They walked a few more yards.Their steps made whispering sounds on the carpet.
“Everything all right?”Tean asked.
This time, Jem’s eyes cleared.“Yeah, I’m fine.What’s up?”
“You seem upset.”
“Just thinking.”
“Because it would be okay if you were upset.Your mom—” Tean almost saidis involved in this.“—has suffered a huge loss today, and that’s after last night’s, um, disappointment, and—”
“Tean, I’m fine.I told you I’m fine.I’m trying to think my way through this.”
Tean nodded.“Right.I know.”But he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I wanted to check.”
Jem stopped walking.He studied Tean for a moment.And then he ran one hand through Tean’s hair.Something about it made him smile.“How areyoudoing?”
“Okay.”
Jem gave Tean’s head a little shake.
Laughing, Tean said, “Not…great.”
“This whole thing is such a mindfuck, right?”
“Yes.It is.”
Jem’s eyes were almost gray in the weak light from the storm.His hand moved softly through Tean’s hair.“Is it too much?
“No.”
Jem waited.
“It brings up a lot of stuff,” Tean said.He leaned into Jem’s touch; it was grounding in a way he hadn’t known he needed, and pins and needles ran through him.“I’m working on it.I’ll be fine.”
Jem’s fingers scritched pleasantly.But then his mouth quirked, and he whispered, “You sound like me.”
“Good,” Tean said.“Now you know how annoying it is.”
“Teanakin Leon!”But he was grinning, and he gave Tean’s head another of those little shakes before releasing him.
“Do you think they were telling the truth?”Tean asked.
“For the most part.”Jem shrugged.“They don’t teach you this in psych school, but there’s something about getting caught mid-boink, your dick in the wind and your asshole still fluttering, that makes it hard to lie.”
“So the whole thing about making them stay naked, that was a mind game?”
“Well, that and the fact that it’s surprisingly hard to run with your wiener wagging.”
Tean took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“It is!”Jem insisted with a laugh.But almost immediately he added, “Beckett definitely held something back about Stephen, but I don’t know what.”
“But you think they were telling the truth about Tafton?”
Jem nodded slowly, but he said, “Not sure it matters, though.”
“Why not?”
