Page 82 of Mr. Perfect

“I remember.” A smiled tugged at Jude’s lips.

“I was certain there had to be somebody because why would a guy like you waste those dimples on someone like me?”

Jude pressed his lips against Felix’s for a quick kiss. “There was only you.”

“I never allowed myself to believe it for long.”

“You were stingy with your smiles,” Jude said, lowering his hands to Felix’s hips. “You were more guarded than anyone I’d ever met.”

“I made you work harder than anyone you’d ever met too.”

Jude smiled. “True. It’s why I respected you so much. You just couldn’t see it.”

“Hope, faith, and trust were luxuries I couldn’t afford back then.”

“And now?” Jude asked.

Their conversation had taken a melancholy turn, but they couldn’t hide from their past. It would always be there, waiting to throw a wrench in the cogs, unless they took the time to repair their tattered relationship properly. Felix took a deep breath and took a giant leap.

“I’m a man who’s no longer afraid to want the finer things in life.Youare the finest of them all.”

“You’re late,” Rocky said when they arrived at Jonah’s house ninety minutes later.

“I’m injured,” Felix said but did a horrible job of keeping the smirk off his face. Was it his fault Jude couldn’t keep his hands to himself when he helped Felix change shirts? No. He didn’t know how they’d ended up naked in bed and had lost all track of time.

Jonah and Rocky scowled, Avery laughed, and the two detectives looked like they heard the punchline but not the joke. Then Avery got up and crossed the room to shake Jude’s hand and make introductions.

“What’s going on?” Rocky whispered once Jude was engaged in a conversation with Royce and Sawyer.

“What does it look like?” Jonah countered.

“Not what’s going on between Felix and Jude, dumbass. I’d have to be blind not to notice how relaxed Felix is.”

“Standing right here,” Felix said.

His friends ignored him and kept bantering back and forth.

“I don’t think we should trust Arrow,” Jonah said.

“I trust Felix’s judgment. No way he bangs someone who just tried to kill him.”

“Thanks, Major,” Felix said.

Rocky either didn’t hear Felix or just ignored him. “I’m sure Jude wants to choke Felix a little, but kill him? Nah.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “Fuck you, Major.”

“If not Arrow, who? Spencer?” Jonah asked.

“Jack Mercy tried to kill me,” Felix said loud enough to get everyone’s attention.

“Start from the fucking beginning,” Sawyer said. “Don’t leave a damn thing out.”

So, they did. Felix did most of the talking, but Jonah, Rocky, and Jude injected bits and pieces to enhance the big picture.

“Let me get this straight,” Royce said once they were done. “Your father was on the verge of turning evidence over to the FBI twenty-plus years ago but was executed before he could do it. Either that, or the person he’d given it to at the FBI was dirty and had alerted Mercy.”

“I don’t think it was the latter because someone ransacked our house while we were at my father’s funeral,” Jude said.