Page 41 of Black Curtain

Exhaling in a frustrated if purely affected sigh, Nick tugged his plate closer with his fingers. Maybe it was seeing Jem standing there, eating his own cake off a plate with his hands, his mouth covered in frosting, his pupils dilated, turning his light eyes nearly black.

Or maybe he was simply done fighting it. Maybe he’d already been worn down by whatever conversation he and Dex had before we all got up there.

Either way, he pulled his plate onto his lap, setting it on the dark blue pants of an expensive-looking and obviously new suit. I watched as Nick gingerly got one hand around his very fat and colorful cake. Picking the whole thing up, he took an experimental bite out of one side. He began chewing, his eyes thoughtful as he watched Dexter.

I followed Nick’s eyes to the other man.

It hit me that I hadn’t seen Dex since our human wedding ceremony. He’d been locked up in here since that day, which had to be over three weeks ago now.

Unlike Black, I hadn’t come to see Dex when we landed. I more or less got whisked away immediately by Angel, Mika, Luce, Magic, and Kiko, not to mention Johan and his stable of stylists and makeup artists. I hadn’t seen anyone else until the actual ceremony.

Dexter had lost weight.

He’d continued to shave his head in here, so he was totally bald, but his jaw wore enough five o’clock shadow to stump me, since I’d never seen that on him before. His face was noticeably thinner. His broad shoulders remained muscular, but his arms looked leaner than I remembered, still corded with muscle but with less bulk.

He looked like he’d spent all his time in here doing pull ups and push-ups, and running in place, but maybe eating half as much as he had before he got locked up.

I wondered that he hadn’t escaped, then noticed they’d locked all the windows and boarded them from the outside. I suspected the real reason was that seers watched him in here. If Dex eventhoughtabout escaping, they’d likely know.

They’d also likely deal with it immediately.

I hoped like hell they weren’t pushing him with their minds.

“They’re not, doc.” Black scowled at me, folding his arms. “Not at all. Not even once. I’d fire their asses if even one of them ever tried it.”

I watched Dex glanced at Black when he said it.

Then, frowning, the Marine went back to staring at Nick, a cold anger in his dark eyes. He glanced around at the rest of the room, focusing on Kiko, then on Jax, then back at Nick… then back on Kiko.

He barely looked at me and Black, I noticed.

He looked at Dalejem longer than either of us.

When Black spoke next, his voice was lower.

It also held significantly more pain.

“Eat the fucking cake, Dex. Please. I’m asking you to.”

That time, Dex turned. He glared at Black openly.

“Is that an order? Boss?” His anger shifted off Nick. He focused it unmistakably on Black. “Because I quit. So I ain’t taking orders from you anymore, Quentin. Which means this is just flat-out false imprisonment. Kidnapping. Likely a few other felonies.”

“You might be forgetting that attempted murder thing,” I reminded him mildly. “After all, this is still better than prison, Dex.”

The Marine turned his anger on me.

I flinched at the hatred I saw in those dark brown eyes. I remembered Angel and Kiko joking about Dexter having “puppy” eyes. Kiko accused him of using those puppy eyes on her, trying to get what he wanted. She teased that he’d be flat-out dangerous with those eyes if he wasn’t such a good guy.

Pain reached me at the thought.

I saw his expression falter at something he saw in my face, right before he went back to glaring at Black.

“You can’t murder what’s already dead.” His eyes and voice grew colder. “You can’t attempt to murder it, either.”

“Oh, give me a break!” Black growled. “You tried to kill yourfriend,asshole! Don’t pretend we’re acting ‘crazy’ or whatever for locking you up after what you pulled! You shot him in the face. You shot himin the face,Dexter! You know damned well Nick is different now. Only an asshole would pretend not to see it!”

Dex gave Black a cold stare.

---