Psycho by Onley James

August looked for Lucas after his first afternoon class ended. A bored freshman lingering in the auditorium said Lucas had left for the library twenty minutes ago to make copies of a rubric for a term paper. August frowned at that. Why wouldn’t Lucas just use the copiers for the faculty?

The library was a red bricked, three-story, gothic monstrosity with arched windows and entryways. When he entered, students frowned at him like he wasn’t welcome. He paid them little mind, grateful for the silence since he’d forgotten his headphones on his desk. He passed conference rooms and sound-proofed cubbies made just for studying as well as three checkout desks manned by students.

There were copiers on each floor, but August bypassed the ones on the first floor as they were visible from the entryway and there was no Lucas. He wasn’t on the second floor either. On the third floor, August headed to the most desolate part of the library, the section filled with how-to manuals and technical guides.

Even if August hadn’t known where the copiers lived, he could have just followed the sounds of Lucas’s frustrated curses. August smiled, picking up his pace. He rounded the corner just in time to watch Lucas kick the copier once, then again.

“This copier is notoriously temperamental. That’s why it’s back here in no man’s land.”

Lucas startled at August’s voice but recovered quickly, voice sullen. “Of course, it is.”

When Lucas smacked the top of the copier once more, August tugged him away, pulling him deeper into the stacks. “What’s wrong with the faculty copier?”

“It’s out of order.” Lucas glared at the machine beside them as if it had broken the other copier.

“Why not use the one outside your office?”

Lucas blew out a breath through his nose. August hadn’t ever seen him so on edge. “Because every time your friend sees me she tries to pump me for information about the two of us.”

“Bianca?” August asked.

Lucas shrugged. “I guess. You two seemed cozy the day we met.”

There was just the slightest hint of...something underneath his voice. Surely not jealousy. “Are you… Do you think I have a thing with my co-worker? Me? Do I seem the type?”

Lucas was uncharacteristically sulky. “How would I know? We barely know each other.”

August studied him carefully. “What’s going on? You were fine when we left my father’s house. Now, you’re pouting and beating up office equipment like it owes you money.”

“I just can’t stop thinking about how more women have gone missing. Because of me. I spent weeks just trying to pretend none of this was happening. I was selfish and stupid, and now, more people are going to suffer and die because of me.”

August cupped Lucas’s face in his hands, backing him into an aisle full of ancient books with yellow pages. He could smell their age. “You did everything you could. You got yourself thrown into a psychiatric facility trying to save those women, trying to take a killer off the streets,” he reminded him.

“I should have lied. I should have found another way to let them know it was him. I could have…” Lucas trailed off, hand flailing helplessly.

“Could have what? Manufactured evidence? Caught him in the act? He doesn’t work alone. They would have killed you and never looked back. You did the right thing.”

Lucas clenched his teeth together until the muscle in his jaw ticked, swallowing hard before he said, “You would have just slit his throat and been done with it. No, you would have killed him slowly, made it hurt, then killed him, and these new women would have never run across him.”

August shook his head. “Because I’ve been programmed to kill. I don’t investigate people, I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Noah, Calliope, and Thomas find the cases, they find the evidence. I get a file folder and a plan. Then I do what I do.” August examined Lucas, hoping to see some of the strain leave his face, but it only seemed to grow worse. “Lucas, you’ve been given a gift. You can see the best and worst of people with a touch. You can do something less than one percent of the population can do. You’re kind of miraculous. And even though my father didn’t say anything, I guarantee he’s already thinking of how he could use you in the family.”

Tears rolled down Lucas’s cheeks, his face growing hot beneath August’s hands before he wiggled from his grip. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

August scoffed. “I’m saying that because it’s true. I’m the last person anybody would come to if they wanted to feel better.”

Lucas sniffled, wiping at his face, dropping his head back against some old books. “You seem to be the only thing that does make me feel better anymore.”

August’s brows knitted together. It was a compliment, but it was said with such misery it confused him. “That’s a bad thing?”

