Chapter 10 #2
I know that tone. That’s his evasive tone, the one that means don’t ask me or I’m going to tell you something you really don’t want to know.
But what is there that I don’t want to know about Hayden?
Jacob and I have lived in each other’s pockets since utero, and then with Dante and Hayden for almost four years now.
“All right.” Hayden stands with a flourish and tosses his laptop down onto Reid’s ass. “Tribunal can commence.”
“Hey!” Reid complains but stays where he is. “My ass is not a table.”
“Then take a seat like a reputable member of society,” Hayden points out.
Reid looks effectively admonished, so he stands with a miserable scowl and takes a seat beside Jacob on the sofa as Dante stays standing, surveying the scene with a curious tilt of his head.
When Reid flicks Dante off, he just grins at Reid while shoving more chips in his mouth.
I’m already tired. I’d forgotten how exhausting they can all be after spending a few quiet weeks at Mason’s house.
Scully comes out from the kitchen, winds herself between Dante’s legs, then heads over to the sofa to plop herself in Reid’s lap.
“Oh my god, she touched me,” Dante says in clear shock.
Reid looks curiously at him. “She touches you all the time.”
“What?”
“Mostly when you’re asleep,” Reid clarifies. “She likes to sleep on your butt.”
“No way,” Dante chokes out.
“Never mind.” Hayden claps his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I’m still her favorite human.”
“Just let him think that,” Reid stage-whispers to Scully.
“Tomorrow’s mission is downtown. There’s a financial investing firm that’s syphoning funds from their clients and into their own pockets. We’re going to tank the business so that the liability insurance they’re forced to carry by the federal government will pay out to their clients.”
“That’s devious, boss,” I say for a bit of levity.
Hayden sniffs. “I know. Anyway, I can disable the cameras, obviously, but this is a high-rise downtown with, like, forty floors, so I need the brawn to get me up there so that Reid and I can do the hacking. I’ve sent the blueprints to your phones.”
“Homework,” Jacob mumbles with clear displeasure. “I don’t need blueprints if you’re shutting cameras down internally.”
“You will need them to know where the security guards are stationed,” Hayden argues, eyes narrowing dangerously.
“No, because they get up and do their little lookie-loo walks. We’ll just deal with them as we come across them.”
“No,” Hayden says through gritted teeth, eyes burning like the depths of hell. “You’ll review the blueprints like usual, do you understand?”
Jacob stares Hayden down but ultimately gives up by slouching farther into the sofa. “Okay.”
Hayden looks thoroughly pleased at Jacob’s acquiescence. Finally, after everyone spends a few minutes looking over the blueprints on their phones, Reid lifts his hand to ask a question. This will be great.
Hayden points at Reid with a nod of approval. “Yes, go ahead, Reid.”
“Can I kill someone?” Reid asks with a feral smile.
“No,” Dante says quickly.
I expect Reid to argue, to tell Dante to fuck off, but instead he just grins and looks down at his phone while typing away. That look does not bode well, actually. At least from what I’ve come to know of Reid.
“Be back here tomorrow at eight on the dot. No earlier, no later.” Hayden stares at Jacob for a moment, then disappears up the stairs.
“What did you do now?” Dante demands, clearly on Hayden’s side.
Jacob rolls his hand in annoyance. “Existed.”
“Seems worse than normal.” Dante narrows his eyes. “Do you have another girlfriend?”
“No!” Jacob yells, shocking us all. Even I jump back a little. Jacob clears his throat awkwardly. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend, and I’d prefer if no one asked that or mentioned it anywhere near Hayden. Understood?”
“Uh,” I say awkwardly.
“Just…” Jacob stops himself with a huff and disappears into the kitchen.
Dante tips back to look after Jacob, then flops back to the flats of his feet.
He just shrugs in confusion at those of us remaining in the living room.
I take that as my cue. I send Mason a look that clearly says don’t worry, and he just smiles back at me, sending those little butterflies to flight in my belly.
When I pad into the kitchen, Jacob’s standing by the sliding glass door, hands in his pockets and a frown on his face.
“What’s up?”
Jacob’s jaw tics. “Hayden drives me fucking crazy.”
“That’s not news.”
“Too crazy.”
I tilt my head at him, noting the dark smudges under his eyes, the less than perfectly styled hair atop his head.
Jacob’s always been so perfectly put together so that everyone just sees a shining star when they look at him.
It was always easy for me to fade into obscurity when standing next to him.
We might be twins, but we couldn’t be more different.
