Page 42 of Devil's Hour
“You’re such a lady, Holls.”
She pointed her finger at him, which meant she was getting worked up. “And fuck you too, Ro. For the life of me, I will never understand why you keep setting yourself up for heartbreak. They only call you when they want something. They insult your job, our chief, your friends, and your partner, who happens to be your boyfriend. Choose yourself for once, and stop answering their phone calls. Who gives a fuck if they stop talking to you?”
“You’ll be proud to know I ignored Benton’s phone calls and text messages today.” Holly was right; Benton only came around when he was out of money for drugs or booze or ran into trouble with the law. He hadn’t yet figured out that, family or not, Royce wasn’t enabling his addictions or jeopardizing his career to get him out of trouble. He hadn’t fixed so much as a parking ticket for Benton, and he never would. “I haven’t talked to Jace since the week after I got shot.” Once his biggest defender and greatest ally, Jace was emotionally aloof and distant most of the time. He’d seen too many ugly things during his many tours in the Middle East as a scout sniper. These days he tried to drown his sorrows in booze and fast women instead of getting help for his PTSD.
Holly bristled at hearing Royce’s oldest brother’s name. The two of them had a complicated history even he didn’t fully understand. There was a brief moment in time when Jace had cleaned up his act, and it looked like his brother and Holly were finally going to make a run at a real relationship, but it crumbled the moment Jace fell back into old habits. As much as Holly liked to lecture Royce on walking away, he found it ironic she hadn’t managed to do it either, not cleanly anyway. Sometimes people were in your blood, and you couldn’t shake them no matter how hard you tried.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said fiercely. “I’m not a hypocrite. I stopped taking Jace’s calls a long time ago.” Yeah, but Royce thought Holly hated like hell that his brother had given up without more of a fight. “Sawyer is crazy about you, Ro. You won’t be able to keep riding the fence forever. You’ll have to choose a side. Your deadbeat family or Sawyer? Being partners with Sawyer in the field or partners in a relationship?”
Royce nodded because he knew what he needed to do, but it wasn’t going to be easy. Telling his family he was bisexual and dating Sawyer could have repercussions, and he couldn’t take retaliation off the table. Sawyer was a strong man, but anyone could be caught off guard or outnumbered.
A quick double knock sounded on his front door seconds before it opened, and Sawyer walked in carrying two pizza boxes and a plastic bag with Holly’s salad in it. “I have dinner.”
“Thank God,” Holly said dramatically. “I’m starved, and this one doesn’t have a damn thing to eat here.”
Royce scowled at her. “I have plenty to snack on.”
“I don’t even need to search your refrigerator or cabinets to know the best you could offer me is bologna lunchmeat and instant ramen noodles. Neither count as real food. Come to mama,” she said, gesturing at the pizza boxes.
Sawyer chuckled and set them down in the middle of the table before cupping Royce’s face in both hands. “What a fucking day, huh?” He leaned forward and brushed his lips over Royce’s.
“It’s better now,” Royce replied, noticing the huskiness that had entered his voice.
Sawyer went in for a longer kiss, one that made Royce melt in the chair and forget his own name. “So fucking good at this.” It was ridiculous how much he liked hearing Sawyer praise him. Another kiss, but this one included a little tongue play.
“Okay, fellas,” Holly said, laughing. “That’s enough. Queen of the Lonely Hearts is getting jealous.”
“It’s because you have horrible taste in men, Holls,” Royce said without breaking eye contact with Sawyer.
“Now, you’re a dating expert?”
“Play nice, you two,” Sawyer said. “Let’s eat some pizza and see if we can come up with a game plan to figure out what Marcus was up to since we have someone on the inside now.” He winked at Holly. “I left my laptop in the car, but I’ll go out and get it after dinner. My notes are easier to read than Locke’s chicken scratch.”
“Deal,” Holly said, rubbing her hands together before she opened the top box. Holly suddenly burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Royce asked, turning the box around. His mouth fell open, then he stammered out, “Is this a joke?”
“I was expecting cheesy bread knots, not bread—” Sawyer’s words faltered, and he gestured to the box.
“Dicks,” Holly squeaked out, then laughed some more. “Sawyer bought us bread dicks.” She poked at the twisted knot on the bottom of one that resembled a ball sack.
Royce shook with laughter while Sawyer continued to stare down at the box. “I’ve never seen bread dicks before.”
Holly wiped her eyes. “It’s probably off their secret menu. You can order bread dicks for special occasions where worshipping them is appropriate. Either that or they knew the order was for Ro, so they made a box of bread dicks for the king of dicks.”
Royce laughed harder. “Maybe they heard I came out at work.”
“Instead of a gender reveal party, it’s a coming-out party?” Holly asked.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“You two are crazy,” Sawyer said. “A bridesmaid is opening up their box and pissed because they’d ordered bread dicks for a bachelorette party, not bread knots.”
“No bride is having her bachelorette party in the middle of the week. I don’t know who ordered the bread dicks or how we ended up with them, but I am so grateful. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard,” Holly said. “Do you know what would be even funnier? We all pile into Sawyer’s car and watch as he scares the shit out of the smartass who decided to have a little fun tonight.”
“Oh, that does sound like a good time,” Royce agreed.
Sawyer snorted. “I should probably call the store manager and report this. These bread dicks aren’t suitable for kids.”