He quirked an eyebrow. “You do?”
“Yeah, but you know I can’t talk about the case.” I got to my feet and gathered my stuff. “But I have a feeling it won’t be too long before we find the person behind all these murders.”
“But you can take a night off, right?” He leaned back against the desk with his ankles crossed and his thick arms folded over his chest. “We can go hit up Whammy for a drink.”
Whammy was a bar where most of the cops from the precinct went to hang out after work. A drink sounded good. It’d been too long since I’d gone out.
“I’ll have to take a raincheck, Barney. I have homework to do tonight.”
“Does this have anything to do with those diapered asses you were looking at just now? Didn’t think you were into other men.”
“I’m not.” I scooped up my keys. “Like I said, it’s just an assignment.”
“You can take a fucking night off if you want, Hunt. The case will still be there tomorrow for you to solve.”
“I would, but Nate agreed to see me this evening, and you know how hard it is for him to do that.” I checked my watch. “And it’s already later than I’d planned to leave.” I’d been too caught up in all the information I’d found about the age play stuff, part fascinated and part horrified by some of what I’d read and seen.
“Fine, but you owe me a night, Hunt, and I’m going to collect soon.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You’re so fucking dramatic all the time. And what do you need me for anyway? You don’t need me as your wingman. I’m sure you can pick up chicks or dudes on your own.”
He scowled. “I never leave with anyone else when we go bar hopping. Give me some credit.”
Huh. That was actually true.
“Fine, you’re a good friend, having pity on my ass when we go out because no one pays attention to me when you’re standing next to me.”
“Now who’s being dramatic?” Barney laughed as we walked out of the precinct together.
“I’m serious about that raincheck, Neely.”
I didn’t respond but waved at him and headed for my SUV. Going to a bar with Barney was the last thing on my mind right now, but if I’d told him that, he would have only gotten upset, and I didn’t have the spoons to deal with age play stuff and Barney acting like a little kid. I honked at him and backed out of the parking lot. He tailed me all the way to my son’s apartment building as if checking I wasn’t actually bailing on him and lying about it.
The son of a bitch. Barney was unpredictable as fuck, but I’d stopped trying to understand him almost a decade ago.
“Say hi to Nate for me,” he called through his window when he passed me.
I shook my head, got out, and walked to my son’s apartment building. I’d offered Nate to help him get a place that was more secure and had at least a security guard, but he had turned me down. I knew better than to fight him on anything. We already had enough baggage between the two of us for me to add to it.
At least the place looked decent. I knocked on his door and waited. Information I’d read talked about safewords and the importance of communication to establish trust between a little and their caretaker, but how was that possible when we had a problem getting words out of Cosmo?
The door opened, and my son’s cheeky partner, Martin, smiled at me, the ring in his lip blinking. The lips of the platinum blond guy looked fuller than the last time I’d seen him, and his brown eyes were covered by bright blue contacts.
“Ooh, look, it’s my Daddy’s daddy.” He gave me an exaggerated wink, and I chuckled. Martin had been the one to bridge the gap between me and my son. They’d been together since they were thirteen years old and had only briefly broken up when Nate had introduced Brianne to their dynamic. Now Martin loved the girl as much as he loved his Daddy.
“How are you doing, Martin?” I asked.
“Fiiiiiine,” he singsang. “Daddy says you have a little now too. Can I come over and play with him, pretty please? And you can’t say no because I said pretty please.”
“No, you can’t play with another little, brat.” My son walked up to his pouting boyfriend and wrapped an arm around the boy’s middle. “You’re still on punishment, remember?”
Martin made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat, and Nate swatted his behind. “Don’t sass me, boy. Will you go help Brianne get ready for playtime?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
Nate caught the boy’s chin and kissed him hard. “Good boy.”
Martin preened under the compliment and pranced off.