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Dean reddened. “Yes. That’s the reason I’m here.”
“It was consensual.”
“It sounded like he was strangling you.”
Chad grabbed Dean’s arm and pulled him out of anyone’s earshot.
“He said he wanted to kill you.” Dean’s eyes were wide. “He sounded like he meant it.”
“If you heard that, then you also heard how much I was enjoying myself.”
Dean scrunched up his face.
“Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it, you seem like a nice guy. I’m glad there’s barmen like you looking out for people, but you don’t need to worry about me. You can see I’m fine.”
Chad stiffened at Dean’s fingers coming towards him, pulling down his collar. He knew there was no mark from Romeo’s hand, but Dean narrowed his eyes at the column of his throat anyway.
“I enjoyed what he did to me.”
“Okay.” Dean whispered, backing away. “It’s just…”
“What?”
“Messed up, considering.”
“Considering?”
“All the shit you went through.”
“Yeah well.” Chad shrugged. “Let’s just say its left me messed up in more ways than one.”
****
He stared at the house until Romeo wandered out, frowning in concern, mouthing questions through the window that Chad wasn’t ready to answer.
Romeo opened the car door and slapped his palm across Chad’s head. “Have they sent you home ill with something?”
“No,” Chad said, knocking Romeo’s hand away. “I’ve been suspended.”
“Suspended?” Romeo shook his head. “Why?”
“For last night.”
“Us in the toilets?”
Chad squeezed his eyes shut. “No, not that, but it shouldn’t have happened either. The DI found out that me and Josh went undercover in The Desperado.”
“I assumed he knew.” Romeo squinted. “I assumed it was some kind of tactic.”
“No. It was me and Josh making a mistake, so…” He heaved himself out of the car. “Now we’ve been suspended.”
“Bit extreme, isn’t it? Nothing happened. It’s not like yours and Josh’s faces are splashed all over the paper,” Romeo hesitated. “How did your DI even find out?”
“I told him, well I told Ally, who told him. Long story short, Josh didn’t turn up for work this morning and I panicked, thinking he’d been killed. He hasn’t. Not that you’d care either way, but he’s still alive. No thanks to me.”
Chad went to pass Romeo, but stopped. “Ally is particularly mad at me, not just because I’m more experienced than Josh and should’ve snuffed out the idea, but because…” he took a deep breath. “She thinks the killer is targeting people that look like me.”
“Justin, Damian, and Tate don’t look like you.”
