Page 147 of In Plain Sight

“Children,” Dev said, coming to stand with us. “Do I need to separate you?”

“Ask him.” Asa flicked his gaze to Isaac. “He’s the one crashing out.”

“And why is he crashing out?” Dev asked Asa knowingly.

“That might be because I told him humans have unique tongue prints, not just fingerprints,” Asa said.

The corners of Dev’s lips ticked upward, like he was trying not to smile. “Is that so?”

Asa nodded. “And I also told him that humans know what the texture of most objects feels like on their tongues, even if they don’t remember putting the object in their mouths.”

Jamie, Isaac’s best friend and boyfriend, snickered. “You’d be surprised at what Isaac’s put in his mouth.”

Isaac elbowed Jamie, not taking his attention off Dev and Asa. “And I’m calling bullshit. That can’t be true.”

“It’s true,” Asa said in that casually neutral way that drove Isaac crazy. “Have you ever licked the claw of a hammer?”

Isaac slowly shook his head.

“What about a brick?”

He shook his head again.

“Now think about what those would feel like if you did. Can you imagine it?”

Isaac’s eyes widened. “Holy shit.”

Asa’s smile went a bit wicked. “The things I could tell you about the human body would melt your brain.”

Jamie slung his arm over Isaac’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure you already melted his brain. You good, Z?” He gave Isaac, who still looked completely stunned, a little hip check.

“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Isaac said. “Like, it’s cool, but it’s so fucking weird because now I’m going to think about licking everything I see until it gets out of my head.”

“I miss who I was before this conversation.” Dev shook his head solemnly, even as he tried to hide his smile. “And I really hate that I have to say this, but no putting anything in the garage in your mouth if it’s not food.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go rogue and start licking any of the equipment in here,” Jamie promised.

“And I think that’s my cue to not be part of this conversation,” Nate said from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Be thankful you weren’t here for the whole thing. Believe it or not, that wasn’t the weirdest part of it.”

Nate bit back a grin. “With those three, I believe it.”

“Why do you look like you’re in the middle of an existential crisis?” Luka asked, coming to stand between me and Isaac.

“Because I am.” Isaac shot Asa a glare, but we could all see there was no heat behind it. “You did that on purpose because you knew it would drive me crazy.”

Asa smiled innocently and gave Isaac a little shrug.

“Is Asa messing with your head again?” Cass asked Isaac, squeezing between Jamie and Dev.

“Always,” Isaac grumbled.

“Good job.” Cass gave Asa a thumbs up.

“Traitor,” he tossed Cass a fake glare.

“So how did you break his brain this time?” she asked.

---