Page 27 of Private Exhibit (Gentleman Hackers #4)

DEVON SAT beside Andy and gratefully accepted a cup of coffee, giving him something on which to focus.

Everything was so loud.

The spacious, elegant dining room practically echoed, all the boys seeming to talk at once, their voices ringing off the polished surfaces.

“I'm surprised you guys aren't still on your honeymoon,” Levi said to his twin, the two of them sitting across from one another. They looked like near mirror images, though one was all blond and pastels while the other was dark and monochrome.

“Daddy doesn't understand the concept of a honeymoon,” Hayden replied with a laugh.

“They don't do things like that on Falsin.

But I'll work on him. At least it gave me a chance to start decorating in here.

I've been shopping all week, trying to give this place some color.

It was just so boring . All black and white and cold.

Ugh. Not that there's anything wrong with black and white,” he rushed to add, holding out a hand towards his twin.

Levi smirked at him and reached out to give his hand a squeeze.

“I still have a lot of work to do,” Hayden went on, “but at least it's looking better than it did.

I mean, the master suite was completely white.

Walls. Sheets. Furniture. It was awful. But Thomas likes white because it reminds him of the snow on Falsin, so I'm gonna play with a sort of snowy forest motif in there. Give him a taste of home while still making it more cozy. Some warm, dark woods and green accents. That sort of thing. And we are definitely gonna need some plants in here. Like all over the place.”

Devon squirmed. Damn . That sounded amazing.

“Dev?” Andy whispered.

“I've always wanted houseplants,” Devon quietly admitted.

“Yeah?” Andy got a thoughtful look on his face.

Before either Devon or Andy could say anything more, Hayden looked at Levi and said, “But I'm sorry we didn't hang out at all this week. I'll make it up to you, I swear.”

Levi flashed him a smile. “You're a newlywed. I get it, trust me.” Beside him, his husband, Nash, gave him a fond grin.

“I missed you lots, though,” Hayden went on. “Gods. We still have so much time to make up for.”

Devon winced.

Andy turned to him, drawing everyone's attention. “Dev? What's wrong?”

Devon blushed, feeling trapped under a sudden spotlight. “Nothing,” he mumbled.

“Baby,” Andy whispered.

“I'm fine,” Devon insisted.

“Shit,” Hayden gasped. “Did you want something different to eat? We can get you anything–”

“It's not that,” Devon said, then huffed out a breath, looking down at his plate. “I just…if it weren't for me, you two wouldn't have been separated–”

“Whoa, hey, no,” Hayden snapped. “That was not your fault. It was my folks' fault for switching us. I do not want you blaming yourself, alright? And you're our brother now, and that's all there is to it.”

Devon couldn't help smiling a little at that. “Yeah?”

“Of course,” the twins said in sync.

Devon looked down and shyly grinned.

“Speaking of my folks,” Hayden went on. “They said they were gonna try to meet up with you before they left town. Did you guys get a chance to really talk? Please tell me they apologized again.”

Devon winced. Shit .

Hayden's face fell. “What'd they do now?” he bit off.

“Nothing–”

“That doesn't look like nothing.”

“I think it's time to change the subject–” Andy cut in.

“No, I wanna know what they did,” Hayden insisted. “If I need to have another talk with them–”

“Settle down,” Thomas quietly ordered.

Hayden rolled his eyes. “Daddy, come on. You know I–”

“They gave me money,” Devon mumbled.

Hayden blinked at him. “Sorry?”

Devon hunched his shoulders. “They gave me money. Sent it to me with a letter of apology.”

Hayden shot out of his chair. “They did what ?”

Before Devon could even think to respond, Thomas was on his feet, towering over Hayden, his jaw tight as he put one hand on the boy's back and the other over Hayden's belly. “Settle down,” the man bit off. “Right. Now.”

Devon tensed as the whole table went still, hearing the restrained fury in Thomas's voice.

Hayden gasped and whirled to face his husband. “Daddy, it's fine. Everything's fine.”

“Hayden–”

“Thomas,” Hayden interrupted him, looking up at him intently. “I would never jeopardize this. Not in a million years. You hear me? Everything's gonna be fine. You are going to be a father, I promise.”

Levi launched halfway out of his chair. “You're pregnant ?” he shrieked.

Hayden's eyes went wide. “Oh.” He laughed. “Yeah. Um. Ha! Surprise!”

Noise erupted around the table as everyone congratulated the couple. Devon hunched down and covered his ears, then felt Andy rubbing his back. The touch helped settle him. He slowly lowered his hands, hoping nobody had seen his reaction.

“And for the record,” Hayden said, sitting back down, “no, that's not why we got married in such a hurry. It happened that night. We weren't going to say anything yet since it's only been a week. Daddy's already making me get scans,” he added with a laugh, rolling his eyes.

Thomas let out a low growl through his teeth.

“Hey,” Hayden murmured, giving Thomas's hand a squeeze. “Everything's fine.” He turned to Andy. “You're a doctor, right? Tell him.”

Devon squirmed, seeing the tight expression on Andy's face. What was Andy thinking about? The son he lost? The family he'd never have?

Andy cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he replied. “I mean, there's not much to it this early on. Just some cells replicating.”

Thomas opened his mouth, looking like he was going to ask Andy a question, but Hayden stopped him. “This brunch wasn't supposed to be about us,” the boy said with a laugh. “It's supposed to be a thank-you for all of you being at our wedding.”

The tension in the air shifted, and almost everyone in the room started to blush.

