He laughs. “No. You did it because you care about him.”
“We’ll pretend that’s the case.” Once dressed, I head out of the bathroom and grab a bag from my closet. I return to the living room and look over at Jesse who I have important questions for because this night is just starting.
TWENTY-FIVE
Liam
“Hey, Freezer Pop, where’s the ring?”
Jesse gives me an odd look. “I’m not… why?”
“Ring.”
“I’ll get it.”
“No, you’re staying here until you warm up enough that I feel like it’s okay for you to go outside,” Gabriel says as he heads into the kitchen.
Jesse sighs but shows no sign of crawling his naked ass out from under our electric blanket. “In my bedroom, there’s a box under the bed; I think it’s an old shoebox. I threw it somewhere in there.”
“Gabriel, I’m about to venture under Jesse’s bed. I’m afraid of what I’ll find. Give me the strength to do this.”
He simply pats my hand. “You’ll be fine, hon.”
Jesse’s face is all scrunched up. “I’m not… there’s nothing else concerning under there!”
“I will be the judge of that. I’ve got my gloves in case I have to wade through your porn. Is it just a stack of photographs of Matthew? You really could do better.”
“Why the hell did I ever ask you to help me?” he growls.
“Keep him angry. It’ll warm him up faster,” I assure Gabriel as I head out the door.
On my way out to my car, I call Matthew.
“I see Krampus has decided to call on this wonderful Christmas evening,” Matthew answers.
“You originally went to school for graphic design, right? Before failing spectacularly?”
“I didn’t fail, I just realized it wasn’t for me.”
“I need you to make me a photo. If you’re not skilled enough, I’m sure you suckered someone else back then into being your friend.”
“I was quite skilled, thank you very much. What kind of photograph?”
“I’ll send you the information. Don’t forget I kept you from you deepthroating a bomb.”
“All of this sounds concerning.”
“Do you want to help Jesse out?” I ask.
“I’m on it.”
I hang up on him without even telling him bye to cement the threat. Instead, I drive to Jesse’s and once there, I send Matthew what I need him to do before heading inside. I wander the house until I find Jesse’s bedroom and walk inside. Really, Gabriel is right, I’m being too risky. I normally would never allow what I’ve done to be as open as this is, but I know that in order to get Whitaker to bite, we must first play a game.
And Whitaker needs to realize how poorly he’s doing at that game.
The ring is perfect.
It’s a class reunion ring that was likely from a girl he’d been dating. It doesn’t have any identification on it, so I make sure to scratch his initials into it along with the initials of some random girl from his graduating class who died a few years ago. I toss a sloppy heart in between before sliding it onto a necklace.