Lucas gave a humorless laugh. “I’m sleeping with one serial killer and playing head games with another. We haven’t even known each other a week, but when I feel like there’s a hole in my chest, you’re the only person I want to call.”

Something about Lucas’s words sent a rush of fierce possession through August, some deep primitive need to claim what was his right there. Lucas wanted to call him, just him. He was Lucas’s person. He surged forward, crashing their mouths together, groaning when Lucas’s lips softened, then yielded beneath his with a sound of surprise.

August crowded him up against the stacks, growling when he could feel Lucas’s cock hardening against his hip. He dragged his lips away to kiss along his jaw before tugging the shell of his ear with his teeth. When his hand went to Lucas’s belt, he snatched August’s wrist. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

August frowned in confusion, glancing down at his hands. “I’m opening your pants. Why are you suddenly whispering? I assure you, nobody’s coming into this section of the library. The only reason anybody comes to the third floor is to read periodicals, and those are way on the other side.” Lucas gazed warily over August’s shoulder, but his fingers loosened on August’s wrist.

“We can’t do this,” Lucas said, though it was half-hearted.

August nosed behind his ear. “You know you want my mouth on you right now,” he murmured. “Think about it. Picture me on my knees, your cock on my tongue, my lips working over you, sucking you down, working you until you come down my throat.”

“Jesus, August…”

August’s cock throbbed at the pleading in Lucas’s tone. “You said you like me on my knees for you. I like it, too. Let me make you feel better. Let me taste you.”

This time, when August undid Lucas’s pants, he didn’t protest, but his breath quickened and his hands fisted at his sides. August dropped to his knees, practically purring at the way Lucas combed his fingers through his hair, gazing down at him, lips parted and pupils blown wide.

“Fuck, I really do like you on your knees for me,” Lucas managed, his tongue darting out to wet his lower lip.

August pushed the tails of Lucas’s shirt up and kissed his belly before tugging Lucas’s pants and underwear just far enough out of the way not to hinder him. With Lucas freed, August ran his tongue up the underside of his length. Lucas gave a low groan, his head thumping hard against the shelf.

August smiled, teasing just under the head of his cock before sucking it into his mouth, tongue playing with his slit until he tasted the bitter tang of his pre-cum.

August hummed his approval, then took him to the back of his throat. Lucas’s hoarse shout echoed in the quiet of the library. August didn’t stop, just reached up to slap his hand over Lucas’s open mouth. August sucked him in long, hard pulls, working him with purpose. Lucas lost his mind behind August’s palm, his muffled moans and whines driving August crazy.

He could have done this all day if they were anywhere else. He craved the heavy weight of Lucas’s cock on his tongue, the taste and scent of his skin, the way the hair at the base tickled his nose. He could revel in every part of Lucas forever and never get tired of him. But he couldn’t draw this out. There wasn’t time. He had a class in fifteen minutes and he was guessing Lucas had other things to do as well. When Lucas began to fuck himself between August’s lips, he relaxed his throat, letting Lucas chase his release.

The closer Lucas got, the noisier he grew. Some twisted part of August wished he could take his hand off, wished he could let the world hear how good they were together, how good he was at keeping Lucas satisfied. August wanted the world to know Lucas belonged to him, that they belonged to each other.

Lucas’s hips stuttered, his hands tugging hard on August’s hair as he gave one final long moan behind his hand, then flooded August’s mouth. He swallowed it all and then some, doing his best to savor every drop.

By the time he dropped his hand from Lucas’s face, he was sagged against the shelf, sucking in heavy breaths. August carefully tucked Lucas back into his clothes, his own erection painfully obvious in his slim fit trousers.

Lucas pulled August to his feet and attempted to open his pants, clearly determined to take care of it for him. August batted his hand away. “No. You can return the favor tonight. I’ll be fine. This was about you.”

“Thank you.” Lucas threw his arms around August’s neck and kissed him deeply before dropping his cheek to August’s shoulder.

