“You see that? That’s my baby brother.”
The two agents swallowed hard, their surprised expressions quickly growing remorseful.
“You don’t see me blaming everything that has a fucking pulse. He was doing his job. Yeah, I’m pissed off. I’m hurt. I want to scream and beat the living shit out of something, but I won’t. Why? Because he needs me to keep my shit together so I can catch the sons of bitches who did this to him. Now you two can keep throwing your temper tantrums, see how far that gets you. Or you can do your damn jobs and make your brother proud. Now get the hell out. It was a pleasure making your acquaintance. Let’s do it again, perhaps never.” Dex headed for Cael’s bedside and took a seat on the sky-blue couch. The two brothers lingered silently for a moment before Rafe stormed out. Seb came around and took a seat next to Dex.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
“Yeah, well, you two aren’t the only ones with something to lose.”
“Hobbs mentioned you were Cael’s older brother. I didn’t know he’d been hurt. He’s a good kid.”
Dex couldn’t help his smile. “He’d punch your lights out for calling him that. He hates to be called a kid.” It was hard not to think of him that way. Although Cael was in his late twenties, he looked much younger, and his sweet, playful disposition had him coming off as younger than his age as well. To Dex, Cael would always be his little brother.
“Thank you, for what you did. I’m glad you’re on the team, Dex. Makes me feel better knowing Ethan’s got you to watch his back.”
That reminded Dex. “I didn’t know you’d been on Destructive Delta.”
Seb averted his gaze, his green eyes looking at nothing in particular. “Yeah, reassignments are usually kept on the down low since it tends to happen most often when an agent fucks up rather than anything else.”
“But from what I’ve gathered, except for Sloane, no one on Destructive Delta has had any previous partners.”
“You’re right. Originally, Team Leaders worked solo. When I was reassigned, they restructured all the squadrons and Team Leaders were given partners, so each team had an equal number of Therian and Human agents. My partner applied for Recon, so they hired Gabe to fill the position and assigned him to Sloane.”
Dex nodded, waiting for Seb to continue. Judging by what Rafe had said, Seb had gotten involved with someone on Destructive Delta, and Dex couldn’t help wondering who it was. It had been before Gabe’s hiring, so it could have been Sloane. The only other options were Calvin and Cael. As far as Dex knew, Cael dated, but they were mostly casual hookups from his college days, and it had been a while since he’d heard Cael mention anyone in particular. Having a secret forbidden relationship with your partner wasn’t the only challenge to an agent’s love life. “So, what happened? If you don’t mind my asking.”
“I fucked up.” Seb shook his head, a deep frown coming onto his face. “Never fall for a teammate, Dex. It’ll only end in heartache.”
Don’t I know it. Dex swallowed hard. “Sounds like you really cared about him.”
“If I’d cared about him, it would have hurt, but… It’s been five years and I can’t get him out of my head. He’s something else. Gorgeous, funny, sweet, such a nice guy, and I messed it all up. I tried to talk to him after—”
A knock sounded at the door, and Dex looked up, smiling at their visitor. It had been a while since Dex had seen Hudson around. Their team’s Chief Medical Examiner had been on loan to the rest of the unit and snowed under with backlogged cases. Just because Destructive Delta was working on finding the Order didn’t mean homicides stopped happening.
“I came as soon as I could—” Hudson came to an abrupt halt, his eyes widening, and his face going red at the sight of Seb. “What are you doing here?”
Seb got to his feet, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I was visiting my brother.”
Hudson’s expression softened. “Oh, yes of course.” Hudson gave him an apologetic smile. “I do apologize. How is he doing?’
“Resting. You know Ethan, tough as nails.”
“I can assure you, he’s being well cared for.” Hudson gave a tentative smile, and Dex looked from one to the other. Awkward didn’t cover it.
“So, uh, how are you?” Seb asked, running a hand absently through his cropped hair.
“Good, considering. You?”
“Same.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them as they both tried their hardest not to look at the other one. Guess there was no question who Seb had been involved with. Poor guy. It was obvious he was still crazy about Hudson.
Seb finally broke the silence, motioning toward the door. “I should get back. Rafe is probably driving Cal crazy.”
At the mention of Rafe’s name, Hudson stiffened, and his jaw clenched. “Would you mind not telling him I’m here? I’d rather avoid one of his oh-so-pleasant encounters.”
Rafe’s reputation certainly preceded him, Dex thought wryly. Bet he and Ash were best buds. If Rafe was hostile with his brother concerning what happened, he could only imagine he wasn’t too fond of Hudson. Dex didn’t blame the Englishman for avoiding the guy.
“I’m sorry,” Seb said sincerely.