Page 16 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Bobby glanced over at him, his blue eyes seeming bright in the dim light as his gaze washed over Tommy. For one second Tommy thought he was going to say something dirty, some cheap come-on that would have them both reaching for each other, pulling each other into a hard kiss, but Bobby laughed after a long pause and said, “I’ll bring trail mix next time, okay?”

“I’ll settle for popcorn.”

“Deal.”

The television was back on the DVD main screen when Colleen let herself in. When the door creaked, Tommy stirred and looked over at Bobby. He was sound asleep, his arm over his head, feet on the coffee table. They’d ended up sharing the throw blanket and both dozed off before the movie ended. Not for the first time that night, Tommy wanted to lean over and kiss him.

“Did I wake you?” Colleen asked after she closed the door behind her.

Tommy rubbed his eyes with both hands, trying to chase away the crazy thoughts he was having about Bobby. “Nah, I was just getting up.” He stood and took a good look at his sister. “Did you have fun?”

Colleen nodded, looking tired and excited and maybe a little confused. “I did, yeah. Wyatt is really nice.” All of a sudden, she bit her lip and looked like she was about to cry.

Tommy clenched his hands into fists and was about to run after Wyatt, but first he asked, “What happened, Col?”

She shook her head and sniffled. “Nothing,” she whispered, glancing at Bobby asleep on the couch and then back at Tommy. “It was just so… nice. I can’t explain it, Tommy. It just felt so good to go out with him and dance and have fun and not…. He was so great. When we were dancing and his hand was on my waist, I told him I didn’t like to be touched there and he just moved his hand up, didn’t ask why or say anything, just made sure I was comfortable, ya know? The whole night he just made sure I was happy and that I felt good and that I was having fun and…. I didn’t know guys could be like that.”

Tommy reached for her and wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders. His voice was soft as he whispered against the top of her head, “That’s how they all should be, sis. Especially with you.”

He kissed her hair, thankful it had gone well and she’d had a nice time. He’d been dreading her coming home, afraid she’d be in tears, telling him some horror story about what happened. He’d seen too many prom-gone-wrong movies.

Colleen nodded and sniffled against his chest before she pulled back with a smile. “Wyatt’s always like that.”

“So are you two a steady thing now, or…?”

She actually blushed then, grinning at him. “Yeah, he said he’d like to be.” Her face fell a second later before she added, “I don’t know, though. He’s off to college next year, and….”

She didn’t have to finish the rest of her sentence. Tommy knew what she meant. If he could get her to graduate high school next year it would be a miracle. Getting her into college was so far off their map it didn’t bear consideration. “You two can figure something out if he really wants to be with ya,” he told her softly. He gave her one more hug before he let her go. “Get yourself changed and hit the sack. I’ll raise the dead over there and kick him out.”

Colleen seemed to hear the joke in his voice and glanced down at Bobby. “You could just let him crash here tonight.”

“The neighbors talk enough about us already. Last thing I need is a cop sleeping over.”

She gave him a disbelieving smile and asked, “Since when does an O’Shea care what the neighbors think?”

Tommy snorted a laugh. “Since we count on them as much as they count on us. If Old Man Morris gets nervous about the company we keep, he won’t let us run our cable off his, and if Kelly notices we’ve got a cop crashed on our couch, you think she’s gonna trust me to sell her extras? Not even Bobby could look away over that one.”

They both knew what he was talking about. Kelly wasn’t a big-time dealer, but she had a healthy crop of pot growing in her basement, and when she didn’t have the buyers for it, she sometimes let Tommy make a few deals for her and cut him in on the cash. It wasn’t the most honest living, but it was the difference between the grocery store and the food bank for them, so it was worth it, legal or not.

Yawning, Colleen nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right,” she muttered as she stretched her arms and turned for the stairs.

Tommy watched her go before turning his attention back to Bobby. What the hell was he supposed to do with a guy like that? He knew what he wanted to do, but that fell into the “No way, never gonna happen” category. He kicked at Bobby’s foot to rouse him. “Wake up, sunshine. Time for all the good little coppers to be home in their own beds.”

Bobby took a deep breath and blinked his eyes open. He smiled when he saw Tommy standing over him. He rubbed his eyes before stretching his arms over his head. “Time is it?”

His T-shirt hitched up and showed off an impressive patch of golden skin and sharp abdominal muscles. Tommy looked away.

“After one,” he said, collecting the beer bottles and empty bags of chips and candy he and Bobby had shared.

“Shit.” Bobby sat up, shaking his head like he had water in his ears as he grabbed his shoes and tugged them on.

“You on patrol tomorrow?” Tommy asked, hating that he was genuinely curious and not just passing the time with idle talk.

Bobby got to his feet. “Not till five, but I have a few things to do around the house tomorrow.” As he pulled on his jacket and dug his keys out of the pocket, he asked, “Did Colleen make it in okay?”

Tommy nodded, liking too much the way Bobby thought to ask after her. “Yeah, she’s upstairs getting ready for bed.”

“She have fun?”

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