Despite his apprehension, James had to admit he was excited about this. He hadn’t gone out and just danced or partied or anything like that in at least a decade. Yeah, he went out to bars with friends, though that had really shrunk down to the team and some cousins over the years. Meredith, his ex-girlfriend, had been his only somewhat serious relationship in the past ten years. They still talked. In fact, he was pretty sure she was about to be in the country for a family wedding, though he probably wouldn’t see her. But that was over. 

But he almost felt like he was in his twenties again as he got ready to go, taking a little extra care with his hair and clothes. He wasn’t wearing the turtleneck. He was done with the fucking turtleneck. The gloves, maybe. James didn’t go anywhere lately without wearing a pair of gloves, usually thin black ones he’d bought in a pack of four. But he felt alright as he put on a black t-shirt and his best jeans, so maybe he could take them off for tonight. 

When he looked in the mirror, he didn’t look especially dressed up for the occasion, but it wasn’t like he had usual dance clothes or anything. So this would have to do. As would the gloves. 

When Amelia came out of her room a few minutes before they planned to leave, she gave him an approving onceover. “Okay,” she said with a slow nod. “Okay, I like it.”

She was wearing a low-cut, hot pink top with tight black pants. Her hair was back to black now too. She’d done it this morning, sending him a picture with her usual texts while he was at work, clearly confirming that he’d still be going with her tonight. And yeah, he’d considered backing out eight or nine times, but never actually did.

“The club opens at nine,” she said, heading for the bathroom with her enormous makeup bag as James followed. “So we’re going to meet in Providence. Riley lives a little ways outside the city, closer to Newport. So there’s no point in meeting at her place. We can just park overnight in a garage and eat the cost.”

“I’ll pay for that,” James said.

Amelia shrugged as she began applying eyeliner. “I figured we were both already covering everything,” she said. “Want some makeup?”

“Do I need it?” he asked, the memory of her and Gabriella attempting to cover a mortifying hickey for him last year coming unwillingly to mind. 

She shrugged again, moving on to mascara. “It might look nice, but you don’t have to.”

“No thanks.”

She didn’t push it, probably because she knew it was already a miracle that he’d agreed to come with her at all. So she kept getting ready while James checked in with Bradley,  who was wrapping up the day shift. Nothing needed James’s immediate attention and when he asked about anything else, Bradley apparently forgot his phone existed. So James let it go as he and Amelia left, walking out into the muggy air that had gotten no cooler since he left work. 

“I’ll send you a little extra for the garage,” he said as they pulled onto the highway. 

“You gave me enough.”

“Even still.”

“Fine, if you let me buy you a drink.”

The idea of a drink in public was significantly less intimidating than the idea of food, for reasons that made absolutely no sense to him and seemed to reinforce Gabriella’s statement about brains being weird. But he wasn’t going to bring down the mood in the car by trying to dissect that right now. “Deal.”

The ride was about forty-five minutes and Amelia kept up the conversation the whole time. James relaxed, any remaining nerves settling as they just chatted. He had been a little concerned that once she moved in with him, they might actually run out of things to talk about since they were now living and working together. But apparently that wasn’t going to happen. 

“Graham and Madelyn are on tonight, so they can have a romantic little shift together,” Amelia said after a little while. “Though, to be honest, I can’t think of anywhere less romantic than headquarters.”

“Gabriella said the same thing,” James said. “When Elliot came to help with the Sixteen Roses case. Though he also apparently crumpled the second Bradley was himself at him, so that’s not particularly attractive either.”

“Oh yeah?” Amelia said with a laugh as she merged onto the highway junction to head south toward Providence. “Yeah, I never really liked him.”

“None of us did.”

“You heard what he did on comms?”

“No,” James replied, automatically looking for the comms unit in the center consul the way he and everyone else did whenever they were about to talk shit in the car. 

“Graham told Madelyn, who told me. Apparently he comes into headquarters one day and starts asking Graham about dating policies in the Foundation because he’s desperately in love with Saskia. But since she’s captain, they’re star-crossed, forbidden lovers.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and had been for months,” she continued. “And while Graham’s trying to warn him that he’s on fucking comms with Gabriella, Elliot says this. Apparently Bradley bitched him out on Gabriella’s behalf, because the guy was clearly using her last year to get over Saskia.”

“That asshole,” James said. “I hope he hasn’t been sniffing around her again.”

“She said he’s not. And that he’s not actually a bad guy.”

“No, maybe,” James said. “But that’s shitty of him. Bradley really went to bat for her?”

“That’s what Graham said.”

“Huh.”

“And speaking of people who aren’t bad guys,” Amelia said, glancing over at him. “Matt from Newport is going to be there tonight.”

“Amelia…” James sighed.

