Page 60 of Joey

“I don’t know. Did you see his expression in the photograph?”

Joey had, and he didn’t like it. “Almost like he was pissed off or disgusted?”

“Yeah,” Ethan murmured. “It looked like he was looking at Elliott and Denny, but we can’t be sure. For all we know, that picture could be a fake.”

“I took everything Grey told us at face value. I didn’t check anything. Maybe I should have. Maybe Grey is the one pulling the wool over our eyes. Or maybe Denny is. I’ve no idea.”

“Hopefully, the police can find out more information. I’m sure they’ll let us know if they’re telling the truth or not. Grey hasn’t messaged any updates like he said he would.”

They dropped into silence, and Joey’s mind went over everything that had happened since Ethan turned up at Elliott’s funeral the previous day. Had it really been only two days since he’d been back with him? With everything that had happened, it seemed like they’d been to-ing and fro-ing for weeks.

“I’d like us to go to my parents’ for dinner tomorrow. Is that okay with you?” he asked into the quiet.

Ethan blew a hot breath across Joey’s chest. “Sure. I made you meet mine, so it’s only fair, after all.”

Joey chuckled and pressed a kiss to Ethan’s hair. “True. But if you’re not ready, we can do it another day.”

“I’m ready. It’s fine. I look forward to hearing all about your childhood.”

Joey groaned. “On second thought…”

They laughed and settled down again.

“Get some sleep, sweetheart,” Ethan said. “I’m right here and going nowhere.”

Joey wrapped his arms around Ethan and sighed. “I love you.”

“I love you. Now sleep.”

Joey closed his eyes, listening to Ethan’s breathing, and allowed himself to relax. He wouldn’t be able to sleep, that much he knew, but he could pretend so that Ethan could get some rest.

He went over every piece of information he had about the party, the events afterwards, the new people involved, and he kept coming back to one thing: who was telling the truth and who was lying?

Denny seemed like a good enough guy from what Joey knew of him, but he had a reputation to protect. Grey was a clean slate, someone he didn’t know and hadn’t researched. He could be working for Robert or running from him. Robert was an issue Joey had never considered.

As another thought crossed his mind, he frowned. Had his visit to Whitby set more in motion for Ethan’s friends and parents to deal with? He’d speak to his lawyer to find out what he could do, or maybe he could just employ a private investigator. It wouldn’t take much to find out if there were problems there, surely. Ethan hadn’t mentioned any blowback from Joey’s presence, other than David’s taunts, but that was easy enough to deal with. Unfortunately, it seemed that the main problems were from right on his doorstep.

Was he putting Ethan in more danger by having him there with him? Probably.

Could he give Ethan up to protect him? Probably not.

Would he if he had to? Absolutely.

He just hoped he wouldn’t have to.

****

Chapter 17

Ethan

After the upheaval of the funeral, people coming out of the woodwork, the media and David’s email, Ethan and Joey had an early night and a lie-in the following morning. Being Sunday, the only plan they had was to go to Joey’s parents’ house for dinner, which Ethan was trying not to think about. Instead, as they lay in bed, Ethan’s head on Joey’s chest, he explained about David’s email.

“Ani said you would say I should ignore it, but I don’t know David well enough to know if he’s capable of anything more.”

Joey’s chest lifted and fell as he sighed. “Under normal circumstances, yes, I would’ve said ignore it, but David gave me a slimeball feeling right from the beginning, and the way he was with you was just plain wrong.” He paused. “The least you should do is tell Meredith. I’m sure she could think of something to give her an excuse to fire him.”

“Won’t that exacerbate things, though?”

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