Page 97 of Fool Me Twice
He pulled the covers over Hart and tucked him in before slipping out of bed and pulling a pair of black sweatpants and a white undershirt on over the messy wrapping he’d applied to his ribs. He got himself sorted in the bathroom and padded out of the room in search of coffee and hopefully something to eat since they’d skipped dinner last night. Again.
He clicked the door behind him shut and turned to the stairs, stopping when he heard a soft voice coming from just around the corner.
“Wren?” The voice was a whisper, so Cane couldn’t really tell who it was. “We haven’t seen you in days. Can you please come out?”
There was silence in response, a soft knock following it.
“Come on,” the voice said again. “Please just talk to us.”
No response again.
“Okay.” A heavy sigh followed the word. “I’ll leave some breakfast for you. We’re here whenever you’re ready.”
Cane heard steps and figured he probably wasn’t fucking wanted as part of that conversation, so he strode down the stairs before he could be seen.
He rushed into the kitchen, barely entering through the door when he heard steps coming from behind him and turned to see Fix walking in, his face pinched in a worried expression.
“Cane!” he said when he saw him, as if shocked to find someone else up and in his personal space. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Cane replied, eyes glued to the tense set of Fix’s shoulders and the deep frown between his brows.
Fix turned and grabbed two mugs from one of the cabinets. “Coffee?”
Cane nodded, taking a seat at the kitchen counter and folding his hands on top of it while he waited for Fix to pour. It wasn’t exactly a harmonious environment since the blow up. Everyone was walking on eggshells.
“Anything in it?” Fix asked.
“Nah. Just black.”
Fix handed him a mug, and Cane lifted it in silent acknowledgment before taking a sip. He watched Fix over the rim, seemingly deep in thought as he sipped his own coffee in silence.
Cane knew the man wasn’t too happy about having him around, but he seemed to be polite to a fault, and not in the same way Hart was. Hart’s politeness always seemed practiced. Polished. Fix just…seemed to be a people pleaser. He treated Cane like a welcome guest when Cane knew he was anything but, fielding Ash’s dumb comments and wrangling Black away from him whenever his questions got too invasive. Which was pretty much every five minutes.
He seemed to know where Midas was at any given time, and while Cane wasn’t sure he’d ever even seen Wren before, Fix was making sure there was always food made and ready for him.
His mind flashed back to a conversation he’d had with Hart in the hallway of Cane’s apartment, about Hart’s team and the dynamics that held them together. Hart seemed to be the glue that kept them together, but Fix was the one making sure all the parts of the machine were well oiled and running.
The two of them were like bookends, and the failure of one seemed to be toppling everything. The change in Hart was so noticeable, and it seemed to be putting everyone in the house on edge.
“Hart still asleep?” Fix asked, going for casual but landing about fifteen miles away from it with how his brow pinched and his voice sounded strained.
“Yup,” Cane said. “He was up late last night.”
“Yeah we…we heard,” Fix said, and Cane had the decency to look away for a second. He wasn’t ashamed of what he’d been doing with Hart. He didn’t care that they heard or knew. He’d been asking Hart to finally do it, to tell them so they didn’t have to hide and pretend, but it was so obviously out of the norm in the house, and not at all how Cane had pictured it going.
“Sorry,” he said, knowing it didn’t really sound sincere. It was the best he could do. Nobody would ever accuse Cane of being polite. So there was that.
“It’s fine,” Fix said tersely, sounding like it was a lot of things, but fine wasn’t even on the list. “Any new ideas on the case?”
“No.” Cane shook his head. “I’ve been lying low for days now, but we have no clues and my business is fucked, so anything new that happens is just a continuation of that.”
“Are the police still on your back?” Fix asked, and Cane shrugged.
“Always have been, always will be,” he said. “There’s no escaping that in my…line of work.”
“Have they released…I’m sorry, I forgot his name.”
“Ares. Yeah. They let him go. We talked. Squared shit up.”