Swish (11 page)

He finally let his eyes flicker over to Thomas and nodded slightly, then looked over at Jackson and Cam as they sat opposite him. Noah sat on the arm of Cam's chair.

Jackson raised his voice. “Chase!”

Thomas flinched. His nerves were possibly more wound up than either of his brothers', then.

“Someone to see you.”

Jackson turned his gaze back to Alex, his expression shifting. He'd let go of the grudge already, focusing instead on the current crisis like Alex wanted him to do.

Good man. I can work with him.

Hopefully the rest of them would be the same.

When the doorbell rang, Thomas hadn't imagined who it would be. He'd certainly never imagined Alex being invited inside by his protective older brothers. Though... he
had
imagined that if they ever met, it would be about this awkward.

Christ, they were all stiff and tense. It was like bulls in the living room. Noah was about the only one looking less tense than everyone else.

Once Jackson called out to let Chase know he needed to come downstairs, silence settled for a few seconds. Then, Cam spoke up.

“How have you been, then? I think you were in my class.”

“I was, yeah,” Alex nodded. “Been good. Lived in downtown Toronto for a while, traveled around... I like being back, though.”

“Yeah. Coming home is always weird, but it's all right here.”

Thomas dared to let out his breath. Cam seemed to be making an effort. Now that Jackson was focused on Chase's wellbeing and not what Alex had done to him before, the atmosphere was settling. The only wild card was Noah, who was usually pretty easy to read but was on his guard now. Knowing him, he was probably still irked but politely hiding it.

Chase came down a minute later, having changed out of his barbecue sauce-stained shirt and washed up after the tremendous accident. Cam had been gesturing too enthusiastically and slammed his hand on a bottle of sauce that was lying on its side but open. It had squirted in Chase's face and over his shirt.

The uproarious laughter from minutes ago was all but forgotten as Chase froze on the stairs. “Oh. It's you.”

Alex looked wryly resigned to the less than warm welcome as he rose to his feet. “I don't want to be blunt, but there probably isn't much time. Your father's in town. I need to make sure you don't want him around.”

“Of course I don't,” Chase scoffed, his eyes narrowing and shoulders tensing. “Is my uncle there too? Or did Dad come alone?”

“Just your dad.”

Thomas swallowed, glancing between them.

“Well, we can go fuckin' sort this out, then,” Jackson said. He rose to his feet before Cam grabbed him and pulled him back into his seat.

“No, we should let Alex deal with it. The less they know about us, the better,” Cam told him. “And you don't need to be getting in trouble.”

Chase was silent right now, his eyes flickering between them all.

“He should be seen out one way or another,” Jackson argued.

Cam nodded. “Yeah, but not with a fight. The cops arrest you and it looks bad on everyone.”

“They don't have to arrest me.”

Chase took the last few steps down the stairs and approached. “Guys--”

Noah spoke up. “You really think he's the type not to call the cops? He has a vendetta against you now, remember. We can't threaten or intimidate them.”

“Religious wackos,” Jackson scoffed. “So what?”

“Let Chase decide what he wants to do.” Thomas spoke up louder, nodding at Chase. Chase had been looking like he wanted to say something.

“How do we know this is the truth?” Jackson frowned, looking over at Cam and then Alex now. “That his dad's really here? Maybe it's some other MacLeod.”

“Obviously you don't, but Chase told me to let him know if anyone came back to town. I've been watching ever since. I talked to him in person – I know it's him.”

Jackson sucked in his breath. “You went to confront him? Why? Why isn't he gone yet?” His tone was slightly accusatory. Chase came over to stand by him, rubbing his back slightly to bring him back down.

Alex stayed calm, not rising to the bait. “I wanted to deal with it immediately, but he wouldn't leave without hearing directly from Chase that Chase doesn't want to talk to him.”

“So, what, Chase goes to talk to him? Hell, no,” Jackson scowled.

Cam shook his head. “Not by himself. With one of us? Or all of us...”

Noah laughed under his breath. “Back to the threats,” he commented, though they ignored him. Thomas thought he was right, though: calm conversation was better than overreacting. The more they reacted, the more likely the whole family would show up on Chase's doorstep to try to free him from them.

“I'm going with him,” Alex told them firmly. “But I don't think any of you should come.”

There was a resounding moment of silence. Thomas knew exactly what Alex's logic was, but he winced anyway.
Oh, this is going to go well.

