A Restored Man (2 page)

Murder would show mercy.

Matt's hand couldn't hide the smile Cole imagined was plastered on his face.
Poor sorry ass idiot who dared piss off Julian Capeletti.
He looked up at the green-eyed guy who towered over Cole's five-nine stature.

"J, calm down," Matt said to his partner in his usual calming tone.

Yeah, good luck with that. Julian was about to go ape shit on someone and Cole was going to have a front row seat to that show. Cole's stomach fluttered and he started shifting his weight from foot to foot. He couldn't wait to see Julian actually lose it for once.

Julian's jaw clenched and his fists tightened.

Wait a minute
. Cole looked back and forth between Julian and Matt. Julian's not pissed at Matt—he never was. They had one of those sickly sweet, always romantic I love you lick fest relationships you secretly want but would never openly admit. Why was Julian so mad? And who the hell was he mad at? There was no one else in the kitchen.

Shit
. Cole slowly registered how his actions or words may have been received. He instantly released Matt as if his fingers were singed and put his hands behind his back. Matt removed his hand from Cole's mouth. Cole took a few steps back and raised his hands in a surrender-like fashion, hoping to calm the golden beast that seemed to be growing in width with each passing second.

"We were just dancing," Cole said calmly. He knew better than to joke with Julian while he was in this state of mind.
Stick to the facts.
"I was making dinner…your favorite actually." He walked over slowly toward the stovetop like someone stepping away from a wild animal. He kept his focus trained on Julian as he lifted the pot tops on the stove.

Matt neared Julian and placed his hands on the stretched black T-shirt covering his broad chest. "J, I heard the music and came in here. You know I can't resist a dance," he said teasingly as he stroked Julian's chest. He then smiled and placed a kiss on Julian's neck.

Julian's focus shifted quickly from Cole to Matt and back to Cole. Within a second, his glare had changed. Matt kissed him again and Julian's eyes partially closed but snapped open, re-focusing on Cole as his target.

Matt's hand reached up Julian's neck to the back of his shaved head.

Julian's eyes closed and his head lolled to the side, seeking Matt's kisses up his neck then along his jawline. In a flash, he grabbed Matt by the hand and pulled him out the kitchen. Matt quickly glanced back to Cole with a huge grin on his face.

Cole sighed with relief as his entire body relaxed.

Crisis averted.

He always seemed to get a rise out of Julian but it was never intentional. Not really. He wouldn't deny he occasionally had some fun at Julian's expense. He just had the worst case of
foot in mouth
syndrome. It seemed his mouth worked much faster than his brain. He would never say or do anything to intentionally hurt someone, his mother had taught him better than that. But with a thousand different thoughts racing in his mind at any given moment, picking the right thing to say didn't always work out in his favor.

Or as Julian said, he had no social filter between his brain and mouth.

Cole returned his focus to the dinner he was preparing. Food. God, he loved to cook and was thankful as hell Matt and Julian allowed him to tinker in the kitchen. He didn't want to stir anything up—aside from the sauce he was preparing—but he needed to burn off the nervous energy that thrummed through his body on a constant basis. He pressed the button on the iPod docking station to jump to the next playlist and lowered the volume. The smooth sounds of Maroon 5 streamed through the speakers and eased his nerves as he continued to stir the sauce. Visions of Adam Levine singing and dancing came to mind.
Mmm.
The things he'd love to do to that man.

He was placing the garlic rolls in the oven some time later when Julian walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to grab a bottled water. Cole closed the oven and stilled, hoping for some magic superpower that would render him invisible. He couldn't abandon dinner and risk it getting ruined or, even worse, messing up Halfway House, the place he had called his home for the last two months.
Shit
.

Cole turned, feeling as if he should say something, but shut his mouth almost as quickly to avoid aggravating the situation. He sucked at apologies and usually ended up shoving his other foot into his mouth as well.

Julian glared at him just as Matt entered the kitchen with flushed cheeks, a dreamy smile, and swollen lips. Matt hummed as he tugged his shirt to straighten it. When he looked up and saw both Cole and Julian looking at him, his eyes rounded and he quickly turned and exited the kitchen.

