Freckles looked at him with concern. “What? Is there something on my face?”
Nico tore his gaze from the slit in his shirt that showed his toned sides only to come face to face with an even more jarring reveal. The front of the shirt contained two small graphics and nothing else. A pillow and a princess. Like Mal said earlier, it wasn’tThe DaVinci Code.
He opened his mouth to say no but what came out instead was, “Have you always been this hot?”
Freckles looked taken aback, like Nico had just asked him to buy store bought instead of name brand. “Uh, I don’t know how to answer that.”
“I do,” Jericho said, leering at his husband with a dirty smirk on his face. “Yes, he’s always been that hot. I just don’t like anyone ogling what’s mine.”
Freckles blushed, looking anywhere but at his husband.
“Let’s sit down and stop hovering near the door,” Jericho said, waving them farther into the living room.
Mal glanced at Freckles’ shirt as he passed, lips twitching as he said, “Nice shirt.”
Freckles went pale, slowly looking down with dread. When he realized what his shirt said, his eyes went wide, his whole body flushing from pink to bright red. He yanked the shirt over his head, flipping it inside out, before shoving it back over his head like that was a perfectly normal response. It wasn’t like Freckles being a pillow princess was a shock to anyone. Jericho was and always had been a top. It was hardly a secret.
Nico whistled low. “He’s actually more cut than you, Coe.”
“But not me,” Mal said, moving closer to Nico, his face a little black storm cloud of jealousy.
Nico huffed out a laugh. “No, Bunny. Not more than you,” he soothed.
Jericho dropped onto the couch. Freckles tried to keep room for Jesus, but Jericho was having none of it, dragging his husband against him.
Nico sat in Mal’s lap, which he was realizing was where he’d always sat.
Once settled, Jericho said, “Explain everything.”
So, they did. It took about half an hour to recount everything they’d learned, but when they finished Jericho said, “I agree he’s your guy.”
Something unknotted inside Nico, but it didn’t really change their current predicament. “So, how do we find him? There’s no way he had her in the condo. Ever. It’s too pristine.”
“Unless he killed her somewhere else and dumped her body in the woods or a lake or…literally anywhere else,” Freckles said.
Nico’s stomach sloshed at the thought.
“For now, we have to operate on the assumption that she’s still alive,” Jericho said.
“Coe’s right,” Nico agreed. “But we have a clock ticking down over our heads. Jason is unpredictable and he has to know we’re onto him by now, even if Frankie keeps his mouth shut. If Amy’s still alive, she’s just become a huge liability.”
“If you were gonna hold someone hostage, you wouldn’t do it in a condo where you share a wall with your neighbors,” Freckles pointed out. “It’s too risky. She could scream, get free. There are too many variables to control. Jason sounds unhinged but not stupid. Unlike that Leo kid.”
“True, but the average person doesn’t have a murder cabin in the middle of the woods,” Jericho mused.
“But Jason’s not the average person,” Nico countered.
Jericho looked at him pointedly. “Did you check to see if Jason has his own version of a murder cabin?”
Nico snorted. “I’m flattered you think I’m smart enough to know how to do that. But I don’t.”
Jericho chuckled. “Then allow me to show you.”
He pulled his phone free and hit a few buttons.
“Why Jericho Mulvaney, as I live and breathe,” Calliope said in a horrible imitation of a southern accent. “To what do I owe this pleasure so late in the evening?”
“I need you to look into something for me, if you can?” he said.
