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It wasn’t a question. And even if it were, Will wouldn’t answer it. He did know, and he wasn’t going to confirm or deny it, not out loud. Heshouldn’thave known how it had happened. It wasn’t something he was going to talk about. Not without Peyton, and definitely not with someone he didn’t really know.
Jericho kissed the corner of his mouth with unexpected tenderness. “Okay. Let’s see if we can work out what we missed. We can just fill in the blanks with our own imaginations.”
“That’ll make for an interesting episode.”
“Gotta get our kicks somewhere.”
Will settled against the cushions, and then, after a moment’s hesitation, curled closer to Jericho, resting his head against his shoulder. He didn’t think his intent could be any clearer.
Jericho lifted his arm and settled it across Will’s shoulders. His fingers curled around Will’s upper arm, and Will sighed with contentment, relaxing into him as they watched.
After the first scene had finished, Jericho suddenly said, “We could have just watched this on Disney.”
Will froze. Then blinked. Theyhadgone past a screen that had a bunch of streaming services on it. They’d spent some time on the screen trying to work out which one meant “DVD.” None of them had—they’d needed to press a button on the remote. “If anyone asks, the Wi-Fi wasn’t working.”
Jericho’s laugh was low and reverberated through Will. “Deal.”
Jerichohadenteredanalternate universe, where tactical-operation cops fell asleep snuggled into his side, and kids with triangle heads made rockets on the TV. How did the kid know anything about physics when his ownbodydefied the basic concepts?
Clackingnails on the floor diverted his attention. Persephone stared at him from the open doorway that led to the hallway. Mouth open, tail wagging slowly as if she wasn’t sure whether to be happy or not. Jericho understood. Thought was hard this time of the morning. Dogs were clever, but surely even they suffered from morning-itis. Unfair if it weren’t a universal suffering.
She trotted into the room and stopped for a moment to sniff the armchair. She nudged Will’s hand where it was resting on Jericho’s knee, then licked it. Will murmured something about pancakes and burrowed his head deeper into Jericho’s chest.
“I think he’s down for the count,” Jericho told her seriously. “So be quiet.”
Her ears perked up, and she sat, panting, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.
“I didn’t say food.”
Her tail moved faster. Shit.
“No, I was saying that I didn’t say it.I wasn’t saying I had food. Oh my god, I said it again.” Definitely in an alternate universe. “Stop looking at me like that. Get up here. We are not having F-O-O-D,” he told her, spelling out the word. Thank fuck, Quinn hadn’t done something weird and taught her how tospell. The universe was doomed if dogs gained that kind of intellect. Humans were barely hanging on to the top of the food chain as it was.
He had no idea if dogs were allowed on the furniture, but if it got her to stop looking at him like he should get up and fill her bowl with food—wherever that was, and whatever she got fed—then he would resort to this, and Sebastian could just suck it up.
She nudged his knee with her nose, and he scowled.
“Don’t wake him up,” he warned her, tightening his hold around Will’s shoulders. He was curled into Jericho, one knee resting over his thigh, a hand on his knee, and his face buried in Jericho’s chest. It hadn’t taken him long to fall asleep—two episodes of honestly the most bizarre thing Jericho had ever seen.
Jericho was unaware if he slept deeply, or whether a light breeze would wake him. He’d turned the TV down low enough he’d had to put subtitles on in order to keep up.Triedto keep up. How did kids keep up?
Jericho hoped the dog didn’t call his bluff, because how was he going to reason with a dog? Outside his job description.
She smoothly hopped up on the other side of Jericho, doing four precise circles before settling her body along Jericho’s thigh, her nose hanging over the edge of the couch. Her eyes closed immediately.
Jericho shook his head, wondering what the fuck he was doing. And more importantly, why the fuck he was still watching this show. He had a list of things he wanted to fact check later. He needed to ask Olivia if she’d ever seen it. He’d watched alotof kid’s shows, and not once had they come across a triangle head. The only triangle head he knew was from Silent Hill. Not a kid’s game.
He absently ran the tips of his fingers up and down Will’s arm as he watched, using the barest pressure. Persephone flopped onto her side, her ears lying across his thigh as one of her back legs kicked in her sleep.
He tensed when he heard movement above him. They were heading for the stairs.
Should he let go? He didn’t know how to do that without awkwardly shoving Will away and trying to strike an “I’m totally relaxed” pose. He seriously contemplated trying it, but he didn’t want to wake Will up and especially not so abruptly. He didn’t deserve that. If the other men had a problem with this, Jericho would cop that on the chin willingly.
Quinn, Peyton, and Sebastian appeared in the doorway.
They stared curiously at where Jericho, Will, and Persephone were curled up together.
Peyton’s gaze flicked to the TV. “What are you watching?” he asked in confusion.