Midday booty call. Busted.

A slow smile began to spread across Cole's face. He glanced over at Julian who still had a death glare focused on him.

Julian pointed a finger at him. "Don't you dare go there," he said before turning away. "And pull up your pants. I can see your damn Spider-Man underwear."

"Hey, don't rag on the superheroes. Oh, and by the way…"

Julian turned and gave Cole a pointed glare.

Cole did a chin up gesture toward the door where Matt had been only moments ago. "You can thank me later."

The muscles in Julian's jaw flexed. He inhaled sharply, shook his head, and left the kitchen without saying another word.

"This is delicious," Matt said to Cole as he spun another forkful of pasta. "Don't you think so, J?"

Julian slowed his chewing. "Yeah. It's really good." 

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?" Cole said before shoving a piece of garlic bread in his mouth.

Julian glared.

Matt chuckled.

Cole smiled.

This was their evening ritual whenever Luke wasn't around—the other resident at HH who preferred to keep to himself, unless he was giving Cole a hard time about something. Cole knew better than to mess with Luke. But Julian? That was an entirely different story. Julian was the spitting image of Cole's older brother Marco. They had been inseparable growing up…until a tour of duty ripped him away from Cole. One day, he was waving good-bye, a week later, they had two soldiers at their door to deliver the news that would change his life forever. He refused to talk about it and didn't even want to think about that day or what it had done to him and his family.

Being with Julian and rattling his cage brought a wealth of memories and happiness back into his life he just couldn't pass up. Like old times with his brother again. Somehow, someway, Cole always seemed to render Julian speechless. That, or he was slapping him across the back of his head before he said something that would offend a house visitor. He was starting to pick up on some of the really messed up stuff he said, but he still didn't catch everything. There was something different about getting Julian riled up in front of Matt, though. Julian would never disrespect Matt or raise his voice in his presence unless he was at the brink of losing it. And Julian rarely lost it. The only time he had come close to seeing any sort of semi-explosion was during the whole
Cam and everyone trying to hunt the poor guy down while he was trying to rebuild his life
situation. Julian hated yelling and did everything in his control to manage his temper. But when that guy broke into the halfway house that night, all bets were off.

Cole couldn't resist. It was like poking a lion. No one in their right mind—even Cole and his twisted psyche—would do that if they were alone. But with Matt there with his diplomatic and proper tone and manner, Julian always behaved. So Cole couldn't resist pushing a little. Hey, a guy could have some fun.

"You need to chill the fuck out, J," Cole said.

Matt's smile faltered when he turned to Cole.

"Don't call me that."

"It's just a letter. Get over it," Cole said, grabbing another garlic roll.

"Cole, tread carefully. That subject is not up for negotiation," Matt reprimanded.

Cole sighed. "Julian," he said, emphasizing the name, "you need to chill out a bit. This whole territorial shit you've got going makes you look like a prick."

Julian glared.

"Don't give me that look. You freaked the fuck out when we were dancing earlier. We were just dancing." Cole stopped eating and half smiled. "Now, if we would have both been shirtless and you would have seen me pushing up against Matt and—"

"Cole," Matt warned.

Cole smiled when he looked over at Julian. "See what I mean? You can't even hear it. What the hell are you worried about? Matt's not going anywhere. For some reason, he likes an ogre caveman pounding his chest and yelling 'me man, he mine.'"

Matt snickered.

Julian glared at Cole then turned calmly toward Matt. "Please don't encourage him."

"He's not going anywhere. Here, have a roll," Cole said, shoving the basket of bread in front of Julian.

"You guys play dirty. You can't tag team me and throw in food. It's not fair," Julian said. He cautiously grabbed a roll and broke off a piece, scooped up some sauce and took slow bites.

Matt reached out and gently stroked the side of Julian's neck then spoke to Cole without shifting his focus from Julian. "I know why he does it. He knows I'm not going anywhere but it's his instinct to want to protect his family and home."

Julian's jaw muscle twitched, obviously biting back something other than the bread.

