Blood & Thunder (THIRDS 2)

SILENCE.

Dex had never been exposed to so much of it as he had in the last few days since the youth center bombing. He hated it. It was becoming unbearable. Sloane ended up turning on the radio in the Suburban so they weren’t driven crazy by it. For days, Dex had done his best to remain professional, speaking to Sloane when spoken to. He kept his head down, did his work. The worst part—aside from feeling like utter shit—was everyone constantly asking him if he was all right. Clearly, he wasn’t, but what the hell was he supposed to do? Sloane had given him a verbal reprimand and for all the wrong reasons. Dex was sure of it. It had completely blindsided him, and he was having a hard time getting past it.

To make things worse, he hadn’t received a Confirmation of Submission notice and that made him nervous.

As they walked through the hospital wing, Dex considered waving the white flag. Sloane w

as his superior. If he believed he was doing something for the right reasons, what could Dex do about it? How long could they carry on like this? It had only been a few days, but he hated this feeling. On top of that, his stupid head and heart were missing Sloane. Badly.

“Check on Calvin. He’s barely left Hobbs’s room since the incident. Lieutenant Sparks wants him in bright and early for briefing. I’ll talk to your brother. You can find me there when you’re done.”

“Okay.” Dex walked two doors down to Hobbs’s room, smiling at Calvin talking to his partner who was sitting up, looking endearingly puzzled. A second later, Dex had an idea as to why Hobbs looked so confused. Calvin gently took hold of his best friend’s face and kissed him. Not an “I’m so happy you’re awake” kiss, or a drunken best friend kiss, but an “I want to know what your tonsils taste like” kiss. Holy shit! The large Therian had been stunned at first, but now he was eagerly returning Calvin’s kiss, his fingers gripping his partner’s arms. All Dex could do was stand there like an idiot. He needed to turn around, pretend he hadn’t seen a thing, and run. Run, Dex, run!

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Dex spun around and threw a hand up. “It’s my fault, Sarge. I made him do it.”

“What?” Tony looked from Dex to the two agents behind him and back, not looking convinced. Dex turned, holding back a curse. Calvin was wide-eyed and breathless, his face as flushed as Hobbs’s.

“Well, Hobbs was bitchin’ about his ouchies, so I said Calvin would kiss it and make it better. Calvin said no, so I said the only alternative was for me to reenact Romancing the Stone scene for scene while singing Billy Ocean’s “When the Going Gets Tough.” And wouldn’t you know it, Calvin puckered up. Absolutely no appreciation for the arts, these two.” Dex shook his head in shame and started singing softly. Tony didn’t hesitate. He shook his head and smacked Dex upside the head. “Ow!”

“Boy, what the hell’s wrong with you? The poor guy got blown up and you’re torturing him with your crappy-ass pop music?”

“Whoa, hey now. Don’t you insult Billy. Billy’s the man. But I understand what you’re saying. I need to work on my selections.” Dex thrust a finger at a startled looking Hobbs and started singing “Eye of the Tiger.”

“No you don’t.” Tony grabbed Dex by the collar and dragged him out of the room. “You stay out here until you hit puberty.” He disappeared inside, the door closing firmly behind him. Dex let out the deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and dropped into the chair beside him. His phone buzzed and he smiled. It was a text from Calvin.

“Thank you.”

Dex replied with a winking happy face and returned his phone to his pocket. That had been close, too close. Now that he thought about it, it sort of made sense. When Dex had first joined the team, those two had been off their game, even Rosa had said so. They’d been careless, and it had led to Calvin getting in over his head at Greenpoint when they’d been hunting for a Therian suspect.

The last few months, there’d been some tension between them, and now Dex understood why. The two had been best buds since they were kids, but clearly, those feelings had grown into something more for at least one of them. Thinking back to their behavior around each other, if Dex were to hazard a guess, he would say Calvin had been the one to fall first. Sounded familiar.

The door opened, snapping him out of his thoughts. He stood to greet his dad. “I was trying to cheer them up.”

“Yeah, I know. You got a weird way of doing it.”

Dex blinked at him. “I’m sorry, have we met?” He held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Dex. You’ve been watching me do weird shit since I was five. You have a drawer full of photographic evidence too.”

Tony rolled his eyes at him. “I’ve been holding onto the hope that it’s a phase. A really, really, really long phase.”

“Ooh,” Dex cringed. “I hate to be the one to crush your dreams, but you’re better off giving up on that hope.” Dex beamed up at him, laughing at the startled expression that crossed his dad’s weary face.

“What did you do?”

Dex shrugged. “Nothing.”

Tony gave him that look.

“I bought a karaoke machine for the break room.”

“Oh hell no.” Tony thrust a finger at him. “You’re taking it back.”

“But—”

“No. I’m putting my foot down on this.”

“But we were going to have a sing-off. Destructive Delta versus Beta Ambush.” He shook a fist at the air. “They’re so damn cocky. They think they can out air guitar me? We’ll see about that.”