Page 5 of Flash and Bang
“I envy you, man… growing up in suburbia. In the barrio, all thetioswould bring M-80s up from Mexico and take bets on which kids would blow their hands off first,” Jose said. The group laughed.
“Wait. That didn’t really happen, right?” Sarah asked. She looked horrified. Thayne grinned at her as Jose and the others laughed harder. They pointedly ignored her question.
“That’s cold, man,” Craig said, slapping his partner on the back.
“They think I’m kidding.” Jose just snickered harder.
“So, what’s down in San Diego?” Tim Darcy asked Thayne.
Thayne shrugged, deciding he should probably be vague to save all the questions. His coworkers knew Evans was a Marine and he didn’t want anyone to think that they’d been assigned for that reason. The fact that the explosion happened on a Marine base might have just been coincidence. It could havehappened anywhere. “The SAC wants us to meet up with the local PD down there about an explosion at an annual fireworks show. I guess they think it’s possible sabotage.”
“Seriously? Talk about cold,” Sarah said. She was frowning. “There’s always tons of kids at those things. I take it there were injuries?”
“Looks like it,” Thayne answered, “We won’t know the extent of it until we meet with the ATF investigator and SDPD.” Jarrett nudged Thayne’s arm and he glanced over at his partner who stood next to him. “What?”
“We got reports to write and then I gotta get packed. How ‘bout you?” Jarrett asked.
Thayne noted a spark of something in Jarrett’s expression. Whatever that look was, he definitely wanted to explore it some more. He smiled and then nodded. “Yeah. I got reports too. Not as many as you, though.” That earned him an eye roll from Jarrett.
“Don’t remind me,” he grumbled.
****
They spent the rest of the afternoon writingreports and by seven, Thayne was rubbing his eyes. He glanced over at Jarrett. “You about done there?”
Jarrett looked up, glancing at him with a glazed far off look. “I’ll be done here in like ten minutes.” He rubbed at his eyes as well. “After that, I need food.”
Jarrett patted his belly and Thayne watched the motion with interest, feeling like he could remember every scar and the curve of every muscle below the dress shirt he wore. Jarrett had been gone for six months and though Thayne had flown out once to visit him, it only now felt like they might finally get the opportunity to renew their connection. He missed the touch of his lover, the smell of his skin. Their time together had been wonderfully intimate before his training and then, the one time Thayne had gone to see him about two months after he’d flown off to Georgia, they’d been crazy for each other, spending an entire weekend in bed together. Since Jarrett had returned though, that part of their relationship had been absent and Thayne was worried they wouldn’t be able to get back to that point. He’d never had a long-distance relationship before and he’d done a shitty job of it when Jarrett had been away. Falling back into bed with Jarrett since he’d returned just hadn’t happened.
Nothing seemed normal with them anymore—at least what had passed as normal before Jarrett had left for training. Thayne had missed Jarrett. He’d refused to move in with Thayne before leaving for Georgia, and now Thayne realized that decision had probably been for the best. When Jarrett had come home a month ago, he’d moved his things out of storage and into a short-stay residence hotel. Maybe he was uncomfortable staying with Thayne since it had been so long. But it felt almost as though they were strangers, when it had once been so much more. Thayne hadn’t pushed Jarrett to stay the night with him but the fact was, Jarrett hadn’t seemed to want to either. That just hurt. When they’d lived those three turbulent months together and then through the trial afterward, it had seemed like they’d shared something which had serious potential. In hindsight, Thayne knew Jarrett probably had made the right decision. There were times when he felt Jarrett watching him at work—felt the longing Thayne knew he was feeling—but so much time had passed, he wondered whether the old feelings would ever come back.Are we truly strangers after everything that passed between us?
“I’m starving too and we have a long drive tomorrow morning,” Thayne said, forcing himself to snap out of the headspace where he’d gone. Hewatched Jarrett nod, not meeting his eyes.Fuck this.He knew Jarrett wasn’t going to make the first move so it was going to be up to him. “I was thinking maybe you could go pack a bag and come over for pizza and beer. Maybe you can stay over so we can leave early. What do you think?”
