Page 8 of Brush with Death (Not Quite Dead #3)
VALE KEPT AN EYE ON Cyril as they left the morgue. He’d suspected that Cyril wouldn’t be able to reanimate Sam because it was too soon after his injury, but he’d known that his boyfriend would never forgive himself if he didn’t try. Vale wished Cyril hadn’t. He was even more worried and sad than he’d been when they’d arrived, and he had nothing to show for it.
He wrapped an arm around Cyril’s shoulders as soon as they were outside. Cyril came easily, pressing against Vale’s side and allowing him to kiss his forehead.
“You guys are so cute together,”
a man said.
Vale glanced up, ready to tell whomever it was to fuck off and not bother Cyril. He froze only for a second when he found John Smith standing a few feet away from them. His body knew what to do even as he wondered what the fuck John was doing there. He stepped in front of Cyril and pushed him back so he could easily defend him if John tried anything.
John frowned.
“Why do you act as if I’m going to try to kill your boyfriend?”
Vale couldn’t start a fight because they were in a public space, but it was a near thing. He wanted to slam John against the closest wall, then shake him to get answers. Instead, he stayed where he was in front of Cyril.
“What are you doing here?”
he asked.
“Are you stalking us? Are you stalking Cyril?”
John shook his head.
“I’m not stalking anyone.”
Vale didn’t believe him. He quickly glanced around, making sure no one would notice them. The parking lot was empty, and while it probably wouldn’t stay that way, it gave Vale a few minutes.
He lunged forward and grabbed John’s t-shirt. He gave John a shake, then did as he’d wanted earlier and slammed him against the wall.
John squeaked, but he didn’t try to push Vale away. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He knew that Vale wouldn’t allow him to go anywhere until he had answers, and between the two of them, it was easy to know who would win in a fight. Vale was bigger and had more experience. He’d killed countless people, while John was struggling.
“Vale,”
Cyril said as a hand landed on Vale’s arm.
Vale didn’t look at his boyfriend.
“I just want to know what he’s doing here.”
“You can find out without hurting him.”
“Hurting him would make me happy.”
Cyril snorted.
“You sound like Russell right now.”
That wasn’t something Vale wanted, so he let go of John. John smoothed down his shirt, then nodded at Cyril.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank him yet. I still want to know what the fuck you’re doing here. Why are you following us?”
“This isn’t how I imagined I’d do this,”
John muttered.
Vale moved closer to him again, and John plastered his back against the wall. A lock of blond hair had fallen over his forehead, making him look even younger.
“All right,”
John quickly said.
“I need a Yoda.”
Vale stared at him. He couldn’t have heard that right, could he?
John grimaced.
“Sorry. I guess I have to explain who Yoda is.”
“I’ve seen that movie. I know who Yoda is. I don’t know what you mean with that, though.”
And Vale wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.
John shuffled his feet.
“I need a teacher. It’s been hard to get anyone to hire me, and even though I close my jobs the way the clients want, I’m struggling. I admire you and Brutus, and I’d like for you to be my teachers.”
“No.”
It was all Vale needed to say. He turned around and grabbed Cyril’s hand, ready to drag him to the car. Unfortunately for him, John wasn’t done.
He darted in front of Vale. Vale didn’t stop walking, so John walked backward, keeping his body in front of Vale and Cyril. He stumbled a few times, but unfortunately, he didn’t fall on his face. It would’ve been funny.
“Just hear me out, okay?”
John said.
“I know you’re retired. It’s probably boring as hell, right?”
“It won’t be boring if I kill you,”
Vale growled.
“I just need a little help. Please.”
Vale stared in disbelief as John’s lower lip slid out. Was the man pouting? Did he really think it would work?
“He’s cute,”
Cyril murmured.
Right. It might not work on Vale, but it looked like it would on Cyril.
“He’s not cute. He’s a pest, and I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“But you do have plenty of time on your hands. Even if you don’t want to become his Yoda, you could give him pointers.”
“Absolutely not.”
If Russell wanted to do it, Vale wouldn’t try to stop him, but he had no patience, especially not for someone who’d tried to kill him.
“You’d be a great teacher.”
Vale was sure that Cyril was joking. There was no way he believed that.
“I can barely stand talking to Brutus. Why would you think I’d want to teach this guy anything?”
“Well, he needs help.”
“Your job is to help the dead, not to the living.”
Vale smiled.
“Although I suppose I can rectify that in John’s case.”
John raised his hands and quickly took a step back.
“Why don’t you think about it?”
“I have. My answer is no. I want nothing to do with you.”
John was a little shit, and Vale could tell just by looking at him that he’d mess up his life. He didn’t want a messed-up life. He wanted to settle down with Cyril and make his boyfriend happy. Was that too much to ask?
“You and Russell could hire John for your PI agency,”
Cyril said with a smile.
“Oh, sorry. You and Brutus could hire John.”
He was a little shit, too. The problem with him was that, unlike John, he wasn’t intimidated when Vale glared at him, and Vale loved him too much to want to kill him.
“You’re opening a PI agency?”
John said as he bounced on his feet.
“I’ve always wanted to be a PI.”
It was something Vale and Russell had been talking about, but Russell wasn’t sure he was ready to retire, and Vale didn’t think he could open an agency on his own. They hadn’t made any decisions yet, but Vale refused to hire John.
“Yet you ended up a hired assassin instead.”
“But I can be a PI.”
Vale was never going to get rid of him, was he? “Look, I’ll talk to Brutus and see if he wants to teach you anything, but I want nothing to do with you.”
“You’ll change your mind,”
John said with a smile.
“I can be very convincing.”
“My gun can be convincing, too.”
