A Man of Unusual Talent

Chapter 1 Part 2

Acrid, cleaning fluid odors stung his nostrils. Mathias tried to breathe through his mouth. He pushed the button to let the window down a crack, blow away some of the smell. Dillon was such a freak about germs, he'd wiped down all the seats and the entire dash with Lysol wipes before getting into the cruiser. How he'd survived childhood in their cheerful unapologetically messy mom's house, Mat couldn't understand. Maybe the clean freak was a rebellion against the mess they'd grown up in.

Scenery flashed by. Or crawled...Dillon managed to keep his speed at just under the thirty mile per hour limit. The radio crackled occasionally, but not with anything they needed to hear. Mat focused his attention out the window again. Houses, mostly dark. A few security lights. Very little traffic. Typical for Morrisonville on a Thursday night. Nothing to do but drive the same ten mile circuit endlessly, making sure the parks were empty, that no one was breaking into the high school. That was the priority for the next three weeks.

Senior pranks. Twas the season.

Mathias squirmed on the seat. Had to piss. He cast a glance at his partner. Dillon was such a hard nose. "Hey...how about you pull into that gas station over there? I got to take a leak."

Dillon's lip curled, but he swung the patrol car into the convenience store parking lot. "I told you not to get the grande coffee at Mabel's. Good thing it's dead tonight."

"Want anything while I'm in there?" Mat paused with his hand on the door latch, cocking his head at Dillon. Guy wasn't so bad...just a walking encyclopedia of procedure and a nitpicker. He gave out more jaywalking and broken taillight tickets than any cop on the force.

"No eating in the squad car." Dillon turned to face him, lips narrow and tight, radiating disapproval.

"You know...if you weren't my brother..." Mat shoved the door open with unnecessary force. The captain was punishing him...all because he'd missed last Sunday's dinner with the family. Well Pop should learn to separate work from personal. Riding with Dillon for a week was going to be torture. If Pop...Captain Giraud, head of Morrisonville's twenty-five man police force...made good on his threat to force his grandsons to ride together for a month they'd be lucky if the both of them survived.

Shaking his head, Mat slammed the cruiser door as forcefully as he opened it. A poster on one of the convenience store's huge plate glass windows boasted of sixty-four ounce sodas in refillable Hulk, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Black Widow and Thor cups. Mm. I need to go see that new movie. "I'm getting a soda." He called over his shoulder to Dillon as he opened the door. "Can I get the restroom key?"

His gaze automatically surveyed the interior, noting it was deserted except for the cashier...a cute little guy named CC he vaguely remembered from high school...and two hoodie wearing teens. "Everything okay tonight, CC?" He asked. Not that he expected a negative answer, it was just that Collin Crane looked a little freaked. The two kids weren't any bigger than Collin, and weren't familiar to Mat, so he figured they weren't trouble makers. Generally he'd had dealings with most of the town's rowdy teens.

"Yeah, fine these two were just getting gas. Thanks for coming in fellas." CC stepped back, grabbed the restroom key off the hook and tossed it to Mat.

Mat caught the keys, watching the boys leave without speaking. "Seriously, CC. Those kids giving you trouble? I can talk to them." Something about the smaller man...regret probably, for ignoring the way the kid was bullied in high school...made him feel a little protective. It was weird, but Mat had learned a lot since he'd turned his back on bullying when he was a kid. Then he'd thought it was enough that he didn't participate when Jake and Thorn when the others messed with the younger kids. Now...social guilt? Whatever. He was a better person at thirty than he had been at fifteen.

CC looked up, cheeks flushed a little, lower lip trembling. "No...it's okay. They just wanted gas."

"Okay. I've gotta go, but I want a Thor cup when I get back." He nodded and walked toward the narrow hall lined with empty boxes which led to the restroom.

"You a fan of The Avengers?" CC called after him.

Mat paused and glanced back over his shoulder, letting his smile widen. "I'm a huge fan of Thor...that is one well put together man." He was still chuckling over CC's strangled response when he closed the restroom door.

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