bothered you to see us kiss,’ Micah said.
She looked down, frowning, then back up, and nodded. ‘I’m sorry, but it did. I was all open-minded about it, until …’
‘It’s why we kissed in the car, because you are open-minded compared to some of our family. But it’s not just our family; it’s the other police, it’s everyone. As men we have to be more cautious, or we can end up with other men up in our face.’
‘Yeah, I’d rather not have to guard you against a cop. That could be legally … awkward,’ Dev said, at last.
‘You’d be up on assault charges,’ I said.
‘So what do you want me to do? The police are like a lot of manly men; they react badly to gay.’
‘But you’re bisexual,’ Juliet said, and it was brave of her to make the distinction.
‘You’re either straight or gay to most people,’ Dev said, ‘and if a guy touches another guy he’s gay, period.’
Nathaniel drew away from Micah enough to say, ‘Just like a lot of the gay community thinks a man who touches a woman isn’t gay enough. They think bisexual means you haven’t made up your mind or won’t admit the truth.’
‘Really?’ Juliet said.
He nodded. ‘The gay community can be just as narrow-minded as the straight community.’
Dev said, ‘Nicky is almost here.’
I looked out toward the parked cars and the electric glowing darkness but couldn’t see him. ‘Am I too short to see him from the backseat?’
‘Yep,’ Dev said.
‘I can see him,’ Juliet said, ‘but I hadn’t seen him until your bodyguard said something.’
‘Once Nicky gets here,’ Dev said, ‘if there’s still no one in the parking lot, I’ll get out first, and when I give you the signal Anita gets out next.’
Juliet looked at the other man. ‘You were looking at the parking lot this whole time?’
‘Most of it,’ he said, and reached for his door handle.
‘Why does Anita get out next?’
‘Because she’s the next best with weapons after me.’
‘I’m better with edged weapons,’ I said.
He grinned back over his shoulder. ‘Yeah, but I make my own edged weapons.’ Dev slid out of the car and looked around with the door still open around him.
‘What did he mean by making his own edged weapons?’ Juliet asked.
‘He’s a weretiger,’ I said.
Nicky was on my side of the car. He glanced down long enough to give me a small smile, then went back to gazing around the parking lot. They were bodyguards first tonight, friends and lovers second. Dev was in charge of the passenger side of the car and Nathaniel. Nicky was taking my side of the car and me. Micah, being in the middle, could get out on either side, and whichever side he used, that guard would have him to keep safe, too. Nicky opened my door, which meant I could finally get out without either guard yelling at us.
‘I don’t understand; how does being a weretiger mean he makes his own knives?’ Juliet said.
‘Not knives, claws,’ Micah said.
Nicky offered me his hand to get out of the car, which he almost never did. Because it was rare, I took it, though I was perfectly capable of getting out without his hand in mine, but as his hand closed over mine it felt good. He drew me to my feet, and I left Micah to explain our reality to his cousin. I had a moment to look up into Nicky’s face; most of the right side was covered by the triangular fall of hair, but the one blue eye that I could see smiled down at me, echoing the smile that curled his lips. I started to go up on my tiptoes to kiss that smile, but his head moved and his expression went very serious. ‘Police,’ he whispered.
He let go of my hand so I could join Micah and Nathaniel on the other side of the car. Nicky took up his post with Dev at our backs, as Micah reached for my left hand and pulled me forward like a safety net as he and Juliet said hi to three different flavors of uniform. It was reunion time, and thanks to his father being a sheriff, a lot of the members of that reunion would be wearing a badge. The fact that I hadn’t realized we’d be wading through police officers at the hospital had been stupid of me. It just showed how much I’d been thrown by his mother’s phone call. I’d been thinking I’d have kept Ares and Bram