Warmth spread through him. He wrapped his arms around Lucas in return, surprised when he didn’t immediately break the hold. He just clung to him. August found he enjoyed having Lucas bundled in his arms. He smelled like soap and spicy cologne, and the heat of his body bled through August’s clothes in a way that made him feel content. Suddenly, thoughts of all the things they could do together later in the privacy of August’s apartment flooded his head until he shook them away.

He needed to be less turned on, not more.

“Are you okay?” August asked when Lucas seemed determined to just stay in August’s embrace all afternoon.

“I just need you to let me do this a little while longer. I can’t usually hug anybody because my shields slip, and then I just learn all of their cringey thoughts.”

August rubbed his cheek against Lucas’s hair. “But not me?”

Lucas shook his head against August’s shoulder. “No, not you. You’re just worrying about making sure I’m not late to my next class and thinking about how much you like this and some surprisingly dirty things you want to do with me tonight. Which I’m totally on board with, by the way.”

“You can get all that just from hugging me?” August asked.

“Yeah. Your thoughts are very clear to me. Clearer every time we touch, if I’m being honest.”

“Is that a bad thing?” August asked.

“Only in that I don’t want it to suddenly disappear,” Lucas admitted.

August squeezed him tighter. “It will only disappear if you run.”

“I’m right here,” Lucas said softly.

It was on the tip of August’s tongue to make him promise, but he didn’t want to deal with the fallout if Lucas refused. “I should get to class. Do you want to walk down with me? I can show you the copier that works.”

Lucas stepped back and gave a hesitant nod. “Yeah, I have to have these for my next class.”

August held out his hand, relieved when Lucas took it. Some part of him had thought he would refuse, that he wouldn’t want others to see that they were together. Truly together. Which they were. Even if Lucas didn’t know it yet. Shit, could he read that, too?

“Yes,” Lucas said, amused.

“Sorry.”

Lucas snorted. “No, you’re not.”

August smiled. “Okay, I’m not, but I would be if I could be.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, but there was a lightness to him that hadn’t been there a few minutes before, and that was all August cared about.

* * *

After they left work, Lucas was eerily quiet. He kept glancing back at the shoebox in the backseat like it was a wild animal that might attack him if he turned his back on it for too long. August assumed Lucas’s afternoon class had gone okay after their library encounter, but he didn’t want to break the silence in case it hadn’t. He just wasn’t sure what the right answer was in this situation.

The relationship books he’d read said it was customary to ask about a significant other’s day, but given how theirs had started, it seemed absurd to drop a question so mundane. Still, he didn’t want him to think that he wasn’t attempting to do all the things real boyfriends did. When he looked at Lucas, August wished he could feel the same worry and empathy that a normal person would, instead of just this insatiable curiosity to poke at him, to know what it was he was thinking or feeling.

Thomas would tell August that people weren’t lab rats to be experimented on. But August didn’t think of Lucas that way. Not really. But he didn’t know how he was supposed to give him what he needed—like the relationship books said—if he didn’t test Lucas to see what worked best for him. Thomas would tell him to just talk to Lucas.

He managed to hold his tongue until they began to creep along the cars parked outside a clean, gated apartment complex. When August had said he was going to place the GPS tracker on Kohn’s car, Lucas had insisted on coming with him. He didn’t mind the company, but he was concerned there might be an accidental encounter that could compromise their element of surprise. Still, he couldn’t refuse him. He just liked being in his presence.

August pulled up to a call box outside the complex and clicked through the directory, starting with A. It took two tries before somebody answered the phone and pressed a button to open the gate for them without question.

“How did you know that would work?” Lucas asked.

August pulled forward. “I didn’t. After a few duds, I would have just had Calliope hack the gate. But people are notoriously lackadaisical about letting people inside their communities. They assume they’re there for a reason or rationalize by saying it’s not like their doors are unlocked.”

Lucas nodded but fell silent once again. They crept slowly through the maze of apartments looking for Kohn’s building. Lucas nodded to a two-story walk-up on the left. “Over there. It’s that one.”

