Remi had no idea what was going on, but Kris looked upset and Bishop looked grim. Epstein stood from his chair and offered it to Remi, moving to stand on the other side of the desk with Bishop.

Remi arched an eyebrow, but Bishop extended his hand, indicating Remi should sit in between Kris and his boss. Remi only just noticed PJ was as white as a sheet.

Remi had a bad feeling about this.

“Washington,” Bishop said. “You were aware that Mr. Novak lived at the building on Jefferson and Row before we arrived on the scene, is that correct?”

“Uh, yeah?” he said. “I mean, yes, sir. Kris is the younger brother of my best friend, so when I worked out the address was taking us to that bar, I remembered that he lived there.”

“So you know each other well?” Epstein asked.

“What does this have to do-” Kris began, but Bishop held up his hand.

“Please, Mr. Novak,” he said. “I’d rather not have to ask you to leave the room.”

Remi looked between Bishop and Kris. Kris looked distraught. Remi desperately wanted to hold his hand, but of course, he couldn’t. Not yet. Bishop knew his dad well enough through mutual friends that there was no way it wouldn’t get back to him.

“Uh,” Remi said, shaking his head, trying to compose a response to Epstein’s question.

In some ways, he knew Kris in the most intimate ways you could know someone. He knew what his skin tasted like and the beautiful expression on his face when he came. He had also been around him pretty much his whole life. But know him? His most private thoughts? The ins and outs of what made him tick?

“We weren’t really friends before,” Remi admitted. “But as I think you all know, I offered Kris my spare room after the incident. So, now, yeah, I guess we know each other a lot more.”

“Are you romantically involved?” Bishop asked.

Remi was so unprepared for the question he couldn’t help but splutter. “What?” he cried, feeling like the temperature in the room had shot up ten degrees. “No, of course not, no. We’re just friends.”

“You seemed particularly distressed when we arrived at the scene?” Bishop asked.

Remi blinked, aware his expression was one of incredulity. Why the hell was his boss acting like this? “Yeah, because it was my best bud’s brother inside,” he said. “I’ve known him since he was a kid. That’s all. What – what is this about? Why are you asking about how we know each other?”

“Because my security code was used to gain access to the bar just before the fire started,” Kris spat out. He had his arms and legs crossed over and tears were shining in his eyes.

“Has Mr. Novak ever discussed anything to do with arson or starting fires in general?” Epstein asked.

Remi put his hands on his head. “What the hell? No! He’s – he obviously didn’t do this. We rescued him from that building. Besides, there’s really not that much skill in starting a fire. You just strike a match. Why would he need to ask a firefighter about that?” He scowled at Epstein, then Bishop. “Come on, guys, this is my career here. I’d never help someone with arson.”

Epstein held his hands up. “We just have to cover all the bases here.”

“So I got tips on how to start a fire,” Kris said, barely holding himself together. His voice was shaking and one of the tears escaped, falling down his cheek. “Then I left the bar after closing, came back, set fire to the place, then jogged upstairs to call 911. Is that right? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Mr. Novak,” Bishop said, holding up his hands.

“No, no!” Kris all but shrieked. “I want to make sure I get this straight! So I torch the place, destroying my job and everything I own, so I can – what was it? Take over the bar with all my crazy ideas for the relaunch? That’s insane! It’s insane!”

“Kris,” Remi said urgently, placing a hand on his knee. He quickly took it away though, in case it gave the wrong impression. “Calm down. There’s got to be a logical explanation for all this.”

Kris gave him a heartbroken look. “Yeah, I just gave it to y’all. It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Don’t worry,” he added, turning to Bishop. “I made the bit up about asking for help. Any idiot can start a fire and I wouldn’t want to endanger Remi’s career.”

“None of this makes sense,” Remi insisted. But as he looked around the room, he was met with Bishop and Epstein’s skeptical faces and PJ’s angry one. “Oh, come on, y’all!” he cried. “You don’t actually think Kris did this?”

Bishop sighed and leaned forward on his desk. “You and I both know what some people are capable off, son,” he said sadly.

“Not Kris!” Remi said. “I know he wouldn’t do this.”

“Because he’s your boyfriend?” PJ asked. “Or at least he’s got you wrapped around his finger.” He shook his head. “I know what he’s like, don’t take it personally.”

“No,” Remi said firmly. “He’s not my boyfriend and I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t let myself be…what? Seduced into committing a crime? I’m not that stupid. And to what end?”

“Look,” Kris said loudly. He hastily wiped his face and sniffed. “Are you actually going to charge me with something? Are you getting the cops involved?”

Epstein sighed. “No, Mr. Novak. Not at this moment. But I think it’s best that you don’t leave town.”

“Washington will keep an eye on him,” Bishop said. He arched an eyebrow at Remi. “Won’t you?”

“Uh, I guess,” he said. He knew his boss and Epstein were just going by the book, but fuck! This was awful.

“Can I go now?” Kris asked.

“Yes,” Epstein said.

He’d barely gotten the word out of his mouth before Kris bolted from his chair, lunging for the door and dashing back out into the corridor.

“Kris,” Remi called, chasing after him without even thinking. “Hey, wait up. Hey!”

Kris stopped in the hall, hugging himself tightly with his gaze on the carpet.

Remi stopped in front of him. He made to touch his arm, but then he pulled his hand back. “What the hell?” he asked in disbelief. “How was it your security code used? Why are they accusing you of this?”

“Who cares?” Kris said with a mirthless laugh. “There’s no evidence to the contrary.”

“No, it’s all circumstantial,” said Remi. “And-” he leaned closer “-I care. You know that.”

Kris scoffed. “Oh, don’t bother,” he said sadly. “This isn’t your problem. It’s mine.”

