Josh said often that his favorite part of Olive Garden was the salad. Now, Keiren had to agree that their salads were very, very good, but he could never place a salad above such a thing as unlimited breadsticks. He could eat their breadsticks for an eternity and enjoy it.
"Dear, you've got something on your chin," Josh motioned to the spot. Keiren wiped the crumbs away with his napkin.
All their dinner, Josh had been wriggling in his seat, tugging at his collar and occasionally coughing.
"What's on your mind?" Keiren asked, already knowing what the answer was.
"I know I said we'd just have a nice date," Josh sighed, "but, that kid," he shook his head. "I - I can't figure on how we're supposed to house him."
"We have the spare bedroom," Keiren shrugged, "and we have two steady incomes. I don't see a problem."
"You know what I mean," Josh frowned, setting his fork down beside his plate.
"That's up to him. Maybe we'll dye his hair, or cut it, or something. I'm not going to make him do anything he doesn't want to do." Keiren placed another breadstick on his plate. It was his third of the night.
"Keiren," Josh folded his hands together, "we need to tell the chief about it if Ryan Solomon's really got a whole human trafficking thing going here."
"Shh!" Keiren hushed, checking over his shoulders to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. "We - we can't do that. Solomon has the government in his back pocket."
Josh's face fell. "I don't have to tell you how crazy you sound, right?"
"Think about it," Keiren hissed, his voice low. "The Military gets its supplements supplied by Solomon, right? There has never been a Solomon drug that didn't make it immediately to and then pass human trials."
"Don't you think if they were doing something that bad they'd try harder to cover it up?" Josh reasoned, reaching across the table and taking Keiren's hands in his own.
"That's the thing," Keiren murmured, now desperate, "if they make it so obvious, no one will suspect them, right? But they're doing evil shit. And I know the government is in on this one. I - I know they're backing Solomon up. We can't just let them take him back, Josh. He's hurt."
Josh's grip lingered, his gaze unwavering. Keiren worried they'd stay like that forever before Josh's face fell to the side.
"Keiren, if you're absolutely certain... well, then I'll support you no matter what, okay?"
Keiren nodded, pulling away from Josh's grasp and looking over the menu. He couldn't focus on anything other than Solis. What would they do? What could they do? Even though Josh had finally agreed to help him, he knew that, deep down, Josh was right about one thing. They couldn't keep Solis there forever.
Keiren had a tendency to do rather morally questionable things. Though he wasn't officially a villain, or even a member of Demeaux, he still participated in a lot of their crimes as a sort of contractor-stagehand. If he was ever caught, they'd go to his house, find Solis, assume he was Syrus, and then Josh would be in as much trouble as himself.
No. I can't think about that. I need to stay calm for Solis. Solis and Josh.
"Have you gentlemen decided on anything yet?" the waitress asked, notepad in hand.
"Yes, " Josh smiled, "We're ready. I'll have-"
Keiren zoned out halfway through Josh's sentence.
Ryan Solomon was in the Olive Garden, small mob of bodyguards around him.