Jacob is outgoing and beloved by nature, but it takes a lot of work for me to be the same way.
I’d rather be at home with a book, or now at home with Mason, but Jacob loves to be the center of attention.
“Did you fuck up?” I ask.
Jacob turns his face to give me a look that says it all.
He did fuck up, somehow, and doesn’t know how to fix it.
I turn away from him to look outside, noticing for the first time that the moon is still full.
That doesn’t bode well for tomorrow at all.
Missions usually go to shit for us when the moon is full because it makes people fucking crazy.
When we’re already dealing with standard crazy, we really don’t need them to up the ante because of the moon.
“Remember how Mom loathed the full moon?”
Jacob chuckles. “Brings all the crazies to the emergency department,” Jacob says in the perfect imitation of our mother.
“A nurse that smoked, so counterintuitive.”
“She’d be proud of us, I think.” Jacob shoots me a soft look that settles those clanging pieces inside of me. When the whole world is against me, I know he’ll always have my back. A built-in protector, just like I’ll always be his biggest fan. “She’d be proud of you.”
“We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” I reassure him.
Jacob lurches forward to hug me, shocking me enough to make me gasp in surprise. We’re not much for hugging, but clearly Jacob needs physical affection in the taut moment, so I loop my arms around him and squeeze tightly.
“It’s all right, Jake.” I kiss his warm cheek. “What’s wrong?”
Jacob pulls away, embarrassed, furiously wiping at his cheek as if to hide tears.
I haven’t seen Jacob cry since we were small children, when I broke one of his toy soldiers.
He just shakes his head in refusal to answer me, so I back off and reach out to give his bicep a reassuring squeeze.
The move seems to settle him back into his bones, and we smile at each other in the lowlight of the kitchen.
“Want to know a secret?” I ask softly, clearly just between us.
Jacob grins, his normal big and broad smile. “Yeah.”
I shoot a look toward the living room, meeting Mason’s curious gaze as he watches our entire interaction. The smile on my face hurts, and my insides go topsy-turvy when Mason grins back at me.
“I think I’m in love with Mason.”
Jacob chokes on his spit. He bends over and I awkwardly pat his back until he stands up to stare at me in confusion.
“That’s not what I expected at all.”
I shrug, helpless. “Sorry.”
“Really?”
I splay my hands out in a what are you gonna do sort of gesture. “Something about him fits with the broken puzzle piece inside me. Does that make sense? You’re not mad, right?”
Jacob looks confused now. “Why would I be mad? I’m bi!”
Okay, well. “Well, not about that part. That it’s with Mason. After I made that whole can’t hook up rule.”
Jacob looks thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. “He wasn’t part of the crew when you started whatever this is with him, was he? It’s like Dante and Reid, I guess.”
“I guess… but I won’t keep you to that rule anymore. You know that, right?”
Jacob’s gaze hardens again, shutting him off from me. Reid and Dante ruin the moment by stomping up the stairs giggling, leaving it just us and Mason alone out in the living room. I dare to push Jacob’s boundaries and hug him tightly one more time, ignoring that small twinge in my ribs.
“See you tomorrow night.”
Jacob shoves me away. “Yeah, yeah.”
Once in front of Mason, I grin softly. “Let’s go home.”
“Home,” Mason repeats, like he’s just learning the word. Because yeah, his house, the one with the maroon mat by the front door, the perfectly turned coffee mugs, and the bed that smells like bodywash and lavender dryer sheets, that’s my home now.
Surprise ricochets through me when I impulsively hold my hand out and Mason takes it.
He twines our fingers together, until when I look down, I can’t tell which hand is his and which is mine.
Our fingers remain tangled on the short ride back to the house, and stay tangled as we climb the stairs, parting when we need to brush our teeth.
In some way, I think Mason woke me up. Every time I had sex before him, it felt empty and meaningless, an act I had to get through to get to the other side.
But with Mason, I feel more loved and wanted just in the simple act of climbing into the bed with him to fall asleep. How is that possible?
“Mason,” I say softly, just when he’s about to fall asleep.
Mason hums sleepily and rolls toward me, resting his warm arm across my chest. I lift my hand to trace the edge of his jaw, waiting for him to blink his sleepy ocean-blue eyes up at me. I brush the hair away from his face, needing to look into his eyes before I let sleep claim me in its clutches.
“Parker?” Mason mumbles, tongue coming out to lick at his sweet cupid’s bow.
“Promise me something.”
Mason curiously tilts his head against my bicep. “Yeah?”