Page 19 of Out of Nowhere

Really?

“Very,” he said. Was Raheem being serious, or could he tell Dex was lying and was pulling his chain? Dex told himself it didn’t matterwhatRaheem thought, but Dex had always hated turning people down, afraid of hurting their feelings. He oncewent out with a girl for an entire semester in middle school for that very reason.

“Too bad. Was it a bad emergency that made him leave?” Raheem asked.

Dex puffed away on the cigarette, using the time to search his mind for something plausible.

“No. It was…work-related.”

“He a cop?”

“Yeah.”Shit.Dex hadn’t meant to say that, but what other job has emergency calls at night? “Er, that is, he works security at a local nursing home. Someone broke in. I mean, the alarm went off, so he went to check it out. Probably nothing.” Fuck, Dex hated lying. He was so bad at it. “Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Raheem. I’m going to go check in with my man.”

Dex winced as soon as he turned his back to the guy.My man?

He should leave the club since Raheem was watching, but he’d done what he’d come to do anyway. He knew the lay of the place, and he’d seen the bathrooms and the exits. Whoever was vandalizing the dumpsters was probably coming out of either the fire exit or the employees exit.

On the way back to the mansion, Dex thought about his conversation with Raheem. A lot of guys probably went to clubs to hookup. Dex wasn’t sure he could do that. Just meeting someone and deciding—Hey, let’s go somewhere and fuck—and then, after getting each other off, saying goodbye to them. On the one hand, Dex had to admit it sounded kind of exciting, but on the other…well, he didn’t think he could be that casual with a complete stranger. He was so new to the gay scene. The night he’d gone to a club with his friends, he’d been so nervous, he’d had to drink to loosen up. He barely remembered the sloppy blow job he’d gotten from his dance partner before his friends located him and took his drunk ass home.

The next night, he’d be going toTrendwith Seo-jun. Even though it was for work, Dex couldn’t help but be a little excited about it. He hadn’t been sober long enough the last time to observe Seo-jun in the club scene. Had he danced? Hooked up in the dark hallway the way Dex had? Dex wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Chapter Thirteen: Dex

“Itake it you don’t want me to work this case with you,” Dex said, pinned to the mat by Seo-jun’s body weight. Seo-jun had been working Dex hard since early that morning when he returned from his assignment at the casino in Cherokee. He hadn’t even bothered to go back to his apartment, just changed into clothes from his locker and announced to Dex that they were doing Taekwondo.

Confusion clouded Seo-jun’s dark eyes, which were within a couple of inches of Dex’s at that moment. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious you’re trying to kill me.” Not that he minded having Seo-jun on top of him, but the fact that Seo-jun had flipped him to get him there had been kind of painful. “Honestly, I should have gotten Sean to teach me judo. He’d be less of a task master. Did you even go home before coming here?”

“Taekwondo is better than judo,” Seo-jun said with assurance. “And I’m better than Sean.”

Dex laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” Seo-jun asked, his expression so serious it only made Dex laugh harder. The man was so cute sometimes.

Seo-jun eased up the pressure on him and got to his knees, looming over Dex where he lay on the mat. “You aren’t trying hard enough, or I wouldn’t have been able to pin you.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly expect to be doing this today.” Dex badly wanted to place his palms on the tight thighs on each side of his torso.

“You don’t have to expect it. Life doesn’t give a schedule.”

Dex frowned. “Huh?”

“What I mean is, anyone can attack you at any time. Without warning. You have to be ready.”

“Is this about me getting konked on the head with a baseball bat?” Dex asked, suddenly getting it. “Because I’m fine. I’m as good as new. Seriously, I don’t want you to think you can’t rely on me on this assignment.”

Except for the occasional bout of dizziness, which he didn’t feel worth mentioning, Dex had completely recovered from the attack. Well, he did have headaches that might be a tad worse than the ones he was used to getting, but that was to be expected. He’d read all the stuff the doctor had sent home with him.

“It’s time we get ready anyway,” Seo-jun said, getting to his feet. “I need to go home and change.”

“I’ll pick you up,” Dex called as Seo-jun headed up the stairs.

An hour and a half later, Dex waited in his car outside Seo-jun’s building. When Seo-jun appeared, Dex couldn’t stop staring. He was wearing close-fitting black pants with a lavender shirt open at the neck. He looked as untouchable and dangerous as he always did. When he smiled at Dex, Dex’s heart soared.

“You look very nice,” he said when Seo-jun slid into the passenger seat. “You’ll have guys all over you at the club.”

“You look nice, too,” Seo-jun said, his gaze slowly scanning Dex.

---