“Wonderful!” she said, clapping her hands. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Oliver nodded, glancing up at Lucas as they turned to leave. He did not spare a look for the Inspector.
As they atedinner that night, Oliver couldn’t help but continually glance at the suitcase leaning up against the front door. The thought of Lucas leaving put him in such a cataclysmically sour mood, even the fish chowder couldn’t improve his disposition.
“Bread?” Lucas asked, holding out a piece of buttered sourdough. Still glaring at the suitcase, Oliver took the bread and shoved it into his mouth without a word. It was objectively delicious, but tasted like ashes on his tongue. Or perhaps he was just being dramatic.
Lucas let out a breath and gently placed his spoon on the table. “Come here,” he said, wrapping his fingers around Oliver’s chair leg and dragging it towards him. Their knees butted together as Oliver dropped his spoon into his bowl with a clatter.
“This is shit,” he said, ripping off another piece of bread with his teeth. “Who the fuck does the Inspector think he is? Messing with people’s lives, treating us like pawns. I hate it.”
Lucas swallowed, leant back in his chair, and patted his lap. Oliver huffed, climbing into it without even so much as a second thought. “I know,” Lucas replied, nuzzling his face into Oliver’s neck. “But I was thinking… why don’t you come to London on our days off?”
Oliver’s mouth went dry, and not from the bread soaking up his saliva. “You mean… to your house?”
Because if Oliver was being completely honest with himself, he hadn’t thought much about their relationship outside his own tiny flat. Or West Newton.Yes, he wanted to see Lucas’ flat, and wanted to touch all the things inside it. He wanted to roll around in his bedsheets, use his shampoo and eat all his food. But the thought ofactuallystepping foot outside his own speck of existence was tantamount to leaping over a canyon.
Lucas chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Unless you think your salary can cover the London hotel prices, then I’d say that my flat is probably the most affordable option.”
Oliver swallowed, wrapping his arm around the alpha’s shoulders. “Butyourhouse hasyourthings in it. Not my things.”
Lucas grinned. “Yes, it does.”
“And your family—they live close by, don’t they?”
“Correct.”
“And you want me to meet them, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
“W-Well I… suppose?—”
Then Lucas was kissing his neck and carrying him out of the kitchen.
TWENTY-FOUR
PUSH THE BUTTON
“What’s a pussy pump?” Matteus quirked an eyebrow as he stared at the list of seized items from the warrant. He looked mildly alarmed as his eyes flitted back and forth across the paper.
“Fuck if I know,” Nancy shrugged, biting into an apple. She crunched loudly as she leant across the table to point at the list. “But if you look closely, it’s a pussy pump ‘v7’. Makes you wonder what the other six versions are like, right?”
Oliver huffed as he stretched towards the ceiling, spine popping and cracking in several places. He sullenly watched the two of them over the top of his monitor, eyes red from the hours he’d spent staring at the screen.
The office was quiet that morning, so Matteus snuck across from the Child Protection Unit—already bored with being on restricted duties. Because, as it turned out, having raging morning sickness was pretty difficult to hide.
“And the ‘Knot Crusher three thousand,’ what do we think of that one?”
“Dunno,” Nancy replied, leaning back in her chair. “Want me to get it out of the property store and find out? It’s been in the freezer, mind you.”
“Are they seriously going to DNA test all these sex toys?” Matteus asked, letting out a long sigh. He rested a hand over his belly and dropped the paper onto the desk.
“Yep,” Oliver huffed, rubbing his temples. “The boss wants the case to be watertight before we send it to the prosecutor.”
Matteus nodded, but then grimaced as he glanced back at the seventy-five pages of itemised sex toys. “I get that,” he said. “Butsurelyhe knows that segregating different DNA profiles from a swab is incredibly difficult? Not to mention that the owner of the DNA would have to be on our database to even get a match.”
Oliver’s lip twitched. “Yes, I know. I just told you why.”
