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Patrick knocks on the door of David’s motel room, shoving his hands in his pockets as he waits.
A shy smile spreads across David’s face as he opens the door. “Hello,” he says, cocking his hip. “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”
Patrick accepts David’s brush of a kiss on his cheek as he walks in and glances around the room. “Is your family around?” He thought he had seen the rest of the Roses at the Café when he walked by, but he wants to make sure.
“No,” David says, shaking his head a little. “Clearly not. What’s going on?”
David still has on his black and white cardigan from earlier, and Patrick reaches out and fiddles with the edge, drawing David closer to him. “It’s okay, it’s just…” He’s not sure how to say it.
David is going to be upset, and Patrick hates to be the one to upset him. But Patrick’s already upset himself, and he wasn’t about to let the Elmdale police, as mild-mannered as they are, barge into David’s bedroom.
“Patrick?”
He braces himself and looks David in the eye. “The cops caught the guy who robbed our store.”
A look of embarrassment flashes over David’s face. “Oh, so now it’s really a robbery?” David snips, trying to cover his surge of emotion. “I thought you figured he was just a lucky customer?”
“Yeah, no, well,” Patrick trails off and moves to sit on David’s bed. “Come sit down.”
“I’m fine here, thanks very much,” David says, arms wrapped around his own waist. He won’t meet Patrick’s eyes, his gaze flitting around the room.
Patrick feels sick to his stomach. He made light of what happened today, and made fun of how David reacted. He went further than that, frankly, and let David know in no uncertain terms that he was annoyed at how he handled the situation. Now, he’s got to fix it.
Even though Patrick teases David all the time, he is starting to understand that sometimes he can go too far. From the way David looks right now, it’s abundantly clear that this is one of those times.
“The guy robbed another store this afternoon, in Elmdale,” Patrick says.
“Really?”
“Yeah, a jewelry store.”
“Moving up in the world, I suppose.”
“And he had a knife.”
David’s eyes flash up to Patrick’s. “What?”
“He had a knife.” Patrick gets up and goes to David, taking his hand. David has gone pale, and doesn’t resist as Patrick leads him over to the bed. “The cops want you to come down to the station and identify him.”
“He had a mask on,” David says, his voice quiet. “I’m no help.”
“They figure maybe you will recognize his voice.”
David doesn’t say anything, and Patrick puts his arm around his shoulders, tugging him close.
“He really had a knife?” David says finally. “Did, um, did anyone get hurt?”
This is the worst part. “Yes. The woman working at the jewelry store. She wouldn’t give the guy anything, she just started screaming. Then he shoved her up against the wall and cut her.”
David is trembling. “Where?”
“Her face.”
David turns to him, a hand flying up to his own cheek. “Patrick…” His eyes are wide and shocked. “Oh my god. Is she okay?”
“She’s at the hospital, they wouldn’t tell me anything else.” Patrick wraps his arms around David and holds him close. “I’m so sorry I doubted you today. You did the right thing, David.”
“Oh my god,” David says again, and Patrick hugs him tighter. “What if… what if he had a knife when he was at the store today?”
“He couldn’t have. You said he used both hands to carry his bags out of the store.”
“But – it could have been in his pocket?” David is taking shaky breaths, and Patrick rubs his back as he struggles to regain his composure.
“David, you stayed calm, you got him out of the store, and you kept everyone safe. That’s all that matters.”
“You didn’t think so earlier,” David says, and there’s a tinge of pain in his voice. “All you cared about was the insurance money, and whether we were stupid enough to upsell a thief.”
“I was wrong.” Patrick pulls back and looks David in the eye. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Well,” David twists his head and looks up, then back to Patrick. “That’s all right, then.”
Patrick slides up the bed and David goes with him. They arrange themselves against the pillow, Patrick on his back and David nestled against him, heads close. David tucks his knee over Patrick’s leg, his skirted pants getting in the way of David’s attempt to wrap himself completely around Patrick.
Patrick rubs his hand up and down David’s side, down from his shoulder along his arm and back up again, and kisses his forehead.
“How did you even find out about this?” David asks.
