Red Envelope (Kiss Me at Midnight) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Book Details

  Dedication

  Red Envelope

  About the Author

  Red Envelope

  Howard Shen

  Kiss Me at Midnight

  Aidan Wu is pretty content with his life—and if things aren't perfect, he's not really inclined to complain. When Officer Wells shows up on Chinese New Year, however, he realizes both what his life is missing and what could ruin it completely.

  Book Details

  Red Envelope

  Kiss Me at Midnight Collection

  By Howard Shen

  Published by Less Than Three Press LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by Michael Jay

  Cover Illustration by V. Rios

  This book is a work of fiction and as such all characters and situations are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  First Edition January 2013

  Copyright © 2013 by Howard Shen

  Printed in the United States of America

  ISBN 9781620041819

  Thanks for proofreading, Lily, even if it made you cringe.

  Red Envelope

  On Saturday, his parents were nearly arrested.

  "Ai ya, who is it now? Aidan, go get the door."

  "Fine, mom."

  Aidan walked through the back door of his parents' house, leaving the rest of his family in the backyard to set up the last of the fireworks. Chinese New Year had been Wednesday, and his parents had decided to wait until Saturday to celebrate. Something about the neighbors not appreciating fireworks on weeknights.

  "Gong xi fa—" Aidan cut his greeting short when he saw who their visitor was. "Um, what can I do for you, officer?"

  "Gong xi fa cai to you too," the police officer said, finishing the traditional greeting in remarkably good Mandarin. Extending his hand, he continued. "I'm Officer Wells. Can I ask whom I'm addressing?"

  "I'm Aidan, officer," Aidan stammered, shaking the offered hand. He frowned in confusion and let go. "Are we in some kind of trouble?"

  Wells smiled broadly. Aidan gaped at his perfect teeth and single dimple. Seeing them wiped all thoughts from his mind but one: he needed to get laid.

  "Not exactly, sir. I just wanted to remind you that your noise ordinance permit expires in—" Officer Wells checked his watch. "Ten minutes."

  It took a moment for Aidan to respond. When Officer Wells had bent his head and looked down, Aidan had caught a glimpse of his hair. Not much was visible from under his cap, but Aidan was pretty sure it was bright red. Not like an Irishman's red, but Chinese-front-door red. He had to stare a little.

  "Oh, right. We've always planned the finale to finish right on the hour." Aidan smirked. "My parents like to make sure the neighbors have something to remember the holiday by."

  "You're Mr. and Mrs. Wu's son?" Wells seemed surprised by that fact, which confused Aidan to no end. "I wonder why I haven't run into you before."

  "Wait, how do you know my parents, and why would you expect to have met me? It's not like any of us have a criminal record!"

  Officer Wells burst out laughing. His laugh was carefree and joyous, not overpowering, and it came with a body that could outrun any criminal in a chase. Too bad Wells was probably straight. Aidan huffed.

  "Nah, nothing of the sort. I'm—"

  "Aidan, what is taking so long? You're going to miss the–" Mrs. Wu switched smoothly from Mandarin to English when she saw their guest. "Oh, hello Officer Wells. I was wondering when you were going to show up tonight." She seemed to consider the appearance of Officer Wells the missing piece of the evening, and Aidan raised his eyebrows at her aplomb.

  Wells laughed. "Of course, Mrs. Wu. What's Chinese New Year without a noise ordinance reminder?"

  His face a mask of disbelief, Aidan turned to his mother. "This has happened before?"

  "You would know this if you read my e-mails about today, or if you'd bothered to come home the last three years."

  Aidan rolled his eyes. She forwarded ten e-mails a day to her children, and she knew very well that they read at most two. As to why he hadn't come home for three years, they weren't getting into that one in front of a police officer.

  "Aidan, go get the folder under the ledger for me. The copy of the fireworks permit is in there. And hurry or we'll miss the finale."

  "Yes, mom." Aidan turned and headed for the kitchen where his twenty-first century accountant mother still kept a paper ledger of monthly expenses in a drawer.

