Page 4 of Marked By Shadows

“He’ll be fine,” I told Lukas.

Lukas’ lips tightened into a thin grimace. Fine was a word he hated.

“Sky says he discovers a new hobby. He could use the focus,” I said. Lukas often talked about how Alex needed focus. Before meeting him, I had thought Alex might have ADHD, but his ability to focus was fine. He had simply been in the military too long, and had yet to find things to occupy him instead.

“I’ve put away every dime he’s given me of his military money. It’s in an account for him. Earning interest. I’ll give you the card so if there is something he needs…”

The far door opened and the detective led a tired looking Alex out. His long hair an afro of frizz I’d need to massage with some special conditioner to untangle. Like his brother, he ran his hands through his hair a lot when stressed. While Alex’s hair was blond, it looked more like a bleached blond, though I knew it wasn’t. And it was one of the only things that indicated he had an African American father. His dark molten chocolate eyes were ringed in shadows indicating he needed sleep and hydration. The overgrowth of his beard, though trimmed back, could use some major shaping. And while his skin still appeared tan, I knew it was more his natural color than sun exposure. Once I got him home, I’d put him in the bath, slather him with lotion again, and clean up the rest of that beard overgrowth.

Home. Hm. Was my home his already? Or was it just him?

Both Lukas and I got to our feet. I opened my arms for Alex when he approached us unfettered. The detective held out a hand for Lukas. Alex fell into my embrace, hugging me tightly and resting his weight on me.

“Can we go?” I asked. “Alex should eat.” He was far too thin.

“Dying for a banana,” Alex grumbled in my arms. “Or peanut butter cookies.”

Lukas accepted the detective’s hand, shaking it. “What’s going on? What do you know?”

“Nothing for now,” the detective said. Apparently he wasn’t telling us anything. He looked at Alex. “Call if you remember anything.”

Alex nodded a bit grimly.

“He’s free to go?” Lukas clarified. We’d discussed the possibility of needing a lawyer, even instructing Alex to request one the second he felt the direction of his questioning was heading towards trouble. Either it hadn’t come to that or there was a whole lot not being said.

“Yes,” the detective agreed. “We’ll be in touch if more questions arise.”

I took that at face value and tugged Alex toward the door, ready to go home and be away from all the noise and the feeling of eyes on us. Alex stepped away, but took my hand, squeezing it before following me to the parking lot. Wasting an entire day at the police station had not been on my radar of fun things to do. At least we’d be taking him home with us rather than scrambling to find some kind of criminal attorney to get bail set for him.

Lukas lasted only until we got into his car, and had left the station, slowly navigating around traffic. “What did they ask? What do they know?” He demanded.

Alex and I sat in the backseat. He blinked, turning from staring out the window to look at his brother who sat behind the wheel. “Stuff I didn’t know. There were a couple FBI guys. They showed me pictures of a few places they thought I’d been. The airport is the only one that actually looks like me. Asked me about people I’ve never met before.”

“What about?” Lukas persisted.

“If I knew them or had seen anything.” Alex shrugged. “I got the impression they thought I knew something about these guys, could point them in the right direction.”

“Like drug dealers or something?” Lukas wanted to know.

“Right, ‘cause me and drugs of any kind mix?” Alex asked. He turned my way and ran his fingers along my face. “How are you doing? You look tired.”

“A little. Head is loud. The coffee sucked.”

“Nothing is as good as that stuff you have,” Alex said. “I’m an official coffee snob now.”

The rest of the short drive Lukas fumed, though said nothing, and Alex took turns looking out the window and smiling at me. At least he was in good spirits.

Chapter 2

Ialmost expected Lukas to take us to his apartment, but we parked outside the gate to my place. Skylar greeted us as we walked up the path, her gaze darting back and forth between the brothers. I shook my head and made my way past her into the house. Jet met us at the door, greeting everyone with a full body rub along their legs. I had sort of been hoping to get home and curl up alone with Alex, but apparently that wasn’t an option.

Alex made his way to the coffee pot and began to put together a pot. I needed a bigger brewer. The two of us drank too much to share from one small four cup machine. A fruit basket full of fresh bananas, apples, and oranges decorated the counter near the brewer. Skylar must have added it. She had been keeping my kitchen stocked in the past month while she stayed with me. I suspected she would rather have stayed with Lukas, but until Alex’s return, he’d refused to do more than yell at either one of us. His calm, confident exterior had more than cracked, it had crumbled. Falling apart hadn’t been pretty on Lukas, but necessary. I really hoped he let Skylar help put him back together.

Once Alex had the coffee going, he dove into the bananas, eating two in less than a minute. Lukas paced. Skylar rang her hands. The two were an odd contrast. Lukas tall, polished, looking almost like a businessman in that moment despite wearing jeans and a simple polo, and Sky in a flirty top, and full circle skirt, her long gorgeous hair pulled into a loose ponytail. She was one of the prettiest girls I had ever met, and seeing her stare up at Lukas with longing made me think again of Alex and wonder if we had the same thing budding or if I were hoping for things that wouldn’t manifest. Life had made me cynical, wary, and knowing all that, sad.

If the two of them could get their heads out of their asses, I knew Lukas and Skylar could be the real thing. It was almost a visible tension between the two of them. The need, a play of string or yarn aching to stitch them up into some elaborate duo. Sadly, I’d never been able to see or sense the same sorts of things for myself. Though as my gaze landed back on Alex, who swayed a little at the counter watching the coffee drip, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. If we’d been alone, I would have gone to him and wrapped my arms around him, sank into his embrace and just breathed him in for a while.

Instead I went to the closet to find something to keep my hands busy, dug out the container of crochet roses I’d been working on for almost a year, and brought it to the kitchen table. My place didn’t usually feel small, but with four adults, two of them somewhat flustered, claustrophobia began to tug at me. I sucked in a deep breath and focused on creating a new rose. As the pattern wasn’t muscle memory, I ended up tugging the first few rows out and restarting twice before Alex set a mug of coffee in front of me. He and Lukas had been arguing about something, though I couldn’t recall what. I sipped at the coffee, marveling at how he knew how to mix it for me with a bit of almond creamer and a lot of stevia.