“Listen, you mind if I take a T.O. and check in for a sec,” he interjected.V’s diamond eyes narrowed. “With who?”Right on cue, John jumped in, asking about the Hummer and its rehab plan—like somebody waving a torch in front of a T. rex to redirect it. As V started talking about the SUV’s future as lawn sculpture, Qhuinn nearly blew a kiss at his buddy.”

“And what do you know, John's hands flew through the positionsof ASL in various l-got-this combinations."Is he deaf" the guy behind the cash register asked in a stagewhisper. As if someone using American Sign Language was some kindof freak."No. Blind.""Oh."As the man kept staring, Qhuinn wanted to pop him. "You goingto help us out here or what?" "Oh ... yeah. Hey, you got a tattoo on your face." Mr. Observantmoved slowly, like the bar codes on those bags were creating some kind of wind resistance under his laser reader. "Did you know that?"Really. "I wouldn't know."''Are you blind, too?"No filter on this guy. None. "Yeah, I am.""Oh, so that's why your eyes are all weird.""Yeah. That's right."Qhuinn took out a twenty and didn't wait for change-murderwas just a liiiiiittle too tempting. Nodding to John, who was also measuring the dear boy for a shroud, Qhuinn went to walk off."What about your change ?" the man called out."I'm deaf, too. I can't hear you."The guy yelled more loudly, "I'll just keep it then, yeah?""Sounds good," Qhuinn shouted over his shoulder.Idiot was stage-five stupid. Straight up.”

“Scrambling through the drifts, Blay rushed over and landed on his knees. Qhuinn was sprawled on the ground, his long, heavy legs stretched out, his upper body in John’s lap.The male just stared at him with those mismatched eyes, unmoving, unspeaking.“Is he paralyzed?” Blay demanded, looking over at John.“Not that I’m aware of,” Qhuinn replied dryly.I think he’s got a concussion, John signed.“I do not—”He went flying off the hood of his car and hit this tree—“I mostly missed the tree—”And I’ve had to hold him down ever since.“Which is pissing me off—”

“Shit. With Qhuinn looking at him like that, he couldn’t remember his own name. Blaysox? Blacklock? Blabberfox? Who the fuck knew…”

“The thing was, Qhuinn felt like he wanted to explain things. Unfortunately, and unlike his slut cousin, Saxton the Cocksucker, he had no gift with words.”

“Love, after all, was universal. Qhuinn closed his fist up tight, and knew he would never, ever take that ring off. “Always,” Blay murmured. “Because family is an always kind of thing.”

“Will you get off me!""But I'm giving you CPR-""I will die before kissing you, Hollywood." Z tried to sit up, his breathing heavy. "Don't even think about it.”