Whatever he had been hoping to achieve with his comment, he was surprised by the pure anger which passed over Rico’s face. For a moment, Jett was able to catch a glimpse of the dangerous man Rico had been at some point. A tremor of concern ran through Jett, his motions pausing as he looked into Rico’s face and spotted a lethality which stopped whatever follow-up Jett might have had.

When Rico spoke, it was in an unnervingly calm voice. “I have not been ‘banging’ you whenever I felt like it.”

“Then what would you call this?” Jett asked, motioning to the bed.

Rico’s jaw was tight. “You were just as much a part of it as I was, Jett. Last I checked, you were the instigator in both instances.”

“All I did was tease you, you went the next step further. I’m a big boy, Detective. I know how to take a no when I’m given one. All you had to do was give the magic word and I would have stopped, no hard feelings. But no, you told me to kiss you backstage, and you were the one who grabbed me and pinned me to the bed. So yeah, excuse me if I feel a little used,” Jett told him, speaking more honestly than he would have preferred if he’d had a moment to think about what he was saying.

Rico leveled his gaze at Jett’s for a moment, not liking what he found and looked away hurriedly. Jett didn’t know what Rico had been seeking, but the sharp pain in his chest deepened as Rico avoided his gaze. He should have known better than to allow himself to stumble into whatever had been happening between him and Rico, especially with the specter of accusation lingering in the air between them. Yet he had stumbled, and he was seeing the fruits of his particularly foolish labor playing out in front of him.

“Why even bother doing any of this with me if you were just going to keep slapping me onto your suspect list?” Jett heard himself ask.

Rico’s head snapped up, confusion written across his face. “What?”

Jett turned to him, narrowing his eyes. “You heard me Rico. Why would you even bother sleeping with me if you still think I’m the one who did it? Is it because it got you off, banging someone who could be a murderer?”

Rico squared his shoulders. “No.”

“Because you know, personally, I thought maybe you were doing it because you were willing to believe I hadn’t done it. I mean, in my mind, why would someone who’s obviously big on upholding the law, and having honor, be willing to sleep with someone who would probably turn out to be a murderer?” Jett asked, adjusting the last of his clothing and already thinking of his exit strategy.

He could see the conversation spiraling out of control. Jett had been in more than his fair share of arguments over the years and knew a losing one when he saw it. Rico was too stuck in his own ways to understand where Jett was coming from and refused to acknowledge Jett’s points. Rico honestly couldn’t see why Jett was so bothered by his mistrust, which only served to sink another slice of pain into Jett’s chest.

“You don’t know how to answer me, do you?” Jett asked softly after several moments.

Rico looked up, helpless. “Jett…”

Jett shook his head, checking his pockets to make sure everything was in place. He really didn’t want to have to return because he’d left his phone behind.

“I tried to help you with your investigation, Rico. I tried to befriend you, and then when things started to escalate, I took it as a sign you were maybe, just maybe, starting to believe I was innocent. Now I can see it was a foolish hope. I don’t know what led you to thinking you could sleep with me and I wouldn’t read into it,” Jett told him softly.

Rico looked at him sharply. “You did all of it to make me trust you?”

Jett could only sigh, finding he was finally at a loss for words. There was nothing he could do to help push through Rico’s layer of suspicion. He didn’t know if Rico was suspicious because it was just his nature, some sort of mental block against what might have been building between them, or something else entirely. If he had been younger, he might have tried to reach out to Rico even more than he already had, but the thought of doing so again only exhausted him.

Jett pulled his phone from his pocket, checking the time. “Look, I’ve got a show starting soon. As much as I would love to stand around and argue about whether you should trust me, I’ve got places to be.”

Rico stepped forward, as if he meant to block Jett’s path and then stopped. “Jett, I would really like to discuss this more.”

“There’s nothing to discuss, obviously. You’re dead set on making me out to be the one who did this thing. Not only that, but you’re just as determined to make it seem like I’ve never been anything but honest with you from the start.”

“You’ve hidden things,” Rico said, though there wasn’t the fire in his voice from before.

Jett nodded. “Yeah, I did. I kept things about my personal and professional life to myself because they’re my livelihood and I honestly never believed they were important to your investigation. In a way, I wish I had told you sooner, then maybe I could have saved us all of this trouble.”

Jett reached the door to the room when another thought bubbled up in his head, stopping him. “Before I forget, there was something else. I went over the feed I got from Dutch, and it looks like Oliver entered his room twice.”

Rico was frowning in confusion. “Entered it twice?”

Jett nodded. “He enters his room, then a couple of hours later, he enters it again. Then he leaves it once, and the next time anyone saw him was when he was dead. Didn’t know if your tech guys had gotten the tape back to you or not, figured you should know.”

“Jett, this…” Rico began then stopped.

Jett snorted, opening the door. “It doesn’t make any sense, I know, but it’s your job to make sense of it, Detective. I’m done helping you. The next time you see me, I hope it’s after you figure out I didn’t do it and tell me I’m no longer a suspect. Have a good night.”

Before Rico could say anything, Jett was through the door, closing it quickly behind him. He hadn’t wanted to see Rico’s face as he closed the door, to see his confused and almost wounded expression. Jett didn’t know what Rico had been wounded by, but he didn’t want to turn around and find out. Jett had put himself out there as best as he could, and it had done nothing to abate Rico’s continued suspicion of him.

Jett walked the length of the hallway, considering the elevator for a moment before turning to walk to the stairway door. He didn’t know if his life had been a lifelong story of people showing him mistrust because of his career involving deception and illusion, or if it was just something about him others could sense that he could no longer see. After so many years of dealing with accusations thrown his way and exhausting arguments over the pettiest details, he was done.

As he jogged down the stairs, he hoped he had finally learned his lesson. It didn’t matter what he did for someone, or what he told them. He could open himself up as much as he wanted, gradually unfolding pieces of himself for others to see, but it would always be the same. To trust another person, or to even hope to trust, was a fool’s game.