Page 33 of Caged
They made their way out, and Marshall paused with an arm around Patrick. "Danny, this is Patrick. He's the last of my co-workers for you to meet."
"Last but not least." Patrick grinned, going over to Danny and offering his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"You too." Danny smiled. "So it's a really small company?"
Marshall glanced at Jeremy and D before answering with as basic an answer as he could. "We like it small. We take on projects that can take some time. The smaller the team, the easier to focus. Too many people involved and things tend to get confusing. With a small team, we each have an area to focus on and it seems to run smoothly."
"I like that. It's probably why you guys are all so close." Danny glanced at the group. "Maybe Marshall can teach me what he knows and I can work for you someday."
Jessica smiled at him, her eyes soft with affection. "You'd fit right in."
Marshall wished it was that simple. Danny could never know what the team did. It was the first rule. They didn't share team business with anyone, no matter how close they were. If there ever was a time someone needed to know, it would only happen after the entire team agreed. If one person thought the person shouldn't know, the subject was dropped and everyone remained silent about it. It was too risky to have anyone know that they were castrating pedophiles in the area. While most would cheer them on, there were some who thought it went a step too far. As far as Marshall was concerned, anyone who hurt a child deserved to die. He refocused, needing to get off the subject of work. "You guys ready to eat?"
"Starving." Jeremy smiled.
"Can we start with Jessica's cake?" D asked.
Jessica laughed and leaned close to Danny. "They've all tried to talk me out of the recipe, but I won't share."
"I'll get it from her somehow." Marshall grinned before glancing up at Danny. "Help me bring stuff out?"
"Sure." He followed Marshall into the house.
Once in the kitchen, Marshall turned to Danny. "You okay? Not too much for you?"
"No, it's good. They seem nice. I really like Jessica."
"Me too. I'm glad you like them. If they get to be too much, just sneak away for a bit. No one will question it." He gathered a plate of steaks that were ready to go on the grill. "Will you grab the stuffed mushrooms we made and the salad?"
"Yep." Danny dug into the fridge, pulling things out.
Jessica walked in. "What can I help with?"
"Steak sauce, dressing, condiments we might need." Marshall hip bumped her as he headed out.
He loved these guys. They were all so different, but somehow, they fit together. Odd puzzle pieces that fit together to make everything work just right. He'd never found a group like that. Even with his old high school friends, there were always problems. One didn't like the other or someone was causing drama. That didn't happen here. They just accepted each other, and that was why they were perfect for Danny too.
As he put the steaks on the grill, he heard Danny laughing. It wasn't the short laugh he heard from time to time, but a hard, heavy laugh. He glanced over to see him with Jessica, both of them wiping their eyes of tears from laughing so hard. This was exactly what Danny needed. It was the first time he'd seen him relax and let his guard down. He wished he could take him to the team house to hang out while they worked, but that wasn't possible.
"Make mine rare." Patrick came up beside Marshall at the grill.
"Bloody it is." Marshall flipped a steak. "What's new?"
"Not much. Really like the house. I'm thinking I need to start looking for my own place. Do you think you'd go house hunting with me, show me how you found yours? I know nothing about buying a home," Patrick asked.
"Sure. I can give you the name of my realtor and you can give her a call. I'm happy to go look at places with you. My advice is to make a list of areas you like, things you want the house to have, places it should be near, then start looking. It's easier going in knowing what you want or don't want. I made the mistake of looking first and wasted a ton of time walking through places I hated."
"Yeah, I know I want a large garage, and possibly a roomy basement. I've always dreamed of a man cave. I'll do that, thanks. So things seem to be going good with your roommate."
"I never thought living with someone would suit me, but it's working well. We get along amazingly. I'm going to miss him when he decides to leave."
"Does he have to leave?" Patrick asked. "You've got the room. Why not make the roommate thing permanent?"
"I guess we could. It's too soon to worry about that now though. He's got a ways to go before he's looking to move. Either way, we get along well. He seems to have hit it off with Jessica." He glanced over to where Jessica was teasing D about one of his many tattoos. Danny looked fascinated with them, looking from one to the other, then having D take off his shirt so he could see even more of them. Many of them had been covered by new art after his face had been plastered across the country for every police agency to see.
"Maybe he can get her cake recipe from her." Patrick grinned.
"He hasn't even tasted it yet. Let's ease him into being sneaky." Marshall laughed. "I'm just glad he's comfortable. He was really nervous about tonight."
