Page 22 of Paradise

“I like coffee.”

“An’ I like nekkid women, but you don’t see me indulgin’ in ’em every day. Honestly, boy, don’t you miss the old life even a little bit? Or is it all smooth sailing with your pretty scientist?”

“The old life didn’t want me, and it didn’t want my son,” Jonah said firmly. “If this is all you’ve got to talk to me about, I’m leavin’.”

“It ain’t all. But”—Kilroy grimaced now—“this ain’t exactly the spot for a real conversation. What say you come back to my ship, and we talk there?”

“Not gonna happen. Come to the Mansion, and we can talk there.”

“Oh, I think not.” Kilroy chuckled. “That’s a little rich for my tastes. Let’s say a neutral location in the city, sometime next week?”

“I could do that,” Jonah said cautiously.

“Good, good. I knew you wouldn’t turn your back on an old friend.”

“You were always my mama’s friend, Kilroy, not mine,” Jonah said, and if there was a little regret in his voice, he tried not to let it show in his face. “Talkin’ to me isn’t gonna get you in any better with her. I haven’t spoken to her for over a year.”

“I’m not here to bring up bygones,” Kilroy insisted. “Let the past lie, s’what I say. I’m interested in the future. It’s hard days for Drifters now, even in the Fringe, and gettin’ harder every second. I’m doin’ my part to keep our lifestyle alive.” He glanced over at Kelly, who was ignoring Charlotte’s charms in favor of staring at both of them. “And again, this ain’t the place to talk. Here.” He handed over a slip of paper—actual paper, fuzzy at the edges—with a communication code written on it. “This is my personal com. Call me up, and we’ll meet this week. There’s plenty needs talkin’ about, Jonah. Don’t let your new friends make you forget your old ones.”

Jonah didn’t say anything, just took the worn piece of paper and tucked it into his pocket. He finished off thegrin, ignored Kilroy’s sudden smile, and rejoined Kelly. “We can go now.”

“Yes, sir.” As they turned away, Jonah saw Charlotte’s eyes roll mockingly as she mouthed,Yes, sir!at him. He shook his head and walked toward the bright-red flames that leapt into the sky.

Garrett and Cody and Thérèse were there, standing at the edge of the crowd and watching the display. Cody didn’t even notice when Jonah rejoined them, he was so entranced, but Garrett saw him coming and reached out a hand as he got close. Despite the tension between them, his grip was warm and reassuring. Jonah leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“Everything all right?” Garrett asked almost soundlessly.

“Fine. Tell you about it later.”

Garrett searched Jonah’s face with an unusually intense gaze before he finally nodded. Jonah had the feeling that later wasn’t going to be much fun.

Chapter twelve

Garrett

Jealousy. It was an ugly word. It was also a word that Garrett had heard thrown in his direction by far too many people to completely discount. Garrett knew, he wasperfectlyaware, of his tendency to be proprietary toward people and things. He played and he tasted and he sampled, but when he found something he wanted to keep, he sank his claws in and clamped down tight. He had tried to break that mold with Robbie, and look what that affair had turned into: history.

Jealousy was indicative of all sorts of other less-than-savory emotional and physical habits, like clinginess, a sharp tongue, a complete disregard for personal privacy … in short, it led to Garrett acting like an asshole. So he tried to reel it back, tried to consciously prevent himself from behaving like an ingrate for Jonah’s sake.

It was hardly his fiancé’s fault that he was too polite to tell Kilroy Whoever-the-fuck-he-was to take his overture of friendship and shove it. The man wanted to “talk.” That was fine,Jonah could talk with whomever he wanted to. Garrett knew, hedid, that nothing the man could say would persuade Jonah to go back to that life, so there really wasn’t anything to worry about.

Plus, he was too busy to worry. Garrett had let his work schedule slip those first couple of weeks, and after a firm discussion with Martina over the com, he threw himself into the backlog. That, plus tutoring Cody for four hours a day, plus helping Claudia decide between cream-colored or ecru linens, daily conversations with Wyl and occasionally Miles and Robbie, and doing his damnedest to exhaust his lover every night meant he was completely played out. There was no time for indulging subconscious fears.

Well … that wasn’t completely true.

“You want awhat?”

“A slimdisc. Just for listening!” Garrett emphasized. “I don’t need visual, I just want to be able to hear what they’re saying.”

“Gare …” Robbie looked as close to floored as Garrett had ever seen him. “You do realize that you’re asking me to help youspyon your fiancé? You don’t think that’s overkill? You could just ask him about his talk once it’s over with?”

“Jonah’s not going to tell me the things he thinks will upset me, though.”

“And that might be smart,” Robbie rejoined, “given the way you’re acting now.”

“Oh, please, as though you aren’t just as interested in finding out what those Drifters are up to,” Garrett scoffed. “You’d have him bugged yourself if you thought he’d agree.”

“But he won’t. I know that, without even having to ask, which is how I know that Jonah isn’t going to appreciate this from you.”

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