“I’m going to drop Phoebe home and then I’ll take us to a nice bug-free motel for the night,” Jesse said.
“You could stay at my place,” Phoebe said quickly and then seemed shocked at her own words. “I mean, only if you want to. I wasn’t like saying you had to or anything.”
For the first time, Jesse seemed a little flustered. “Uhm, that would be great. I mean I would love to stay at your place, but I can’t. I mean…”
Phoebe’s eyes widened. “Oh, okay. I understand. I just thought…”
Jesse shook his head. “No. No. I really do want to. I mean, we haven’t actually talked about…”
“Yeah. We should talk…”
Simon had no idea how they talked about anything since they couldn’t actually finish a sentence in each other’s presence. It was irritating. By this point Chelsea would have rolled her gorgeous eyes and told him to make a damn decision. He turned slightly to see a small smile on her face. She shook her head and gave him the universal sign for “they’re insane.”
They continued to speak in some weird shorthand, or maybe it was just that neither one of them wanted to end the painfully awkward conversation, but Simon had had enough. “Thank you so much for the offer, but I think Chelsea and I would be more comfortable in a hotel. It could take a few days.”
“Oh.” Phoebe blinked behind her glasses as she turned in her seat. “I suppose I understand. I actually have a really small place so I guess you would be uncomfortable.”
“I wouldn’t be,” Jesse said quickly. “I don’t need a lot of space. Trust me. I’ve been in some of the worst hellholes imaginable.”
He’d been in an Iraqi prison, or rather a jihadist one. Jesse Murdoch had been held for a very long time, so long everyone thought he was dead. He’d been forced to watch as one by one, the members of his team were beheaded. He alone had survived, and Simon rather thought that had been a part of his torture, too. Jesse would rather have died than watched his teammates killed. When he’d returned to the States, he’d had to deal with rumors that he’d turned.
Simon knew one thing about the pup. He wouldn’t have turned. He would have remained steadfast to his dying breath, but he didn’t always think things through. “Jesse, I rather thought you would come with us. We have that case Ian assigned us, you know.”
Dumbass. He was getting far too Americanized. He sounded a bit like his teammates now, even in his head.
Jesse nodded. “Oh, right. The case. Yeah, that’s why I should go with them. I have work to do.”
Phoebe sighed. “Of course. I understand. Maybe some other time. I just thought tonight could be…well, it’s all for the best.”
“Cockblock,” Chelsea coughed under her breath.
Jesse’s eyes came up and they narrowed as he stared back at Simon. “It’s a really important case.”
Yes, he had to hope Jesse believed that or Simon was in for a whole lot of explaining. “Sorry, mate. It is vital.”
“Stupid work.” Jesse turned toward 75, mumbling under his breath the whole way.
For fifteen minutes they drove in silence until finally Jesse pulled up in front of a nice apartment building in North Dallas.
He hustled Phoebe out of the Jeep and Simon watched as he walked her to the door of her building. Phoebe strode forward, walking better in her heels than she ever had in the office. Curious. She always seemed to stumble along when she was working, but there was something about the way she followed Jesse, something about the easy roll of her hips and how her shoulders had straightened. She looked around and just for a second, Simon saw her eyes narrow as if she was taking in the night around her, evaluating, looking for threats. And then she was right back to smiling. She tripped on the curb, but it seemed an almost practiced thing.
Jesse bought it. He practically leapt in front of her to make sure she didn’t fall. She was in his arms and he stared at her for a long moment, no words passing between them.
“Dear god, Jesse’s in love.” Chelsea snorted a little. “They are going to make the world’s least communicative children. If they ever actually sleep together. I heard their first date consisted of watching Harry Potter until Jesse fell asleep.”
Jesse shook his head and said something that seemed to make her blush, but he finally got her to the door and kissed her. It was awkward, like all things but killing with Jesse, and yet there was a tenderness Simon couldn’t deny.
Jesse was falling for the girl and suddenly Simon wondered about her. It wasn’t anything tangible, just a feeling he got from time to time. Sometimes he could tell when someone was lying, and he would have bet in that moment that Phoebe Graham was hiding something.
“Was the first date at his place?”
Chelsea turned to him. “Why, Weston, I would have thought you would be above gossip.”
“No one’s above gossip.” Gossip could tell an agent things that facts would hide. Sometimes gossip had been his best friend.
“Phoebe and I aren’t exactly chummy, but Grace said they always stay at Jesse’s, though the rumor is they haven’t slept together. They’ve apparently slept in the same place, but not with like sex and stuff. So you really did cockblock the poor guy.”
“I’m sure he’ll return the favor at the worst possible moment.” So she liked to stay at his place. That was interesting, too.
The door opened and Phoebe disappeared inside, taking her secrets with her.
Jesse jogged back to the Jeep and hopped in.
Simon chose to keep his questions to himself for now. Jesse was in deep and he knew well enough that any hint that he had questions about Phoebe would be met with discontent. Evidence was needed and sometimes even that wasn’t enough.
“You have the worst timing in the world,” Jesse grumbled as he put the Jeep in first and started out of the parking lot.
“It wasn’t Simon’s fault. I’m the one they’re after,” Chelsea conceded. “Sorry for interrupting fun time.”
“I hadn’t even been aware there was going to be fun time.” He cleared his throat. “We decided to take it slow.”
Certainly. Simon was entirely sure that had been Jesse’s idea. “A very mature decision. You’ve been dating her for how long?”