Foxe Hunt (25 page)

He came back into the office and Jamie was shutting things down, fingers still whizzing over the keyboard. At last he put the computer to sleep, pulled out his thumb drive, and snapped it shut. “Well, that’s that.”

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205

“That’s what? What is that?”

“Can we go and I’ll tell you?”

“The Shakespearean?”

“Let’s.”

§ § §

Skyler drove him over to the pub on State Street. It was late but it was still warm and noisy inside. Portraits of kings and queens of England hung on the high walls of dark wainscoting.

Flags of the various British football clubs hung around the old-fashioned bar.

They managed to find a booth and slid in. Jamie studied the picture of Shakespeare right over their table. “There is just no era when that haircut looked good,” he said.

A waitress dressed in a peasant blouse, flouncy skirt, and laced bodice came up and said, “Gents? What will it be?”

Jamie smiled at her. “I love your dress.”

She smiled back and traced her finger over the laces of the bodice. “Thanks.”

He took a cursory look at the menu and then pushed it aside.

“You order, Skyler. I never remember what sort of beer I like here.”

Skyler smiled at the waitress. “Two Boddies and an order of chips.”

“Coming up.”

Jamie watched her walk away before leaning toward Skyler.

“What did we just order?”

“Boddington’s beer and a plate of fries.”

“Oh good.” He spread his hands on the table and then grimaced, picking them up again and wiping them on his trousers.

“So? What did you find?”

Jamie looked around for a napkin to wipe his hands. “Oh it’s been hacked into, all right.”

206 Haley Walsh

“By whom?”

“I can’t tell that.”

“I thought you said you could.”

“Well it’s not like they hack in and leave a note. ‘Thanks for letting me hack. Love, Wes.’ It was hacked into about two months ago. That’s what I can tell just with a quick look.”

Two months. That let Keith off the hook and puts Wes in the spotlight once more. It cheered Skyler. “Wow. So what was changed? Can you tell?”

“Looks like you were right. Most of the hacking is definitely in the section with the grades.”

“Is it something to do with football?”

“I don’t know what you mean. It’s not laid out like that. It’s alphabetical.”

“Oh. Well, this is proof, though. Did it look like a pro?”

“Oh, definitely. But I knew what to look for.”

He knew it! He knew there was something fishy going on.

He was just glad they could find it out without anyone knowing they did. He didn’t think there was any way to trace them to it…

except by their
fingerprints
! Damn! He had to start remembering about that.

The beers arrived and they both drank through the sweet, creamy foam. “Mmm. I remember I like this,” said Jamie.

“I know. That’s why I order it for you every time we come here.”

Jamie leaned back against the maroon vinyl seat and took in the atmosphere. “I like this place. Why don’t we come here more often?”

“I guess because we either go to The Bean or to Trixx.”

“Maybe now that you’re all domestic with a boyfriend you won’t be going to Trixx so much.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” he said automatically.

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“He’s as good as. Why are you fighting it, Sky?”

He wriggled a little in his seat. “I’m…not fighting it. It’s just…

Jamie, I don’t know what I’m feeling. I like him. A lot. But…”

“But what?”

“It’s just weird. Seeing the same guy. Sleeping with him. Only him.”

“But you like that part, right?”

“Yeah! He’s fantastic.”

The waitress returned and set the plate of fries with a bundle of bottles under her arm: mustard, vinegar, and ketchup. Jamie grabbed the ketchup and poured a good dollop on the side of the plate. He took a fat fry and dipped it in, swirling it around until he covered the whole tip in red before popping it in his mouth and taking a bite.

“Then what’s the problem?” he said between chewing.

“Everyone keeps asking me that. And I don’t know what to tell them. Maybe I’m just not the boyfriend type.”

“So you spend time with him, go out, stay in,” he grinned and winked, “and you don’t think you’re boyfriends? Sweetie, you aren’t paying attention. ‘Cause you never did any of that with me.”

Skyler tried to remember. “I guess I’d call you, you’d come over or I’d go over there, we’d fuck, and then I’d leave.”

“I asked you to spend the night plenty of times.”

“I know. I just…didn’t want to get that involved.”

