AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Theo’s face, though, was a thundercloud, and he didn’t respond.
“First of all,” North said grudgingly, “dope reference. Second of all—” He fixed Auggie with a dirty look. “—we’re the fucking Avengers.” He gestured to the chief’s office at the back of the building, where the sound of movement suggested Cassidy’s return. “Now we sit around with our dicks in our hands and wait for Chief Buttwipe to let us go.”
“Don’t count on it happening soon,” Theo said. “He brought us here to question us. Not that we have anything to do with this. Not that we should have anything to do with this.”
The latter was clearly meant for Auggie, and the younger man seemed to brace himself, his whole body tight.
Emery smiled, a savage slice of white teeth. “I think I can give him something else to occupy his attention.”
John-Henry groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I’m going to make Colt bail you out. How will that feel, making your son learn how to post bail?”
“It should be a valuable life skill.” Voices moved closer to the door, and the knob rattled. “Especially considering his wastrel boyfriend.”
“He’s been looking for an excuse to use wastrel ever since he watched a documentary on the Dust Bowl,” John-Henry said.
“Raisins to Raisins and Dust to Dust?” Tean asked.
Emery glowered at him.
“That thing was, like, eighteen hours long,” Jem said. “I swear to God I died for a few minutes in the middle of it.”
“It was three hours long,” Emery said, “and it was exceptionally informative. And why did you watch it? It has nothing to do with animals.”
“Believe it or not,” Tean said, “I do have other interests.”
“Clown fires,” Jem said.
“What—” John-Henry began to ask, then stopped himself with a grin that, a moment later, Jem mirrored.
“Oh, I love clown fires,” Shaw said.
“Fuck me,” North said. “Somebody just fuck me right now.”
“That’d be the day,” Emery muttered.
Struggling to sit up, North managed, “Excuse me—”
Then the door to the chief’s office opened, and Cassidy emerged. A uniformed officer appeared a moment later, guiding Missy toward a hallway—presumably, Tean decided, where the cells were located. Cassidy scanned the group of men, and a gleam of something—amusement, satisfaction, fun—darted across his expression.
“Well, gentlemen, why don’t we start—”
“The primary question,” Emery said, rounding on him, “is did this pissant town hire you because they wanted an ingrown anal hair as chief in order to make the rest of them look better by comparison—”
“Sweet Jesus,” John-Henry said.
North and Shaw were already giggling uncontrollably.
Theo scratched his beard.
“—or was it because your incompetence and stupidity make you an ideal patsy for whatever dirty shit is going on around here? Take your time before responding, Jonas. I remember that polysyllabic words are difficult for you.”
It only got worse, Tean quickly learned, from there.
8
That night, Tean crashed when he and Jem got back to the resort, and they slept late—well, late for Tean, which was still early for Jem. The conference itself continued according to its normal schedule, which meant Tean’s day was tied up with panels and coffee meetups and the annual IHCPA business meeting, which was even more boring than it sounded. Tean made Jem promise not to do any investigating without him, and while Jem was responsive to texts all day, and he always had a plausible explanation for what he was doing—reading, swimming, watching TV—Tean knew his husband, and he knew that any of those explanations might have covered something dangerous, something Jem was trying to protect Tean from.
The day’s proceedings carried Tean almost to the evening social, and he barely had time to rush back to their room, shower, and change. He was pulling on his khakis when Jem let himself into the room, gave him a single glance, and said, “No, sir.”
