Page 48 of Headcase
“What do you mean you’re ‘answering his questions’?”
“I needed his help with the case. I had to bring something more to the table than uncuffing him from the radiator.”
“Uncuffing him from thewhat?” Thomas snapped.
Asa shook his head. “It’s not like that. Okay, it was sort of like that,” he said, correcting himself.
Thomas’s voice was a low rumble as he asked, “Did you put those bruises on him before or after the radiator, Asa?”
“I mean, technically both? But he likes it. Like, it’s a sex thing—”
“Jesus, Asa. I’m aware. I know what hickeys look like.”
“But really, Dad. Zane likes me. Well, okay, I don’t know that helikesme exactly, but we have this thing, this connection. We get each other. I think he might be my person.”
“Your person?” Thomas echoed.
“Yeah, you know, like Noah, Lucas, and Jericho are for the others. I think Zane’s supposed to be my person.”
Thomas breathed heavily through his nose. “Is this you acting out because of your brother? Are you punishing me because I sent Avi to help Aiden?”
Asa rolled his eyes. “What? No. Well, at first, yeah, kidnapping Zane was probably acting out, but then we reached an understanding, and now, I think he actually really feels something for me.”
“You’ve known him less than a day. Asa, you’re smarter than this. You can’t just abduct random strangers—especially reporters—and then decide that you’re going to keep them like some kind of trophy.” Thomas shook his head, gaze snapping back to Asa’s. “Wait? What do you mean kidnapped? You kidnapped him?”
“Yeah, why else would I have had him cuffed to the radiator?”
“With you? God only knows,” Thomas muttered.
“There are a million other things I could have chained him to for that. Trust me—”
“For the love of God, Asa.”
Thomas wasn’t being fair. He had to see that Asa did exactly the right thing. “What was I supposed to do? Let him go so he could share his little videotape with the world?” Asa asked, flinging his hands into the air. “I was thinking on my feet.”
Thomas began to pace. “How much does he know, Asa? How much more have you told him?”
Asa shook his head. “Everything. He knows everything. It was the only way to explain to him what he saw. Jericho and I were dismembering a body, Dad. We were chatting about all kinds of very top level clearance stuff. The best case scenario is him knowing the whole story. Better he think we’re vigilantes than that we’re psycho killers. What would you have had us do? Kill him?”
“Of course not,” Thomas snapped. “He never should have been there in the first place.”
Asa stood, moving closer to his dad. “Well, I don’t have the ability to time travel, so we need to move past the shoulda, woulda, coulda portion of this lecture. Besides, I think this could work in our favor.”
“How?” Thomas asked. “How will having a reporter know all of our secrets help us?”
“Good press?” Asa said.
“Good press? You want us to go public with this?” Thomas barked.
“What? No.” Why was Thomas being so difficult about this? “Think about it. Talk of some superhero taking out the city’s evil helps plant seeds, just in case things ever go badly. It might pay to have the public on our side. Besides, if they think it’s one vigilante-like superhero, then they won’t be looking for a whole family full of them. Right?”
Thomas closed his eyes. Asa could only sit there and wait for him to finally speak again. It didn’t pay to push his father too far.
Finally, Thomas said, “Bring him to the war room.”
Asa felt a sudden weight lift off his chest. “Yeah, okay. I can do that.”
Thomas turned and left the room, not waiting to see if Asa followed.
