North and Shaw Out of Office - Gregory Ashe Page 0,26

managed to get it started, pulling away from the dock as North charged down the wooden platform. Shaw watched, thinking about gators and bacteria breeding grounds and water moccasins and the murky brown water. Low on the horizon, the sun raked across the lake, turning North into a silhouette as he reached the end of the dock and took a running leap. For a moment, he flew across the sky like a shadow. Then he collided with Donovan in what looked like a perfect tackle, if American football ever introduced a lake and jet ski component. The two men splashed into the water, and a moment later, they surfaced. It was hard to tell at a distance, but Shaw thought the first big twist of North’s body was North landing a punch right in Donovan’s eye. Then North shouted, “Shaw! Shaw!” And Shaw knew he wasn’t imagining the faint note of panic.

A wet tongue tested Shaw’s palm, and he glanced over and met Brickle’s toffee-colored eyes. “Did you see that?” Shaw asked, scooping up the Löwchen and setting off toward the lake. “He just jumped. Didn’t even slow down.” Nuzzling the dog’s ear, Shaw whispered, “Don’t tell him I said it, but he’s absolutely incredible. Sometimes.”

7

INNSBROOK SECURITY took Donovan away until the police could arrive; Shaw and North returned Brickle to Quentin, who, in his terror, tried to take their heads off with a shoehorn before he recognized them. Then he dissolved into tears again, kissing Brickle, letting Brickle kiss him, and at one point holding out Brickle so the Löwchen could run a long, wet kiss up North’s cheek.

North wouldn’t have admitted it, especially not to Shaw, but he kind of liked the little white rat-dog. It was cute. And so he just scrubbed at the doggie spit and said, “He could teach Shaw a thing or two.”

Eventually, they got Quentin out of the lake house, and then it was just the two of them. North plucked at his dripping clothes and the wet trail he had left back and forth across the house and said, “I hope I didn’t ruin the floor.”

Shaw shrugged and then wrapped North in a hug, laying his head against North’s chest; heat bloomed there like a firework. “They can afford to replace it.”

North returned the hug, closing his eyes, resting his chin on Shaw’s head. The spiky musk of Shaw’s hair product mixed with the smell of the lake. Closing his eyes, North tried to will away the ghosts of those eighteen-year-old boys, as though Tucker and Percy and all the other Chouteau bros had never been here. As if it had always just been North and Shaw, the two of them, and North had never managed to fuck up his life by losing eight years with the man he loved.

“You were very brave today,” Shaw said, the words muffled by North’s wet shirt.

North laughed and massaged the nape of Shaw’s neck.

Moaning, Shaw said, “Keep that up, and I’m going to get distracted.”

North adjusted his knee between Shaw’s legs. “You feel a little distracted to me already.”

With another moan, Shaw turned his head up, his hazel eyes shot wide with desire. “You owe me the rest of that kiss.”

Smirking, North bent down, his lips not quite touching Shaw’s, and said, “I owe you? That’s not a very nice way to ask. I thought we talked about this. I thought I told you you were so good at asking nicely.”

“Yeah, but this time you owe me. I found the dog, and you said—”

“Hold on,” North said, pulling away. “You found the dog?”

“Yeah, we were walking up to the cabin, and I pointed—”

“No. No way. I found the dog. Donovan brought it outside, and I said, ‘Brickle.’ That means I found him.”

“I knew it was Brickle. I was pointing at the house; I was telling you they were inside.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

“I was telling you nonverbally.”

“For all I fucking knew, you were practicing one of your moves from that modern dance class you’ve been taking. How was I supposed to know you were telling me a dog named Brickle was inside that house?”

“That reminds me,” Shaw said. “My recital is next weekend. I got tickets for you and for Pari and my parents, and I bought you some tights because they have this after-the-show audience involvement thing, and I thought maybe you’d want to do some of the dancing—”

North could feel a smile building, and before it could give him away, he bent and kissed