake a bullet for you, but you need to keep track in case that’s what happens next time.”

“There won’tbea next time,” Ellery snapped, stung.

“Tell that to Jackson,” she retorted. “For guys like that, there’s always the possibility of a next time. And every next time, the people like us have to deal with it. C’mon, Ellery—you and I have dealt with it as partners for a year and a half now. Are you bailing already?”

He shook his head. “No,” he said on a sigh, and with that resolution, it felt like some of the fuzz had cleared out of his head—even without coffee. “But thank you. Like you said, we’re family, but you’re really good at it.”

She grinned again—blinding, but still a little softer than it might have been before they’d gotten to know each other. “Thank you,” she said. “So AJ and I have started background on the Wonderbread Wagon Stepford Dragons—”

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