  "Ooh, Mrs. Wu, you made a copy for me this year?" Officer Wells asked.

  The conversation faded as Aidan rounded the corner. He could not believe the police had been visiting his parents for the last three Chinese New Years, and yet the family still set off fireworks every year. Lifting the ledger out of the drawer, Aidan wondered how suspicious his mother would be if he tried to get the first name of Wells from her. He sighed as he found the folder. Even knowing a full name wouldn't do him any good.

  Looking at the clock, he saw it was three minutes to eleven, and his father was going to set the finale off in one minute. He hustled back to the front door with the folder. "Mom, time."

  "Ai ya, you're right. Here, Officer Wells, just take the whole folder. There's a red envelope for you in there. You're welcome to join us for the finale."

  Wells grinned. "Sorry, Mrs. Wu. Policy says I've gotta decline. Good night, and nice to meet you, Mr. Wu."

  Aidan barely had time to nod before his mother hustled him to the backyard.

  *~*~*

  On Tuesday, Aidan almost killed someone.

  Aidan woke up fifteen minutes late and didn't have time to do his hair properly. Being Chinese, his short black hair followed its natural inclination and lay on his scalp as unmovable as the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He managed to lift his bangs a little, enough to prevent them from insulating his forehead, but not enough to show off his highlights. He'd thrown on the first color-coordinated outfit he could find, and today, unfortunately, that meant he'd grabbed a green shirt too wide for his skinny torso, but with sleeves too short for the arms of a man just under six feet tall. Aidan thought he'd donated the shirt already.

  And to top it all off, his ears were still ringing from the fireworks finale on Saturday.

  He was in his car almost on time, glad that he wasn't teaching first period; second period was a unit test for the general chemistry class. Aidan would have some time to breathe.

  Two blocks from his house, a flash of yellow moving rapidly on the right caused Aidan to slam his brakes. As he registered the dog galloping towards the street, time slowed down for Aidan, and he realized several horrible things.

  First, his mechanic had told him his brake pads were on their last legs a month ago.

  Second, a rapid estimate of velocity, distance, and braking force indicated that his car was not going to stop in time, even if his brakes held.

  Third, there was a child running after the dog straight into the street.

  At ten yards from the crash point, some inborn stunt driver instinct made Aidan grab his emergency brake and yank it hard. His car screeched to a halt, still five yards back. Unperturbed, the dog and child raced straight across the street, oblivious to their luck.

  Aidan sat in his car, closed his eyes, and tried not to hyperventilate.

  Thank goodness he'd only been going twenty-five miles an hour. He couldn't figure out where the kid and dog had even come from, but he knew he'd almost killed them. Aidan felt uncom
fortably damp and, for a moment, wondered if he'd wet himself. An internal inventory confirmed that he was just gasping and sweating.

  "Um, Aidan?"

  The hand shaking his shoulder snapped Aidan's train of thought, and he screamed.

  His foot flew off the brake pedal, but the emergency brake was still on. The car moved a few inches before Aidan threw his car into park. He was still panting.

  "Whoa, Mr. Wu. Just take a deep breath." Aidan realized he was being addressed by name by a stranger and turned to see who it was.

  "Officer Wells?" Aidan wasn't totally sure if he had the right person. It had only been three days, but ... "What happened to your hair?" He winced; panic short-circuited his brain-to-mouth filter.

  Officer Wells pale skin blushed slightly as he laughed. "I lost a bet at work. This is my natural color." He brushed a hand through his mop of dirty blond hair, all traces of red gone.

  Aidan felt calmer looking at hazel eyes that he'd missed in the darkness of Saturday night.

  "Are you okay, Mr. Wu?"

  Aidan took a breath and shook himself. "Yes, sorry, officer. Um, there was, uh ..." Aidan trailed off as he relived the moment of horror.

  "Don't worry, Mr. Wu, I saw the dog and the kid." Wells squatted a little and put his hand on Aidan's shoulder. "Nice driving, by the way."

  Aidan snorted. "Thanks."

