He'd made pancakes for the kids, even though the usual Saturday ritual was for Jude and Wolf to go to Dunkin’s for breakfast and would bring home goodies for Cope and Lizbet. Wolf had been a bit disappointed, but Cope promised they’d simply switch days and he could go with his father tomorrow morning instead.
Wolf had quickly agreed to the new plan.
“Do I smell pancakes?” Jude asked, walking into the kitchen, looking like something the cat dragged in. Even though he’d been clean shaven the night before, scruff covered his face. His eyes were half opened and were bloodshot and Jude moved like a slug caught in molasses, rather than with his usual coordinated grace.
“Yup!” Wolf crowed, jumping into Jude’s lap. “Daddy said we can go out for breakfast tomorrow. How does that sound?”
“Sounds great, pal.” Jude said pressing a kiss to his cheek. He looked as if he had more to say when the doorbell rang.
“Oh! That’s Everly. Gotta run. Later, Darth Vader!” Wolf sprinted into the living room and grabbed his coat, while Cope answered the door.
“Hey, Cope!” Ten greeted. He was all smiles. He held two garment bags that Cope assumed were filled with his and Ronan’s rented tuxedos from the night before.
“Thanks for taking Wolfie to the library.” Cope waved to Everly, who stood next to Ten on the stoop.
“And thank you for returning the tuxes.” Ten offered a tentative smile. “How’s Jude this morning?”
“He’s alive. That’s about all I can say about him.” Cope wasn’t sure if he should say more, but decided asking about drugs was more important than Cope’s pride.. “Can you talk to Ronan about the effects of being roofied? Jude thinks someone might have slipped something in his drink.”
“Are you serious?” Ten’s eyes widened. “I’ll ask him if he thought the way Jude was acting could be from that. Maybe Fitz will know if there were any other reports of people being drugged. I’ll do some research and I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Ten, for everything.”
“You got it.” Ten took Wolf and Everly’s hands and led them across the street to his SUV.
Cope watched until they drove away, with the kids frantically waving. He hung the garment bags on hooks by the door and headed back into the kitchen to find Jude picking at a pancake.
“What did Ten mean about the tuxes? I couldn’t hear all of what he said.” Jude guzzled a cup of coffee and sighed contentedly.
“Ten’s taking Wolf to the library. I said I’d return the tuxedos to shop we rented them from. Where’s yours?”
“It’s upstairs on the chair across from our bed. I’m sorry I didn’t put it back in the bag.” Jude stood up and opened his arms to his husband. “I’m sorry I was such a dickhead last night.”
Cope walked into them. He absolutely hated when he and Jude fought. It felt good to make up again. He kept his head pressed against Jude’s chest for several minutes, reminding himself how lucky he was that Jude was his husband.
“I need more coffee.” Jude released Cope and headed for the pot.
“I’ll run upstairs and grab our tuxes. Maybe we’ll take the kids to McDonalds for lunch when we drop them off.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jude agreed easily. “The best thing for a hangover is greasy fast food.”
Cope didn’t know if that was true or not. He’d never been much of a drinker. There was an occasional bottle of wine or two, but he and Jude didn’t drink regularly and definitely not in front of Ronan. Last night had been a big departure from the norm. One which Cope hoped wouldn’t be repeated any time soon.
Climbing the stairs, Cope thought ahead to the rest of the day. He’d schedule a grocery pick up so that he could make Wolf and Jude spaghetti and meatballs during the coming snowstorm. Wolf loved to help make the balls along with Cope. Maybe he’d get some cookie dough so they could have treats with their family movie. The more Cope thought his plan over, the more he liked it.
He walked into the bedroom to find that Jude had stripped the bed. Poking his head back into the hallway, he could hear the washing machine. Jude wasn’t one to do the laundry. Copecouldn’t help but wonder how long Jude’s penitent behavior would last. There were a couple of things that needed to be done around the house, fixing a creaky stair and changing lightbulbs in the guest bathroom, now was a great time to remind Jude about them.
After remaking the bed with fresh sheets, Cope ducked into the hallway to put the sheets in the dryer and throw a load of his and Jude’s clothes in. Saturdays was for their laundry. Sunday was for Lizbet and Wolf’s.
Back in the bedroom, Cope grabbed their garment bags out of the closet and laid them side by side on the bed. He grabbed his pants and checked the pockets. He found a twenty dollar bill and his coat claim ticket. He stuck the money in his back pocket and threw the ticket away. Repeating the same procedure with the jacket, Cope found nothing. It didn’t take long to arrange the clothes in the bag and to zip it up.
Next was Jude’s tux. He felt his way through Jude’s pant pockets and found forty dollars, which he added to the stash. If memory served, Jude had taken eighty dollars in cash with him the night before. Maybe he had been telling the truth about only having three or four drinks. Not that it mattered. Cope had forgiven Jude and didn’t want to spend any more time thinking about the Policeman’s Ball.
Reaching for Jude’s jacket, Cope checked the front pocket and found several ones. The inside pocket held something that didn’t feel like money. He stuck his hand inside and pulled out a folded cocktail napkin. Cope opened it and read what was written inside. It was Jerry’s phone number. Under the digits was written, “Can’t wait to sink my teeth into you again.” Each letter “I” was dotted with a heart and the e’s in “teeth” had fangs.
“What the fuck?” Cope asked the empty room. He finished packing up Jude’s tux and brought them downstairs along with the note.
“Wanna explain this to me,” Cope said, throwing the napkin down in front of Jude, just as his phone lit up with a text jingle. Cope saw Jerry’s name appear on the screen. “Hey, lover!” was his message to Jude.