“Ha, ha. Joke’s on you. Now you’re more involved with me than ever without even the benefit of fucking.”

He shook his head, grinning. “I know. You are so needy.”

Jamie threw a fry and Skyler ducked it. He sighed, hesitated, and finally said, “Monday night Keith’s coming over with sandwiches and we’re going to watch football on TV.”

Jamie threw down his fry. “That settles it. You’re boyfriends.

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I mean you and
football
? De-
ni
-al!” he sang.

Skyler chewed slowly on a fry. So what
was
the big deal? So what if Keith was his…his boyfriend. He hadn’t even felt like seeing anyone else since that first date. Even when they were at Trixx Skyler had looked but hadn’t really wanted to touch. He had fallen into monogamy without even thinking twice about it.

Suddenly he looked up wide-eyed at Jamie. “Oh my God. I have a boyfriend!”

§ § §

Keith had been disappointingly busy all weekend, which meant no Sunday night with the man and, consequently, no Monday morning lying around in bed with him, either.

With no Keith to distract him, Skyler rose early to do his running before getting ready for school. The air was crisp and cold. His breath clouded around his face as he sang softly to his iPod playing Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man.” He got in a good few miles before getting back home for a shower, and even had enough time to slip over to The Bean. He liked getting back to his routine, but he was also finding the apartment quiet without Keith tromping around.

He stood in line. Both Cashmere and Philip were behind the counter, working at a frenzied pace. But Philip spotted him and waved.

When it was finally his turn, Philip came over. “Ethiopian?”

“With a shot.”

Philip wiped his hands down his green apron, got down the jar of Ethiopian beans from a shelf and poured some in the grinder. The noisy grinder whirred for a few seconds before he moved on to the next task.

Skyler, a bundle of energy, was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands pressed to the glass case with its carefully laid out croissants, apple pastries, and cinnamon buns. “And guess what, Philip?”

Philip had his back to him, busy taking out the spent grounds Foxe hunt
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from the espresso machine and dumping them in the compost bin. He scooped the perfectly ground beans into the espresso basket. “What?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

He whipped around so fast the new grounds flew out of the little silver basket. He didn’t even notice. “You what?”

Skyler felt his face heat up and he shrugged, trying to act casual. “You know. A boyfriend. Like most people have.”

“Who?”

He squinted at him. “Who do you think?”

“I thought you weren’t dating him anymore.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Oh. Right. Because you never do anything sensible that someone tells you to do. Especially someone with a detective’s badge.”

“She doesn’t know him like I do.”

“Thank goodness for that.” He stooped to clean up his mess and then started again, filling the basket, tamping it down, and clicking it in place on the machine. He flipped the switch and turned back to Skyler. “We
are
talking about Keith, right?”

Skyler looked around surreptitiously. “Yes!”

Philip leaned his forearms on the tall counter and rested his chin on them. “For real? When did you come upon this revelation?”

“Last night when I was talking to Jamie. I was trying to deny it for the umpteen millionth time and I suddenly thought, why?

Why should I deny it? I really like the guy. He’s good to me. He’s romantic.”

A middle-aged woman waiting for her coffee at the counter turned toward Skyler with a dreamy smile on her face. When she noticed him looking at her, she grinned. “I think it’s sweet.”

“See? Even she thinks it’s sweet,” he said to Philip.

210 Haley Walsh

“All right. It’s you who risks the wrath of Sidney.”

“She’s got her own boy troubles. Or is that
goy
troubles? I’m hoping it distracts her.”

“So she’s really dating her partner, huh?”

“She’s giving it a shot.”

Philip turned back to his business and quickly got Skyler’s coffee ready. He popped a lid on and handed it over the counter.

“See you tonight?”

“Keith’s coming over and we’re watching the Steelers play.”

“Oh my God! You
do
have a boyfriend!”

§ § §

The day moved on quickly from there. Before he knew it, his last class of the day was over. As usual, Rick and Alex stuck around. Not usually, Amber and Heather did, too.

Skyler looked from one to the other. “So what’s this?”

Amber smiled her all-collegiate smile. “Alex is my date for the Winter Formal and Heather is Rick’s. See? That way we can all go.”

