“Seriously?” Kelly whispered.
“I thought . . . I thought Detective Hagan was your partner,” JD said, frowning and looking between them.
“Partner,” Nick said gently, pointing at Hagan. Then he transferred the finger to Kelly. “Boyfriend. You want to sit down and tell me what happened?”
JD cleared his throat and nodded, glancing again at Kelly and Hagan as a flush rose to his cheeks.
“Guys, give us a minute, huh?” Nick said as JD headed for the beds in the hotel room. Nick stopped and took Kelly’s arm, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry, this’ll be a couple minutes.”
“It’s okay.” Kelly’s heart was still fluttering from the fact that Nick had so readily claimed him in front of anyone and everyone, from the possessive glint in Nick’s eyes. He would have sat out in the hall waiting all night just to see that glint in Nick’s eyes again.
He headed out of the room with Hagan, glancing back to see JD sitting on the end of one of the beds and Nick settling onto the dresser opposite him so they could talk. He looked very professional about it, if you discounted the sweatpants that were drenched at the bottom and the plastic flip-flops he was wearing.
The door fell closed and Kelly was left with the two cops in the hallway. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and bounced up onto his toes. “So!” he said cheerfully.
“This is fun.”
“This guy’s a f**king basket case,” Hagan grunted. “Might be here awhile. Want some coffee?”
Kelly shook his head and leaned his back against the wal .
He slid down to sit, propping his arms against his knees. If there was one thing spec ops knew how to do, it was sleep sitting up.
Nick kept crossing his arms and then forcing himself to stop, resting his hands in his lap instead. He didn’t want to give off body language that said he was irritated, impatient, or closed off. It was hard, though, when he was going on a few hours’ sleep and had been interrupted during what was supposed to have been an entire weekend alone with Kelly.
“What happened?”
“I had a dream,” JD said with a helpless shrug. “I woke up in a panic, bolted for the bathroom, and sat in the tub until I could breathe.”
Nick nodded, his expression carefully neutral. “You remember the dream?”
JD shook his head, wincing. He was wringing his hands, rocking a little. “I feel stupid. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry they called you down here.”
“Hey.” Nick leaned closer, lowering his voice. “People aren’t built for this kind of stress, all right? You handle it however you can, no shame in that.”
JD sniffed and laughed ruefully. “Have you ever woken up in a bathtub, Detective?”
Nick opened his mouth and then closed it fast, looking over JD’s head as the memory flashed through his mind. “Yes.
But I was hungover and . . . not alone. My point, though, is that waking up and bolting for safety is nothing to be ashamed of. I wake up swinging all the time. I tried to kill my boyfriend with a TV remote one time, so . . . I get where you’re coming from. There’s no shame in fear.”
JD took in a shaky breath and rubbed a hand over his face.
“You still can’t remember anything?”
“I think I dreamed about the bookstore. I was there.” JD shook his head. “But then we knew that already, huh? All I remember is something about a book, I don’t know.”
Nick had his Moleskine pad out, jotting down notes. He nodded for JD to continue talking as he wrote.
“I think . . . I felt like I wasn’t in the right place, you know? Like I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. I couldn’t get away though.”
Nick made an asterisk and wrote out the possibility that JD had been forced to accompany someone to the robbery.
He glanced up to find JD rocking faster. It was a habit he was familiar with, and it usually signified it was time to switch topics. “Okay. Tell you what, bud, why don’t you try to get some rest tonight. Monday morning I’m hoping I’ll have some pictures to show you; we’ll see if they jog anything else loose.”
JD nodded.
“I’ve also got someone running down your prints, going through missing persons reports. By morning, those results should be back.”
JD tensed, glancing up to meet Nick’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“What if they come in and tell you I’m someone horrible?”
A pang of sympathy hit a little too close to home. It was one thing to struggle with your humanity. It must have been torturous to do so without the benefit of past actions or even past thoughts to back up your conclusions.
“I can’t imagine it will,” he offered gently. He leaned forward and patted JD on the knee. “Try to get some rest, okay? I’m going to call Hagan back in and—”
“You can’t stay, can you?” JD blurted. When Nick raised an eyebrow at him, he paled, looking shocked that he’d spoken at al . “I mean . . . he’s nice and al , but you’re the only person I’ve felt comfortable with. I . . .”
Nick had to fight hard not to groan. He always managed to pick up the strays somehow. He shook his head, feeling guilty for blowing off such a sincere request because he wanted to go home and f**k his boyfriend. “I’m sorry, we can’t just switch things up without reporting it and giving a compelling reason to do it.”
JD lowered his head, looking crestfallen. He nodded, though, and took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“You good for tonight?”
JD nodded again, more confidently this time. “I’m good.”
Nick sat with him for a few more minutes, letting him know he was merely a call away, that he’d be right back on the case on Monday, and there was nothing to worry about as long as he stuck with Hagan or one of the officers assigned to their door.
“I’m sorry I brought you out so late. Tell your boyfriend I’m sorry too; this must be weird for him.”
“We met in Recon,” Nick said. “He’s used to weird.”
He stood and gave JD’s shoulder a last pat before heading for the door. When he stepped into the hal , Hagan was leaning against the wal , his head back and his mouth open as he snored. Kelly had fallen asleep sitting ramrod straight against the wall right beside the door.
Nick snorted and glanced at the uniformed officer, who was sitting in his chair with a cup of coffee and giving Nick a smirk. “Are you guys the cavalry?”