Page 41 of Cohesion

Jericho visibly swallowed. “I don’t—”

“When you kissed Quinn, you made your choice. And you don’t get to backtrack now just because you got what you wanted.”

“I’m not,” Jericho said. He sighed, licked his lips. “Can we do this somewhere more private, please?”

Sebastian stood, back stiff. “Lead the way. Where are we going?”

Peyton wasn’t going to be left out of this. And he didn’t trust that the two of them wouldn’t just start throwing punches if it got heated. Not the kind of bar fight he wanted to break up.

He held up his hand to indicate “five minutes” to Leigh and went in pursuit of them.

Somewhere between crossing the room and going down the narrow hallway that led to the toilets, Sebastian had moved in front of Jericho. He whirled around to face them before they reached the end of it. “You know what? Fuck you, Jericho,” he spat. “You are a hypocrite and an asshole.”

“I need more specifics than that.”

Peyton pulled out a set of keys and opened the room they used for small functions, gesturing for them to go inside. He trailed his fingers over Sebastian’s hip as the lawyer stalked into the room.

Jericho stopped instead of going in. He brushed his fingers down the few threads of hair that had come out of Peyton’s ponytail and then leaned in, pressing a lingering kiss on his forehead.

Peyton’s feet stuck to the floor even after Jericho moved out of his space. His skin tingled, and butterflies danced in his stomach.

“You hide everything about yourself,” Sebastian said angrily. “All we know is your eye colour—which you’re hiding right fucking now—and I doubt there’s anything youdon’tknow aboutus. You’re so insistent that I need protection, and then you can’t even be bothered to be the one who does it.”

Peyton shook himself out of his frozen state and closed the door with a quiet click. He leaned his back on it, watching the two men carefully as they circled each other.

“Is that what you think? That I couldn’t be bothered?” Jericho asked.

“Tweedledee and Tweedledum were here on your orders, and I’d stupidly thought it was temporary while you were busy. Except now it’s turned intodays,and they can fuck off. You know what? So can you.”

Peyton half turned his head as footsteps came closer. Instead of moving past to the toilets, they stopped, and then a knock sounded.

“Peyton?”

Peyton pushed off the door and opened it, letting Will—and Quinn—inside.

“Leigh said you were back here,” Will explained. “What’s going on?”

“Just clearing a few things up,” Peyton said mildly. Quinn shifted behind him, one hand holding his hip. Will closed the door, keeping one hand on the surface of it.

“You don’t want to be here,” Sebastian said to Jericho. “You manipulate the world around you, without a care for the ashes you leave behind in your wake.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Jericho gritted out.

“That’s exactly my point!” Sebastian said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “We don’t, because you won’ttellus. You play parts and compartmentalise your life so that none of the sides meet. Are we supposed to just be happy with the crumbs you choose to give us?”

Jericho flinched, a strand of his hair falling over his forehead. “I’ve opened up to you more than I have to anyone else outsideof the team. I want to give you what you’re asking for, but it’s not that easy for me.”

“We aren’t asking for more because we have malicious intent,” Quinn said into the silence. “We’re asking because we care, and we want to get to know the person that we’ve invited into our lives. You aren’t just here because you’re guarding Sebastian. That ship sailed already.”

“It’s because we like you,” Will piped up. “Not just because you look great naked or give great head. I let you kiss Peyton. I shared my morning routine with you. The little moments that we have together are important, and we want you to be part of that. And we want to be part of yours.”

Peyton’s fingers wrapped loosely around Will’s wrist, above his watch. “Where were you today?” he asked.

“I had some things I needed to wrap up with Greer,” Jericho said easily. Too easily. “Tomorrow I’ll be working with Ken and Spence on the Riley incident. Six needs you for a few more days, and then we’ll follow up some leads together.”

A half-truth. What was he wrapping up?What was he hiding?

Before he could ask, Jericho half sat on one of the tables in the room and tugged Sebastian between his legs. He threaded their fingers together and stared at them for a long moment, the silence weighted between the five of them.

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