A Nothing Special New Year

  By: Author A.E. Via

  Copyright © January 2021

  Cover Art By: Jay Aheer of Simply Defined Art

  Edited By: Sandra Dee of One Love Editing

  Proofreading By: Mildred Jordan of I Love Books Proofreading

  Proofreading By: Rebecca Slone of Becca’s Blue Pencil – Beta and Proofing Services

  Proofreading and Line Editing By: Carra Saigh of Making It Happen Book Blog

  Formatting & Illustrations By: Casey Harvell of Fancy Pants Formatting

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, Adrienne E. Via.

  No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without permission from Adrienne E. Via. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

  Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.

  This is a M/M Romance and contains graphic content. It’s not intended for readers under the age of 18.

  Please note that this story is a work of FICTION. The Nothing Special series is set in Atlanta, Georgia, HOWEVER, geography, landscapes, business names, etc, may be modified to fit the story.

  Thank you to my amazing friends and my production team for helping me put this short story together—when it’s not my strong suit—while going through something really heartbreaking in my life. You know who you are.

  Thank you so much.

  Title

  Disclaimer

  Dedication

  Contents

  The Nothing Special Series

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  ChapterFive

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Want More

  The Atlanta Police Department’s notorious narcotics task force consist of a rogue collection of the most feared and unorthodox detectives, independent of standard departmental jurisdiction.

  Led by two of the baddest lieutenants to ever hit the streets - Cashel "God" Godfrey and Leonidis Day.

  Nothing Special Book One

  Lieutenant Cashel Godfrey (God) & Lieutenant Leonidis Day

  Nothing Special Book II ~ Embracing His Syn

  Detective Corbin Sydney (Syn) & Furious Barkley

  Nothing Special Book III~ Here Comes Trouble

  Detective Mark Ruxsburg (Ruxs) & Detective Chris Green

  Nothing Special Book IV~ Don't Judge

  Detective Austin Michaels & Judge Josephson

  Nothing Special Book V

  Detective Shawn Murphy (Tech) & Edwin Steele

  Nothing Special Book VI~ SWAT Ed.

  Lennox Freeman (Free) & SWAT Captain Ivan Hart

  Nothing Special Book VII~ EX Meridian

  Coming Soon

  Nothing Special Book VIII ~ SWAT Ed.

  SWAT Lieutenant Mandal Tucker (Fox) & Dominic Walker (Bull)

  Mason

  “You guys be sure to stay alert out there tonight. I don’t want another young life lost from this drug. We have to protect this city, or it’s going to go down like the damn Titanic! Especially if this next shipment of Halucanax makes it onto the streets.” Their precinct captain pounded his thick fist on the podium stand as he eyed each of them with a seriousness they only saw when he was under pressure from the chief. “The new year is rapidly approaching, and so far we have no leads on the large amount of hallucinogens that’s expected to arrive soon and ravage our city.”

  Mason took a deep breath, wishing that all he had to worry about this new year was making a few resolutions on eating out less and investing more time in his personal life. Instead, he had to worry about a new tidal wave of drug dealers flooding the neighborhoods, pushing a new, highly lethal drug. Mason elbowed his partner, Clark, and muttered near his shoulder. “So much for an easy week.”

  “Easy week,” Clark grumbled. The slight twitching of his thick mustache was the only way Mason knew his good friend’s lips were moving. “What the fuck is that?”

  Mason snorted, then turned his attention toward his own lieutenant, who was standing along the wall of the huge bullpen with several other department heads. He tilted his chin at something over Mason’s shoulder, triggering him to turn around. He swallowed thickly when he saw the city of Atlanta’s narcotics task force gearing up in tactical equipment behind the floor-to-ceiling glass that separated their department from the rest of the bullpen. The task force was headed up by badass lieutenants, God and Day, two officers who were not only revered and respected throughout the police force but also notoriously feared on the streets. Sometimes Mason wondered what it would feel like to be a part of that kind of brotherhood, but he never dwelled on it long because he loved working the beat with his partner. So instead, he ignored the activity buzzing behind him and focused his attention on his own department’s duties.

  “Now, you’ve all received the task force’s memo on what they want you to look for out there over the next couple weeks. There’s going to be increases in dealer activity and surges in the ERs. Bring ’em in like they asked. Be diligent, but most of all be safe.” The captain finished, then turned and walked away without bothering to ask if they had any questions.

  It didn’t matter if they did. He wasn’t the man to answer them. He and Clark got up and walked over to their desks that were butted up against each other on the side of the bullpen closest to the task force department. It was almost seven, time for them to get on their beat, but he needed a couple of minutes to complete his vacation request.

  “Oh hell no. Don’t you sit down at that computer, Mason.” His partner pointed at Mason’s ass right before he plopped it down in his chair. “You’re gonna make us late, man, and you know I wanted to stop by Erlene’s for a cruller.”

