[Blake's not afraid. Real men don't get scared, just like real men don't consider for a second going up to some guy's hotel room instead of going home alone.]

[If you could just go around doing whatever you wanted, no consequences, sure, a whole lot of things would be different. There's a lot of times when Blake just does what he wants, or what'll get the job done, and figures he'll deal with the fallout later, but there's places you don't go. There's plenty of good reasons to beat a man. Kissing one is a lot harder to explain.]

[The way Dirk says his name catches his attention. He watches him as he talks, and listens close.]

[He sounds different from usual. Real different. More than that, he sounds sincere.]

[Then again, that's how every liar sounds, if they're any good at it. Carter's known more than a few people who are very good at sounding trustworthy.]

[The most suspicious part is that he wants to believe it. His eyes are wary, though there's something in his expression that resembles a tattered, weatherbeaten kind of hope.]

[The smart thing to do is to tell him to fuck off, and that's what he opens his mouth to do.]

You want me to trust you? Put your money where your mouth is. Tell me one of your secrets, something that'd fuck you over bad if it got around.