Bryce never should have let Alex go that far. It was his fault. He was in charge and instead of putting his foot down, he went along with them. He should have insisted they leave. If he had, Alex wouldn’t be passed out in his arms, murmuring odd syllables.
He reached the muggy night, and turned left since detectives were conferring on the right. Alex was too much like a pasty, sweaty doll in his arms. Bryce had to disavow his panic and focus on concealing his emotions behind a wall. Alex needed less stimuli, not more fear. As carefully as he could, he put Alex on the ground and stayed at his side. Bare skin worked best, so he put his hand on Alex’s cheek.
Focusing on a positive emotion when he wanted to shake Alex awake was hard. The happy summers of his childhood were too far away. They were distant echoes compared to what he had felt with Jesse earlier that night. But that moment was intimate and fresh. Bryce wasn’t sure he should share it.
“We need to go,now,” Celia said as she hurried to Bryce’s side. “We are attracting all the wrong kinds of attention. And fucking shit.” She broke into more swears. “Can you pick him up?”
“No point until we have somewhere we can go,” Bryce said. “Get David here.”
Celia started texting, and continued swearing under her breath. “We have to go.”
No choice then. Alex had picked up on him once, maybe he could do so again. Bryce cleared his mind and focused on how he felt lying next to Jesse. The easy warmth, the sated happiness. The way kissing Jesse lessened a longing that choked his heart. Hopefully it was strong enough.
Alex arched and let out a soft moan. As he pushed Bryce’s hand off his face, he pouted. “So not fair,” he rasped. “Never had sex that good.”
“It wasn’t about the sex,” Bryce said.
“Then I don’t want to think about what you’re feeling ’cause apparently I’ve never had it.” Alex weakly pushed at his shoulder. “Off me, Sir Lancelot.”
“How are the locks?” Bryce asked.
“I have a shiny new one and it’s shitty you had to give it to me so now plenty of the old ones are working. Now, off!” Alex shoved again, more forcefully. More himself.
Bryce let go of him. Alex struggled to stand without help, but he got on his feet.
“We need to go,” Celia repeated.
Bryce spotted the department-issued navy-blue SUV pulling up to the curb. “Our ride’s here.”
“Good!” Celia rushed toward the car.
Bryce made to follow her, but stopped when Alex didn’t budge. Instead, Alex frowned across the lawn at someone.
“The car can’t wait,” Bryce said.
“Coming. Coming. God, you all need to calm the fuck down,” Alex grumbled.
Once they were in the SUV and heading down Lindell Boulevard, Alex said, “I don’t know why you were freaking out. Bryce’s date is FBI. So fucking what?”
Celia, who had nabbed the front passenger seat, turned around to face Bryce and Alex. “His date? I saw the guy I met this morning. O’Shay.”
Bryce had a sick feeling in his stomach. “Blond guy? FBI T-shirt?”
“Yeah.”
Bryce let his head fall back against the headrest. Of course.Of coursehe had the worst luck dating. His work life wasn’t simple, why should his dating life wind up being a breeze? Why shouldn’t his best first date also be a conspiracy nut and FBI agent? The universe deserved to get its laughs in.
“Dude, that was his date,” Alex said.
“Well,” David drawled. “That’s going to make the report interesting.”
