V: The V in Vigilant

butwhat she was paid to do at work. Today Matt was grateful she wasn’tstanding guard, because he was in no mood to deal with her shittoday. If he were lucky, maybe she’d forget that he worked thereand wouldn’t bother him at all…
No such luck. A little after noon, the phoneon his desk rang. When Matt answered, the first thing Roxie askedwas, “What’s wrong with your car?”
“What?” Matt wondered just how she managed tofind this stuff out. “I dropped it off. Why?”
Chewing gum cracked loudly in his ear. “Guyon the line says he’s calling about Mr. Dee-Lorenzo’s Jag.What’s wrong with it?”
With a sigh, Matt admitted, “Roxie, I don’tknow. Put him through and let me find out.”
When he hung up the phone ten minutes later,he almost wished she hadn’t patched through the call. Hestill didn’t quite know what was wrong, but it would set him backseven hundred dollars. Bitterly he swept the catalog he’d beenlooking through onto the floor. He couldn’t stomach looking atrings any longer, at least not ones that cost as much as he’d haveto pay to have his car up and running again. Wait until Vicheard…
Vic.
Matt glanced at the clock and realized hislover hadn’t stopped by on his way into work. Concern bloomed inMatt’s chest—since they’d gotten Sadie, Vic never failed to duckinto the gym before his shift. He must’ve overslept, worn out fromthe night before. The memory of their lovemaking brought a slowgrin to Matt’s face. Yeah, that had to be it. Hopefully Sadie gotto daycare alright. Vic probably hadn’t had time to work out beforehe had to be at the bus depot. Matt would see him tonight…
Then it hit him. The mechanic had said hiscar would have to stay in the shop for a few days while a part wason order. Not only was Matt without wheels, he had no way of goinghome this evening. Or, more importantly, of picking up the dog atfive. With a grimace, he swallowed his pride and picked up thetelephone receiver again. He listened to the tone for a full thirtyseconds before he said the hell with it—he had no other choice.Dialing 0 for the operator, he held his breath while the phonebegan to ring in his ear.
It cut off abruptly. “What?” Roxie snapped.“This damn phone won’t stop ringing. Who is this?”
“Roxie,” Matt purred.
Suspicion tinged her words. “Uh-oh. What doyou want now?”
* * * *
Vic didn’t oversleep. He woke to the alarm,hit the snooze button, and rolled toward the warmth his sleepingmind thought was his lover. It wasn’t. A rough, wet tongue on hisnose and the ripe smell of doggy breath told him Sadie had climbedinto bed beside him again. “Ugh, dog!” Vic wiped the saliva off hisface, grimacing as he rolled out of bed.
With a soft woof!, Sadie scampereddown and raced him to the bathroom. Vic didn’t take the bait.Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes with theheels of his hands, not quite ready to start the day. The previousevening seemed like a dream—had Matty popped the question? Had Vicsaid yes?
“God,” Vic groaned. Am I gettingmarried?
If there was one word Vic would never havethought he’d be able to use to describe himself, it was hitched.When he was growing up, men just didn’t marry other men. Thereseemed no point in it. Marriage was a way to propagate the species,in his opinion—you got married to raise kids. There was nothingloving or idyllic about it, nothing hearts and roses. His ownparents had been married and they’d been miserable. Why trade inthe good thing he had with Matt for something like that?
Only…it would be different between them. Ithad to be. No kids in the picture, for one thing, and Vicwasn’t the lying, cheating son of a bitch his father had been. WhenMatt had asked to marry him, the look of love shining in his eyeswas all Vic had seen. There was only one answer to that question asfar as Vic was concerned. If Matt wanted to get married, Vic wantedit, too.
Still, it seemed unreal in the light of theday. With a loud yawn, Vic stretched until the muscles in his backpopped, letting the stretch pull him to his feet. He opened hiseyes, saw the bright room around him, and growled deep in histhroat. “Damn it, Matt.” He knew the mornings were dark, but thiswas a first—his lover had left the overhead light on when he leftfor work. Vic slept like the dead and hadn’t noticed, but he didn’twant to run up their electric bill any more than they had to.
Squinting against the brightness, Vic trudgedto the bathroom, where Sadie waited. He could hear her tail slapagainst the tiled floor. On his way out of the bedroom, he hit thelight switch, but the room behind him didn’t dim. Vic’s mind wasstill half-asleep, and it wasn’t until he was leaning over thebathroom sink splashing cool water on his face that he realized thelight switch in the bedroom had already been off.
He glanced at his reflection in the mirror.He could see it clearly—the light in the bathroom had also beenleft on. But when Vic’s gaze traveled up to the bare bulbs liningthe top of the mirror like an old Hollywood artist’s vanity, henoticed they weren’t lit. Odd. To Vic, the room seemedbathed in light, yet the bulbs weren’t glowing. What the fuck?
With one hand, he reached for the lightswitch by the door, keeping an eye on the bulbs. As he flicked theswitch, the bulbs blazed to life, burning white and blindinghim.
“Shit!” Vic ducked his head into the crook ofhis arm and fumbled to hit the switch a second time, white dotsswimming in his vision. A pain pierced his skull like the tip of ahot poker pressing into his closed eyes. He stumbled from thebathroom, tripped over the dog, cursed again. “Sadie, sit! Goddamn it…”
His eyes burned. Somehow he found the edge ofthe bed and fell atop it, scrambling for the covers. Only once thecool darkness pressed around him did he dare open his eyes again.Here, in the burrow formed by his blankets,