Chapter Twenty-One
The other pairof jeans from the blue shopping bag didn’t fit, so Jesse put on the pair of pajama pants Bryce had worn, and a tank top. While he knew he should wait in the bedroom, he couldn’t stand feeling like he wasn’t even on the team bench. The bedroom was like the parking lot. Wasn’t even in the stadium. He headed into the living room.
Alex sat on the kitchen counter, and he was inspecting a piece of bacon. When he caught sight of Jesse, he waved the bacon accusingly. “What atrocity is this? You burned bacon?Bacon?How?”
“I’m not much of a cook,” Jesse said.
“Bryce isn’t either.” Alex dropped the bacon back into the pan. “Badly cooked bacon should be considered treasonous.”
Jesse went to the fridge and took out a bottled tea. “You bought some of the weirdest shit for groceries.”
“So, I don’t know how to stock a kitchen,” Alex replied. “Mom picked out some better stuff and I put it away already. How was I supposed to know you couldn’t have milk or cheese or literally anything that tastes good?”
“There are plenty of things that are good without milk,” Jesse said.
“Butpizza. You can’t have pizza. Or fried mozzarella sticks.”
“But I can have bacon.” Jesse plucked a piece from the pan. It was almost entirely black. Yeah, he might need to learn to cook.
Alex raised an eyebrow, as if daring Jesse to eat the burnt food.
Jesse contemplated eating it, just to prove it was, in the least way, edible. However, he had spent far too much time with the taste of ash in his mouth the night before. The smell of it threatened to trigger his memory. He didn’t need to relive the fire. He’d done so once already that morning.
“Okay, I can have good bacon. Which this is not.” Jesse tossed the bacon down.
Alex snorted.
Bryce raised his voice, though Jesse didn’t want to pick out the distinct words of his conversation with Bonnell. Loud voices were never a good sign—well, outside of having fun or sexy times—and Jesse didn’t want to know if he’d jeopardized Bryce’s job or his own chances of joining the DWO.
“The director’s your mom?” Jesse asked.
“Adopted,” Alex replied.
“But she raised you. Correction. She is raising you.”
Alex stuck his tongue out.
“Thanks for making my point for me.” Jesse moved over to the small table and took a seat. “Surprised she’d let her kid get involved with the DWO.”
“Why? Don’t think I’m good enough?” Alex jumped down from the counter. He was slight in build, and a lot shorter than Jesse had realized. He had a glower that could rival a gargoyle, almost identical to Bonnell’s.
“I mean, if she’s anything like Bryce, which she seems like she is, I would’ve thought she’d protect you from this.”
Alex took the seat opposite Jesse. “She met me in this. There wasn’t anything left to protect me from.”
That sounded incredibly awful, but Alex didn’t seem the kind of guy who wanted Jesse’s sympathy. Better that he get to know the kid, because he obviously wasn’t leaving Bryce’s life anytime soon. He said, “Bryce does his best, though. He worries about you.”
“Yeah,” Alex sighed. “He tries a little too hard. I’m not that fragile.”
“How’d you know you were psychic?”
Alex shrugged. “The same way I knew I was bi. I just always was.”
“You just knew? There was no special thing happening?”
“I alwaysfelttoo much. You know how some people are sympathy criers? I was sympathyeverything.” Alex cracked a malicious grin. “Aw, don’t tell me you think you’re psychic. You had one little head trip.”
And there went any building sympathy Jesse had for Alex. “I had another one last night, going past the Crowley building.”
