“Correct,” Cold said with a small tilt of his head. “Mmm. I wasn’t expecting Lorre or Corman to recognize you tonight, though. A rare miscalculation on my part. I knew there was a chance Lorre might because of his history with Detective Duplin, but Corman surprised me.”
“But why? Why stop me from telling you about Augustus?” Jimmy snapped.
“Plausible deniability,” Cold said with a small shrug. “If you haven’t told me Duplin is your daddy, then you can’t upset our arrangement if I have to do something about him later. Killing a cop brings a lot of heat, but I’ll do what I have to.”
Jimmy dropped the ice and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, stunned speechless for a few moments. Killing Augustus; Cold was talking about killing him.
“Kill a cop,” Jimmy repeated quietly, stunned. “You’d kill him?”
“I’m not going back to prison, Mr. Poe,” Cold replied shortly.
“So, I’m what?” Jimmy demanded. “Your get out of jail free card?”
“Mmhm,” Cold hummed, walking to stand in front of Jimmy. He looked positively smug, saying, “All I have to do is wait, and Detective Duplin will come.”
“Well,” Jimmy huffed. “I don’t think your plan is going to work. Augustus already came to me trying to get to you, and I told him I didn’t want any fucking help from him.”
“What?” It was Cold’s turn to be surprised again.
“Yeah,” Jimmy scoffed in response. “He tracked me down over at Maury’s and was asking me about what I was doing with you.”
“And what did you tell him,” Cold asked him carefully, eyes never leaving his. His whole body had become rigid, every muscle tensing as he set his glass aside.
“What did I tell him?” Jimmy glared and swallowed back a sob as the memory of the encounter bathed him in frustration. “I told him to fuck off! Maybe you should have done your research a little better because then you would know that I haven’t talked to Augustus in years! Oh, but the fucking second he thinks he can use me to get to you—”
“Jimmy,” Cold warned, bristling with rage.
“No! Fuck you!” Jimmy shot back, so furious with the interruption it didn’t even register that Cold had actually used his first name. Tears were running down his face, and he angrily wiped them off with his sleeve. “He just wanted to use me, like you! Some stupid little pawn in your bullshit game! I’m just somethingyou both want to use to fuck with each other! You don’t care! And he even threatened me—”
“He threatened you,” Cold repeated, his voice strangely calm suddenly. His body language shifted, still angry, but now it was focused elsewhere.
“Yeah, threatened to put the word out that I was a snitch, that I had been talking to the cops if I didn’t agree to give him information.” Jimmy sniffed, shaking his head. “He’s such a bastard...”
Cold’s face was blank, fingers tapping at the rim of his glass as he let Jimmy talk.
“You know the last time I called him was asking for money because I was hungry? I was desperate. He wouldn’t do it unless I came home and gave up on my dad.” Jimmy groaned in frustration, trying to stop crying, finally yelling, “You’re both assholes! Fuck Augustus and fuck you!”
Jimmy couldn’t breathe, and the room was beginning to spin again. He could suddenly see flashes of blood, unsure if it was his mother’s or Corman’s. His heart was pounding in his ears, so loud that everything else was drowned out by the terrible throbbing.
Not again. It was happening again. He was going to pass out.
Cold lunged forward as if to strike, his hand at the back of Jimmy’s neck. But he didn’t claw or squeeze, his hand was simply there, warm and comforting.
“Breathe,” Cold commanded.
That voice, that dominant tone. It was like a beacon in the darkness, and Jimmy latched onto it tightly as he tried to drag himself out of the panic he’d fallen into.
Jimmy was trembling, his hands rising up to rest on Cold’s hips. He could feel the man’s tension beneath his fingers at being touched, but he wasn’t being pushed away. Cold’s grip at his neck invited Jimmy closer until he was standing.
“Just breathe,” Cold commanded again, his voice stern, but his hands were gentle as they slid around to hold Jimmy’s shoulders.
Jimmy gasped for air, tears streaming down his face as he fought to suck in precious oxygen. His heart was racing so fast now that it was making his stomach turn, and he desperately clung to the front of Cold’s suit to hold himself steady.
“Easy now,” Cold purred, his tone softer, tender as he coaxed him down off the edge of madness.
Sucking in one last shaking breath, Jimmy’s body finally began to settle down. He still had his fingers tangled in Cold’s jacket, but he didn’t want to let go. “I’m sorry,” he said weakly. “It hasn’t... that hasn’t happened in a long time.”
“Was it the blood?” Cold asked quietly.