“I want to be there,” Jackson immediately disagreed.

“No.” Alex gave him a long, steady look. “There's too much risk you'll lose your temper at him and I can't be involved in violence. This is a calm meeting where we tell him to fuck off or we get a restraining order.”

Jackson still narrowed his eyes. He didn't look happy with that answer. “Can we trust you to keep him safe? I don't know you from Dick,” Jackson scoffed. “I don't know you're not just acting under his father's orders again. You fucked up Chase's life and Cam's.”

Alex opened his mouth to retort, losing his cool for the first time as heat flushed to his cheeks. “Not because I didn't do my job. I'm trying to do it, if you'd let me--”

Thomas rose to his feet. “Stop it,” he snapped loudly enough that everyone listened. “Jackson, even you. I know you're worried for Chase, but you can trust Alex.”

Jackson was startled out of his annoyance, his shoulders sinking again. “How do you know?”

“Because
I
trust him with anything.” For a moment, Thomas understood what Cam might have felt that spring. He wasn't fainting, but fuck, it almost felt like it. His fingers tingled as nervous heat flushed through him. His heartbeat raced in his stomach.

“Fuck it, let's go. I'm going with you,” Thomas told Alex. Alex knew better than to disagree. He nodded slightly. Thomas strode for the back door, shoved his boots on, and headed out along the back porch to get his jacket from his own house.

The air hit his lungs with the bitter cold of a January evening. He almost felt like he couldn't breathe now, but steam hung in the air from his heavy breath so he knew he was fine.

He'd probably just come out to them.

Christ, it was about time, though.

Thomas grabbed his jacket from his own house and zipped it up, then took the shortcut back to Jackson's house again.

Chase was in his winter jacket now, his boots on. Alex stood by the door while the other three men stood nearby. This time, they weren't crowding him though.

“All right,” Thomas said. “Let's go sort this shit out.” He didn't wait to look at Jackson, Cam, and Noah, though he felt all three of them watching him. His cheeks still burning, his hands almost shaking as he pulled open the door and stepped onto the porch, followed by Chase.

“Brr,” Chase whispered, shoving his hands into his pockets. “God, it's cold.”

Thomas was too busy listening behind him.

“Bring Chase back safe and sound,” Jackson said to Alex, his voice low. “If my brother trusts you, that's enough for me... but...”

“I understand,” Alex instantly assured him. Thomas glanced back in time to see him grab Jackson's hand and shake it once. “We'll be back soon.”

“Okay.” Jackson let out a breath, then reached out to pull Chase in for a quick, crushingly tight hug and kiss.

Thomas accompanied Alex down to his car, giving Chase the front seat while he sat in the back. He glanced out the window, watching scenery pass by as he settled back.

We'll deal with it later. First, we get Chase's situation sorted out.
Thomas had waited long enough... a little longer wouldn't kill him.

Even after bringing the food in to keep it warm in the oven, Jackson had too much energy to sit still. He was pacing around the kitchen and living room, taking every opportunity to stand up to fetch another beer or tidy something up.

His restlessness made Cam twitch, though Noah was doing his best to rub his shoulder and clap Jackson's arm, keeping them more or less grounded.

None of them said much at first. It probably took the others a couple minutes to process the encounter with Alex.

For his part, Cam's mind raced. Thomas had sounded so familiar with Alex – his defense of him hadn't been reasoned, but impassioned. That much directness was rare for him.

“So, I wonder what Alex is doing around,” Cam finally said. There was no point in pretending it wasn't what was on all of their minds.

“Chase
did
ask him to keep an eye out for his family,” Noah murmured. “We talked once or twice about... that kind of stuff.”

“Oh?” Jackson looked at him, and there was no hiding the hurt expression. “He never mentioned...”

“Probably didn't want you to get... like you get,” Cam laughed. When his older brother gave him a rueful look, he smiled. “Not that I'm blaming you. If Noah were in that situation, there'd be no stopping me either.”

“I still can't believe it's the same guy who fucked up Chase's life
and
yours.”

“He didn't actually do anything--”

Jackson scoffed. “He made you almost have a heart attack.”

That was
sort
of true, but it was a bit of a stretch. Cam didn't want to push any buttons while Jackson was understandably worked up, though, so he just shrugged. “I just didn't know it was the same guy.”

