“That’s a lot of questions,” he murmured as he dug a palm into his eyes.
“Start with the most immediate. Why are you crying?”
He thought about lying, but she was his best friend since high school. If anyone could give him perspective, it would be her. “My boyfriend just broke up with me.” He tensed, waiting for the “you’re gay?” confusion. Instead, she glanced over his shoulder at the house.
“At your parents’ house? That’s lame.”
“Yeah,” he said with a weak chuckle. “It was bad enough that he dragged me here, but then he pulled this douche move.” He shook his head, not wanting to go into details.
“Well, he is a guy, and they’re all morons.” Then she leaned back against the car.
“I am a guy too, you know.”
“And you disappeared on me for six weeks, had a gay relationship, and just ended it. I’d say that’s moronic. Not the relationship bit. We all screw those up. I mean the disappearing bit. So what happened? Where were you?”
He turned to study her face. “What do you remember from MoreCon?”
“I—” She grimaced. “It’s weird. I remember getting there and meeting you in the café, but then it gets all hazy. Were we supposed to meet after the opening event? I think I got sick or something, because I remember waking up in my room the next morning and you were gone. As in not in the hotel, your car gone from the lot, just gone. And nobody knew anything until Bruce texted me that you were here.”
He nodded, having expected something like that. “You can take your pick of answers. I had a meltdown because I’m gay and was hospitalized. I did something shady at the event, was arrested, and became gay in jail. I was abducted by a covert organization and turned gay.”
“Don’t you think covert organizations have something better to do than mess with your sex life?”
He chuckled. “Trust me, they have a lot weirder things to mess with.”
She was silent for a long moment. She studied him head to toe; then she squeezed his arm as she dropped her head on his shoulder. “So covert organization, huh? How much can you tell me?”
He jolted. “You believe me?”
“You’ve bulked out. That wouldn’t happen in a hospital or jail.”
“I could have gotten buff in jail.”
“Not likely. So that leaves covert military something or other, and they probably forced you to do calisthenics. And boy, do I wish I could have seen that.”
He snorted. “I think I would have preferred to die.”
“Ah, so I’m right.”
“Yeah, you are. But that’s about all I can tell you.”
A breeze cut down the street, and she huddled deeper into her coat. “Why aren’t you cold? You don’t even have a coat on.”
Werewolf metabolism? He wasn’t sure, but he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “We can go inside,” he offered, though that was the last thing he wanted.
“Not until you tell me why you’re here.”
“We need Volcax. Nero insisted we find a way to get it now. There’s a time problem he’s not telling me about. But it has to be now.”
“Nero the asshole?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you love him?”
“Yeah.”
“Enough to fight for him?”