  “It’s just my vacation request. I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake… or cruller.” Mason chuckled as he opened up their interdepartmental application. It was pretty much the running joke of the precinct how technically challenged he was. Something as simple as creating a new file folder for witness notes could cause Mason’s entire system to go haywire, or so he claimed. He was sure his computer was doing shit on its own and making him look like a fool.

  “When are you taking off on me again?” Clark asked, propping one side of his hip on the corner of his desk.

  “I’m only using a few days of my vacation next month, not all of it,” Mason said nonchalantly, though his pulse was already quickening. He was going to a New Year’s singles meet retreat in Mars Hill, North Carolina, that he’d had booked for months. A four-day weekend of snow, skiing, and plenty of single men. Next year was going to be his fucking year. He was going to have a hot social life to go with his amazing job.

  “What’s going on that weekend? You going to see your folks?” Clark asked, then started to groan when Mason began repeatedly hitting his Esc key.

  “Damnit,” Mason hissed, cutting his eyes to his partner, then back to his screen. “Shit, shit, shit. Tab over twice, select the dates I want… okay, then… submit.” Mason clicked the green Submit, but another error popped up, indicating his request could not be sent. “I know I’m doing this right.”

  “Jesus. I knew it.” Clark rolled his eyes. “We’re gonna be late.”

  Ignoring his best friend, Mason shook his head in confusion, unable to see what it was he was screwing up. He had to get his paperwork in early since he was sure there’d be plenty of married officers trying to get in their forms for Valentine’s Day weekend too. He closed and reopened the application again, but the damn request still stalled. “Fuck,” Mason barked, tossing his mouse to the floor. It was his seventh one this month.

  Officers glanced up from their desks, some stopping in mid-stride of wherever they were headed, and laughed at Mason’s obvious predicament.

  “Not again, Mason,” a victim advocate specialist giggled, clutching her clipboard to her chest like a shield.

  “Mason, are you sure you have a degree, man? How’d you manage to turn in your college papers? Hand delivery, or did you fax in your assignments? Because I don’t even think you know where the power button is on your monitor,” Tomkin murmured when she stepped over Mason’s mouse, shaking her head. “And by monitor… I mean the computer screen.”

  Mason rubbed his temples. He didn’t give a damn abo ut the teasing. He had thick skin after being a beat cop for eight years. Besides, the people ribbing him were friends. It was just his computer was possessed. He was sure of it.

  “Does anyone know a sixth grader who teaches computers for beginners? I gave Mason the pamphlet for Piedmont Learning Academy, but I think even that’s too advanced,” Officer Vasquez sneered as he walked by with two of his loyal cronies laughing behind him as if he were Rodney-fucking-Dangerfield.

  Now Mason was getting pissed. There was teasing, and then there was being a downright dick. Vasquez was on everyone’s shit list, and Mason knew his days as a crooked police officer were numbered.

  “Hey, you all right, my friend?” A smooth, lightly accented voice came from behind him. Mason recognized Lennox Freeman immediately, but he was reluctant to lift his head. The narcotics task force’s computer wizard was always coming to his defense, but they kind of did that for each other a lot. “You need some help?”

  “Sorry, Free. I’m trying to submit a vacation request, but it keeps giving me a red X when I hit Send,” Mason said as quietly as he could, but Vasquez still overheard him and started a rambunctious round of laughter from more of his partners. “A vacation form!”

  Free spun around with a pinched scowl in the center of his handsome face, causing a majority of the bullpen to fall silent. “Vasquez, I did not know about your degree in computational science.”

  Vasquez frowned. “In what? That’s not what my degree is in—”

  “Really? But you know the new department software so well that you can mock others.” Free tucked his tablet that never left his side under his arm. “I am curious to know what you thought of the IT department’s memo yesterday on their statistical analysis of workforce management systems for multi-shift companies and big data aggregation trifecta tools.”

  Vasquez looked as if he was trying to figure out what language Free had just spoken in. “Analysis of what?”

  Free’s dark eyes widened in mock outrage. “Did you say ‘of what’? But I just literally told you. Someone get this idiot a pamphlet.”

  Vasquez’s face and neck turned a deep shade of red as everyone, including his own followers, turned the ridicule on him. Vasquez cursed and dismissed the other officers before he leveled Free with a scowl that promised retribution. Mason watched in surprise as Free stood taller and held up his tablet as if it was the equivalent of Thor’s hammer. Vasquez quickly averted his eyes and hurried toward the double doors that led to the elevators.

  “Something really weird is going on between you two.” Mason squinted at Free. “First he was bullying you, now you got him cowering like a wet dog. What’d I miss?”

  “Surely you haven’t missed his big-ass boyfriend that heads up the SWAT team, have you?” Clark snorted. “Captain Hart is a nice deterrent for Vasquez to leave Freeman alone.”