“I'm more worried about Thomas,” Noah murmured, rubbing his chin. “I didn't know he and Alex...”

“Yeah, what was that about?” Jackson frowned. “He talked to me the other day about some kind of promotion he was offered as a bribe. He said he found this inappropriate work situation, but... what if Alex is involved? God, I hope he wasn't the one investigating on the company's behalf... using Thomas for information or something.”

Cam leaned back on the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “It's possible,” he admitted. “I don't think he seems like that kinda guy, but it is. I don't remember much about him from school, just that he was kind of a... I don't know, bad boy. And he wasn't quite
out
, but everyone knew. He didn't talk to you or me much, did he?”

“Yeah,” Jackson hummed. “I barely remember him. He would've only been getting into high school when I was leaving anyway.”

“What if they dated?” Noah asked, his voice carefully neutral.

Jackson scowled. “I knew there was something weird when I mentioned detectives and stuff... If he's another ex like yours...”

Cam chuckled quietly. His asshole ex, Nathan, had tried to call him twice after he'd gotten together with Noah. He'd ignored both calls and blocked his number not long afterwards under Jackson's advice, but it hadn't really been necessary. He just didn't give a crap about the guy anymore. He'd stopped caring after meeting Noah.

God, Noah had changed everything for him.

What if Alex could be that guy for Thomas? Nah, it seemed ridiculous from even the little they knew of him.

“I hope he's not trying to screw with Thomas now. Thomas always hid everything from us, and... he did say there was someone...”

Cam's stomach twisted. Sure, he didn't care about Nathan now, but it had taken him a long time to get to that point and multiple breakups with him. Exes might be Thomas's weak spot and they'd never know. “If he's getting him into trouble at work we'll find out and figure it out.”

Noah sighed. “You two are being a little defensive.”

Cam blinked and looked at him. He wasn't expecting his own boyfriend to chide him, even if his tone was gentle.

“You're charging in like bulls in a china shop. Thomas is only barely talking to us. If something
is
wrong with this Alex, he'll tell us now that we know about the two of them – unless you scare him off.”

Jackson was nodding; he saw as well as Cam where this was going.

“And if he
isn't
as much of an asshole as we think from our very limited exposure to him, well,” Noah flourished his hand. “So much the better. Romance at last.”

Romance? Ridiculous.

“Wait,” Cam whispered, sitting up straighter. “No, wait. Alex studied with Thomas before. I forgot 'til now, but... he mentioned an Alex. He only talked about hanging out a couple times, but... there
was
an Alex. If it's the same one...”

“There are only a dozen Alexes in each graduating class,” Jackson muttered.

Cam shook his head. Something told him that his intuition wasn't wrong. The way they'd watched each other in those fleeting seconds... It was like there was a mutual secret.

“I think they were dating... or they are now. Could've been unrequited back then, who knows?” Jackson frowned. “But yeah, Noah, you're probably right. Unfortunately.”

Noah laughed. “Cam says that a lot, too,” he winked.

Cam pulled Noah onto his lap and slipped an arm around his waist, squeezing him in a quick hug. “Thanks for the voice of reason.”

“You're welcome.”

“God, I want a beer,” Jackson snorted. “Anyone else?”

Cam frowned. He'd had one earlier and he was limiting himself to a single drink no more than three times a week until he cut down on his beta blockers. “Not 'til the doctors say so. Maybe pop, if you're going for one.”

“Hey, but look up,” Noah smiled, twisting sideways to see Cam's face. “That was pretty stressful and you didn't even look dizzy.”

Oh, yeah.
Cam slowly smiled back and shook his head. “I wasn't.” Before surgery, he would have had to at least sit down for a bit afterwards and get his heart rate down. At worst, he might have passed out right in front of Alex.

“That's good news,” Noah smiled and kissed him. He stood up to grab a beer for Jackson and pop for himself and Cam.

Cam exchanged looks with Jackson, who at least looked calmer than he did earlier. The stress on his face over what was going on with Chase right now still showed, though.

“They'll be back any time now,” Cam assured his older brother. “If not Alex, Thomas will make sure of that.”

Jackson relaxed a little more and nodded. “Any time now,” he agreed, taking his beer from Noah before Noah settled on the arm of Cam's chair again. “And cheers to another successful heart test.”

They raised their drinks to that, then settled back to wait.