  Aidan realized quite suddenly that there was a lot of adrenaline in his system. He'd been single for over three years, and he could smell Officer Wells very clearly. There was a bit of cologne, a waft of clean laundry, and just the right amount of that scent that Aidan inextricably knew as male. Officer Wells also had a warm hand.

  Aidan was very, very aroused.

  Aidan was also very, very thankful that he was presently at eye level with Wells.

  "Thanks for stopping to check on me, Officer Wells. I think I'm calmed down now." At least he was calmed out of his panic. Aidan knew his sex drive was a different issue.

  "Alright, Mr. Wu. Hope the rest of your day is better." Officer Wells patted Aidan's shoulder one more time before standing up.

  Aidan forced his eyes up and tried to smile, or at least not grimace. "Thanks, you too. I should get to work."

  Officer Wells nodded. Aidan drove to school, where thankfully, there were no surprises.

  *~*~*

  On Friday, the school was almost shut down.

  Aidan was teaching fourth period. The students were doing some group work about the periodic table—thank heavens not a lab—when one boy screamed as something hit the ground.

  "Mr. Wu! Emergency!"

  Aidan practically teleported to the student's side, where the boy's table partner was writhing on the ground.

  Aiden turned to his two most levelheaded students. "Dara, Peter, front desk. Thomas is having a seizure. James, Laura, Carina, move everything away from him: tables, chairs, backpacks. Everyone else, sit down. Move, and you will regret it."

  Thomas was still seizing, and Aidan frowned at the seizure's unusual length. He looked around. "Derek," he said, pointing at the largest student in his class, "I need your hoodie." As soon as he had it, Aidan used the hoodie to cushion Thomas's head.

  Time ticked by as everyone sat in dead silence. Finally, Thomas stopped shaking. Aidan looked at the clock; it had been only two minutes.

  He looked at the three students closest to him. "James, Laura, Carina, stay here in case I need something. Everyone else back to work."

  Aidan knelt down next to Thomas. Aidan sighed in relief as he saw Thomas breathing.

  Thomas stirred. "Ugh, I want my mommy," he whispered without opening his eyes.

  Aidan smiled gently. "Sorry, Thomas, can't help with that. Just stay still, okay?"

  He chatted idly with Thomas in a calm voice for a few minutes until the principal and an assistant principal came in. They cleared the students to the side of the room just as the paramedics arrived at the door. The paramedics quickly moved Thomas to a stretcher and took him out.

  The principal looked at Aidan. "Mr. Wu, you should go to the front desk. Ms. Vasan…" The assistant principal. "Can cover for you."

  Aidan nodded. "That's probably a good idea. I think I need to sit down. Lesson plan's on my computer," he said to Ms. Vasan. She smiled sympathetically.

  He made his way to the front desk, where the office manager spoke with him.

  "Thomas's mom is meeting them at the hospital. Some police who were in the area are getting the details for the doctors, and they'll want to interview you in Robert's office."

  Aidan nodded and sat down in the chair outside the principal's office normally reserved for delinquents. He stared into space, and wondered what could go wrong next. First there had been the near vehicular manslaughter on Tuesday, and today, a student who hadn't had a seizure in six years had one in his class. The only capstone Aidan could think of for this week was his mother reverting to the way she had been three years ago.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what had to be the police officers walking toward him. Aidan decided that he deserved to just enjoy the moment and soak in the fact that the closer police office fit his pants very nicely. Sprinter's legs, or maybe gymnast's legs. Things just got better as his eyes trailed—

  "Mr. Wu?"

  Aidan started and was glad he hadn't fallen out of his chair. But his butt was throbbing, and his legs were splayed. He was definitely sitting on the floor now.

  "Officer Wells?"

  "You know each other?" The other police officer, an older black woman, looked surprised.

  "I support we do, Atlinson. Mr. Wu, let me help you up, and we can go talk."

  Aidan took Officer Wells's hand and stood up gingerly. Trying not to linger as he let go, he turned to Atlinson. "Hi, I'm Aidan Wu."

  "I'm Officer Betty Atlinson. You already know Officer Zane Wells." She had a firm handshake.