“No, seriously,” she said,  holding out a hand to stop him. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m going to be busy drinking vodka and Red Bull because I’m not a thousand like you are and my heart might not explode yet. And I’m going to be all over my own girlfriend in a way that is shameful. But Matt and Elizabeth are both great.”

“Dare I ask how young they are?” James asked. “I seem to remember Newport County is all young. Like, famously young. And as you said, I am a thousand years old.”

“Matt’s probably thirty-three, honestly,” Amelia said. “The whole ‘mostly female and all under twenty-eight’ thing ended when he arrived. Well, they’re still mostly female. I think he’s the only guy. But yeah, he’s a little older.”

Good. Not that James was planning to do anything with this guy that Amelia thought was his type, but it was a relief that she wasn’t trying to set him up with someone a decade younger than him. “And yeah, Elizabeth is about my age,” Amelia continued. “Probably a little younger, so maybe Riley’s age. Or, like Gabriella’s? How old is she?”

“Twenty-four?” James guessed. “Twenty-five, maybe?”

“Yeah, sounds right.”

James glanced at his phone. No texts from work. None from anyone, but mostly he was thinking about the night shift. Graham and Madelyn had it under control. He slid his phone back into his pocket and tried to put work out of his mind.

***

They got to the club at nine-thirty, just a little while after it opened. Everyone else was ID’ed at the door while James wasn’t, something Amelia clearly noticed based on the glitter in her eye as she met back up with him inside and slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Come get a drink with me!” she yelled over the music.

The group all migrated toward the bar. The room was already pretty full, but not overpoweringly so. And as James got a vodka tonic in his hand a few minutes later, he was surprised to realize he was really glad he’d taken Amelia up on the offer to come here tonight. 

And he had to admit that Matt was cute. Yeah, he was Foundation, but he wasn’t on James’s team so there was technically nothing wrong with the way that Matt was looking at him right now. He was tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes, and a tight red shirt that showed off his lean physique. And as Riley and Amelia broke off to go to the dance floor and Elizabeth moved toward the entrance to wait for her boyfriend, who was on his way to join them, Matt came closer.

“Have you been here before?” he asked, leaning close so that James could hear him.

“No,” James replied.

“It’s fun,” Matt said. “It’s a cool place. Hey, so Amelia said you’re a team captain?” 

Did Matt know what happened? If it was going around that a team captain had been compromised six months ago, did they know which team captain? How much was that still going around, anyway? The Foundation must have bigger things to worry about by this point.

“Yeah,” James said, toying with the straw in his drink. “Yeah, I’m the captain of North Worcester County.”

“Alright,” Matt said, nodding approvingly as his eyes moved down James’s body, then up again. “So would you get in trouble if I asked you to dance?”

Fuck it. “Not unless you’re putting in for a transfer before then.”

Matt grinned and held out a hand. Before he could talk himself out of it, James took it with his gloved one and Matt tugged him into the crowd.

This was so far out of James’s element that it actually felt really good. He could feel the pulse of the music in his blood and any self-consciousness he had about his dancing fell away quickly as he realized the dance floor was so crowded that nobody was going to notice or care. Besides, his eyes were on Matt and the way he unselfconsciously moved, his body brushing against James’s in a way that seemed more deliberate with each song.

A few drinks later, James was feeling a lot looser and very glad he’d taken Amelia up on her invitation. She danced with him for a few songs and then slipped off to join Riley as Elizabeth and her boyfriend danced nearby, seemingly only aware of each other’s presence. James found himself with Matt again near the edge of the dance floor, pressed against each other. The bass rattled through his body as he watched Matt move. 

And then Matt’s mouth met his, just for a second. James took a sharp breath and Matt pulled away, just far enough that their eyes met. For the second time that night, James thought, fuck it, then leaned back in to kiss him again.

Matt tasted like orange slices and the Southern Comfort shots he and Elizabeth’s boyfriend had been taking a little while ago. Nerves buzzed through James, some less pleasant than others as the song switched to something heavy and fast. He was lightheaded and it was almost too much. But this was why he was here, wasn’t it? To get out of his comfort zone and have fun?

By the end of the song they were against the wall, Matt’s hands tracing down James’s sides from where he leaned against the old flyers taped there. Somewhere behind him, James vaguely heard Amelia’s triumphant yell over the music as Matt laughed against James’s lips. 

James’s gloved hands ran over Matt’s back as the music continued. He lost track of time, focused on the thrum of the music and the heat of Matt’s body pressed against his own.

Sometime later, Matt’s hands were in his hair. James’s heart picked up in a much less pleasant way, but he pushed it aside, forcing himself to focus on the present. This worked for a few seconds, until Matt’s thumb stroked against the skin behind his ear.

Kill those three, she’d said, her thumb swirling over his skin, spreading poisoned lotion to absorb into his bloodstream and keep him under her control. You don’t need to remember this.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 5