smile went slow and then wicked. “Does that mean we can have sex in the bed tonight instead of the bathroom?”
Jackson laughed. “That means that I’ll maybe save the geriatric T-shirts for hanging out at the house,” he said. He stroked the front of the shirt he was wearing and more of the lettering flaked off. “I mean, you’re already hot, Counselor, but let’s see what I can do to make you look good.”
“Don’t bleed,” Ellery said, completely sober.
Jackson just laughed.
That night they made completely serious, totally sober, very adult love. They smiled and laughed a lot, but they both knew the other would be there when it was over.
In fact, as they gave that final kiss good-night before melting into the mattress, they counted on it.
When Dave Met Alex—
A Fish Out of Water Story (with a few cameos by the String Boys)
Dave Meets Jackson
DAVE SAW the young police officer coming out of the boy’s room looking tired and sad. He’d been in the hospital on occasion with his Daddy Cop, a man Dave disliked on principle because he was an asshole, called Dave “sweet cheeks,” and was a rude fucker to the people he was talking to.
Baby Cop was different. Young, blond, green-eyed, he still had a toughness to him, a hardness to his jaw that said he’d seen too much too young. But he’d been kind—if distracted—to Dave when Dave had needed to interrupt police business to tend to patients in the ER.
“How is he?” Dave asked as the cop emerged, but what he was really asking was “How are you?”
“His ass hurts,” the cop said bitterly. “Because some dirtbag tried to rip it open with a four-by-four.”
Dave let out a breath. The kid had been beaten and sexually assaulted. The damage was done, and the kid was a wreck. But he was also funny, and his family—parents, sisters, a punk-ass brother, and a bestie who looked like he’d die for the kid—gathered around him like they’d give him strength through a tube if they could.
“I know that,” Dave said dryly. “But how’s he doing?”
The cop gave Dave a sideways look and a reluctant smile. “He’s a tough kid. Man, I’d be losing my shit, but he’s… he’s holding steady.” The cop closed his eyes and shuddered. “But he’s also lying his ass off, which is unfortunate.”
“Lying?” Dave was surprised. All that genuine family warmth…. Lying didn’t seem in their wheelhouse. “About what?”
“Someone got into a fight with the guy who assaulted him last night.”
“Good!” Dave blurted, relieved when the cop laughed a little.
“I would agree with you, but whoever it was practically cut the guy’s head off. So that’s one dead scumbag in the morgue and one freaked-out kid wandering the streets.” Cop boy rubbed his eyes. “After what happened to Kelly, I don’t think whoever did it as revenge would end up doing too much time, but….” He looked at Dave, taking in his magnificent Blackness (as Dave liked to call his pale brown skin) and quirked an eyebrow.
“Your people aren’t good to the brown, are you?” Dave asked, disgust lacing his voice.
“I wish I could say that wasn’t true.” The cop sighed. “I just… there’s got to be a halfway point between ‘Hey, he was protecting his family, give him a break,’ and ‘People who cut people’s heads off should not just get to walk away.’”
Dave grunted. True words, right there. “Do you know who it was?” he asked.
“I’ve got a couple of ideas,” the cop said. “Unfortunately, not enough from anybody talking to even ask the right kid the right questions.”
“Mm.” Dave let out a sigh, and the new blond nurse who’d been recently hired sashayed down the adjoining corridor. “Mm, mm.”
The cop turned and grinned. “Do you have plans I should know about?” he asked.
Dave shook his head. He and Malibu Ken had never even crossed paths, but boy howdy, did that kid’s ass fill out a set of scrubs. “I only wish,” he murmured. “Cute as hell, isn’t he?”
“Not my type,” the cop said dryly, and he yawned again.
“Well, whoever your type is, I hope they’re waiting for you when you get home. You look….” Dave narrowed his eyes on Baby Cop. “You look like you haven’t eaten or slept in months.” Scrawny, bags under his eyes, shaking hands. This cop wasn’t doing well. “The job getting to you?”
Baby Cop gave a tired shrug. “Shouldn’t it?” he evaded. They came to the corridor that led to the entrance of Davis Med Center,