Jackson watched her drive off before he started to make his way back up to the apartment, giving another wave of apology to the boy behind the desk as he went. When he reached his apartment, it was weirdly quiet. Jackson went to his office and flipped on the cameras. Keisha and Isaac were lying on Jackson’s bed, Keisha munching on her waffle and Isaac’s fingers flying on the controller. He flicked to the camera in the hallway just outside Day’s open door. Inside, Day sat on the floor with Chloe, who had pulled several items from Day’s drawers. She wore huge white sunglasses and a hot pink feather boa over her clothing. He had no idea what Day was saying to her but they were both emphatically gesturing to each other, like two old ladies at a cocktail party.
Jackson couldn’t help but laugh. He kept the cameras focused on both rooms as he sat answering emails and checking in with Jimmy on where he was with the case, asking him to send the file so he could look it over himself. He had avenues he could search that the cops couldn’t.
By the time Jackson got off his conference call, it was almost lunch time. As he walked up the stairs, he could hear Isaac and Keisha laughing and playing, but Day’s room was quiet. When he glanced inside, it looked like the room had exploded. There were feathers and tulle and satin everywhere. It took him a moment to spot Day and Chloe because they sat on the other side of the bed, facing the windows. Day’s head and shoulders were visible, his elbows propped on his knees. All he could see of Chloe was her wild curls, bleached a light brown by the sun.
“What’s your book about?” Day asked, pointing to what Jackson imagined was the book in question.
Chloe looked down. “It’s calledMaddi’s Fridge. Can you read it to me?”
Day was quiet for a long moment. “Uh, I don’t have my glasses that help me read. Why don’t you read to me?”
It was a lie. Day’s glasses were on his face and, unlike Jackson, he was far too young to need reading glasses. Jackson wondered if he should interrupt. Chloe was sensitive about reading.
Chloe’s voice dropped, like she was telling Day a big secret. “I don’t read so good,” she said in a stage whisper.
Jackson’s heart ached for Chloe. She was struggling in school. She was only five, but Ruby and Darren had already had to hire tutors to help her. She had some type of processing disorder that required special tutors three times a week. She also read to dogs at a local shelter as part of a program initiative that made it less stressful for kids to read out loud since dogs wouldn’t judge them. He hoped Day didn’t push her too hard. Chloe was the sensitive one.
Day dropped his head, his whisper conspiratorial. “Can I tell you a secret?”
Chloe nodded solemnly, her big brown eyes wide.
“Promise not to tell anybody? It’s a little embarrassing.”
Jackson frowned, suddenly feeling like he was intruding but also leery about leaving a stranger to share secrets with his five-year-old niece. Chloe, like most little kids, didn’t share Jackson’s reservations.
“Pinky promise,” she swore.
Day hooked his pinky with hers, leaning in. “I don’t read so good, either.”
“Really?” she asked, sounding awed.
Day nodded. “Yeah, really. So, why don’t you read to me?”
“People make fun of me when I read,” Chloe confided.
“I would never make fun of you,” Day promised. “When I was your age, I was so bad at reading, I had to have a friend read for me. You can read to me and if you make a mistake, I won’t even know, so you won’t have to worry.”
Jackson had never thought of that approach. Chloe didn’t like to read in front of her parents or siblings because she was embarrassed, but now, she saw Day as an equal. She cracked the book open and began to read slowly.
Jackson headed back downstairs to the office and set about figuring out lunch, watching Day and Chloe on the monitor. He’d have to thank Day for that later, maybe with something that involved them both being naked. Day would at least give Jackson that, as long as it didn’t seem like anything that resembled a date. Jackson had a feeling he was resigning himself to three months of Netflix and chill, but after seeing what Day had done for Chloe, Jackson was willing to go iceberg slow in the romance department.
Who would have thought Day would be a kid person? Who would have thought Jackson would want a guy who was a kid person?
Day waited until the kids were gone and Jackson was busy in the kitchen before he laid down on his bed, pulled out his laptop, and put his ear buds in. He used his voice activated software to log into his accounts. It was probably too soon for Jackson to notice the little things about Day, the things that everybody figured out once they got close. The way he kept his earbuds in all the time. The way he only used voice to text. That he tended to take too long to look over reading material or just signed things without pretending to read them at all.
It was all well and good in the beginning. People who claimed to be his friends would, at first, think they were just little idiosyncrasies, until they realized Day not only used voice to text but that he also used software created for the blind that would read to him. Then his headphones became an annoyance, and his friends would ask why he didn’t just go to one of those literacy schools for adults instead of cheating the system, as if Day had just never bothered to learn to read. He used to try to explain his disorder, that he had a severe form of dyslexia and dyscalculia. That it wasn’t just a matter of learning to read but how his brain processed what he did read. That he still had a stutter when he was flustered or embarrassed. The support would eventually turn to annoyance and disbelief. But that usually took months. That’s why Day didn’t give people months. He didn’t give anybody anything. It just wasn’t worth the effort.
But Jackson was a different story. For some reason, the thought of somebody like Jackson belittling him or growing frustrated with him hurt far worse than the memory of anybody who’d made it past his walls in the past. Jackson was patient and kind and stable and hot and sexy and made Day’s whole body quake with need.
Jackson wasn’t like the guys Day had met when he and Sarah had run away all those years ago. Jackson was so far out of Day’s league that they weren’t even breathing the same air, and watching Jackson come to that realization would be more pain than it was worth. Day shook his head. He’d known Jackson for two days and he was worried about what he’d think of him? He was pathetic. It was just because he was the first guy with his shit together who’d ever shown an interest in Day. That had to be it. It didn’t matter anyway. In just a few weeks, this stupid investigation would be over and Day could go back to his lonely little life and Jackson could meet some rich business tycoon and forget Day existed. At least Day had their tape to watch.
Which brought Day back to the task at hand. He hit a button, and the computerized male voice informed him that he had several comments on his latest video and almost two hundred dollars in tips. He smiled. He’d known his audience would love it. It had taken Day twice the usual time to edit and upload last night because he’d stopped to jerk off. Every whine, whimper, and moan Day made while Jackson fingered him on the tape had driven him to distraction until he’d had no choice but to get himself off.
Day closed his eyes and hit the button for the first comment, knowing the software would continue to read the messages one right after the other.
PYT8014: So hot. You two were hot like lava.
Hawt4U: Who’s your new man?
