turned his face so their eyes could meet.
“Hi, handsome,” Fitz said sweetly.
“Hi, beautiful.”
Fitz smiled sleepily as he ran a finger over Jack’s left eyebrow. “How are you still single?”
“Well, you see, I have a thing for this guy, but I don’t know that he feels the same way about me.”
Fitz pouted. “Who is he? I’ll set him straight for you.” He blinked and snorted. “Okay, not straight, obviously. Do I know him?”
“Yeah, you do.”
“It’s not Laz, is it? He has a boyfriend,” Fitz said loudly, eyebrows drawn together in a disapproving smile, making Laz chuckle.
“It’s not Laz,” Jack assured him. “But someone very close to him.”
“Gio?”
“No, not Gio.”
“Oh.” Fitz frowned in deep concentration. His full lips formed an O before he inhaled sharply. He dropped his face onto his hand, cupping his cheek, his head tilted to one side, his smile affectionate. “It’s me.”
“Yeah, it’s you,” Jack replied quietly, brushing the curled lock of hair that had fallen forward away from his face. He needed Fitz to stay awake. “Why don’t you talk to me for a bit?”
“I like you,” Fitz murmured as he settled back against Jack.
“I like you too.”
“But you scare me.”
Jack froze. “I scare you?”
Fitz nodded, a sigh escaping him. “I scare me too.” He was quiet, and it was the longest moment of Jack’s life. “I could love you.” The conviction behind his words gripped Jack’s heart, and he held his breath. “But you’ll break my heart.”
“Or you could break mine,” Jack replied gently.
Fitz smiled against Jack’s neck. “See? Let’s not hurt each other.”
“What if we don’t hurt each other?”
“We could be happy.” Fitz’s words were almost a whisper, partly because he was fighting sleep and losing, and partly because he seemed afraid to speak any louder, as if saying the words out loud might make them true, which in this case wouldn’t be a bad thing. They could be happy.
“Maybe we could be. We’ll see.”
“Will we?”
“I won’t give up on us so easy,” Jack promised.
“Us.” Fitz hummed. “I like that.”
“I like that too. Just a few more minutes. I’ll be close by if you need me.”
“Okay.”
They’d just turned into the hospital emergency room parking lot when Fitz sat back suddenly.
“What’s wro—” The rest of Jack’s sentence got lost in Fitz’s mouth, and his kiss.
Jack was briefly aware of Fitz’s hand cupping his cheek, and it took him a heartbeat to realize Fitz was kissing him. Jack’s eyes threatened to drift shut as Fitz deepened the kiss, but he quickly got hold of his senses and pulled back.
Fitz frowned at him. “You don’t want to kiss me?”
“I do. Very much. But not like this. Come on.” Jack climbed out and carefully helped Fitz. They walked him into the emergency room, and Red spoke with the nurse. They helped Fitz up into a gurney and quickly wheeled him off. Since Laz was down as his emergency contact and next of kin, he was allowed to go in and wait with Fitz.
Jack sat outside in the waiting room next to Red. He hadn’t even realized he was bouncing his knee until Red gently put a hand on it to still him.
“Hey, he’s going to be okay. He’s in good hands.”
Jack nodded. Someone had done this to fuck with him; he was sure of it. It was no coincidence Fitz was drugged just as Jack had been lured to Frank’s computer to see photos of Fitz. As soon as Jack knew Fitz was okay, he’d hunt the bastard down and make them answer for what they’d done. Regardless of what happened between them, Fitz was part of Jack’s family, and no one fucked with his family.
Five
Everything hurt.
Why did he feel so awful?
Fitz gingerly opened his eyes, confusion settling over him. He was in his bedroom. Why was he in his bedroom? Was he supposed to be in his bedroom? With a groan he sat up, a wave of nausea washing over him. He reached over and grabbed his phone. His locked screen showed a preview text from Laz asking Fitz to call him. Shit, it was almost noon. He rarely slept past six in the morning. His best friend was the only person Fitz would ever call before coffee.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Laz asked as soon as he picked up the call.
“Like shit.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Fitz stilled, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, not just from Laz’s words, but the fact he couldn’t remember. “Laz, what’s going on?”
“You were drugged last night. We