“The Elmdale cops came to the store just after you left, when I was finishing up closing.” Patrick cups his hand over David’s face, runs his thumb over his cheekbone, and pushes away the image of a knife slashing David’s skin. “They scared me. I had to come find you.”
“They scared you?” David pushes back to look at him, indignant. “The cops? What did they do?”
Patrick shakes his head. “No - they didn’t do anything. But thinking about what could have happened this morning, if things had gone differently… that scared me.”
David presses his lips together and pulls Patrick against him. “Good thing I was such a quick thinker. Not everyone would offer a robber a selection of carefully curated fine wines and cheeses.”
“I thought Stevie offered him the cheese,” Patrick says into David’s sweater.
“I am willing to give her the credit for that part of our strategy, yes,” David replies. He breathes out a long sigh. “Does this mean we have to go to Elmdale tonight?”
Patrick rolls over, and David keeps his arm around his waist, so he doesn’t fall off the bed. They’re perfecting this twin bed thing. It’s kind of great, since it means they have their hands all over each other whenever they’re in it.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”
David hums. “You think we could get dinner at that Thai place afterwards? The one with the good satays?”
Patrick turns and looks at David, pretending to think it over. “I suppose you might deserve a treat after a day like today, sure.”
“We might even call it heroic, no?” David asks, a smile twisting his lips.
“Now who’s cocky?” Patrick asks, flattening his palm against David’s chest. He likes when David wears cardigans and he can feel the heat of his body through the thin fabric of his t-shirt underneath. It’s as close as David gets to showing some skin.
“Don’t start something you’re not willing to finish,” David says, shifting closer to Patrick and pressing into his touch, clearly indicating where his interest lies. “And keep in mind, Alexis will be back from dinner soon.”
“I could text the cop and tell him we’ll come in tomorrow morning,” Patrick says, rolling his hips against David.
“Is that an option?”
“I told them I’d try to find you,” Patrick breaks off as David flicks his tongue against his neck and then starts to suck a kiss into his skin. “But, you know, maybe I couldn’t…”
“It’s a big town,” David says, shifting to lie on top of Patrick, his body a delicious weight holding Patrick down against the bed. “I could be anywhere.”
“Hmm, yeah, true…” Patrick tries to lose himself in the feel of David surrounding him, but the thought of David being attacked by the robber keeps intruding. Ever since the cop told him about the jewelry store manager, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking what if that had been David.
“Honey?” Ever attuned to Patrick, David sits up, his knees on either side of Patrick’s waist, his skirt rucked up. “Are you okay?”
David puts his hands on Patrick’s shoulders as if they belong there, and Patrick presses his eyes together. He’s really not okay.
“C’mere,” David says, sliding back down to Patrick’s side and pulling him close. “I’m fine. Stevie’s fine. I bet that cretin didn’t even have a knife on him this morning. That was just his afternoon outfit. We were perfectly safe.”
“We’re getting an alarm system for the store,” Patrick says. He’s not sure how that would have helped, but maybe having one of those little stickers on the window would be a deterrent.
“Okay.”
“And you’re taking a self-defense course.”
Patrick can feel David suppressing a giggle, but he agrees anyway. “Okay. Whatever you want. We can bring Stevie, too. She’d like that.”
Patrick kisses David, needing to taste him, warm and alive and heavy in his arms. David returns the kiss sweetly, all thoughts of a quickie pushed aside.
“I love you,” David whispers, and a shiver runs through Patrick. It still feels new when David says it, earnest and out of the blue.
“I love you too,” he says, holding David close. “So much. I’m the lucky one.”
David huffs a soft laugh. “You are. I mean, you can have our wine and cheese whenever you want. You don’t need to wear a mask or anything. I’ll even give you the special goat gouda.”
Patrick laughs and captures David’s mouth in another kiss. “You’re right. Now that I have the best around, there’s nothing I want more.”
He feels David melt against him, touched by his words. Patrick kisses him again, deep and sure, because it’s true. He’s not going to think about how David could have been taken from him today. Instead, he’s going to focus on how incredibly fortunate he is to have David in his life, and do everything he can to make sure David never forgets it.