Jarrett glanced over at him and he smirked, the deep dimples making an appearance. “A man after my own heart.” Thayne’s heart sped up. “Who can resist pizza and beer?”
Thayne smiled. “Okay.” He stood and picked up his jacket from the back of his chair, draping it over his arm as he watched Jarrett scribble on the page in front of him. “I’ll get out of here and then order pizza. Meet me at my place in an hour?”
Jarrett grinned. “Okay, Wolfe. You got it. See you then.”
Thayne turned to walk away and then turned back, having forgotten the note Stanger gave him with the SDPD contact. When he spun around, he caught Jarrett staring at his ass. He cocked his head and smiled. “Interested?”
Jarrett let his gaze slide over Thayne’s body before smiling wider. “Maybe.” He focused on Thayne’s eyes. “See you soon, Wolfe.”
He nodded and turned away, walking toward the elevators with a little smile. He felt a wash of pure hunger pass over him as he rode down to the parking garage… hunger that had absolutely nothing to do with pizza.
****
Jarrett watched Thayne walk out of the office. He realized that he hadn’t been fair to him when he’d come back. Thayne was probably the most open and trusting person he’d met in his life and he was aware that his rejection of Thayne’s offer to move into his place both before he left for training and after he’d come back, had hurt Thayne. If he had to be honest with himself, and he had been many times while in Georgia, he blamed himself for so much of what had happened to Thayne. He knew that he should have protected Thayne and that he’d failed. When Thayne ended up lying on the asphalt with a hole in his chest, it had almost killed Jarrett.
Jarrett wasn’t a good man. He felt bad every time Thayne looked at him with unquestioning trust. During their time together, Jarrett had let things get out of hand. He’d taken the heart of a trusting man and hurt him, possibly even more than Virgil had done when he’d shot him in the chest. What’s more,Jarrett sensed Thayne was falling for him and he’d stayed away for exactly that reason. Jarrett wasn’t the kind of man who could love like that. He wanted Thayne to have a man who was worthy of him and Jarrett was so different from that man, Thayne would never understand. How was he ever going to be able to tell Thayne that he wasn’t worthy of his love or trust? It was so much easier just to let him forget their connection and everything they’d been to each other. Being put in the position of protecting Thayne’s life had made Jarrett begin to put the past behind him, but once he’d failed and let Virgil nearly kill him, the truth of who Jarrett actually was had come down on him like a ton of bricks.
He finished up the reports he was writing, pushing everything back into proper folders, and putting them away. He locked his drawers and picked up his jacket, staring at the hole in the sleeve from catching on something while he was running up the stairs that morning. He smiled, remembering the craziness of it all and then slung his jacket over his arm as he walked out of the office, turning out lights and loosening his tie as he went. Wearing suits was driving him nuts and he hated it. Besides that, it was becoming super expensive replacing them. He went down to the garage and stowed his suit coat in the saddlebag of the Harley, slung a leg over, and took hishelmet off the handlebars. Within a minute he was headed toward the Valley.
Jarrett stopped at his own place, picked up his shaving kit, and changed into an olive green muscle shirt, cargo pants, and an old leather jacket. He picked up a fresh suit and then tromped on down to the parking lot where he climbed into his Jeep Wrangler and headed over to Thayne’s place. Chances were they’d end up trying to reconnect, and Jarrett could feel his stomach lurch at the very thought of it. He’d avoided being alone with Thayne to this point but Jarrett wasn’t stupid. As soon as they were in that apartment together, they’d probably be all over each other. The sex had always been amazing, but the feelings Jarrett had when they were together were even more of a threat than anything he’d ever experienced out in the field. Thayne Wolfe was dangerous to Jarrett.
A half hour later Thayne buzzed him into the lobby and he took the elevator up to his apartment. When Thayne answered the door, Jarrett could smell the scent of pizza coming from inside. The second he met Thayne’s blue gaze, he felt his stomach flip-flop.
“Hey.” Thayne met his eyes and stood back, beckoning him into the apartment with a wave of his hand.