Page 64 of Devious Gambit

“Okay.”

“I’ll get you a couple of tickets. Anyway, I like that you don’t talk shop.”

“Are you going to tell me what a linebacker does?”

“We keep the drinks on ice and dish them out when needed,” he joked.

“Liar.”

“Hydration is very important, Rhys.”

I handed him his plate, piled high with mac and cheese and he hummed at the delectable scent rolling off it. When I sat down next to him with a smaller serving, he took his cap off and slotted it on my head. “Sexy.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I have to call my mom tonight at 9pm. It shouldn’t be a long phone call.”

“Cool.”

“She wants to talk to me about my father.”

“Huh. Gonna talk you out visiting him, I take it.”

“Most likely.”

“Have you read much about his crimes and the men he killed?”

“All crims, the whole lot of them. Crims killing crims for doing crim business.”

“Did you research much about the three men Moody shot?” he asked me.

“Yeah. One of the men was like a big time thief of expensive rare items such as art and jewelry. Heinrich.”

He took a forkful of the pasta and shoved it in his mouth. “Yum. This is good,” and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek again. I could get used to this. The simple things. Eating a home cooked meal on a cold Winter’s evening, cuddling up together while watching TV. “Linebackers are on the defensive team,” he volunteered.

“Oh.”

“You don’t even know what the defensive team is, do you?” he asked.

“No.”

“See, that’s why there’s no point explaining, you’re better off coming to a game. Or better still,” He reached for the remote and switched channels, “we could watch college football on TV.”

He seemed tired and a little low, but not grumpy like the previous night he stayed over. Last night, sex was dripping off him like an unleashed stallion, so it didn’t take long before we were unclothed. His energy on this occasion was more like a calm sea on an early June day, although his hands still traveled to my delicate areas. Not that I’ve ever been to the ocean to witness it calm, but I’ve read about it.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, after he’d finished eating.

“Yeah, just a lot on my mind.”

“Fancy sharing the load?”

“Well, I guess you heard about Greene.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s an asshole, but it was just weird seeing him up on the roof acting so fucked up.” He rubbed his unshaved chin with his fingers. “Let’s just say, I’ll be glad to take break from KV and the fucking Vault and all this drama that’s been going on.”

“I heard he was on drugs,” I stated. He seemed utterly spaced out on something when he barged onto my apartment with his eyes rolling around in his skull, and stinking like a meerkat.

“I suppose you could say that was his way to grieve Sweeney’s disappearance. Anyway, Christmas hardly fills me with joy either. Spending the day with my parents and grandparents turns my stomach a little. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re great people, the best. However,…I don’t know… I feel torn.”

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