Okay, that last one he’d always done.
When they were both clean, they crawled into bed. The sun would be coming up soon. He’d have to go back to work in twenty-four hours. Until then, however, he and Kelly could wrap up together under the covers and close out the world.
Nick was almost asleep, curled on his side with Kelly wrapped around him from behind. It didn’t matter how they started; Kelly always wound up the big spoon.
“What books were they?”
Nick startled back to full consciousness, inhaling noisily and blinking the sleep away. “What?”
“I’m sorry, I thought you were still awake.”
“What indicated that? Was it the snoring?”
“Shut up. What books were they?”
“Uh . . .” Nick rolled to his back and rubbed his face.
“One was a firsthand account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Diary. Really rare. Another was something about English royalty. The last one was a book of maps.”
“You said there were four. What was the last one?”
“I . . . have no idea. Why?”
“Well, if they took the books, they’re obviously important.”
It wasn’t exactly a new concept to Nick, but he’d been concentrating more on the missing objects and assuming they were valuable. Not necessarily that they were important. He pushed up onto his elbows and looked at Kelly through the darkness. “Explain.”
“Okay, going with your treasure hunters theory.”
“Kels, I was joking about that. Intergalactic time travelers? Come on.”
“I know, but listen. They went for books, dude. Your average dead guy in the street can’t sell rare books on the black market, and pawnshops don’t deal with shit like that. Where are you going to get money for a rare book?”
“An antiquarian bookshop.”
“Right, and you just f**king robbed it. So you’re not trying to make money off your haul. What are books good for?”
“Hitting intruders?” Nick mumbled. He rubbed his eyes again. “Doorstops. Insomnia. Special interrogation techniques. Silencing bedmates in the middle of the night.”
“All totally valid. But I’m talking about information.
Books are good for information.”
Nick continued to rub the heel of his palm against his eye, ruminating on that. He finally looked up, seeing stars briefly before Kelly’s face swam back into focus. “You’re saying they weren’t after things to sell, but they’re looking for something in particular.”
Kelly shrugged. “Makes as much sense as robbing a bookstore, dude. How’d you know which books were stolen, anyway?”
“We recovered them at the scene.” Nick sat up, staring at the mirror that lined the closet across the cabin. “Huh.”
Kelly’s hand drifted over Nick’s bare back, tracing the lines of his tattoo and making him shiver. “What?”
“I saw someone that morning; I’d forgotten about it. I thought it was Garrett, even called out to him. But . . .”
“You thought you saw Zane? Do I need to be worried about this little zombie bromance you two have struck up?”
Nick huffed, too tired to offer Kelly a real smile. “Yeah, I’m f**king Ty’s fiancé on the side, Kels. Sorry.”
“I’m good with it,” Kelly said with a shrug. His fingers continued to trace the lines of Nick’s back. “So who was it you saw?”
“Do you remember me telling you about Ty and Zane and the CIA chasing them a few years back? Ty called from the road begging for me to pick them up in Philly?”
“Yeah, you fired at CIA agents and then got arrested to give Ty and them time to get away. That’s why there’s holes in your boat.”
“It still floats. Anyway, the dude they were trying to keep safe, his name was Julian Cross. He was an operator trying to make a break from the Company.”
“Yeah?”
“He looked a whole lot like Garrett. Maybe it was him I saw.”Kelly laughed softly, his fingers gentle against Nick’s skin.
“Was he nice? Did he say hi with a super-secret decoder ring?”
“I’m serious.”
“You always are,” Kelly drawled. He sat up, and the sheets pooled in their laps. “You think this Cross guy is behind the robbery?”
“First instinct is no. He really did seem like he was trying to break when he was on the run with Ty and Zane. He had his boyfriend with him, scared rabbit type.”
“Wow, that’s . . . judgey.”
Nick laughed weakly. “Well, he was. And Cross was a hitter. He didn’t do jobs like this.”
Kelly rested his chin on Nick’s shoulder, face so close that Nick couldn’t even turn his head to meet his eyes. Instead, they looked at each other in the mirror. It made Nick smile, and he tried to hide it by pressing his lips together hard.
“So, why bring him up?” Kelly asked before kissing Nick’s bare skin.
Nick shivered and closed his eyes. “He was there when he should be in hiding. He might know something. Might be involved.”
“How do you find him?” Kelly kissed him again, moving down Nick’s arm.
Nick grunted. “I don’t know. I’ll give Ty a call later, see if he has any advice. Actually . . . I’ll call Garrett; Cross and Ty didn’t get along very well.”
“Surprise,” Kelly sang, and he kissed the back of Nick’s shoulder a last time and then flopped to the mattress. “Okay, I’m sorry I woke you. Come here and keep me warm.”
Nick lay back down, sliding his body against Kelly’s and finally settling with his head on Kelly’s shoulder.
Kelly’s fingers drifted through his hair, trying to soothe him to sleep. But Nick’s mind was whirring now. He kissed Kelly’s chest, humming.
“You want to go in right now and start working on this, don’t you?” Kelly asked, deadpan.
Nick raised his head. “Sort of. Do you mind?”
Kelly chuckled and shook his head. “My fault for waking the sleeping dog. Go on.”
Nick kissed him quickly and rolled out of bed to get dressed. “Call me when you wake up, I’ll come get you.”
“Get me for what?”
“I’m going to see if I can get the captain to hire you as a consultant on the case.” He hopped as he pulled his pants up and fastened them.
“What? Why?”
Nick grinned mischievously and crawled back into bed, his belt still in his hand. He kissed Kelly soundly. “Because I’m running with your treasure hunter theory and I’ll need you to back me up.”