Erin Leaf: The First Time is the Sweetest

“Good morning, darling!” Jimmy called as he came into the bedroom. She sunk back into the pillows and smiled at him, admiring his gorgeous body. He wore cut-offs and nothing else. She bit her lips at the sight of his chiseled abs and chest; then her eyes dropped to his groin, eyeing the zipper.

He laughed, enjoying her look. “Don’t get your hopes up, Sabrina. We have a meeting with Agent Patrick in an hour.”

Sabrina sighed in disappointment and ran her hands through her hair, trying to work out some of the knots. “Where’s Gabriel?” she asked. “I didn’t hear him downstairs and I sort of remember something about groceries?”

Jimmy nodded. “He went to town to pick up some supplies. We have one egg left and some toast for your breakfast,” he paused and smirked, “or should I say lunch?” Sabrina threw her pillow at him and laughed as he dodged. “He’ll be back any minute now.” She made a face at him, then turned as the door slammed downstairs.

“Guess that’s my cue to get out of bed.” Sabrina stood up, stretching her arms over her head. She was happy the cut on her arm didn’t even twinge as she moved around, gathering up her clothes. After a quick shower, she pulled on a white tank top with her favorite purple sweat shorts. It looked like it was going to be another hot day, and she wanted to be comfortable. She didn’t care if the FBI thought it was appropriate or not for their meeting. She wondered if Jimmy was going to put on a shirt and found herself hoping he wouldn’t. She hummed to herself as she ran a comb through her hair, then frowned when she heard raised voices from downstairs.

“What? Are you fucking serious?” Jimmy exclaimed. What was going on? Sabrina couldn’t hear Gabriel’s reply, so she moved to the stairs and ran down lightly on bare feet.

“Yeah, I’m positive it was him,” Gabriel was saying, running his hands through his hair and making it stand on end. He wore light brown shorts and a black T-shirt. Sabrina could see one gun tucked into a waist holster, sitting at the small of his back. It looked uncomfortable. His other smaller weapon was on the table among the partially unpacked stuff Gabriel had just brought in from town. Both men turned as she neared. The groceries were half spread in and out of three bags, but neither man seemed much concerned with putting the food away.

“What’s going on?” she asked, slipping up to Gabriel and wrapping her arm around his waist. He turned and gave her a firm hug, burying his nose in her neck for a second before letting go and sighing. He looked at her then, searching her face for something, she wasn’t sure what. Jimmy stood on the other side of the table, looking grim.

“I saw Agent Patrick in town talking to Miltos,” Gabriel finally said bluntly.

Sabrina wrinkled her face, confused. “Did he catch him?” she asked, thinking how great that would be, but stopped as Gabriel shook his head.

“No, he wasn’t in cuffs. It looked like they were arguing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were really going at it. At one point I thought Patrick was going to hit Miltos, but he didn’t, and then Miltos left, looking pissed.”

Sabrina felt the blood leave her face. She clutched at his arm. “What? Are you serious?” Gabriel nodded soberly. “Do you think they’re working together?” she asked tightly. The FBI agent in charge of her case was talking to the shooter? Gabriel shrugged. He looked frustrated. “I don’t understand,” Sabrina murmured to herself, still trying to wrap her brain around what he’d said.

“Neither do I,” Gabriel admitted, squeezing her arms. She flinched slightly. It seemed appropriate that it hurt, the perfect metaphor for the sudden mess of her life. Gabriel immediately gentled his touch. “I was in the checkout of the small grocery store when I looked up and saw Patrick standing across the street in front of the post office, talking to Miltos. I’d met Miltos when I was undercover. He’s the head honcho for the drugs in the northeast, so I remembered his face. It’s a good thing I was in the shop and out of sight. I could barely control my shock.” Gabriel looked down at the food spread haphazardly on the table. “I think we should go. I don’t think we’re safe here anymore.”

Jimmy nodded grimly and looked at Sabrina. “Yeah, I agree. If Patrick is meeting with Miltos, that means the bad guys know where we are.”

“Shit,” Sabrina said succinctly, heart racing.

“And apparently Patrick is a bad guy.” He gritted his teeth. “Goddamn it! He was my partner! I’m supposed to be able to trust him,” he ground out, looking angrier the longer they stood there. “What the fuck is he doing?”

Sabrina grimaced. “I bet it’s money. Didn’t you say he went through a messy divorce?” Gabriel jerked his head in agreement. “Did his ex take a lot of his money?”

Gabriel looked at her. “Yeah, yeah, she did,” he breathed. “She divorced him because he freaked when he found out their son was gay, hitting the kid, threatening to throw him out. He had to undergo some sort of anger management and non-discrimination training after that. I’m not sure what all it entailed because it happened while I was undercover.”

“Jesus,” Jimmy breathed. “Did he know you were bi? Why would they assign him a partner like you if he had a history like that?”

“I’m not sure anyone really knew about my orientation. I mean, I never hid it, but it just never came up, either. It wasn’t like I went out of my way to tell everyone, you know? The powers that be either didn’t know my preferences or if they did, they figured that it would be good for Aaron to deal with his issues head-on.”

“Agent Patrick was acting really strange the night those guys broke in my house,” Sabrina offered. Both men looked at her. “He was really weird about warning me to be careful and saying that I should watch out even with you two around. He looked really wigged out at the time, but I didn’t really think about it because I was so tired and freaked myself. I even noticed him flinching slightly when you came to the table, Jimmy. He must have known about you by then.”

Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, we had complete files on the both of you. Shit. Even if he knew and hated my orientation, that still shouldn’t be enough to make him turn. Knowing about Jimmy never seemed to bother him. There has to be more to this than we’re seeing right now.”

“It’s gotta be the money,” Jimmy said. Sabrina nodded and Gabriel sighed again, sitting down and running his hands through his hair. “Isn’t it always the money?” Jimmy added cynically.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. He needed cash and that operation was rolling in it. But what does that have to do with shooting you?” Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed his eyes before dropping his hands.

“Maybe Miltos is screwing everything up because he’s distracted. I mean, it was all about revenge on my father, right? How do you run a ‘business,’” Sabrina used air quotes to emphasize her point, “while you’re running around trying to shoot someone because of what happened with your girlfriend? Maybe he was neglecting things and the bigger boss, whoever that is, got pissed.” Jimmy nodded while Gabriel just looked thoughtful.

“You could be right. I know Miltos was in charge of most of the drug trafficking in north Jersey, but we knew that there was someone else who pulled the strings in New York City. Before being transferred to New Jersey to work with me, Patrick worked out of the Manhattan office. Maybe he’d been taking money from them, messing with the FBI’s operation, and when he moved, he had to deal with Miltos, who had this little revenge thing going on. The money dries up because Miltos is distracted, or maybe the big boss tells Patrick to deal with Miltos and get the situation under control and offers more money for that.” Sabrina nodded. What Gabriel said made sense. “And it all plays into Patrick’s homophobia.” He banged the table with his fist. “Even so, it doesn’t change things now. We have to get out of here.” Gabriel rose and swiftly packed the food back into the paper sacks. Sabrina moved to help him, running her hand over his back soothingly when suddenly the window over the kitchen sink shattered.