  "This is actually the first time someone's told me his first name. It suits you, Officer Wells."

  "Please, Mr. Wu," Zane said, "as much as we've seen each other this week, call me Zane. This is a relatively friendly visit after all."

  "So informal on the job? Shocking." Aiden grinned. "You can call me Mr. Wu."

  Zane laughed as they sat down in Robert's office.

  "How do you know each other?" Atlinson asked casually.

  "We met at my parents' house."

  Atlinson's eyebrows shot up at Aidan's response.

  "Not like that. Mr. Wu's…" Zane flicked a glance at Aidan. "Parents' house is on my beat up in the hills—the one you did for me that one time last year. I saw him there on Saturday while I was on duty."

  "Oh, that one."

  Aidan blinked at her comment. What interactions had the police, particularly Zane and Atlinson, had with his parents?

  "Well, Mr. Wu," Atlinson said, "we just need a summary of what happened today. We might ask a few clarifying questions, but nothing too intense."

  Aidan spent about ten minutes recounting what had happened, describing symptoms and responding to questions. Atlinson and Zane seemed relaxed, which helped Aidan gather himself a bit more.

  "I think we're good here," Atlinson said at the end. She glanced at Zane. "Wells, I'm going to go call dispatch and get this info passed on to the hospital. Meet you down at the car."

  "Sure Atlinson." As she left, Zane turned. "Alright Aidan, can we get your contact info in case we need to get in touch with you?"

  Aidan smiled at the way Zane said his name. "Sure. Where should I write it down?"

  Zane slid him a notepad and a pen. Aidan started writing his name, address, and phone number.

  "Say, since you're giving me your phone number anyway, want to meet up when I'm not in uniform?"

  Aidan jerked, his street name now ending with a spiral. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Maybe he was actually having the seizure, and this was all a hallucination.

  "Want to go out with me? We can meet on purpose," Zane said with a wide smile.

  A
idan paused, wondering how he had been outed, and then decided it didn't matter. An attractive man was asking him out, and he wouldn't question that. Aidan grinned back. "Yes."

  "Alright, I'll call you, Aidan. I have your number now." Zane winked as he left.

  Robert had to shoo Aidan out of his office ten minutes later.

  *~*~*

  On Sunday ... actually, Sunday was really nice.

  Aidan was a bundle of nerves in front of the Slovak restaurant oddly called Boyer's that Zane had picked out. Aidan was sure Boyer was a French or British name . Zane had said he wanted to celebrate starting something new by trying something new. Aidan wasn't sure how wise that was, but he went along with it.

  Aidan bent slightly at the waist and browsed the menu posted outside the restaurant to keep from pacing the sidewalk. Apparently, Slovak food included fried fish, which he felt obligated to eat since he hadn't had his mandatory fish on Chinese New Year. The schnitzel looked good, and he'd always been a sucker for fried potato dishes.

  The arm wrapping around Aidan's waist made him jerk up suddenly. He didn't hit Zane, who was about as far away as a person could get and still put an arm around his waist.

  "You always jump so much when I interrupt your thoughts that I thought keeping my distance would be smart," Zane commented. "How are you, Aidan?"

  "Klutzy. I'm really happy to see you. I like you better out of uniform."

  "Really? Thanks. Most guys fixate on the uniform."

  Aidan wouldn't dispute that those uniform pants did delicious things for Zane's legs, but the dark blue jeans he was wearing today hugged right at the top of the thigh, then loosened as they went down, just hinting at his very defined muscles. The white leather belt drew Aidan's attention to a perfectly proportionate waist and also forced two things into his attention. First, Zane's jeans showcased his assets even better than his uniform pants, without being obscene. Second, Aidan was pretty sure that he could make out some very rippled abs even underneath Zane's dress shirt.

  And the shirt was even more amazing than the jeans. Zane was wearing a jacket in the February chill, but it was unzipped, letting Aidan see the open shirt collar and Zane's non-existent farmer's tan. And the color of the shirt. A smoky gray, it shimmered blue as Zane moved and uncovered the same blue shimmer in Zane's hazel eyes.