Page 55 of Never Say Never

"But what were you talking about?" York stressed.

I tried to think about what Tony said and how to play it off. Lying was second nature to me now, but this was harder than usual. "All he was saying was Benito is cracking down on everyone. There are leaks everywhere. He was stressed about getting found out.”

My boss didn’t look the least bit convinced. "It sounded like he was talking about the FBI, me in particular."

I cocked a single brow and tilted my head. "Did you hit your head too? Blood loss is no joke. What are you talking about?"

York stared at me with confusion written all over his face. "He said the feds and?—"

"Yeah, they're making each leader twitchy which has resulted in the crack downs within." I reached out, stopping short of touching him.

He didn’t look convinced but he didn’t seem nearly as weary of me as he had before.

I pushed forward, needing him to believe me. "The Acetos are even wiping out snitches. It's the one thing all mob members can agree on."

York frowned at me and I knew what his justice-filled mind was thinking. That no one deserved to die because they were trying to tell the truth. But nothing was ever that easy. A single truth from a snitch could lead to hundreds dying; some innocent and some not. It came down to who was important to you. He was the kind of man that would sacrifice himself for the world when I was the kind that would destroy the world for what was mine.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Same reason you won’t inform the team who your informant is. Sometimes it's best to keep these things on the down low until there is something to know. I haven't gotten anything useful yet."

"Okay."

That's it? He was just going to say okay after all of that? Did I apologize now? How in the hell do I get us back to normal? I wanted to touch him and crawl into the too small hospital bed and be close.

"I'm sorry he shot you."

York glanced down at his arm. "Yeah."

I reached out still needing to touch him to make sure he was, in fact, fine. The moment I came in contact, it was a sudden relief.

"I might have told the girls we're boyfriends."

"What?" York winced the moment he tried to jerk around. He held his injured arm. "What do you mean?"

"They were crying, and what was I supposed to do, say no?"

"Yes."

I shrugged. "We are boys and have a friendly relationship."

York groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's besides the point."

I shrugged. "Is it? They were scared for you and I gave them something else to think about.”

York blew out a breath. "I'll clarify things to them later. Thanks for helping."

“Are you saying being my boyfriend is that bad?”

York lifted his head. “You don’t do relationships.”

I shrugged. “I might if you acknowledge our dates are actually dates.” I smirked at York as he floundered about. There was nothing sexier than when York lost his cool.

“That I don’t know. I mean, they weren't, we were just having fun. And you said that’s all it was.”

I burst out laughing with the atmosphere cooling off. I relaxed a bit more. “Calm down, York, it was fun.” I moved in wanting to be as close as possible but making sure to keep a little distance. “And I want more fun.”

The mirrored desire in York’s brown eyes was enough to set me ablaze. If he wasn’t recovering, I’d jump him right now.

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