Page 35 of Mr. Perfect

“I heard you,” he replied without looking at Felix.

“Why aren’t you complying?” Felix knew why. Jude’s warning had gotten to Rocky. Felix snagged the glasses off Rocky’s face and pushed the button on the arm to stop recording. “Give me your phone.”

Rocky heaved a heavy sigh. “I think the putz might be right.” Rocky knew who Cameron Spencer was talking to, and he might’ve even overheard what the men had discussed in the parking lot.

“He’s not,” Felix said with a surprisingly firm voice. “Give me your phone, or I’ll come over there and get it.”

“I don’t want your blood on my hands. I want you healthy and safe.” Rocky turned his head and looked at Felix with soulful blue eyes. “Meeting you and Jonah has been…” Rocky briefly closed his eyes. “You guys don’t realize it, but your friendship saved me.” The words hung heavy between them, expanding until they almost sucked all the air from the vehicle.

“From boredom?” Felix probed.

Rocky reached over and patted Felix’s cheek. “You saved my life. I’m not going to lose either one of you. So as much as I hate agreeing with Arrow, I think we need to back away. Spencer is honoring his obligation to replace your transmission. Maybe it should be enough.”

Enough.The word was the root of Felix’s problem, the reason he never let up. Nothing ever felt like it was enough—not his accomplishments, not his possessions, and certainly not himself.

“Okay.” For Rocky, he would try.

Rocky narrowed his eyes and studied his face. Felix figured Rocky was looking for signs that he was lying. Felix had meant what he’d said, or at least he had at the time. He even held on to his conviction during the drive back to the hotel.

“I’m too wired to sleep,” Felix said when they got back to their room. “I’m going to swim laps in the hotel’s pool to see if I can work off some excess energy. Care to join me?”

Rocky threw his suit jacket onto a club chair, then sat down on the foot of his bed to remove his shoes. “Nah. I’m beat. You go ahead.”

Felix changed into his swim trunks and a T-shirt before sliding his feet into a pair of flip-flops.

“Don’t go to him,” Rocky said just as Felix reached for the door handle. “He’s a sexy motherfucker, so I understand the attraction. You deserve better, Fee.”

Felix chuckled at Rocky’s use of the nickname. “I have no intention of going to Jude, Major. I’m simply going for a swim.”

“Okay.”

Felix left their room and headed down to the indoor pool, hoping he would find it relatively quiet since most guests would be enjoying the one outdoors. He was relieved when he opened the door and discovered he was the only person there. Felix tugged his T-shirt over his head, then dropped both it and the towel on a chaise. He jumped into the pool and discovered the water was cold enough to be refreshing without shocking his nervous system.

The pool wasn’t quite fifty meters long, so he counted strokes until he reached the other side. He did a turn beneath the water, kicked off the wall, and started back toward the other side. He focused on his form and technique, and it didn’t take long before the tension in his body eased. Cutting through the water always silenced the chaos inside his brain.

The irony wasn’t lost on Felix that his favorite form of managing stress and anxiety was something he’d learned from Jude. Prior to college, Felix had been terrified of swimming pools. Kelly didn’t have the extra cash for Felix to go to the public pool, so he and a few other kids from the trailer park snuck over the fence after the pool closed one night. Felix had jumped right into the deep end, which wasn’t much different than how he behaved today. He’d nearly drowned back then, and he was suffocating on his feelings now.

Jude had been a competitive swimmer before college, and he’d patiently taught Felix how to swim in the university’s pool. At first, Felix’s attention to form and function came from a place of fear, but then he realized the concentration stymied his anxiety. Soon after, Felix noticed the changes in his body—physically and psychologically. After their breakup, the activity that had brought him so much joy became a method of survival.

But tonight, swimming wasn’t giving him the much-needed reprieve from his internal battle. Felix replayed the words he’d exchanged with Jude and relived each touch and every kiss. Had Jude really been worried about the trouble he’d find if he pursued the investigation into Spencer’s connection with—

Who?

No matter how fast or how far he swam, Felix couldn’t get the question out of his head. What secret was Cameron Spencer willing to kill to protect? For the last fifty meters, he tried to convince himself that Jude and Rocky were right. Spencer was honoring his contractual obligations, and Felix didn’t really want to die. He could let it go.

Except he couldn’t. Not because the story called to him, or maybe not just because of it, but because a truth so deadly needed to be exposed.

No one knows the full story. No one living, I should say.

Jude’s words taunted Felix, challenged him. Rocky’s eyeglasses would’ve captured a chunk of the story. Whatever he saw was enough to convince Rocky to side with Jude. Felix just needed a few minutes alone with Rocky’s phone, and he’d know what he was dealing with and could decide on how to proceed.

Felix continued swimming and debating until his body was too tired to keep up with his brain. When he rose from the pool, he saw Rocky lounging in the chaise he’d thrown his towel over.

“I thought you were tired,” Felix said as he roughed the towel over his head to wick away the excess water.

“I’m even more tired after watching you swim all those laps.”

“Why’d you come down here? Did you think I was going to sneak away to meet Jude?”