“What?” Remi asked, genuinely confused. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s my problem.”

Kris looked up to the door of the common room. Through the glass, Remi could see his colleagues trying not to be too obvious as they watched the two of them talking.

“No, it’s fine,” Kris said, shaking his head. “You’ve got your career and your reputation on the line. You don’t want anything to do with me.”

“Kris,” Remi hissed. “That’s bullshit. Why are you saying that?”

“Because it’s true,” Kris said. He finally looked Remi in the eye with half a hollow smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid in front of your friends. We wouldn’t want them to think you’re some kind of queer fire starter, would we now?”

Remi took a step back. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “Kris?” he said, a pleading tone to the word. “Where’s this coming from? I’m sorry I couldn’t tell the whole truth in there, but you know why. I have to sort this out with my folks first. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that you’re innocent.”

“How generous of you,” Kris said. He rocked on his heels and hugged himself tighter, tears pooling in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I have all this shit to deal with, but I don’t really feel like being something you have to ‘sort out’ right now. I’ll see you later.”

He pushed his way through the door to the common room before Remi even registered what had happened. “Kris, wait,” he called out belatedly. But Kris was already halfway across, ignoring all the stares he was getting from the team. Remi chased after him, hoping he could stop him out front before he ran off. “Kris!”

“Ohh, lover’s tiff?” Travis said with a snigger.

Remi stopped and spun on his heels. “Fuck you,” he snarled. He managed to grab the back of a chair to stop himself from lunging for the older guy. Jesus, he needed to get it together.

Travis looked horrified. So did everyone else in the room. “Wow, dude?” Channing said.

“Is everything all right?” Greg asked from the sofa.

Remi balled up his fists and shook his head. “Swell,” he managed to grind out. He could deal with his colleagues later. Right now, he needed to stop Kris. He turned around and dashed after him, slamming his way through the doors into the garage.

But Kris was nowhere to be seen.

He wasn’t outside either. God fucking damn it. He must have run as soon as he’d hit the sidewalk.

Remi felt all churned up. He’d obviously missed something. It was bad enough that Kris was being accused of arson, but now things had somehow gone sideways between them, too.

Remi had absolutely no doubt there was something weird going on. Someone must have gotten hold of Kris’s code or something. He’d seen the nightmares, the way Kris had cried when he found out the attack was arson, how delighted he’d been working on new ideas for when the bar reopened. There was no way he’d done this.

But then they’d gone and asked personal questions and…shit. Why hadn’t Remi just told the truth? Why was he still so terrified to come out? That would have been horrible, though, coming out like that. He wanted to do it properly, not be bounced into it by people he didn’t really know.

Did Kris think he wasn’t serious about committing to him? Was Kris no longer interested in being together? What had he meant by all those things he’d said about Remi’s career and reputation? About Remi not caring or feeling like this was his problem because it was happening to Kris?

Remi spent the rest of his shift in a distracted state. His colleagues appeared to realize something was deeply wrong with him and left him alone. The hours dragged by. They didn’t even get any calls to pass the time, and although he went to the break room for some peace and quiet, Remi couldn’t sleep.

He thought about calling his mom. He thought about just coming out on Facebook and getting it over with in one fell swoop. But he didn’t do either of those things. He had to speak face-to-face with his family about this. It was desperately important to him that they understood. And he didn’t want to trivialize his coming out by just dumping it on social media then running away.

What he did do was message Kris. Several times. But Kris wasn’t responding. Remi could see the texts were being delivered, but not once did he see the moving dots pop up to indicate Kris was typing a reply, let alone actually sending one.

Worry swirled in his gut, getting stronger as the small hours of the morning ticked by. Kris wasn’t something Remi had to ‘sort out.’ He wasn’t an inconvenience or whatever it was he had misinterpreted. He was deeply important to Remi. Remi was besotted with the guy. He couldn’t stand the thought that he had hurt him in any way, but the fact that he had was painfully obvious by the time the sun came up.

Remi couldn’t even get anything more out of Captain Bishop about the investigation. He was obviously pissed at Remi when he had shown PJ and Epstein to the front door after the meeting. Then he had stayed in his office, refusing to come out and alleviate any of Remi’s anxieties.

Eight am couldn’t come any sooner. Remi had his bag ready to go, staring at the clock until it struck the hour. And then he was out of there. He didn’t even bother saying goodbye to his team, who all knew he was in a thunderous mood anyway, heading straight for his car. The sooner he saw Kris again, the sooner he could make everything better.

He realized something was seriously wrong when he opened the bug screen to get to his front door and something toppled out from between the two doors onto the porch.

It was Kris’s spare key.

Remi snatched it up. “Oh, no,” he murmured, hastily jamming his own key into the lock. “No, no, no. Kris, what have you done?”

The house was unnaturally quiet when he finally made his way inside. Remi dumped his bag on the sofa and dashed upstairs to the spare room without even taking his shoes off. His heart was pounding, knowing what he was likely to find before he even saw it. Still, it was a kick in the gut when he reached Kris’s room and the door was open, the bed made, and all of Kris’s possessions were gone. Even Tay Tay, the fancy goldfish, was no longer in her tank.

“Fuck!” Remi yelled. His phone was in his hand, dialing Kris’s number in a flash. But the damn call rang out, so he tried again. And again. “Kris,” he cried, leaving a voicemail on the third attempt. “I don’t know what’s going on, but please talk to me. Why is all your stuff gone? Please, whatever I did wrong, I want to fix it. Just tell me where you are.”

But another hour went by in which Remi heard nothing. Despite his lack of sleep, he wasn’t the least bit tired. He had to fix this, now.

He started making more calls.