Page 94 of Oddly Fine

“You should go in with him,” Beckett said, after a moment of silent contemplation.

“Why?” Hayes asked, mildly surprised. “You’re better at hand-to-hand.”

“True, but I’m also far more likely to lose my shit, blow our cover, and then shoot everyone in sight. On a good day, maybe I could manage it. But I haven’t slept worth a damn in four days and I’m currently wondering how many ways I can strangle him with the seatbelt before you could stop me.”

His candidness in revealing his state of mind and propensity for violence was as unsurprising as it was entertaining. Hayes couldn’t help but smile, wishing he could just grab him and kiss him all over.

“I can hear you,” Matthew said.

“I was counting on that—think of it as a warning,” Beckett responded in the same disapproving tone as he’d use for a misbehaving four-year-old. He turned back to Hayes. “I don’t trust myself not to lose it.”

He’d never confessed anything like that before. For him to tell Hayes outright that he was struggling mentally could mean one of two things. Either he was far too close to losing it and was desperate for help, or he was starting to trust Hayes on a much higher level than he’d ever done before.

Hayes had to switch gears fast. He gave Beckett a sharp nod of agreement.

“Then I’ll go in with him.” Turning to face Matthew, Hayes asked, “Will there be other guards outside the meeting room? Or will he be the only one—”

“My uncle always has at least six guards with him.”

“That’ll make it hard to snoop—” Hayes glanced at Beckett.

“Maybe I can charm my way into someone’s pants—get them to spill all their secrets.” Beckett smiled and wagged his eyebrows salaciously at Hayes.

“While I’m almost certain you’re joking, I would strongly advise against flirting with my uncle’s men. I’m an open-minded individual, but my uncle most certainly is not. He’s old guard—and neither he nor any of his men would take kindly to being flirted with.”

Beckett tsked in mock annoyance, a familiar gleam of mischievousness in his gaze but Hayes refused to acknowledge his taunt. He’d have to do much better than that to get a reaction.

“I’ll find something—” Beckett broke off when he heard a tiny sneeze.

All three stared at the small, rigged hammock strung across Beckett’s chest.

“You’re still carrying that dog around?” Hayes exclaimed as Nickel poked his little head out and blinked sleepily. He’d clearly been napping and had woken himself up by sneezing.

“I forgot he was there!” Beckett spoke softly, trying to prevent frightening the dog. It was a new habit he’d picked up, making some of their conversations absolutely ludicrous. Beckett tended to be obnoxiously loud most of the time, but give him a 3 ½ pound bundle of fur to take care of, and he was suddenly whispering a lot and acting like a helicopter mom.

Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose, appearing to be out of patience with the whole dog situation and sighed.

“Claim it’s mine if anyone asks,” he said. “My family is used to my eccentricities—the fact that I would hire a bodyguard to protect my pet would not surprise any of them.”

“This is ridiculous,” Hayes said, his head thumping against the headrest.

“You say that now—like you didn’t help me dig my dead brother up on a hunch and agree to play personal bouncer for his gay lover,” Beckett scoffed and then started snickering.

“Shut up,” Hayes said, taking a deep, calming breath.

“Why?”

“Because I’m reconsidering all of my life’s choices—and the car isn’t moving fast enough not to attempt jumping out,” Hayes said, surprised by his ability to come up with this quip so quickly. Another sign that living with Beckett was leaving its mark.

His lover barked a laugh and ran a soothing, affectionate hand through Hayes’ hair.

“Welcome to rock bottom, my love,” he said sweetly, before pressing a gentle kiss to Hayes’ cheek that did funny things to his gut.

When the SUV pulled up in front of the office building, Hayes had to push away all thoughts of his relationship with Beckett so he could get his head back in the game.

“They’ll be waiting,” Matthew said, voice devoid of his usual humour. He grabbed a two- piece headset from the seat next to him, and handed each of them an earpiece.

“Ooh, look! It even has the squiggly plastic thing like the Secret Service guys wear!” Beckett said excitedly.