And Vale wasn’t afraid to use it.
CYRIL WASN’T WORRIED about John’s presence anymore. If anything, he was amused. Vale might behave like he wanted nothing to do with John, but if that was really the case, he would already have taken care of it. Instead, he was allowing John to be close to Cyril, and the man was still standing and breathing—and talking.
Cyril understood why Vale was wary of John, but he didn’t think there was anything to be afraid of. John wasn’t there to hurt either of them. If he was, he would’ve already tried. He wouldn’t have succeeded because Vale would never let anyone hurt Cyril, but he was talking to them instead of attacking them. It had to mean something. Cyril had no idea what, but he was curious and wanted to find out.
He was intrigued by John. He didn’t fully understand how anyone could become a professional assassin, but knowing Vale and Russell, it kind of made sense for them. John looked too nice and sunny to want to do that job.
John didn’t seem afraid of Vale. He was smiling widely while Vale looked ready to run. Cyril wasn’t surprised when Vale grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the car. He didn’t argue, knowing it wouldn’t get him anywhere.
Vale walked Cyril to the passenger side door and opened it for him as if afraid that Cyril would bolt if he didn’t stay close. He waited until Cyril was inside the car to rush around and get into the driver’s seat. John kept smiling the entire time.
“He’s sweet,”
Cyril said, still watching the man who was supposed to be a professional assassin. He looked more like the boy next door.
“He’s not sweet. He’s a demon.”
Cyril grinned.
“Why? He hasn’t done anything.”
“He tried to kill me.”
“To be fair, someone else was trying to kill you. He was just the person hired to do it, and he failed miserably.”
“He failed because he’s an idiot. He shouldn’t have accepted the hit to begin with. Professional assassins don’t do that. We might be killers, but we still follow a code of conduct, and killing our colleagues isn’t it.”
“That’s probably why he feels he needs a teacher.”
Vale shook his head.
“No. I’m not going to be anyone’s teacher, let alone his.”
“Russell, then. You know he’d say yes.”
If anything, to create even more chaos. That was how Russell was. He’d appeared to have a soft spot for John the day John had tried killing Vale, so it would probably work. Cyril wasn’t sure Vale would survive it with his sanity intact, but it would be fun to watch.
“I’m not putting the two of them together in a room if I can avoid it. Do you know what kind of chaos they would create?”
“I can imagine. It’d be fun.”
Vale glanced at Cyril.
“Fun? Clearly, we have a very different idea of fun.”
Cyril relaxed in his seat and watched John as Vale pulled out of the parking lot. John grinned and waved, and Cyril found himself waving back until Vale caught his wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Saying goodbye. I’m polite.”
“You shouldn’t give him any attention. He’s going to cling if you do, and we’ll never get rid of him.”
“He’s not a dog.”
“You’re right. He’s too annoying to be a dog.”
Cyril grinned.
He was still worried about not being able to use his ability and how to help Katie, but this felt nice.
It was good to have a distraction for a few minutes, right? Cyril shouldn’t feel guilty about it.
He just wanted a moment to breathe, and Vale and John had given him that.
He already knew it wouldn’t last for long.
He’d start worrying about everything again soon, and if he didn’t have anything distracting him, then it wouldn’t end well.
There was nothing Cyril could do about his ability.
Vale seemed convinced that it would come back if Cyril allowed his body to heal, and maybe he was right, but how long would it take?
Could Cyril sit with his hands in his lap doing nothing in the meantime?
He couldn’t.
If he couldn’t use his ability to find out what had happened to Sam, it meant he’d have to find another way.
Vale hadn’t yet decided if he wanted to open a PI agency with Russell, but maybe this would give him a nudge forward.
At the very least, Vale would find out whether or not it was something he could see himself doing for years.
Cyril wasn’t the whole reason Vale had decided to retire, but he was a big part of it, and he didn’t want Vale to regret it.
Vale had always been an active man, so Cyril was doing his best to find him something else to do.
As much as he enjoyed having his boyfriend around all day, every day, he was afraid that eventually, they’d get bored and annoyed with each other, and he didn’t want that.
Besides, Vale was young.
He couldn’t spend the rest of his life keeping Cyril out of trouble when there was something better for him out there.
Vale hadn’t helped people in his previous work.
He’d killed them.
Cyril had been surprised when Vale had floated the idea of becoming a PI, but he could see it.
Even though Vale had killed people for a living, he wasn’t a bad person—and wasn’t that something Cyril had never thought he’d think? But he did think it, and he knew that Vale wouldn’t mind helping people.
His main objective would always be to keep Cyril safe, but he could do that while also being a PI.
Besides, Russell had pointed out that most of their jobs would probably be divorces and cheating cases.
Cyril wasn’t sure that was something Vale wanted, but it certainly was something he should think about.
“Don’t mention this to Russell,”
Vale grumbled.
“Mention what?”
Cyril asked him with a smile.
“He thinks John’s adorable. He’s going to take John under his wing so fast that John won’t realize what happened, and then, we’ll never be able to get rid of him.”
“I won’t tell Russell anything about this, but it doesn’t mean that John won’t find another way to him, and you know that if he does, Russell will take him in.”
“That means that I need to keep the two of them away from each other.”
“Do you? Because it feels like it’s inevitable.”
“God, please don’t say that. I don’t think the world would survive a friendship between John and Russell. I certainly won’t.”
Vale was grumbling, but he wasn’t actually angry. Cyril could tell.
He was sure that now that John had an idea in mind, he would cling to it until it happened or until he found something better, and as far as Cyril was concerned, there was nothing better than working with Vale and Russell. Why would anyone not want that?