Cole hadn't meant to strike a nerve. He did what he had learned to do just before he crossed that point of no return, he sat still and shut the hell up. He grabbed his fork and spun some pasta just as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get that," Julian said, rising from the table and exiting the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," Cole whispered. "I didn't mean to—"

"I know you didn't. You need to understand that I'm his family and this is his home. You can tease him about anything else or give him a hard time at your own risk, but don't threaten those two factors. Understand?"

Cole nodded. "But I don't want you."

Matt laughed. 

"I mean, you're nice and all but I always feel like you're going to teach me a lesson or something. Like a daddy thing. I'm so not into that shit."

Matt shook his head and smiled. "Do you actually listen to yourself?"

"Why would anyone want to?" Aidan said as he entered the kitchen.

The smile slid off Cole's face as he took a deep calming breath.

He could rile up Julian because he knew he wouldn't really bite back around Matt. But Detective Aidan Calloway would not only bite back, he'd gnaw away repeatedly until there was nothing left but the bare bone. And then he'd work on breaking that as well.

"Hi, Aidan, want to join us for dinner?" Matt said in his always cordial tone.

Aidan pulled out one of the dining room chairs. "I'm always up for food." Matt rose and grabbed a plate and glass for him before rejoining them again.

Aidan stared at Cole. Intently. The fucker didn't blink. Those hazel eyes were burning a hole in Cole's soul.

Cole squirmed.
Why the hell is this psycho just staring?

Matt placed a full plate of food in front of Aidan, yet, the man continued to stare.

"What!" Cole said.

"Why the urgency?" Aidan asked.

"Huh?"

"Why do you need to start the new job tomorrow? My brother was ready for you to start in two weeks," Aidan said in that level tone that always made every hair on Cole's body rise and take notice.

"Because I need the weekend of the twenty-second off. According to the rules, I need to be working for fifteen consecutive days. You can do math right?"

Aidan's jaw clenched.

Ok, so maybe that last bit was pushing it. 

The corner of Aidan's lips slowly inched upward. "You are, of course, assuming my brother won't fire you."

The forkful of pasta stopped midway to Cole's mouth. "He can't fire me."

"Sure he can. Why wouldn't he?" Aidan sat back and crossed his arms.

Cole's breathing sped. "Because I have the agreement." Cole rubbed his hands on his jeans. That stupid fucking agreement Hunter Donovan, former assistant state attorney and Cameron Pierce's partner, wrote up, leaving his car to Cole in a trust until his release from Halfway House. The car would be his at the end of his six-month term if, and only if, he behaved and stayed out of trouble. No more stealing cars or back-talking. He had to keep a steady job and be responsible. If he screwed up, Aidan kept the car to do as he wished with it.

He was so quick to accept the agreement, he hadn't realized how hard it would be to play the role of
mister-fucking-perfect
. Cole had survived two weeks post-agreement. Well, for the most part at least. A few more months seemed like an eternity.

"Yes, Cole,
you
have the agreement. Not my brother. He can fire you that first day if you blow it," Aidan said. He let a smile slip just before he took a bite of the garlic roll.

Smug bastard.

Cole's throat tightened. Well, that threw a monkey wrench in his whole plan. He could work on cars for a few months—that was no problem—but having to be nice to someone sharing the Calloway gene? That would be tough. What if he was like Aidan? Or,
oh shit
, what if he was like Aidan times ten? Cole pushed the plate of pasta aside, suddenly losing his appetite. He looked away and rubbed his arm to stave off the sudden chill. Great, somehow he had a feeling he would screw things up on that first day.

"Aidan, cut it out. Enjoy the pasta while it's still hot," Julian said, breaking the tension in the air.

Cole looked over to Julian and wanted to silently thank him but worried that would get lost in the translation somehow. As much as he riled up Julian, for some reason, Cole seemed to fall under that
protect family and home
philosophy of his. Julian never let Aidan go on attack while in the house. And Lord knew there had been plenty of chances whenever he'd stop by for follow-up paperwork on Cam's case. Cole had a virtual bull's-eye on his forehead where Aidan was concerned.