Page 58 of Shades of Henry
“I was going to say wonderful,” Lance said softly. “He could have been so very much more.”
“Yeah,” Henry agreed. “He could have. And I guess….” A flush washed over his pale features. “I guess I was his last scumbag straw. Like, that day I came to defend all the guys. He really loved my brother, and here I was, Davy’s little brother, telling him he was a scumbag. And suddenly, he didn’t want to be that guy anymore.”
“And that’s what got him killed,” Curtis said in wonder.
Henry looked uncomfortable. “Exactly. So it only seemed right we sort of… honor that. Honor that there was a part of him who didn’t want to be that guy. It’s really important to Jackson that we not let that go.”
Lance nodded and bumped Henry’s knee with his own. “You sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“No.” Henry shook his head for emphasis. “This is… it’s my thing, I guess.”
Lance raised his eyebrows, and Henry blinked, an entire conversation in that exchange.
You’ll tell me later, right?
Yeah. But not in front of Curtis.
“So what’s the thing you want my help with?” Lance asked, yawning.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow before we split,” Henry said gently. “You’re so tired, you won’t even remember.”
“That’s not fair.” Lance yawned again. “I will too!”
Henry helped him up from the table and exchanged an amused look with Curtis that might have pissed Lance off if he could only stop yawning.
“C’mon, Dr. Feel Good—let’s get some shuteye.”
“This isn’t fair.” Lance pouted, stumbling along with Henry anyway. “You have this super exciting life, and I just—”
“Save people from heart attacks. Yeah, you’re such a shut-in. C’mon, sweetheart, let’s get you in bed—”
“Lie down with me?” Lance begged. “Just until I’m asleep. Or, you know. Bring your book. You can read it in bed next to me. Or your phone. Set your phone. Or—”
“Sh… sh, sh….” Henry kissed his temple. “Don’t worry. You had me with ‘bed.’”
They got to Lance’s room, and Henry stripped out of his cargo shorts and his T-shirt before helping Lance into the twin-sized bed and sliding in next to him.
“Mm….” Lance burrowed up against him, snuggling his face against Henry’s chest and stroking his stomach with an idle hand. “God, this is all I wanted. All, you understand. All I wanted. Two days and I wanted this. I saw Jackson’s boyfriend, and he looked… looked like the world was caving in on him. It made me just… just really grateful you were okay.”
Lance remembered to pull his head back and checked. “Youareokay, aren’t you? I mean, are you traumatized? Do we need a shrink or a counselor or something?”
Henry let out a strained chuckle. “I was a soldier, remember? Deployed? War zone?” He sighed. “It wasn’t pretty, I can’t lie. But I was less worried about the dead guy than I was about Rivers making it. Man, he scared me. All of Jackson’s people were there, and he’d put himself in danger for me. And they were there and I was there, and it really was fucking terrifying.”
“Fucking brave,” Lance mumbled.
“Yeah.” Henry dropped a kiss in Lance’s hair. “Fucking brave.”
“But… I still don’t understand who killed the bad guy,” Lance said, and Henry grunted.
“Have you ever… I don’t know, walked into a staff meeting of people who were way above your pay grade?” he asked after a minute.
Lance tried to reason. “Once. Board members, trying to decide funding, I think. They were… well, sort of cavalier, I guess. I kept thinking that this funding decided if people lived or died.”
Henry smoothed his hair back from his face. “Yeah. Well, Jackson and Cramer know people on that board. I figure at this juncture, they’re my COs, so I just smiled and nodded.”
“That’s scary,” Lance murmured, not sure he could wrap his head around it right now.
“It is. But in the end, I think it boiled down to Rivers and Cramer, taking care of their people. Me included. And you know what? I’m sort of okay with that.”
