for it, and Luca hadn’t. But they’d been at crime scenes enough times together as rookies to see exactly what a piece of paper did as far as protection was concerned.
“If he needs someone to go with him who isn’t directly involved, I’d be happy to,” Todd said, and Luca waited to see if he felt any jealousy, but instead there was only relief.
“Thanks, man. I’ll keep you posted. I’m going to get Ivy home and then call Bas and see what he thinks. Tell Cristy thanks for the info, and I’ll bake her something when my arm’s more functional.” He hung up to Todd’s laughter and called Ivy to him.
Dropping to his knees, he hugged her for a long moment, enjoying the way she let him—the way she propped her chin on his shoulder and licked his ear to remind him that he didn’t always fuck up. Sometimes he got things very right.
Luca wanted to pat himself on the back and bake himself a dozen cookies for managing to not lose his cool and call Xan a hundred times until he picked up. Instead, he paced the house a lot, and picked at his bandage a lot, and checked his phone a hundred times until he heard the garage door open.
He was even more antsy than Ivy to see Sebastion, and his husband gave their reversed positions an eyebrow quirk before he opened his arms and curled into Luca’s chest.
“Sweetheart,” he murmured softly, and Luca let out a trembling sigh.
“Todd called.” He eased back, then tipped Sebastion’s chin up with his fingers and kissed him for a long, aching moment. “He said Max was arrested.”
Sebastion’s eyes widened as he pulled back. “He was?”
“Yeah. He’s probably gonna post bail soon—by tomorrow evening, so he said if we can get ahold of Xan…”
“Luca,” Sebastion said on a sigh.
Luca stepped back and held his hands up. “I’m not trying to push him, okay? But I think he should know it’s a good time to get his things.”
Sebastion closed his eyes on a slow blink, then nodded when he looked back up again. “You’re probably right.”
Luca bit the inside of his cheek, a desperation to hear Xan’s voice just once more gnawing at him. “Maybe you should…”
“You do it,” Sebastion told him. “He’ll answer if you call. He asked for space, and I promised he’d get it, but I don’t think he’ll be upset about the circumstances.”
Luca’s fingers trembled as he pulled his phone out and opened up his contacts. He stared down at Alexander’s name, a sort of empty ache left behind after he’d gone. And it should have been ridiculous—they’d known him such a short time, but god, he didn’t care what other people thought was supposed to be right anymore. He felt how he felt.
Pressing the phone to his ear, he leaned against the counter, closed his eyes, and started a prayer. Dear God, please let him answer…
“Hey.”
Luca almost choked on his own tongue. “Xan?”
“Yes? Is this a wrong number again?” He sounded tired, but there was a hint of genuine amusement in his tone, and it settled something in Luca he hadn’t realized was wound up.
“No. Ha. Um.” He cleared his throat and gave Sebastion a helpless look before he turned his attention back to the call. “Todd called me earlier—my friend who works at the police department.”
And now there was tension in his voice. “Right.”
“He said Max was arrested. I wasn’t sure if you knew.”
There was a very long pause before Xan spoke again. “I knew. His…his mother called. She kind of lost her shit at me.”
Luca squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his uninjured hand into a tight fist. “Are you safe?”
“I’m safe. I’m at a hotel.” Xan let out a slow breath. “Thanks for letting me know, though.”
“No, I…” Luca said, and gave a tiny, frustrated growl. “Todd said he’ll be out tomorrow evening, so I thought you might want to get your stuff. And I know you said you wanted space, so we can have one of our friends come pick you up if you want to grab some shit.”
“Oh,” Xan said, breathy and almost surprised. “Of course. Um, I don’t want to put anyone out, so I can just call a car.”
“Alexander,” Luca said very quietly, “you are not a burden. I want nothing more than to drive over there and help you get your shit and maybe spend the rest of the night feeding you cookie dough between hugs. But I understand why you