Page 13 of Jace's Secret
And then there’d been the stuffed animals all over. Which really, really shouldn’t be hot. And he isn’t sure it is, but it’s so fitting with the idea that Jack is young and needs to be taken care of, needs a protector. For about a week after sleeping with Jack, the urge to show up at the boy’s front door with a stuffed animal had been a constant impulse. He still wonders what would happen if he did.
He’s pretty sure he’s investigated a few guys for similar behavior over the years.
“So, do you remember—” Ralph starts.
Garrett holds up a hand to stop Ralph from saying whatever he wants to say next.
“Coffee,” he begs, not turning around. He adds cream and sugar, then stirs and takes a sip. Still too bitter. Not as sweet as Jack. He adds a bit more sugar, then has another sip and decides it’s good.
Right. Work.
Not beautiful young men who are probably very complicated.
Garrett takes one last sip of his coffee, thoughts of Jack front and center. And further south. Jack was just so fucking pretty. So eager and wanting to please. He’d offered exactly what Garrett needed at the right time and the right place. He’d taken Garrett’s hand, and the deal was done. Garrett had wanted to be seduced.
The temptation of just how hot Jack would be inside, the primal satisfaction of knowing that Jack was ready—opened and able to take him, that he’d had to plan for it, prepare, all with the intention of giving himself to someone—was intoxicating.
It was irresistible.
Could anyone have said no to that? Garrett is very good at saying no. He always says no. There are a hell of a lot of offers for sex when one is an attractive police detective.
So, he’s very good at saying no.
Until he wasn’t. Presumably, Jack had been on the way out to find any willing man to take advantage of what he wanted to give away. And presumably Garrett just happened to be at the right place at the right time. It doesn’t seem very likely, but the alternative is even less likely. That Jack had somehow known who he was, followed him, and intended to seduce him.
That does not happen to police detectives looking down the barrel of forty.
Garrett swallows again. The cup comes down. There is no escape. He looks longingly at the window. Maybe he should retire. Call his accountant and see if the sums add up to quit now. Start over and do something less soul destroying.
“That’s three,” Ralph says. “So, I got a phone call this morning from Miriam over atThe Daily Star. They’re wanting to do a puff piece on the department. Something positive for the holidays. Anyway, someone suggested they do something about LGBTQ officers in the department and rumor has it you might have something to contribute. Did you go home with someone of the male persuasion a few weeks ago?”
“No.”
“No? What do you mean, no?”
Which is when Sandra comes in. Tough, Latina, and possibly his favorite person in the world. Her gaze slides from Ralph to him.
“Leave him alone.” She goes to put a pod in the coffeemaker.
“I can’t,” Ralph says. “He was seen kissing a man at a crime scene.”
“Why does anyone care?” Sandra asks.
“It was not at a crime scene. It was around the corner from a crime scene, and my partner is a private citizen. Plus, I do not want to be the poster boy for gay police officers. Tell Miriam to go fuck herself. Oh, that’s right. That’s your job,” Garrett snarls. Because everyone knows Miriam and Ralph have been fucking for years.
“And so this is Monday,” Sandra sighs.
Garrett takes another sip of coffee and leaves the kitchen.
Ralph won’t shut up. “Are you bisexual, Locke? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just didn’t know.”
Oh god. Is he? To be fair, once he put his dick into someone of the opposite sex and enjoyed it, then that’s probably proof he is bisexual.
He won’t deny that he feels a little sick at being caught kissing Jack. Mostly (he thinks it’s mostly) because it was so close to a crime scene and his colleagues will think he behaved unprofessionally, not because Jack is male. Hell, he’s more embarrassed about how young Jack is than his gender.
And now his co-workers will know about that part of himself. He knows that it’s okay now. But it sure as hell wasn’t before. When he was growing up. And now he’ll have to “come out” and that sounds like a lot of work.
“Maybe I am bisexual,” he says. Okay, maybe not that much work.
