Private Dicks by Katie Allen Page A

off to another state. Besides, we lie to this guy now and he’ll
never trust us later. This is a fucking golden opportunity.”
    There were a few seconds of loaded silence while Wash glared
at him, their faces just inches apart. “Fine,” he spat, before his angry
expression faded to humor. “Shit, I can’t even argue with you anymore. I keep
thinking about kissing you.”
    Rhodes stared at him, dumbstruck, and then laughed. “So
you’re good with bringing Trevor in on this?”
    “Eh, not really good,” Wash said with a shrug. “Okay, I
guess. This way, when it blows up in your face, I can keep bringing it up.” He
grinned. “For years .”
    Rolling his eyes, Rhodes headed for the door. “Great,” he
groaned, although a smile still tugged at his mouth. He passed Trevor on the
way to the kitchen and the blond man jumped up.
    “I should probably just go,” Trevor said.
    Rhodes frowned at him over his shoulder. “No, sit. I’ll
bring you a beer.”
    Trevor still hesitated, standing by the couch.
    “Seriously, man, stay,” Wash told him, giving the blond
man’s arm a friendly tug as he plopped down on the couch. “Rhodie says you’re
okay—that’s good enough for me.”
    By the time Rhodes brought in three beers, Trevor was
sitting next to Wash, although he still looked ready to bolt.
    “Mute that, would you?” Rhodes said to Wash, who was closest
to the T.V. remote, as he passed him a beer and then offered one to Trevor.
“You notice the business name on that card I gave you last night?”
    “Yeah,” Trevor admitted cautiously, accepting the beer.
“Washington Investigations. Figured you’re a P.I. or something.”
    Pointing his bottle toward Wash, Rhodes corrected, “ We’re P.I.’s.”
    “Or something,” Wash interjected.
    Rhodes ignored him. “The reason we were at the club last
night is because we’re working on a case.”
    A flash of panic crossed Trevor’s face. Interesting ,
Rhodes thought, filing the reaction away.
    “What kind of case?” the blond asked, studying the beer
bottle in his hand.
    “A missing kid,” Rhodes answered, watching relief replace
the panic on Trevor’s face for a second before all emotions were quickly
smoothed away.
    Trevor met his eyes, carefully expressionless. “Why would a
missing kid be at Stand and Deliver?”
    “Actually, we’re thinking that your boss has something to do
with his disappearance,” Rhodes explained.
    “Oh.” Trevor blinked, processing that information. He looked
over at Wash. “So that’s why you hung with Ness all night.”
    Wash grimaced. “Well, it wasn’t for his wit and charm. Or
his good looks. Or—”
    Rhodes cut off what could be a long list. “Another kid went
missing and was found dead in one of Ness’ buildings. Both kids went to the
youth center where Ness volunteers. We figured that was a pretty big
coincidence.”
    Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his eyes
back on his beer, Trevor said flatly, “Figures. So you wanted me to come over
so I would tell you what I know about Ness.”
    “Well…” Rhodes trailed off, looking at Wash.
    “Please,” Wash snorted, lightly knocking into Trevor with
his shoulder. “Just the case, my ass. Rhodie likes you.”
    “What the hell, Wash?” Flabbergasted, Rhodes stared at his
partner.
    “Yeah? Figured you two were a couple.” Trevor flicked a look
toward Rhodes, one of his shy glances he remembered from the night before.
    “You see, Trev,” Wash began, turning sideways on the couch
and ignoring Rhodes altogether. “Rhodie just came out to me a few days ago, so
it’s turned me on my head a little. I’ve been kind of…um, confused. I figure
that, just because I’m trying to figure my shit out, that doesn’t mean I should
get in the way of Rhodie’s potential happiness.”
    “Fuck, Wash!” Rhodes ran his hand over his head. If he had
hair, he’d be pulling it out. “When I said we should tell Trevor everything, I
didn’t mean…shit,