“You all right?” Christian said. “You look flushed.”
Shawn forced out a smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Just peachy.
Chapter 14
Shawn’s cousin Sage lived in a less than safe part of the city. It was partly why Shawn didn’t see him much. The other reason was that his cousin had been weird as hell after he had been released from prison six months ago: he seemed depressed and distant, like he wasn’t even there. At first Shawn attributed it to his aunt’s death—she had died while Sage was still in prison—but it didn’t seem to be the case. Instead of getting better, his cousin seemed only more depressed as time went on. Shawn was worried about him, of course, but truth be told, he had more pressing problems to think about and didn’t have time to visit his cousin.
But since he’d had to drop the kids at Mrs. Hawkins’s place before his night shift, Shawn decided to make a small detour and find out how Sage was doing.
His cousin greeted him with a grin. “Hey, come on in,” he said, opening the door wider.
It took Shawn a moment to recover from his surprise. “You look good,” he said, patting him on the shoulder and entering the apartment. Sage looked great actually; he’d always been the better-looking one out of the two of them. They might share their moms’ blond hair and blue eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. His cousin’s features were far more delicate—hell, downright exquisite. If Christian had seen Sage, he would never call Shawn the princess anymore.
It actually made Shawn wonder, and not for the first time, whether something…had been done to his cousin in prison. If the rumors about what happened in prison were true, with a face like this… Shawn shuddered.
“How are the girls?” Sage asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.
“Good. I have the night shift tonight, so I just dropped them at their babysitter’s.”
Sage sat on the couch, cross-legged, and patted the place next to him.
Removing his jacket, Shawn took the seat. “I can’t really stay,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Or I’ll be late for work. I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing—”
The door opened and a man walked into the apartment.
Seeing Shawn, he stopped and stared.
Shawn stared back. The man was tall and pretty handsome, clearly of Hispanic descent.
“Who is that?” the guy asked.
“It’s my cousin, Shawn,” Sage said, rather defensively. “Shawn, it’s Xavier.”
Shawn waited for an explanation, but there was none.
But when Xavier walked over, tipped Sage’s head up and kissed him, no explanations were needed anymore.
The kiss went on and on, and Shawn could only stare. He’d been pretty sure Sage was completely straight.
Well, apparently not.
His cousin actually moaned, and Shawn looked away, beyond uncomfortable. He stood up and cleared his throat. “Um, I’d better go.” He chuckled. “You’re clearly fine.”
Behind him, the kissing stopped.
“Look,” Sage said, sounding embarrassed. “I—”
“You don’t have to explain anything,” Shawn said quickly and headed to the door. “I’ll go.”
“Wait,” Sage said. “It’s dark already. It’s not safe to walk alone around here. Xavier will drive you home.”
“I will?” Xavier murmured.
“No, it really isn’t necessary—”
“He will,” Sage said.
“I guess I will,” Xavier said. He gave Sage a short, hard kiss. “You’d better be naked and ready when I’m back, Blue Eyes.”
Flushing, Sage pushed Xavier to the door. “I’ll come over next week,” he told Shawn. “I haven’t seen the girls in ages.”
Shawn nodded and slid into his jacket.
Xavier moved past him. “Let’s go. What was your name again?”
“Shawn,” he said, not sure how to talk to the guy.
“Where do you live?”
Shawn told him, and Xavier led him to a very old, rusty Ford Pinto. Shawn looked at it warily. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”
“No,” the guy said, getting in the driver’s seat.
“That’s…not very reassuring.”
“Did you want me to lie?” Xavier said with a hint of impatience, clearly eager to get it over with and go back to his cousin.
Shawn got in the car, and they took off.
“There’s no seatbelt,” Shawn muttered. “Why am I not surprised?”
Xavier didn’t deign to reply.
“So,” Shawn said after a while. “Are you my cousin’s boyfriend or something?”
“Or something,” Xavier said.
“I thought he was straight.”
Xavier just laughed, as though he had said something funny.
“But I’m glad he has someone, you know,” Shawn said. “I was worried about him. He was depressed after he got out of prison.”
“Really?” Xavier murmured.
“Yeah. I hope I’m wrong, but I think… I think someone did something to him in prison.”
“You’re not wrong: I did.”
Shawn opened his mouth and closed it without saying a word. He digested the information for a few moments. “You’re an ex-convict?”
“Yep.”
Great. He was in a rusty Ford Pinto, without a seatbelt on, and with an ex-convict at the wheel.
“What were you in prison for?”
“Killed eight people at a mall.”