Page 147 of Cohesion

This appearance wasn’t just the cover, it was the author’s note, content warning page, and the manuscript all rolled into one. Sebastian had never seen this man before in his life. Was he new? Had he just graduated fromprimary school? “What’s your name?”

“Cody Wright. Uh, sir?” He stuck out a hand.

Sebastian tentatively took it. At least his grip was firm.

Cody glanced around the room, realised there wasn’t anywhere to sit, and then jammed his hands in his pockets. “Okay, so, I’ve been looking over the files, and I think this is a slam dunk, right? Clear assault on multiple cases for both of them. Unauthorised use and obtainment of a weapon. Murder. Um… breaking and entering? The stuff that was found in the deposit box.” He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I should have brought my notes. Did they take a picture of your”—he gestured at Sebastian’s face—“before it healed? Wow, you heal fast. Do you take vitamins? I always forget mine. I got thegummy ones, and they’re nice, but once they’re out of sight, you know, bam, gone from my mind.”

Thiswas who Hunter and Jericho had handpicked?

“Pictures were taken,” Quinn said. “He isn’t healed; we just made him pretty so he didn’t scare the locals.” He stood and moved out of the way of his seat. “Have a seat.”

“Are you sure? ’Cause I can stand.”

“By all means.”

Sebastian gave in to the urge to be a dramatic teenager and dropped his head backwards, slouching in his chair. This was going to be a long morning.

He should have stayed at home like everyone had tried to get him to do. He could have been snuggling in bed with his men right now. Mistakes had been made.

Jericho took the stairstwo at a time until he reached the fourth floor, squinting suspiciously at everything as he went. The firies had declared the place fit to walk in, but evidence of a fire was still visible, especially on the two lower levels.

The sooner he got Peyton and Will packed up and out of the place forever, the better.

He scowled at the wide-open door of the men’s apartment. The visibility of Peyton’s dirty-blond hair over the back of the couch was a sniper’s wet dream. He should know better. Were theytryingto make themselves a target? Just because the two men that wanted them dead were behind bars, didn’t mean there weren’t still idiots out there who liked to cause trouble.

“Are you just asking to be robbed, or worse?” Jericho asked, rapping his knuckles on the doorframe.

“We’re right here,” Peyton said, without skipping a beat. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Reading a book inThe Mummyalmost caused the end of the world,” Will said, coming out of the hallway with a box in his hand. “Who knows what leaving a door open could do?”

Jericho moved inside, closed the door, and then—with eyes locked onto Peyton—flicked the lock. “Let’s not find out.”

“How were Kendrick and Spencer?” Will asked, hugging the box to his chest.

“Spence is holding Ken hostage and won’t let him pee by himself. So, y’know, they’re having a great time.” Not actually a lie, despite how it sounded. Spencer had taken Kendrick home after he’d been let out of the hospital and was hovering like a mother hen. Kendrick was handling it like a pro. Better than Jericho would have if their situations were reversed, that was for sure. Better than Sebastian was handling his own hovering men.

“It’s going to be a long road to recovery, but it’s looking promising,” Jericho said with a shrug. A little bit of a lie. Right now, it didn’t look good, but Kendrick was only at the start. He was strong, resilient, and an incredibly stubborn bastard. No matter what happened, he’d be alright. And Spencer wouldn’t let him go through any of it alone.

“That’s good,” Will said, relaxing. He dropped the box on the couch next to Peyton and smiled. “Packing up the apartment feels like when I used to clean my room as a teenager. You start with the best of intentions, and you get everything out of the wardrobe to sort. But then you find an old yearbook. Or pictures you forgot you’d been meaning to put in an album. And then suddenly, you’re sitting in your underwear with a purple sparkly top hat from a birthday party, reminiscing and surrounded by more mess than when you started, with zero motivation to finish.”

Peyton scrunched up his face. “What?”

“You had to have been there,” Will said dismissively.

“I’m not sure I want to have been there.”

Jericho wasn’t sure he wanted to have been either. That sounded like a horrifying psych experiment. Why wouldn’t they just… clean what they were meant to clean and move on? Jericho would stay on the outskirts of that kind of situation. Maybe throw chocolate into the pile and hope it got to the person stuck in the middle. Helping, in his own way.

Peyton flicked open the box and inspected the contents. “Is this for Quinn’s or the op shop?”

“Quinn’s.”

Peyton shuffled some more. “There’s a shower curtain in here.”

Jericho peered into it. It was a nice curtain, dark navy with stars. Still in its packaging. Other random bathroom products sat around it and… a lot of toothbrushes. He knew that Will and Peyton didn’t sleep around, so what was with all the toothbrushes? Were they afraid they would accidentally drop six in the toilet and run out of spares?

“So?” Will asked.

---