Syn paid the bill and they headed to the door with lust so thick around them, Syn couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else could see it. Furi reached back for Syn’s hand and he gladly offered it. He looked over his shoulder and threw him a seductive wink when Syn crowded in close behind him. As soon as Syn made it out the door, he saw four members of his team walking up the sidewalk. Well fuck me.
“Hey, Sarge.” Pendleton, his demolitions expert was the first to speak up.
Syn threw down Furi’s hand and quickly put some distance between them. “Yeah, hey fellas.” They’d all stopped and were staring back and forth between him and Furi. Syn couldn’t even look Furious in his eye after what he’d just done.
Detective Green cleared his throat and pointed at Furi. “Don’t I know you?”
“Hardly,” Furi mumbled.
“Um, this is ... uh, uh. He’s my ... uh.” Syn cursed under his breath. Obviously his team already knew who Furious was. They all had detailed lists of Illustra’s entertainers and Furious’ image was not easy to forget.
“Sarge, who’s your friend?” Detective Ruxsburg asked, a sly smile playing on his handsome face.
“He’s um.”
“He’s leaving,” Furi’s deep voice cut in as he eased his way through and walked in the opposite direction of Syn’s truck.
“Fuck,” Syn whispered as he watched Furi turn the corner.
“You better go after him and be ready to do some serious groveling,” his IT Detective said in his calm, cool voice.
Syn didn’t say anything. His guys walked around him and went into the bar, leaving him feeling ashamed. He thought about running after Furi but choose to get in his truck and cut him off at the corner. He sped around the block and pulled into an alley hoping to intercept his angry date. When Syn got out of the truck Furi was turning the corner coming toward him. Oh hell. Furi had his hands crammed into his pockets and if the scowl on his face didn’t indicate how angry Furious was, then his choice of words when he finally reached Syn sure as hell did. “Get the fuck away from me.”
“Furious, I know you're upset.”
Furi spun around and glared at him with midnight eyes. “Upset! Upset! Look at my face goddamnit! Does this just look upset to you?”
Syn put his hands up in a calming gesture. “Alright, you’re angry, and you have every right to be. I reacted badly back there. I was just caught off guard.”
Furi was in Syn’s face and people on the street had begun to stop and stare. “Can we please move this off the sidewalk?” Syn tried to usher Furi farther into the alley and away from the nosy fuckers on the street.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch me!”
“I’m not gonna touch you! Damn, calm down. I just want to explain,” Syn argued. It seemed every time he was around Furi he was apologizing for something. “I’m sorry, okay. I should have introduced you properly to my team.”
“How would the–”
“Please, Furious. Let me finish. I should’ve told them your name and introduced you as my friend at a minimum. I’m sorry. I told you I fuckin’ suck at this dating shit, and if you don’t tell me to go fuck myself and give me another–”
“Go fuck yourself,” Furi interrupted. He tried to move around Syn but Syn grabbed him around the wrist and backed him against the side of his truck.
“No! I will not go fuck myself. I would rather fuck you.”
“Well you pretty much shot that chance all to hell,” Furi yelled right back at him.
“Have I?”
“What do you think? Just because I’m a man you can treat me any goddamn way you please? If you were with a woman, would you have treated me like that in front of those guys?”
Syn looked away, knowing the answer to that question was no.
“Answer me!”
“Probably not,” Syn admitted. “Forgive me. I shouldn’t have done that to you. You don’t deserve to be treated li–”
“You’re damn right I don’t. I will not be your dirty little secret, Syn.” Furi pointed his finger in Syn’s face. “When you asked me out, I told you to be ready, and I meant that. I’m not in the closet, haven’t been in over fifteen years and I’m not going into one for you or anybody else.”
“Furious, I'm not in the closet and I don’t want to be either. My team is a good group of guys and I should’ve known they wouldn’t act like asses, but I’m still the new guy to them. I’ve always kept pretty much to myself; that’s all that was. I really didn't know how to act in that situation.” Syn noticed Furi’s anger slowly dissolving so he took the chance and put his arms around Furi’s waist. Furi tried to push Syn off but he didn't put very much force behind it. Syn buried his face into Furi’s hair. “Forgive me, Furi.”