The Grave Between Us (A Noah & Cole Thriller, #2)

by Tal Bauer

“It’s Cole,” he gasped, grabbing Jacob’s meaty arms. “He’s coming after Cole.”

He cursed Michael and the BAU and the FBI, told him to go fuck himself, that he wasn’t going to use Noah as bait. That this wasn’t how they were going to run the investigation, and he was done with Michael and his bullshit. That he was going back to Noah, and Michael couldn’t stop him.

He wanted to call Noah as soon as he was alone. Wanted to tell him to come home, that he’d be waiting for him, that they were going to do this together. Fight Ian together, fight for their future together. Tell Noah he’d been right, and Cole was wrong, and forever meant forever. Hell, he couldn’t even manage twenty-four hours apart.

It was thirty-six minutes door to door from the office to his and Cole’s house. Noah made it to the entrance to their neighborhood in less than twenty.

“Hello, Cole.” He froze, like an animal in a trap. He knew that voice. He’d heard it inside his head for years. Heard it in his nightmares still. Raw fear settled in his bones. He knew what the man behind that voice was capable of.

I was close enough to hear you laugh. Close enough to hear you tell Noah you loved him.”

There it was again. Splashing. And something that sounded like a scream.

Noah had put fourteen rounds in the center of Ian’s chest, sent him stumbling into the river with the force of his shots.

Cole crumpled against Noah, wailing as he buried his face in Noah’s neck. Noah grabbed him, dragged him into his arms, rocked him in his hold. The river lapped at their feet, but he held on to his lover, whispering in his ear that he loved him, that it was over, that they were safe. That he wasn’t ever letting Cole go. That they were together. Forever.

Cole insisted he didn’t want to stay at the hospital, and he signed himself out with wrapped ribs and a bottle of antibiotics at four p.m. His clothes were evidence, so all he had on was a set of scrubs. Noah protested, but Cole asked him to please take him to the high school, and all Noah’s arguments evaporated.

Cole reached out, blindly seeking Noah, and Noah joined them, sinking to his knees as he wrapped Cole and Katie—the loves of his life, his family—in his arms.

“Don’t do that.” Noah reached for him and turned his face back up, toward the firelight. “What he did is not your fault.”

The darkness doesn’t outweigh the light, Cole. Sometimes it feels that way, but it’s not true.”

I had an academy instructor who said, ‘There’s a big difference between thinking about shit and putting your hands in it, holding it up to your face, and taking a big whiff.’”

Cole nodded. He laid his hand on Noah’s cheek. “Even if sometimes I can’t talk about it, if you’re there with me, I’m not facing it all alone.”

Once the FBI knew where to look, Ian’s graves opened out of the earth like corpse flowers, blooming for the first time in years.

Cole came back slowly. Noah measured his days in broadening smiles and decreasing silences.

They stayed up all night, talking quietly, making love every other hour. Reconnecting in a way they needed to, down to the molecular level. Noah traced the veins on Cole’s arms, and Cole drew patterns on Noah’s back, kissed a path up and down Noah’s hairy thighs and the backs of his knees until Noah giggled and snorted. Noah gave him a long massage, until Cole was a loose-limbed pile of muscles and bones mumbling Noah’s name in between deep groans.

There wasn’t much for them to plan, but one thing Cole had insisted on, when they made the reservation, was an arch of white roses on the beach for the ceremony. Katie had squealed when she saw it, and Cole grinned, and Noah fell in love with him all over again.

“Congratulations,” the officiant said, smiling again. “It’s my privilege to pronounce you married. Please, begin your marriage with a loving kiss.”

Noah danced with Cole until the band packed up, and then Katie turned on her phone to stream more music, and they danced in the moonlight as waves tickled their feet. He never wanted the night to end.

They watched the sunrise as a reflection in each other’s eyes, kissing away the night and the last shadows lingering in the corners of their life.

Silence together isn’t the same as silence alone.

It was the definition of love: being there.