Page 45 of The Long Game

Jack sat up straighter. “He’s been in this whole time?”

“No, he went back in. He was released not long after you, then was sent back a couple more times, including two years ago.”

Jack wasn’t surprised. “Okay, a couple of hours away is good.”

“I’m looking into why he showed up in Moncton. It wasn’t for his job installing garage doors. He doesn’t have any known family in the area. He doesn’t have family in Fredericton either, according to his parole officer. She’s hoping he’s angling for a fresh start away from his past.”

Jack snorted. “No way. If Babs has an angle, it’s shady as hell.”

Grady hummed his agreement. “Hopefully, his presence in Moncton was a fluke. If you see him again, though, please tell me.”

Jack’s instinct was to brush that off. He didn’t want to drag Grady into his ugly past or bring his ugly past any further into the light. But Grady hadn’t flinched when he’d learned about Babs or about Jack’s history, unlike his supposed friends back when he’d first gotten out. That was when he’d figured out that most people didn’t want to know about the horrors people were capable of and viewed the victims as living reminders of something they’d rather not contemplate.

He stroked a hand down his chest and over his hip. Jack had spent a lot of time trying to forget the past before figuring out that was impossible. It was also bullshit. He’d survived, and there was nothing wrong with rememberingthat.

He couldn’t pretend that seeing John Babcock around town wouldn’t fuck with his equilibrium. And maybe there wasn’t anything Grady could do, legally speaking, but Jack didn’t hate the idea of telling Grady if he saw Babs, and maybe Grady knowing and understanding a little bit about how that made Jack feel.

“I’ll do that,” Jack promised.

Grady smiled, but it was tired and sad, belonging to a man who’d just discovered he had a little brother somewhere that he hadn’t seen in well over a decade and who just might need his big brother’s help.

“Let’s go to bed.”

Grady blinked, the only indication he was surprised, before turning off the TV, climbing to his feet, and leading Jack by the hand into the bedroom.

They changed into sleep clothes like it was old habit, Grady halfway into the bathroom with his shirt half over his head before Jack even had his off.

He was surprised to realize he wanted to show Grady his artwork. Not all of it. Probably no one but Jack and his tattoo artist would ever see thewholething. Even Barnaby, who’d held his hand for hours, had been excused when it came time for the drawing to reach certain areas.

In hindsight, Jack couldn’t believe he’d willingly knelt on the table with his ass up and his face pressed against the padding, inhaling the scents of rubber and antiseptic for an hour. His head had spun with surging endorphins while the needles had stung some of the most sensitive areas on his body.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to stop thinking about that. Hewasn’twearing boxers tonight and needed to keep shit under control. Grady’s RCMP shirt was long enough he probably wouldn’t notice what Jack wore under it, but an erection would give away a whole lot more than his underwear choices.

He brushed his teeth while Grady turned out lights and made sure the door was locked. When Jack returned to the bedroom, he noticed a charger plugged in on “his” side of the bed. Meanwhile, Grady was plugging in his own phone on the other table.

Had Grady set up the charger for Jack? Had he expected…or, maybe,hoped…for Jack to sleep with him again?

He made a mental note to get a second charger for his bedroom and decided he wasn’t going to think about it any harder than that. Not tonight.

Grady turned off the little bedside lamp and Jack climbed into bed, reaching for him before he’d even settled on the mattress. There was no point pretending. Grady needed to be held. Jack knew only too well what it was like to lie alone in bed and try to make sense of the previously unimaginable.

And, if he was being honest, Jack needed to be held, too. Knowing Babs was just up the road was disturbing. It would be along time before Jack could put his guard down in public, so he needed to put his guard downnow.

He expected them to settle as they had the last couple of times, so he was surprised when Grady pulled him in close, face-to-face.

Jack didn’t know what to do with his hands. Or the rest of his body, for that matter. Grady made it easier when he tucked Jack’s head under his chin and stretched his arm out for Jack to use as a pillow. It was warm and firm and left Jack with his nose buried between Grady’s collarbones. His head swam with the scents of freshly laundered shirt and Old Spice deodorant andGrady. Jack took a deep breath and held it in his lungs while the warmth from Grady’s body seeped into his.

Fuck, this was better than good. This wasthank god Grady cranks his AC because I’m not going to want to move all nightgood.

Jack looped his arm around Grady’s waist and wriggled closer, searching for more of the heady warmth. Grady ran his hand down Jack’s back, soothing him even as it sent shivers up Jack’s spine. When he reached the dip at the small of Jack’s back, he rubbed the taut muscles.

Jack arched against the pressure, a little moan escaping.

They both froze in place.

Shit, what had he done? Jack thanked god his burning cheeks were hidden, though Grady could probably feel the heat radiating off them through his t-shirt. He cast around for a way to make this less awkward, to explain the too-honest sound, but before he could find the words, Grady’s fingers dug in.

Jack gasped, arching his back even further and tilting his head back.

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