Page 18 of Out of Nowhere

“Hot date?” Dex asked him.

“More like luke-warm,” Mal answered. “I don’t think I’ll be seeing her again. Where have you been?”

“Zion’s. He hooked me up with some clubbing clothes for my next case.” Dex pulled the box out of the backseat, the bag of shoes he’d bought hanging off his elbow. “He says he doesn’t want them anymore and that I should keep them, but I hate to do that.”

“Bring them to me when the assignment’s over,” Mal said. “Zion’s just got to work through some things. One day, he’llprobably wish he had them back. Until then, I’ll keep them in my closet for him.”

“Sure,” Dex said, turning to walk into the house, Mal following.

When Dex entered the foyer, it sounded like some of the team were playing pool in the game room. He heard Andi shout a string of cuss words that would make Howard Stern blush. He climbed the stairs to his room and began hanging up the clothes so they wouldn’t be a wrinkled mess come morning. Could he really wear those outfits to a club? He thought about how he’d felt when he’d tried them on—like a different person. A sexy person. A lot like he’d felt that night he’d gone toCockatoowith his friends. Of course, he’d been pretty drunk then. He wouldn’t be able to drink much while on assignment. With a sigh, Dex finished hanging up the clothes and went to take a shower before bed.

Chapter Twelve: Dex

Exiting the bypass, Dex merged into the downtown Redding traffic.Trendwas located in the industrial district, the club having been renovated out of what was once a warehouse for synthetic materials. Ten minutes later, Dex gave his name to the bouncer at the front, as the owner had told him to do, and walked into a cavernous room with mint green, baby blue, and white bulbs flashing on and off in a continuous stream up and down the wall. The edges of the tables were lit up in the same colors, as well as the outline of the bar, exits, and restrooms. The wall behind the bar alternately flashed blue and white outlines of cocktail glasses. A dance mix of popular songs pounded over the speakers, and, on the other side of the room, a sizable crowd gyrated on the dance floor.

Dex had worn the flowered shirt because that seemed like the most conservative out of all the choices, but he’d paired it with the shiny pants and ankle boots, and both Colt and Kris, who had been in the kitchen when he’d come downstairs, had assuredhim he looked great. Colt had even said he lookedhot. God, he’d be happy if he just didn’t look ridiculous.

He’d read the content of the folder West had given him three times. The owner ofTrend, David Hendrix, requested that Dex and Seo-jun not talk to him in sight of anyone else in case the vandal was watching. Dex took a moment to text him when he arrived atTrend,letting him know that Dex would be walking around, getting the lay of the land, and that he’d be there with his partner the following night.

Heat ran up Dex’s neck.His partner.He liked the sound of that, and not just in a work-related way. He couldn’t wait for Seo-jun to get home.

Already crowded, the club was loud with music and conversation. Men and women sat at tables, drinking and talking. Dex wandered into the hallway, noting the two restrooms and a door markedemployeesto the right of the emergency exit at the end of the hall. Two men stood kissing against the wall, oblivious to Dex as he passed them. One of the restrooms was marked Men and one Co-ed. Peering inside each, he saw that the co-ed bathroom had doors on all the stalls while the men’s room only had a couple of stalls and mostly urinals.

According to Hendrix, most of the vandalism was occurring in the co-ed restroom, more than likely because there were more stall walls to write on. At least a couple of times a month the cleaning crew found homophobic slurs written in black permanent marker there.One would assume that the person writing the derogatory terms was not gay, so the question in Dex’s mind was, what were they doing in a gay club? Camera footage from the hall hadn’t been helpful because people were constantly going in and out of the restrooms all night long.

Most recently, someone spray-painted slurs on the dumpsters at the back of the club. Dex returned to the main room and walked outside and around the building. The night airwas cool after being in the crowded club. Dex stepped onto the strip of land behind the parked cars and looked around. Groups of people got out of cars, laughing and talking as they walked across the parking lot and into the building. A trio of drunk young men stood outside, leaning against the brick wall, probably to cool off. One of them kept yelling, “Slay! Slay!” as another exaggeratedly sashayed back and forth on the sidewalk.

Turning his back to the portion of the parking lot lit by utility lights, Dex eyed the two steel, front-end load dumpsters taking up the back corner of the lot. Turning on the light on his cell phone, he flashed it over them, noting where the vandalism had been painted over by management.

“Hi,” a male voice said so close to Dex that he jumped. “Sorry. Thought you heard me walk up.” A bearded man around the same height as Dex—just under six feet—took a step back, hands in the air. He looked to be around forty and was wearing a white T-shirt with a green shirt open over it, dark jeans, and boots.

“I’m Raheem,” the man said, looking Dex over appreciatively.

Dex nodded to him. “Dex. You startled me.”

“Sorry again. You come back here to smoke, too?” Raheem asked.

Unable to think of another reason to be standing in the dark behind the club, Dex nodded. Then, seeing Raheem glancing at his empty hands, he said, “Then I realized I’d left my cigarettes at home.”

“Here.” Raheem offered the pack, and Dex slid one of the slim Marlboros out and placed it between his lips. He wasn’t a smoker, but surely he could fake it. He’d watched Tom and his mother smoke for years. When Raheem lit Dex’s cigarette with his lighter, Dex sucked on the filter until the tip glowed orange in the darkness. In the brief glow of the flame, Dex saw that Raheem had a hawkish nose, heavy dark brows, and a few grayhairs in his beard and mustache. He wore his hair shaved close to the scalp.

“At the risk of sounding cliche, do you come here often?” Raheem asked after lighting his own cigarette.

“Not too often,” Dex said. “You?”

“This is my third time. The place attracts all ages, and I like that about it. I love to dance. What about you?”

“If I’ve had enough to drink,” Dex said honestly, forcing himself to inhale when he puffed on his cigarette so he wouldn’t look like a rookie. Unfortunately, he inhaled a little too deeply and fell into a coughing fit. Eyes watering, he glanced at Raheem. “I don’t smoke often,” he admitted.

Raheem nodded and took a long drag off his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of his nose. “Besides dancing, I come here to hook up. Last weekend I went home with a guy who was hung like a horse. You top?” Suddenly, he was standing much closer than he had been a moment ago, arm brushing against Dex’s.

Dex used the excuse of turning toward him to speak to step away. Thinking fast, hoping Raheem was a top, he said, “No. I’m a total bottom.”

“Oh, I’m vers, so that’s cool. I could totally fuck you.” His eyes wandered over Dex in a way that was just short of invasive.

Swallowing, Dex tried another lie. “I’m, uh, here with my boyfriend. Or, I was, but he just got an emergency call. We drove here separately. I thought I’d have a smoke before I left.” He held up the cigarette.

“You two monogamous?”

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