Page 150 of In Plain Sight

“It’s okay,” Dev said, his voice firm enough to break through Luka’s panic but still gentle enough to not make things worse. “We know.”

“You know?” Luka looked between Dev and Nate.

“Asa told me you were upset about something and Zander was helping talk you through it,” Dev explained. “He hung out in the office until things seemed to blow over. That’s it.”

“We know you’d never do anything like that in here,” Nate assured him, using his calming dad voice. “It never even crossed my mind.”

“Mine either,” Dev agreed.

Luka blew out a breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to go from zero to a thousand there. I just…” He chewed on his lip. “I have anxiety.”

I shook off his grip and stepped closer, putting one hand on his lower back and pressing against his arm to give him support. Talking about his anxiety was hard for him, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t planned on telling everyone yet.

He immediately matched his breathing to mine, his body relaxing.

“And I sometimes get panic attacks because of it,” he continued. “They don’t happen often, usually only when I’ve got a lot going on, but that’s what happened that night. I had an attack, and Zander helped me get through it.”

“I’m glad he was there for you,” Nate said.

“Me too.” Dev shot Luka an understanding smile.

“You two should teach a masterclass on how to keep things on the DL,” Isaac said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group. “Not a single person was surprised about us.” He elbowed Jamie in the side. “And Jamie doesn’t even work here. You guys managed to keep this”—he waved between us—“quiet right under our noses.”

“It’s amazing how good you get at keeping secrets when you need to,” Sebastian said softly.

Like Luka, Sebastian had kept his bisexuality a secret until recently. His situation was different since he’d kept it quiet due to being in the public eye when he was fronting his band, but he understood the weight of keeping something like that secret.

“Is this going to be a problem?” I asked Nate and Dev when the group fell silent.

They exchanged a look.

“No,” Nate said simply.

“Really?” Luka asked.

“You’re both adults,” Dev said. “And you’ve obviously been nothing but professional since we had no clue about any of this. We’re happy for you.”

“Jesus Christ,” Luka muttered.

“Baby?” I asked, not caring that everyone could hear the endearment. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” He offered me a weak smile, still looking stunned. “Just processing.”

I slid my hand from his lower back to his waist and tugged him closer.

He tucked himself up against my side.

“Why does your face look like that?” Asa asked Isaac, shifting the group’s attention and breaking the tension that had fallen over us.

I shot him a grateful look. He winked, letting me know he’d done that on purpose to give Luka a chance to finish processing without an audience.

“Like what?” Isaac asked, snapping his gaze up from where he was staring at a drain in the floor.

“You were thinking about licking that drain.” Asa grinned.

“Wrong,” Isaac said. “I was thinking about how I don’t have to because I can not only feel it, but I can taste it. Is that normal? Knowing what random things taste like and not just how they feel?”

“If you’ve ever put something metal in your mouth, then yes. You’d associate that memory with anything metallic,” Asa said. “Mouthfeel is fascinating.”

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