“I can have multiple motivations. I can want different things all at the same time.”
Jericho felt the conversational ground shifting like quicksand and fought to get back to something more solid. “You’re pretty good with them. You spending a lot of time around here?”
“A bit.”
“Yeah.” Jericho turned to look at the man head-on. “You’re Uncle Wade. And you didn’t get Elijah off the ash pile because you’ve got natural authority, you did it because you’ve already gotten to know him and train him. That doesn’t happen fast, especially not with these kids. Is Nikki working for you, Wade? Are you dragging theirmotherinto your crap?”
“Working for me? The bar blew up, remember? You were there. You think anyone’s working there anymore?”
As if the bar was the only business interest Wade had. “You made your insurance claim yet?”
Wade raised an eyebrow. “The bar wasn’t insured.”
“Wasn’t insured? So then why the hell did you—” Jericho caught himself. Did he actually want to hear the answer to that question? Did he want to know any more about Wade’s nefarious dealings than he already did?
Elijah’s voice came from down the hall. “Are you going to tuck us in or what?”
“Yeah, we’re waiting,” Nicolette called.
“Which one do you want?” Wade asked.
“Whoever I choose will just cry until you come in, anyway.”
“You could take Elijah, and let him sleep with your gun. Then you’d be his favorite.”
“Is that how you won the honors?”
“Mypopularity is based on my natural charm and charisma.” Wade smiled sweetly. “Youmight need to use bribes.”
“Go put the kids to bed,” Jericho said. “You do both of them. I’ll try to figure out what I’m supposed to send with them for lunch tomorrow, ’cause I’m guessing Nikki didn’t put anything together.”
“Yes, dear,” Wade said, and disappeared down the hallway.
Itdidfeel strangely domestic. Emphasis on thestrangepart. This wasn’t something he’d ever wanted. A house and a family? No, not for him, and his experiences with Elijah and Nikki definitely reinforced that inclination.
But spending time with Wade? When the kids were asleep—assuming they ever actuallydidsleep without drinking human blood as a bedtime snack and then hanging upside down from their clawlike feet—it would be just Wade and Jericho. Would Wade leave right away? If he’d only come over to look after the kids, as he’d said, there’d be no reason for him to stay.
He’d already delivered his little make-people-in-authority-like-you speech, so if that had been his extra motivation for the visit, he was done. But if Jericho got lucky, Wade might stick around long enough to explain why he’dgiventhe damn speech. Had he been taunting Jericho? Maybe it was part of the fun, like an added challenge. It was too easy to manipulate and use Jericho, so he’d decided to come right out and tell Jericho what he was doing. As if Jericho hadn’t known all along.
Maybe it was one more customized Wade Granger mind fuck, specially designed to keep Jericho perpetually off-balance.
“You figure anything out?” Wade asked quietly from the doorway.
It took Jericho a moment to understand. “Oh. Lunch? No, not unless they want to have a bag of iceberg lettuce and some mustard.”
“You and I both had worse lunches pretty often when we were their age.”
“Is this the buildup to a ‘difficult childhood’ excuse?” Jericho shook his head. He didn’t want to get into that, not when he knew Wade would use any discussion as an opportunity to tie Jericho up into knots even tighter than the current batch. “I’ll pick something up for them tomorrow on the way to school.”
“Store-bought lunch. Fancy.”
And then they both just stood there in Nikki’s kitchen, watching each other. Waiting.
“Are you out, Wade?” Jericho didn’t know where the question had come from, exactly, but seeing Wade’s expression, he was glad he’d asked it. It was pretty sweet to see the bastard being the uncertain one for a change.
“Out? Like out of the closet?”
“Yeah. Does the town know you’re gay? Or maybe I should ask if youaregay. You said you had some ‘friends,’ but you never specified if they were male or female. So I guess the question is a bit more complex.” Damn, it felt good to be in the driver’s seat, at least temporarily. “How would you characterize your sexual preferences? And are these preferences common knowledge?”
