Page 89 of Drift

Gray nodded. “Yeah. I know. He missed you for it as well for a while.”

“But?”

Light’s attention stayed solely with Gray as he spoke about Chris’s accident, Jack’s near-hit with a car, how it had seemed Jack was missing Martin one moment, then wanting to start a fight over losing faith in Martin’s ability to protect them both because of Gray, the next.

“Oh.” Martin rested his elbows on his knees, leaning close to Gray. “So he now thinks I’m a flawed defence system because I touched his threat, huh?” He cocked such a dark smile. “And here was me just getting off on bringing that… threat to heel.” He cupped Gray’s neck, but there was no malicious play meant with it, nothing… intimate… and he searched Gray’s eyes for a moment. “You tell him from me….” he said quietly. “Back off.” He cocked a smile, but it was so cold. “Don’t make me the threat. Not when it comes to security, not when it comes to Jude. There’s Jack’s soft emotions fucking up his heart, so Light’s right. Jude gets protected no matter who runs out there thinking they pull his strings. And he’ll be protected my way, without Jack if need be.”

Gray nodded—only blood started to drop from Martin’s nose, just a thin line, and Martin wiped at it, looked down, and—

“Oh… now what are you doing, our kid. You feel that warning?”

A rub came at head, a lift of silver-grey eyes that seemed oblivious to the trail of blood. Then a hand wiped across another trickle, and—

A look went down at the blood staining a hand, and all feeling seemed to flatline in silver eyes.

“Yeah,” said Jack. “You come push my buttons, fucker. Let’s see who has final control.”

Jan shot a look up. “Jack? YoufeltMartin? You… heard him?”

As Jack looked his way, almost not seeing Jan like Jan was caught in the middle of a street brawl he had no place to be, Gray wiped a hand across his face and briefly closed his eyes.

“Fuck.” Light voiced everything that seemed to hit Gray’s look.

Vibes. Even if Jack hadn’t heard Martin, he looked like he’dfeltsomething, and that seemed to change the whole bloody dynamics to everything.

Jack looked set for the end of all fights.

Gray glanced back at Simon. “Work with Raif: Get surveillance on Jude’s address,” he whispered quickly back to Simon, then he was back with Jack and the steady look coming Gray’s way.

Jack’s look never shifted from Gray’s. “What address, exactly?” He leaned in close. “More to the point: why fucking Jude’s?”

Chapter 27

212 CROMER ROAD

“Drift—hey, Drift. Get up.”

Giving a groan and cuddling in close to a warm, slim body and mass of soft hair he didn’t want pulling away from, Drift tried to pull the sleeping bag up over his head. “Fuck off.”

A body slammed on top of his the next moment, and—

“Ugh.” Drift had the wind knocked out of him.

“Get up.” Brighty shook him awake and grinned down at him. “Uverwise I’m tellin’ on ya sleeping with Westie here.” A glance went to the mass of red hair, but Drift was more taken with the offer of milk white shoulder, how the strap to West’s slip top had slipped, exposing all the toned suppleness.

Brighty grinned back down at him, waggling his eyebrows, and Drift shoved him off, sending him under West’s bed. As Drift ran a hand through his hair, shuffling came from underneath the bed. A pull at a zip.

“Hey, you—” Tugging up the bottom sheet, he pulled his rucksack off Brighty, catching him with his hand in his side pocket. “You bloody little ratass thief.”

“Well duh.” Brighty sniffed away how his nose ran, then wiped at it. “Give us somefink sweet, I won’t grass on ya for being in bed with my Westie.”

“Sweet?” Drift dragged him out from under the bed, feet first, then tugged off one of Brighty’s socks… two.

“Hey.” Laughing, Brighty tried to catch hold of them, just before Drift tossed the socks back at him.

“There you go,” said Drift. “There’s your pride back, now fuck off and keep your mouth shut before I tell Jackson you were sloppy enough to lose your boxers too.”

A chuckle came from under the sleeping bag, and—

---