Fuck, he really needed to clean his apartment before it got this bad.
A few minutes later, Celia and Bryce came through the front door. While they were out of breath, they didn’t have anyone else with them.
“Start processing the bedroom,” Bryce said to Celia. She nodded and headed that way.
“He got away?” Jesse asked, and then winced as his throat hurt.
“Lift your head up and let me look.” Bryce knelt in front of Jesse. “Didn’t you see my note?”
The concern in Bryce’s brown eyes made Jesse’s throat close in a different, unexpected way. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off, but having Bryce care for him and check him over was nice. A littletoonice, considering Jesse ought to be pissed he’d been left behind that morning. But Bryce had a gentle touch and worry pinched his brow, and all of that was for Jesse.
Kind of made him feel less like shit about almost getting murdered. Jesse still winced when Bryce’s thumb brushed across a tender spot. He croaked out, “I read it.”
Bryce tilted Jesse’s head to either side and examined his neck. “This doesn’t look like you did. What are you doing here?”
“Couldn’t risk losing the chance to see this evidence.”
Bryce lowered his hands and stood. He had that stern look on his face and he squared his shoulders. “Jesse, at the moment, you don’t have anything to do with this case.”
Jesse rubbed at his throat, but that made everything worse so he stopped. “You said you were going to talk to your boss.”
“That requires her to be in the office. She wasn’t in before we left the office,” Bryce said. “You should have waited.”
“And if she says no and I had waited, then I’d be screwed.”
“You can’t keep leaping into situations without looking.”
Jesse stood. He and Bryce were too similar in height, and he struggled to keep his mind focused on the argument instead of on fantasizing about Bryce. His libido was apparently too happy he was alive to behave.
“I’ve been doing fine so far,” he said.
“You were nearly strangled!”
“Which is evidence I’m right and there’s something bigger going on here. Yesterday, Lawson kept talking as if he was part of a cult. If we can find the cult leader, maybe we can figure out what his connection to the statue is,” Jesse replied.
“Stop. Stop talking like you’re on this case. Stop thinking about it,” Bryce said.
Jesse narrowed his eyes at him. “If our situations were reversed, exactly how much would you be listening to that order?”
“I would trust your judgment.”
“Uh huh. If lives were in danger and you could do something, you’d sit by and let it happen?”
Bryce folded his arms over his chest.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Jesse said.
Bryce sighed, and his shoulders dropped in resignation. “I’ll bite. You managed to get information out of Lawson?”
Jesse grinned. “Yeah. What, did the mighty DWO have trouble with that?”
“This isn’t a good time to mock my department, especially if you want to work with us. As it is, I’m going to have trouble convincing Bonnell that we should make you an asset.”
“Fuck being an asset. Make me an agent.”
Bryce shook his head. “I can’t just snap my fingers and bring you in. There’s vetting involved.”
“Hello? FBI agent. Already passed a rigorous background check and got training in investigation and criminology,” Jesse replied.
