“I’m fine,” James answered, flipping through his feeds again. Melissa Vespers’s house was lower security than he’d expected, which should be a relief, but worried James instead. Maybe she wasn’t as high-up as he thought. Maybe he was still that much farther from the truth. “What about you? It’s been a few months since we’ve staked a place out. Think you can keep up, old man?”
Bishop didn’t react to the jibe. “Sorry, that shouldn’t have been a question. I can tell you’re not all right.”
James glared over the top of his tablet. “Fuck off.”
Bishop twitched the faded plaid curtains closed. “You haven’t texted Kit in the past three hours.”
“Fuck off,” James repeated, setting his tablet down. “If you’re tapping my phone, I’ll shoot you. Probably in the foot or something, because I like you, but still.”
There was no way Bishop could know how much he texted Kit. If Bishop had any bug on James’s devices, James would know, because his bugs on Bishop’s devices would have picked that up. Unless Bishop was outsourcing for some serious spy power—
“I’m not tapping your phone,” Bishop said, with that aggravating ‘four years older and twenty years wiser’ amusement. “Kit told me.”
James flopped on the cheap, scratchy bed. “Kit is a menace.”
He’d love to have Kit here right now. Bishop could watch or fuck off to the parking lot to brood over a blunt or something. Either way worked for James, if he could lose himself in Kit long enough to find himself again. Kit had a way of finding the shattered shards of a person. Blunting the sharp edges.
James hadn’t been all right in fourteen years.
“I’m fine,” James said, addressing Bishop and the yellow-stained ceiling. “I’ll be even more fine when this is over.”
Bishop was smart. He must have heard the finality in James’s words, because he didn’t answer. And after a few minutes, James grabbed his phone to fulfill his supportive boyfriend duties.
James:Hey babe, B says you miss me ;)
James:is D’s cock not enough for your slutty little hole?
When there was no response for thirty seconds, James added another message for good measure.
James:Don’t let the intern fuck you yet. He hasn’t earned it
Then he switched apps to check Kit’s current location: zipping along a highway outside San Corvo.
10
“You totally have a harem.”
Gravel scattered as Kit screeched the car to a halt. The safehouse loomed shabby and desolate in the blue afternoon, looking no different than Kit remembered from the murdery photo shoot. Kit paused, taking a smug breath to congratulate himself, then threw the car in park and turned the key.
“Made it!” he said, beaming.
Darius exhaled shakily from the passenger seat. “I’m driving next time.”
Okay, that was maybe fair. Kit unbuckled his seatbelt and tilted his neck with a little pop. “Hey, I was good in the city! And on the highway! The dirt roads were just new.”
From the back, Holden leaned on Kit’s seat. He toyed with Kit’s hair, sending ticklish tingles through his scalp. “I have to agree with Darius. As romantic as dying with you sounds, crashing into a muddy ditch isn’t very intimate.”
“I’m driving,” Darius repeated, cocking a thumb at Holden. “And psycho’s riding in the trunk.”
Holden just laughed.
Kit rolled his eyes. “You two are so dramatic.” He’d barely sort of come close to driving into three ditches. Andhadhe gotten stuck in a ditch, Darius and Holden would have simplygotten the car un-stuck with their manly muscles or something. While comforting Kit over the mistake.
They were giving him shit now because everything was fine, and they liked him.
“Wait,” Darius said, as Kit reached for the door handle. He opened his own door, glancing between Kit and Holden. “You two stay put while I check the house. I know James has his tech, but I like old school verification.”
His tone was casual, but the significance wasn’t lost on Kit. The threat and question hung heavy in the air.
