Page 69 of Unmade

Huh. That didn’t seem right, unless the charges put him in prison for life. Nobody wanted loose ends that could come back to haunt you.

“I can sense that you really love this waiting game.”

He snorted softly and scratched his arm. “Worst fucking part of the job.” He jerked his chin at me. “How’s the reading assignment from Coach treating you?”

“Like a honey trap who blew her cover,” I muttered.

He chuckled. “What chapter are you on?”

I squinted. “Five, I think. It’s about how they passed messages in Berlin during the Cold War. Lots of secret pockets in books, umbrellas, and cans of shaving cream.”

He nodded and got serious. “Remember all of them. Some of those techniques are still used today. I once transported a microchip in a tube of hemorrhoid cream.”

I laughed. That was funny. “I hope the cream helped.”

He smirked a little and glanced over his shoulder. “It made for an interesting checkpoint search in Lebanon once, I’ll tell you that. I’mma get some dessert before I hit the gym.”

“Okay.” My dessert would obviously be picturing him sweating it up in the gym.

My evenings were kind of predictable. I worked out, I showered, I jerked off, I wanted to bang my head against a wall, I was desperate to forget about him, and then I fell asleep in my misery.

CHAPTER 5

September 29th, 2024

Bo Beckett

Iwasn’t bisexual, but I needed extensive periods of avoiding Leighton to believe my own bullshit. And even then…

Christ. I was fucked. Completely and utterly fucked.

There was something about that kid that messed me up more than anyone ever had in the past. More than any girlfriend I’d claimed to love, more than Adam when I’d had all my doubts in high school.

I’d forced myself to contemplate what my sister had spouted, that I might have some underlying misconceptions about my feelings, about what relationships were, and sexuality. After all, some guys had always made me feel uncomfortable or on edge—and maybe I’d gotten it all wrong? Maybe it’d been my fight-or-flight kicking in. Maybe I hadn’t been wanting to get away from them. Maybe I’d panicked because I’d felt the opposite? But that didn’t explain my around-the-clock desire to see Leighton. No part of me wanted to get away from him. No part of me wanted to pump the brakes. He didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, I was addicted to every moment we spent together. Talking to him, watching him, observing his progress. He evoked emotions within me that were foreign to me. Like fucking jealousy.

I didn’t know what kind of relationship he had with Tanner, but I bet they were screwing around. They were close. They went out together some weekends, and I’d lost track of the times I’d seen them laughing and whispering shit to each other.

It pissed me off.

It infuriated me almost as much as having Leighton invade my dreams. The past week or so, I’d woken up with hazy images of kissing him in the elevators, of bending him over and ramming my cock up his ass in the martial arts studio, and of catching him on his knees for me in the showers.

I needed help. The only other time I got obsessed like this was when I worked. I’d never lost my mind over a person before. It freaked me the fuck out. It didn’t make any sense either. Leighton and I hadn’t found ourselves in any compromising situations that might trick my brain into misinterpreting something as lust or attraction. We’d had no awkward moments with high tension. I’d never seen him stare at me inappropriately…

That pissed me off too.

I wanted his eyes on me.

I…I wanted to know how he’d react if he thought I might be interested. Was I his type? Would he grow wary around me? Would he avoid me?

I cursed under my breath and swiped my ID card, then opened the door to the operation room?—

“No.” Shira rose from her seat and strode toward me. “Not a chance, Bo. You were here all day yesterday—you’re taking today off. Nothing has changed. They’re still in Fredericksburg, and the Juniors don’t have surveillance for us yet.”

I blinked.

She pointed for me to get out. “I mean it. If you wanna be reinstated for fieldwork, you focus on training and resting up until we know more.”

Was she serious? I peered over her head and spotted both Hyatt and Hudson. “How come they can be here?”

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