Page 117 of Into the Dark

Freddy’s eyes flick to Jake, and something dark moves over them as if to say Jake knows all too well what’s up. “Go and get dressed, yeah? We’ll talk about it in the car.” This time it’s an order, and my whole body stiffens.

Jake says nothing, does nothing, but I feel it, the dull rumble of tension moving through his body. Then I feel him squeeze my hip gently. Don’t worry about me, baby, is what the touch says. I want to scream that he could have those words tattooed all over his body and they’d still mean nothing to me. I can’t not worry about him.

Freddy lets his stare linger on Jake for a moment or two more before turning to me, that warmth seeping back into his features. “Alex, sweetheart, it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet you. Sorry for barging in on you at this ungodly fucking hour on a Sunday.”

Despite the panic roiling inside, I manage to smile back at him. “Oh, don’t worry. It was really nice to meet you too, Fred.”

Freddy nods and goes to move away from us before he stops suddenly, as though he just remembered something of deadly importance. My body freezes once more, agitated and on high alert.

“I mentioned to Jay about us all having dinner sometime. I reckon you and my Stephanie would get on like a fucking house on fire. What do you think, Jay, son?”

Jake doesn’t respond, and so the invitation hangs in the air for a moment too long. My overbred politeness forces me to step in and catch it before it splatters on the floor.

“Oh, that sounds like a lovely idea.” I nod eagerly, hoping it masks my hollow voice. “I’d love to meet Stephanie.”

“How you both sorted for next week? Say Wednesday night?” he asks me.

Jake still hasn’t moved. He grips my hip tighter. When I turn to him he seems to be in a trance, unblinking. All I can think about, though, is that if Freddy is inviting us to dinner then he isn’t planning on hurting Jake anytime soon. Why bother with the pleasantries?

“I’m free,” I hear myself say. “Jake?”

When he doesn’t answer, I squeeze his arm to blink him out of his trance. Finally, he nods, nibbling on his bottom lip.

“Yeah, sounds good. Let’s do it.”

Freddy grins wide and claps his hands together. “Perfect. My place at eight. I do a mean spaghetti and meatballs, don’t I, Jay?” he tells me proudly. “Got the recipe from an Italian friend of mine.”

Beside me, Jake makes an almost inaudible sniffing noise Freddy doesn’t hear.

I smile up at Freddy. “Well, we both love Italian, so that sounds lovely. I look forward to it.”

He nods, throwing a look at Jake before moving off toward the door again. “Okay, we’ll wait downstairs for you. That coffee place that does the cronuts open on Sundays, Jay?” he asks him.

Jake nods, his face clearing so he almost looks like himself again. “Yeah, but what was it you just said about the love handles, Freddy, mate? About two thousand calories in a fucking bite of one of those.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes you gotta live a little—most of us ain’t ever gonna look like you,” he says with a sigh of what sounds like despair. “Might have had the decency to put a fucking top on. Making the lads and me feel inadequate here, ya know.” He waves a hand in the direction of Jake’s topless form.

“Yeah, well, I almost came down with my cock out, so think yourselves lucky, yeah?” Jake jokes before moving away from me toward the stairs.

“Cheeky fucking prick,” Freddy chuckles, looking fondly at Jake. “See you downstairs in ten. Dressed,” he warns loudly so Jake can hear from his position halfway up the stairs. “Alex, sweetheart, I’ll see you on Wednesday evening. Was a pleasure to meet you.” He gives me a sort of sailor salute.

I wait until I hear the door close before rushing upstairs to Jake. He isn’t in the bedroom, but the bathroom door is cracked open, the sound of the shower going and wisps of steam floating out through the crack. As I open the door he’s just about to step inside the cubicle. He turns around and gives me a long look before strolling into the shower and dipping his head back under the spray.

“What are you going to do?” I ask as I take a seat on the closed toilet lid across from him.

“Well, first, I’m going to wash the smell of you off my body, then I’m going to do what I was told to do and get dressed,” he says. He says it casually, but he looks angry again, a dark glint in his eye as he scrubs a hand over his face.

“So you’re just going to go with them?” I ask, a slight lilt of disbelief to my voice. “With no clue what they want your help with?”

He dips his head back under the water and reaches for the shampoo, squirting it loudly onto his hands before moving them into his hair. “I know what they want my help with, Alex,” he replies.

Of course he does. I do too.

“Kevin? This is about what happened last night?” That nervous panic starts to swirl in my gut again, and I sit bolt upright. “Christ, Jake, did he…? Is he…?”

“He made it to the hospital just fine,” Jake says. “They were keeping him in overnight. Paul texted me last night while you were asleep.”

The panic subsides, but not all the way. “But he’s here because of what happened? Because of what you did to Kevin? How will you explain what happened?”

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