“I am, sweet stuff. Thank you for doing such an outstanding job to make sure our friend feels welcome.”
“You’re welcome, Daddy. Do you need me to come outside and say hello, too? I already said hello once to Mr. Glittery, but I can do it again if you want to see I’m being polite.”
A wavering smile broke through xV’s steely exterior. “No, thank you, but that’s a very sweet offer. How about you go check on Charlotte and Isaac?”
“Okay!”
The footsteps receded, but xV didn’t release the doorknob until they’d vanished entirely. Once they were in the clear, he put his back to the door and took his partner’s hand, drawing him to his chest. Once he was settled, xV wrapped his partner in an embrace and set his chin on his shoulder. The careful, affectionate way xV treated his partner brought Jayne back to the day he’d figured out they were in love and had made the decision not to report them to SEAG. His chest tightened. It had been the right choice.
“Before we get to the conversation we need to have, I have to ask you a favor.” xV spoke to Jayne, but as he did, he nuzzled Mal’s cheek, a small but tender smile on his face. “Our six-year-old daughter is in the house, and she has ears that moonlight as Russian surveillance operatives. Whatever you say within her general vicinity will find its way to her, so please,pleasetry to refrain from using foul language. I know it’s an exercise in futility to keep it from her forever, but Mal and I are hoping that if we keep the house a swear-free zone, she’ll learn that there is a time and a place for cussing, and that neither of them coincide with home.”
“Yeah, sure.” Jayne glanced at the door and imagined Nikki on the other side, her ear pressed against the wood, rubbing her hands together gleefully as she added “shit” to her secret stash of forbidden words. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“You’re welcome.”
“With that said,” Jayne turned his attention on xV, “what the ever-lovings-h-i-tis going on here?”
“I was going to ask you an approximation of the same thing.” xV frowned. “Let’s start at the beginning—Harley invited you into the group. At the time, did you know?”
“Fuck no!” Behind the door, imaginary Nikki cackled as she curated her list of naughty words. Jayne winced. “Sorry. I mean, no, I didn’t. I had no idea. Harley was the one who approached me about it. At first, I didn’t even want to join. But… I did. I didn’t do it because I wanted to infiltrate your circle of friends, I swear. I had no idea you were Dr. Rhyne until you came to the door.”
xV’s partner, Mal, glared at Jayne. “Why should we believe you?”
Jayne opened his mouth, then closed it again. He looked down at Parker, who was reaching out for Mal and generally being cute as fuck, then at Shep, who’d set his overnight bag down and was using it like a seat cushion. When Jayne looked at him, he tore his gaze from the screen of his phone and fixed Jayne with a glare that could have turned a grape into a raisin.
“Well?” Mal demanded.
“Be easy,” xV murmured against the back of Mal’s ear. “I know you’re upset, but Dr. Biernacki looks as confused as we are.”
xV was right, but it didn’t stop Jayne from coming back with an answer to Mal’s question. “You should believe me because I’m standing on your doorstep with my kid brother and my son instead of SEAG officials and the police.”
Mal paled.
“That came out a little harsh,” Jayne admitted. He frowned. “I didn’t mean to threaten you. All I wanted to say was that if it was my goal to infiltrate xV’s group of friends so I could get him in trouble, I wouldn’t be standing here with my family, totally at your mercy. Plus, that seems like an awful lot of work without additional pay, and ain’t no one got time for that—” Imaginary Nikki spying from behind the door gave Jayne pause. “—stuff.”
“And now that you know?” xV asked. He knew as well as Jayne did that it was Jayne’s duty to report conduct that breached what was deemed ethically acceptable whether the clinical trial in question was ongoing or not. If Jayne wanted to, he could launch an investigation that would end xV’s career and expunge him from the medical community. Jayne was sure that xV had assumed that, with Mal’s phase of the clinical trial concluded, he was in the clear, but xV also hadn’t been counting on none other than the bioethicist from his trial to show up on his doorstep.
Jayne shifted Parker’s weight and busied himself with studying each of the fine hairs on Parker’s head. “I knew during the trial,” he mumbled. “I didn’t report you then, and I’m not going to report you now.”
“You knew during the trial?” Mal squeaked.
Jayne smiled sheepishly. “Yeah.”
“And you didn’t alert SEAG?” xV narrowed his eyes like he couldn’t quite see Jayne’s angle. “Why?”
“It’s a long story, and I kind of don’t want to get into it right now.” Jayne smoothed a few of Parker’s flyaway hairs. “Can we leave it at, ‘it was a hard time in my life, and the two of you helped me out of a bind without realizing it, so in return, I decided to look the other way’?”
Emotion passed through xV’s eyes that Jayne didn’t understand. Then, after a moment of reflection, xV stepped away from Mal and held out his hand. “It’s a deal.”
Jayne shook on it.
“So.” Jayne cleared his throat. “I guess we should try this again. Hi, I’m Glit, and this is my brother, Shep, and my son, Parker. It’s good to finally meet you.”
xV grinned. “Likewise.”
“And since I know it weirds some people out to call others by their online handle, if Glit doesn’t work for you, you can use my legal name, which is Jayne.”
Silence.
