Page 30 of Switch
He points to the hand holding my phone.“While we’re at it, maybe don’t text while you’re following someone at night.Your screen lighting up is like a giant spotlight.”
I swallow.“Helpful.Thanks.”
I’m good at reading people.You have to be when you grow up like I did.Addicts and foster homes and never quite knowing what someone else’s agenda might be.
Brennan, though, I’m never quite sure about him.Simon says he’s an asshole but a fair one.Brennan saved Simon’s life once, I heard, so maybe he isn’t all bad.However, I also know he saw Evans before he went missing.I don’t doubt for a second that Brennan’s the kind of guy who could and would make someone disappear.
He presents himself as an average businessman who runs a strip of shops on the dividing line between the nicer part of town and the area that gradually deteriorates.He’s got a commanding build, tan skin, and a deceptively friendly smile.If it weren’t for the tattoo of a bull on the side of his neck, he might look like the sort of guy who sells cars or real estate or whatever.Now, though, in my dark car on the east end of town, where half the streetlights are busted, his eyes glitter with something dangerous.
He’s got the eyes of a predator.
My pulse shoots up another notch, but I’m trying not to let it show.“What can I do for you, Bren?”
“Don’t call me that if you don’t want me to shoot your dick off.Not like you’re using it, anyway.How about you tell me why you’ve been following me around these past few months?”
I ran out of money to pay a private investigator.
“If you knew I was following you, why didn’t you say something?”
“Thought I’d see where this whole thing was going.What were you after?Who were you working for?Maybe give you enough rope to hang yourself.Did some checking into your background.No obvious flags, but it sure seems like you’ve had an unfortunate number of people ‘accidentally’ die around you.”
“The air quotes are a nice touch.”
“I thought so.Now, I’ve got enough to worry about without one of the Hardy Boys tailing me, so it’s time to come clean.”
“Who the fuck are they?”
“Don’t make me reconsider shooting you.”
There’s a rapid-fire debate in my brain.If I come out and ask about Evans, he could lie.If I tell him nothing, and he gets pissed, the knife in my pocket is no match for the SIG in his hand.
“Clock’s ticking,” Brennan murmurs.
“Fine.”I pick up my phone and open the photo reel, scrolling to the same picture I usually show people.“You know him?”
I study Brennan’s face while he studies the picture.I’m looking for signs of recognition, signs he’s lying.Anything.
“I’ve seen him.He approached me about a job opportunity something like a year ago.We talked.He never came back again.Friend of yours?”
“Brother.”
Brennan shakes his head.“Try again.”
“We were in a foster home together after my mom was arrested, and he’s closer than anyone I’m related to biologically.He’s all I’ve got, and he’s missing.”
Immediately, I regret the vulnerability of that last statement.Brennan Doyle is a shark, and I’ve dripped blood in the water.
The thing is, though, when I care about someone, they’re mine.Evans is my family, blood relation or not.
My next thought is about Fallon.Whatever you’d call what we have, the way I’m the one he calls when he can’t sleep, the personal shit we share late at night, he’s becoming mine as well.I just need him to realize.
After a while, Brennan sighs and gestures vaguely with the gun.“Drive.”
“Is this where you take me to some plastic-lined warehouse and do away with me?”
He eyes me up and down.“Who knew straight guys were such drama queens?Just drive.”
An erection-inducing image comes up of Fallon on his knees with my dick in his mouth.The way he felt against me, naked in the shower while I was scrubbing his body and shampooing his hair.The way his entire body blushed when I asked him to finger his ass for me on camera.
