When Darkness Ends (Moments in Boston #3) - Marni Mann Page 0,50

the time I turned the corner into the main living space.

“Ashe, you tardy motherfucker,” Dylan said from the couch the second I entered. “It’s about goddamn time your ass showed up.”

“Work,” I blamed, my reason for being over thirty minutes late.

I loosened my tie as I made my way toward him. I hadn’t even had time to go home and change, knowing that would tack on another twenty-five minutes before I got here.

We pounded fists, and I continued on to the kitchen, where Alix and Rose, her best friend, were drinking wine.

“I see he gives you plenty of shit too,” Rose said as I approached.

“He’s just getting warmed up,” I told her, kissing her cheek. “There’s a lot more where that came from.”

I moved over to Alix, and she set down her glass to hug me. “You know he gets extra cranky when he hasn’t seen you in a long time.”

I smiled. “You mean, cranky isn’t his normal demeanor?”

She laughed. “Good point.” As she pulled away, she added, “It’s so good to see you, Ashe. We’ve both missed you terribly.”

“See, even my wife is giving you shit,” Dylan said.

“I’m not your wife yet. I still have time to escape,” she teased back.

On the kitchen island, between the two women, was an extra glass. I placed it in front of me and lifted the bottle of red wine they were sharing, pouring a few fingers’ worth, and then I took it down like a shot. “Work has been …” I shook my head, trying to find the right word.

“Hell, I know … and I get it,” Alix replied. “It hasn’t been any prettier in my department.”

Alix saw tragedy from an entirely different angle, but she still saw more than enough. And each day that passed in this city, the cases seemed to be coming in faster.

“I don’t know how either of you does it,” Rose replied. “The things you guys witness, I’d never be able to sleep again.” She wiped the corner of her mouth, the wine matching her lipstick.

“This helps,” Alix responded, holding up her wineglass. She glanced at me, an understanding in her eyes. “What can I get you to drink, Ashe?”

“Beer.” I patted her shoulder and moved to the other side of the island. “But no need to get it for me. I’ll help myself.”

While I grabbed one of the bottles and screwed off the top, the ladies joined Dylan on the couch, giving Dylan’s chef more room to spread the food out onto the island.

I said hello to him and took a seat at the end of the large sectional, next to Dylan.

As I was kicking my feet onto the ottoman, Alix asked me, “How’s life been aside from work?”

“Honestly, life has been all work lately.”

“I hate that fucking answer,” Dylan replied.

Alix turned to him and said, “You don’t have much room to talk, mister. You’ve been back and forth to London so many times that it’s making me jet-lagged.”

Dylan had opened an office there, and pre-Alix, he would have just lived in the UK until it was up and running. But he’d been traveling back and forth to be with her, and I knew that had to be a lot on both of them.

“What do you want to bet that if we dimmed the lights and covered us in blankets, the four of us would be asleep in seconds?” Rose joked. “A year’s salary?”

I held up my beer. “I’m Team Rose on this one.”

Dylan looked at me and said, “Jesus, I miss the college version of you. It’s not even nine o’clock yet.”

“That makes three against one.” Alix yawned.

“You all need to snap out of this and buck up,” Dylan barked.

Rose rested her head on Alix’s shoulder. “Maybe this should turn into a Sex and the City night.”

“You mean, fuzzy slippers and soft robes and kicking Dylan into the guest room so we can have the bed?”

“Yasss,” Rose sang.

“There’s not a goddamn chance of that happening,” Dylan said, leaning forward to look at both girls. “You’re going to put your big-girl panties on and go out to dinner and go dancing and have drinks, like you’ve been talking about for days. Meanwhile, Ashe and I are going to drown ourselves in Chef Mark’s barbeque and some Macallan single malt and the NBA.”

“Shit,” I replied. “That does sound sexy.”

“Your man might be right,” Rose replied. “Cosmos and dancing and those extra-greasy slices of pizza we always buy from the pushcarts outside the bar? It does sound pretty