August scanned the parking lot. The spaces weren’t assigned. “Now, we just have to find his car.”

Lucas continued to stare out the window. “What if he’s not home?”

“Then we wait.”

“What if he’s out there hurting somebody else?” Lucas said again, anxious.

August sighed. “Then there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Moody silence returned. August backed his borrowed car into a parking space and turned off his lights. His Mercedes cost over a hundred grand. While it was a fairly upscale development, his car would have stood out and the last thing they wanted was to be noticeable. Instead, they’d taken his father’s Ford pickup truck, one of several cars he owned.

They were better off looking for Kohn’s car on foot. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a Black Lincoln Navigator in a sea of Toyotas and Hondas. It did beg the question of why Kohn drove a car that was bound to stand out like that while living in such a nondescript apartment complex.

When he glanced over to see Lucas staring out the window into the darkness, he finally asked, “Can I touch you?”

Lucas glanced over at him, startled. August winced at the abruptness of his question. “You don’t have to ask,” Lucas said. “I told you, I’m not afraid of your thoughts.”

August didn’t want to tell Lucas that there might come a time when he was not only afraid of August’s thoughts but disgusted, maybe even horrified. But that was a discussion for another time. He slid his hand over Lucas’s thigh, squeezing. “Are you alright?”

“No. But I will be. I think. It’s just hard to not feel responsible for those missing women.”

August shook his head. “You have to stop—”

Lucas cut him off, pointing as he said, “August…” August followed his finger to see a black Navigator coming around the corner, heading towards the exit. “He’s leaving.”

August waited a good thirty seconds before he turned on his lights and crept out of his parking space. “Good. Let’s see where he’s going.”

August did his best to keep his distance while they were winding their way back out of the complex. He turned onto the main road just in time to see Kohn making a right at the street light ahead. He sped up so he didn’t lose him, making sure to keep a few cars between them so as not to alert Kohn of his tail.

When they entered the highway headed north, Lucas looked at August in confusion. August had no answers, so he concentrated on the road. He could lose Kohn at any exit if he wasn’t careful. Lucas’s hands fisted in his lap, his face tense as he squinted through the windshield.

They drove for a good half hour before Kohn took an exit in the middle of nowhere with only an obnoxiously large truck stop that touted showers, entertainment, and a twenty-four hour diner. August followed, but when Kohn parked outside the diner, he circled around to the convenience store before backtracking. By the time they parked, Kohn was sitting at a booth in the back.

August once more backed his truck into the parking lot facing the window before extinguishing his headlights. Kohn sat alone at a booth. August could see why Lucas was surprised the man had flirted with him. He was tall and muscular, his brown hair shaved into a high and tight military cut. He looked...unapproachable. He sipped a coffee for approximately fifteen minutes before another car pulled up. A souped up black and silver Mazda RX-7 purred into the spot directly beside Kohn’s Navigator. Somebody had sunk a lot of money into that car.

“Who’s Mr. Fast and Furious?” Lucas asked.

The man was tall and broad, with tattooed muscles, a white tank top, and saggy well-worn jeans. He strode confidently to the back booth where Kohn sat, sliding into the seat opposite and flagging down a chunky silver-haired server, who gave him a disgusted look.

“Do you think that’s him?” Lucas asked in a rough whisper, as if the man might hear him. “His partner?”

August distractedly noted that Lucas had a tendency to whisper when he grew nervous.“You tell me.”

“He doesn’t fit the typical profile. Look at him, he’s confident, moves with authority, doesn’t seem to defer to Kohn in any way.” Lucas shook his head. “Maybe I’ve got this all wrong. It doesn’t make any sense.”

August didn’t say anything, just continued to watch the two. When the car beside the stranger left, August crept his truck into the space beside it. The windows were tinted. A man like that was bound to have a security system on his car. He had an idea. He hopped from the truck and moved to the car’s window, using his phone to snap a picture of the VIN number just below the windshield.

Once he was back in the pickup, he hit a button on his phone. The ringing filled the cab as Lucas frowned at him.

