Despite the stereotype, I loved sitting around eating donuts, I just wished I had better company to share the sugary goodness with.

O’Brian, despite his regular insistence of the superiority of bagels, was dunking his third chocolate donut in his coffee. I couldn’t stop watching as he leaned over to take a bite. There was no way he wasn’t going to drip coffee onto his shirt before our break was over.

Rick had barely said a word, which would have been fine if he wasn’t watching every move the cute, young waitress made. Thank God that Jillian wasn’t with that idiot anymore. He’d been a creep back then, too.

Not much had changed, but at least most of it happened without my knowledge. I’d lost track of which girl he was currently dating which was more than okay with me.

I closed my eyes and imagined O’Brian and Rick being replaced by Evan. He was feeding me little nibbles of donuts, and dipping his finger in the icing and letting me suck it off. When I opened my eyes, though, the swap still hadn’t happened. Since I’d tried to magically teleport the men three times already, I gave up and finished my donut.

The waitress finished wiping down a table and disappeared into the kitchen.

“I’d like to dunk my donut in her milk,” Rick said, still staring at the swinging door.

“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked, adding a chuckle to soften the attack.

“Yeah, that’s pretty lame,” O’Brian agreed while dabbing his shirt with a napkin.

Damn. I missed it.

“It means that I’d stick my long john into her…” unable to finish his donut analogy, he ended with, “her vagina.”

“You’re going to ask her first, right?” I asked, only half-joking.

“Nah, man. She’s gonna ask me. You’ll see. That girl’s a freak. She’s got those eyes.”

“Shut up before I arrest you for…well, just for being an ass.” I said, glancing at my phone for any excuse to cut short this fucked-up break.

Rick, thinking I was impressed with his banter, smiled, waggled his eyebrows, and ran his fingers through his hair.

I shuddered at the thought of anyone asking for Rick to touch her.

Why did you hook up with this fuck up, Jillian?

I was just about to leave when Rick asked O’Brian, “So, did you hear anything about that body you found?”

O’Brian shivered, and shook his head.

“What body?” I asked.

Rick patted O’Brian’s shoulder conspiratorially. “Another guy got shot last night. O’Brian found him, but no leads, of course. I mean, it was O’Brian that found him, so what do you expect?”

O’Brian shook off Rick’s hand. “You didn’t find shit either, asshole.”

“True, but we didn’t know we had a serial situation back then. And my guy had been dead for hours. If he’d been alive when I arrived, I would have made him talk.”

“Whoa,” I said to O’Brian. “He died after you arrived? Are you okay?”

Things like that can scar cops and lead them to alcohol.

He shrugged and tried to smile, but his eyes were dead for a second before he pulled himself together and shoved Rick, nearly toppling him out of the booth.

Rick laughed and flipped O’Brian off.

It felt like I was in the lunchroom at high school again. Everything was such a macho show of one-upmanship that a real conversation couldn’t possibly occur.

Rick smiled that creepy smile that said he’d thought of something cruel that he thought was witty. And his eyes had settled on me. Shifting toward the edge of my booth, I prepared to leave, but Rick was not going to let himself be denied.

“Well, I heard one thing. He was a faggot, too.”

My body froze, every muscle tense. Blood pounded in my ears.

When I didn’t respond, Rick dug his knife in deeper. “So, recently all of us have found gay guys who’d been attacked. Two of them dead. One alive. I think we know who the gay cop is? Although, O’Brian’s victim almost lived, so maybe he’s not as straight as he pretends.”

“Too much, man,” I said. “Filter some of that shit before it comes out of your mouth.” Completely over any sympathy I might have felt for O’Brian, I asked, “And what the fuck, man? Why’d you have to run off and tell everyone about me and Evan?”

O’Brian’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t. I only told Franklin. And that was an accident.”

“Chillax, Jimmy.” Rick put his arm up on the back of the booth cushion, clearly enjoying the chat. “O’Brian didn’t say shit. I wasn’t even sure until just now.”

“Then how’d you—”

“I’m a cop. I find things out, unlike you putzes. So a bunch of gay guys are getting bumped off on The Strip. This wouldn’t happen if there wasn’t that club down there luring them all into one spot.”

“Filter.” I growled. Trying to change the subject, I said. “They’re all gay, but are there any other connections?”

“The college?” O’Brian asked. “The guy I found went to school there. So did the first one.”

“It can’t be the college because Trey doesn’t go there,” I said. “Unless he has some other connection to the school, I guess. I’ll talk to Evan about it. So if this is a hate crime, who would want to kill gay men? We should start that list.”

Rick laughed. “Do you ever get out of the house? Half this city would be on that list.”

O’Brian shook his head. “It isn’t that bad, but Rick does make a point. There are plenty of haters out there. It could be anyone.”

Rick rubbed his face with both hands. “Oh my God, listening to you guys talk is killing me. If I leave you two alone, do you promise not to blow each other right here in the donut shop?” Before I could protest, he held up a hand to stop my verbal assault. “I’m just fucking with you. I don’t give a shit who you fuck as long as you stay away from my girlfriend…well, I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

I wasn’t about to explain that being bisexual meant that I could still be interested in his girlfriend. I certainly wasn’t going to go after Rick’s sloppy seconds.

Rick hopped to his feet and clapped his hands. “Right, then. Off to catch some bad guys while you two make sure no one robs the donut shop.”

O’Brian turned his attention to me. He looked about to apologize about something, but couldn’t find the words. What did he have to apologize for if he hadn’t outed me to Rick, though?

Not interested in hearing any more from O’Brian, I said goodbye and headed to the counter to order a dozen donuts to go. After my shift, I planned on popping in at The Firehouse to check on Evan, and thought my new friends there might like the treat.