“We know how awkward that must have been for you guys,” Hayden went on, “but I really appreciate it that you all came. I wanted Thomas to have the wedding he never thought he'd get to have, so it means a lot to me that you guys helped make that happen.”

A few quiet murmurs of thanks sounded around the table.

“Alright, enough about us,” Hayden said. “Somebody else share some good news. Please!”

Connor, sitting on Brendan's left side, nudged Brendan in the ribs.

Brendan chuckled shyly and waved his hands. “It's nothing.”

“It's not even close to nothing,” Connor insisted. “Alright, fine. I'll tell it.” He turned and scanned the table with a beaming smile on his face. “Daddy's doing a comeback tour!”

“What?”

“That's awesome!”

“Congratulations!”

Brendan shook his head. “It's not set in stone,” he said, though he had a proud grin on his face.

“But the new album just came out and it's doing well.

Really well. It's mostly stuff I wrote but never got to record before Frankie–” He broke off and passed a hand over the seemingly empty chair to his right.

Devon winced. He knew there was a ghost sitting there, though he couldn't see it. Was Frankie feeling left out, not able to fully share in the conversation? Having to watch everyone eating around him? Was that how it would be for Devon himself someday?

“I've also been composing like crazy lately,” Brendan went on, interrupting Devon's thoughts, “so I almost have enough material for another new album, but that'll have to wait. We're going to try a show at Garbon's Theater here in town, and if that goes well, it could mean a worldwide tour.”

“That's amazing!” Nash said. “Congrats.”

“Thanks.”

“Andy?” Hayden asked. “You look lost.”

Andy blinked. “Sorry. I just…” He frowned and shook his head. “Who are you?”

A few people gasped, but Brendan threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, gods. Thank you for that. It's actually a relief not to be recognized. There was a time I couldn't go anywhere without getting bombarded. I had no privacy whatsoever.”

“He's known on stage as Vesad Stromos,” Connor cut in. “Most famous musician the world has ever known. Second only to Will Knightley, of course. No offense.”

“None taken,” Brendan said with a laugh. “That man was a genius.” He held up his hands before anyone else could say anything. “Alright, that's enough about me. Somebody else go.”

The table fell silent, everyone glancing around expectantly until Levi spoke up. “I got a job.”

Hayden and Connor cheered for him. “Oh yay! Doing what?”

“Nash's head of I.T. is moving away,” Levi explained. “So I'm taking over the position. And right now we're just starting the merger with Hawkeye, so there's a lot to do.”

Connor gasped. “You're merging with Hawkeye? Oh damn. You'll dominate the industry!”

Nash chuckled. “I don't know about that, but we'll be big, for sure. It's just too bad we'll have to shut down S.P.I.R.I.T. Division.”

“What's that?” Hayden asked.

“It's Hawkeye's paranormal investigative branch,” Nash explained. “My mentor, Saira—she and her husband own Hawkeye and got me started in the industry—she has this incredibly sensitive E.S.P. She's helped catch murderers and rapists in real time by basically hearing the victims' mental screams.”

“ Mental screams?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah,” Nash replied. “When someone is hurt or in danger, even if they can't physically scream, they're usually screaming in their minds, begging the universe for help.

Saira can pick up on that. And because the victims are so vulnerable in that state, she can get inside their heads, figure out who and where they are, then send a team out in hopes of stopping the crime before it's over. Before the perp gets away.”

Gasps and mutters erupted all around the table.

“They've tried for years to find someone with the same ability,” Nash went on. “But telepathy is such a rare gift here as it is. Having it to that level is a whole other story. So we'll have to shut it down.”

Devon squirmed. He could have done something like that. Hells, he had been able to do that before the mysterious man cut his mind off from the telepathic plane. He could have helped people. Helped save lives.

Would that ability come back once he was dead? Without a physical brain around which to anchor that telekinetic barrier, would the block simply cease to exist?

Devon reached out a shaky hand and knocked over his coffee mug. “Oh gods,” he gasped. “I'm so sorry.”

Andy jumped up and righted the mug, then threw down his napkin, sopping up the mess while Hayden assured them that it was fine.

“You alright?” Andy whispered as he sat back down. The man studied Devon's face, looking intently at him. “Was that an attack?”

Devon started to shake his head, but he honestly wasn't sure. It could have just as easily been a momentary attack as it might have been sheer overwhelm. “Can we go home?” he whispered.

Andy didn't even hesitate. “Of course.” He paused, then quickly yanked out his phone and glanced at the screen before shoving the phone out of sight. “I'm sorry to cut this short, but I just got paged to the E.R.”

Devon scanned the table. He couldn't tell if anybody actually bought the lie, but nobody commented on it. Instead, everyone got up and took turns giving Devon and Andy hugs and handshakes before walking them to the door.

Once they were alone in the elevator, Devon slumped back against the wall with a heavy sigh.

“Baby?” Andy asked, reaching out but stopping shy of touching him. “You alright?”

Devon closed his eyes and slowly nodded. “It was just too much.”

“It's alright,” Andy murmured. “We'll get you straight home. I promise. I'll tell Oliver you need some quiet once we get there.”

Devon nodded again, but it wasn't really the noise that was the problem.

Everyone around him was thriving. They were all getting married. Having families. Following their passions. Enjoying things he'd never get to experience.

There simply wasn't time.

As he said goodbye to Andy and shut the door to his apartment, he almost wondered if it would be better to have it all be over with already.