Calliope answered on the second ring. “‘lo?” she said around a mouthful of something.

August figured he could skip the politeness. “Is there a way to bypass a car’s alarm in, say, the next five to ten minutes?”

“Do you have the VIN number?” she asked.

“I just sent a picture.”

“Hold please.”

They listened to her type for a solid minute. “The vehicle is owned by Vasili Kudashev. Age sixty. Russian import/export guy.”

August frowned, gaze returning to the man in the booth. This was definitely not a sixty-year-old Russian. August supposed the man inside could have stolen it, but he also doubted a sixty-year-old man was going to be into street racing, and that car was most definitely used for racing. “Does he have a son?”

More typing. “Um, no. He has a daughter and a grandson. Daughter is thirty-eight, grandson is fifteen.”

August shook his head, trying to make the pieces fit. “I need to get into that car. Tell me you can turn off the alarm.”

“Hm, looks like he put a five thousand dollar unhackable alarm on that car.” August blew out an irritated breath, but then she said, “Luckily, this system relies on an app. An easily hackable app. Give me ten minutes and you can have total control of his vehicle. Hell, you can drive away with it if you like.”

With that, she was gone. They sat, watching the two men talk emphatically about something, Kohn jabbing his finger against the table as the man across from him dipped French fries into a milkshake like the two were on a date.

August received a text that said: Car’s all yours.

“Keep an eye on them. Let me know if our friend starts to leave.”

Lucas didn’t answer, just nodded, gaze glued to the two figures inside. August didn’t waste any time. He went in on the driver’s side, looking around for anything that would give any clue as to who this new player was. His registration was also made out to this Vasili, but the insurance was with a company named D&G Ltd. August knew a bullshit company when he heard one. He flipped through the owner’s manual, hoping something might come loose, but there were no papers. He was just about to close the glove box when he noticed a piece of paper wedged in the back. It was an invoice from an auto parts store. The customer name was Devon Nicholls.

Lucas rolled the window down. “We gotta go. She just brought the check.”

August did his best to replace everything exactly as he’d found it, closing the door and creeping back behind his truck just as Devon Nicholls pushed open the door of the diner. August made it back inside just as Nicholls deactivated his alarm system. Or, at least, thought he had. He didn’t even glance in their direction. Just hopped in his car and tore out of the parking lot fast enough to leave tire marks on the pavement.

Inside, Kohn was settling the check, chatting with the server who had looked at Devon Nicholls with such disgust. Lucas reached for the GPS locator so fast, August didn’t even have time to process what he was doing. He jumped from the truck, ducking down as he raced across the empty parking space to Kohn’s Navigator.

Like a horror movie, August watched as Kohn strode towards the front door. He looked to Lucas, who was fixing the tracker high up in the wheel well where it wouldn’t be noticed. Shit. August left the truck, his brain running through a million scenarios. If Kohn had seen him, they were fucked.

August rushed towards Kohn, spinning him around. “Oh, sorry, man. You wouldn’t happen to know if there’s a payphone in there, would you? My phone died and it’s an emergency.”

Kohn blinked at him in confusion. “What? No. I don’t know.”

From over Kohn’s shoulder, he watched Lucas close the truck door silently. “Yeah, sure. Sorry. Have a nice night.”

August had no choice but to enter the restaurant and wait. Luckily, Kohn seemed to lose interest in him immediately, leaving the parking lot as quickly as his friend.

Once back in the truck, he turned on Lucas. “You’re crazy. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

Lucas gave him a pissy look. “He wasn’t going to kill me in the middle of a diner parking lot. He’s having too much fun leaving me presents. I just want to know where he goes from now on.”

August sighed, hooking his hand behind Lucas’s neck, tugging him close enough to slant their lips together. Lucas didn’t resist, but he did look confused when August released him. “What was that for?”

August shrugged. “For being you, I guess. Can we go home now?”

Lucas nodded, exhaustion etched on his face. “Yes, please.”