“Oh?”

Rick was smiling his million dollar smile but Alex didn’t look as pleased. “We talked about it at the GSA last Friday,” said Rick, his tone seeming to add his thanks toward Skyler for the encouragement. “And we decided to maybe take the heat off me with the presence of Ms. Munson.”

He looked toward Heather. She shrugged. “I’m just going along for the ride.” She punched Alex playfully on the shoulder.

“And this stud will hang with Amber. Don’t they make a cute couple?”

“A cute couple of what?” Skyler said, unable to resist.

“Dude!” said Alex to Heather, rubbing his shoulder.

“So we’ll all see you this Friday night, right Mr. Foxe?” asked Amber, batting her lashes. Was she still that clueless?

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“Bye, you guys.”

He watched them go with a smile. Things were looking up.

And that evening, they were even better. Keith showed up wearing a football jersey with his own name on the back. Skyler assumed it was his college jersey. He also arrived with beer and a huge submarine sandwich.

“Just how many of us will be at this party?” asked Skyler, helping him put it on the kitchen table.

“Just us. But I get a good appetite going when I’m watching a game.”

O-kay
, thought Skyler salaciously.

Keith sliced the sandwich and even poured Skyler’s beer in a glass. Keith preferred to drink out of the bottle. They settled in the living room with the flat screen and in between bites, Keith explained the strategies.

Skyler looked at it like a medieval battle, which in a sense it was. They talked about Keith’s own strategies for football and how he saw the strengths of the players and how that all went into his formulations. It was all far more complicated than just picking the biggest guys in the line and making them run toward a goal post.

Skyler found himself getting into the game and later, he made popcorn, spilling a lot of it on his floor when he jumped up and cheered when the Steelers scored.

The game wrapped up with the post game and the talking heads going over what went wrong and what went right. Skyler watched Keith watching it, noting his concentration and how his jaw clenched when he seemed to be working something out. The man loved football, no question.

Skyler scooted closer while Keith watched the TV.

Experimentally, he slid his hand over his muscular thigh encased in its running pants. Absently, Keith’s hand covered his, thumb rubbing back and forth over Skyler’s knuckles.

All at once, Keith looked over and smiled. He leaned in and
212 Haley Walsh

gave Skyler a wet kiss. “I hope you weren’t too bored.”

“No. It was kind of fun, actually.”

“More fun with a room full of guys.”

Skyler traced up his thigh higher. “Maybe not.”

Keith followed the trail of the hand with his eyes. His features softened and he turned toward Skyler. One hand came up to Skyler’s cheek and he leaned in. Keith’s mouth was warm and soft, tongue teasing Skyler’s lips until he opened them and welcomed it in. Their lips caressed while Keith’s other hand skimmed up his thigh to palm Skyler’s balls and growing erection, and squeezed.

Skyler raised his hips and ground his dick into that kneading hand.

Keith tore his lips away from the kiss to latch onto Skyler’s neck at the sensitive spot below his ear. With a moan, Skyler laid his head back against the sofa, allowing Keith’s lips to lash at his skin. Arousal rippled up and down his body, and his dick felt especially hard. Keith’s hand rubbed his groin through the material of his jeans and Skyler thought he’d pop his zipper at any moment.

The doorbell.

Keith gave one more lick to Skyler’s pale neck and sat back.

His face was flushed and he was panting. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Maybe they’ll go away,” said Skyler, just as the doorbell rang again. “I swear to God,” he said, whipping up from the couch.

“If it’s Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’m flashing them.”

He threw the deadbolt and pulled open the door, ready to give whomever what for— “Mom!”

Cynthia Foxe stepped into the room, wearing a lavender sweater under her black Pendleton blazer. Skyler quickly grabbed Keith’s jacket from where the man left it draped over a dining room chair, and held it casually over his arm to hide his erection.

Keith sat up quickly and grabbed a sofa pillow to do the same thing.

“It’s so dark in here,” she said before spotting Keith. “Oh!”

Skyler flipped on the light in the kitchen and stood awkwardly by his dining room table. “Mom, what are you doing here? So late?”