  “Free can take care of himself,” Mason interjected, drawing a sweet smile from Free. He didn’t like to think of his friend as the timid, nervous guy he’d met last year that’d let a bully almost run him away from his new family. Free was a lot more confident now, and he’d more than proven that. Though he wasn’t a law enforcement officer, he was still an integral member of God and Day’s narcotics team. His ingenious inventions for first responders had already saved multiple lives in the short time he’d been there.

  “That’s right. I do not need Ivan to fight my battles. Don’t you boys worry about that piece of shit, Vasquez. His day is coming.” Free tapped a few times on his tablet, which didn’t look like any Samsung product Mason had ever seen, then turned his attention on them with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I just turned his water off again at his house. I heard he has a thing about showering at the station. It supposedly grosses him out.”

  “Holy shit.” Carter chuckled quietly. “That’s messed up, Free. I think you can control the goddamn world from that one device you carry all the time.”

  “I can,” Free mumbled while ushering Mason out of his seat and taking over his computer. “Vasquez is my bitch now. I will keep playing with his ass until I get bored. Then, I am going to end him.”

  “Working for God is really rubbing off on you,” Mason whispered. He and Clark laughed off Free’s declaration, but Mason had a sinking feeling that Free was telling the truth. It was no longer a secret that God and Day had somehow managed to secure one of the best hackers in the world for their team. And working for the Atlanta Police Department was a good way for Lennox Freeman to stay off the terrorists’ search list.

  “Okay, your request is all sent. Remember I told you, you have to close completely out of VWS before you can send department mail. If you’re working in the victim/witness statements application, it won’t let you—”

  “Send other correspondence,” Mason hurried to finish, snapping his fingers. “Fuck, that’s right.” Mason grimaced, wishing there was some way he could become more computer savvy that didn’t require months of schooling. But at age thirty-three, he was afraid that ship had sailed long ago.

  “He’s told you that five times, numbnuts.” Clark rolled his eyes. “Free, why do you keep rescuing this guy? I think you should report his gross incompetence to his LT. Do you have any idea how long it takes Mase to finish our damn reports? It’s absurd.”

  “I can’t help myself.” Free smiled that sexy, mature grin that always made Mason have to look away. After he shut down Mason’s computer, he stood and draped his arms around his shoulders from behind and whispered in Mason’s ear, “I have a thing for technically challenged men.”

  If he didn’t already know that Free was head over heels in love with his boyfriend, he’d swear the man was flirting with him. Mason made sure to school his features and control his body’s natural reaction. It didn’t matter that he had a brilliant, handsome, wonderful-smelling man clinging to his back, his slim chest pressing against Mason’s Kevlar. He couldn’t get fucking hard. Heaven forbid someone even thought he was making a play for the SWAT captain’s first and only boyfriend.

  “Well, shit, if that’s what you like, then Mason should really turn your crank.” Clark stood and put on his heavy polyester coat over his uniform. It was past time for them to be on the road and on the radio.

  “Hey. You leave my fantasy man alone.” Free smirked. “And Clark, you sure didn’t mind when I helped you with your little satellite cable problem after the tech company was dragging their ass and you couldn’t watch Monday night football two weeks in a row.”

  Clark waved him off. “That’s different. We’re talking football against fast, accurate police reports. One far outweighs the other.”

  “You guys are crazy. I’m out of here, I have only got a few minutes to grab some dinner and get back inside,” Free said, releasing Mason’s stiff shoulders. “Mase, if you need me, you know where to find me.”

  “You’re working tonight?” Mason asked, putting on his own winter jacket.

  “Yep. We’re all going to be pulling some long hours while we try to figure out when in the bloody hell these drugs are going to hit the streets,” Free said.

  He and Clark both dropped the joking and turned serious. “Has God got anything concrete, or should none of us make plans for the new year?”

  Free glanced around before lowering his deep voice. He wasn’t supposed to share the task force’s leads with anyone since the entire department was currently under IA investigation for officers that were on the take, but Free had long ago determined he could trust Mason. “He has a pretty good idea. The enforcers, Ruxs, Green, Tech, and Steele are bringing in dealers every night, trying to get to the big man. He and Day think we’re close.”

  “I’m sure if anyone can get that bastard, it’s God.” Clark nodded.

  “Yeah, God always gets his man. But still, be careful out there. This new drug has a combination of synthetics that causes symptoms of psychosis, so some of these users and dealers are becoming more unpredictable.”

  Mason and Clark glanced at each other, silently communicating that they’d keep that under strict advisement. They were always careful, but Free was warning them of a potentially new threat. “Thanks, Free.”

  “I will be on the comms all night. Mason, you know what channel to use if you need me,” Free said and strolled through the bullpen, waving to a few other officers who were also just as fascinated with him as Mason was.

 

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