Page 4 of Heat Transfer
“But you’ll get lonely.” His voice was still muffled from being in the other room, but I didn’t feel the need to budge from his comfortable sectional.
“Not lonely enough to want to live in your fuck palace,” I called back.
Marco strode in, a bowl of chips in hand, and plopped down on the couch beside me. My brother and I looked similar—glossy black wavy hair, same slender jawline as Dad—but he was taller and bulkier than me. Of course. Picture of health and masculinity.
Yeah, I was a little jealous. So sue me.
“Excuse me, it’s just a humble fuck house. I’m not made of money.” Marco popped a tostones chip into his mouth, making loud, sloppy noises as he chewed. “But seriously, I don’t like the idea of you by your lonesome up there.”
My shoulders twitched. “Cos I’m incapable?”
Marco gave me that intent “big brother” look that never failed to rile me. “You know that’s not it.”
Except that was exactly it. Just because I had a lot of seizures as a kid didn’t mean I couldn’t function as an adult.
“You realize the more you do this, the more I’m determined to become an old lonely spinster who gets eaten by cats.”
“Bachelor,” Marco said. “And I’d feel better if you had a cat. I could train it like Lassie or some shit.”
“Maybe I want to be a spinster.” I grabbed a few chips and crunched them down with an irritated vengeance. “When are your friends coming so you can stop annoying me?” I was only a few days past this breakup, and I dreaded having to tell my folks because if Marco was bad with the mother-henning, they’d be worse. Aria would be coming by to pack up tomorrow morning, and I didn’t want to be there, so I’d accepted Marco’s game night and crash offer.
Though hashtag regrets.
I was still confused about why Aria and I had broken up in the first place. We’d been fine, coming up on a one-year anniversary and then bam. Maybe not the best sex life, and maybe she was a Bruins fan like a goddamn traitor instead of rooting for her home team, but those weren’t deal-breakers.
The front door creaked, and I internally fist-pumped. Marco would lay off the constant worrying with his friends around, mostly because he was decent as fuck.
“Guess what game I got?” Kelsey’s voice rang through the house. She and Marco had started dating a year ago, when she and her baby daddy, Rhys, split up. The relationship was solid though, remarkable, considering she was also dating Marco’s wife, Ruby.
“Life? How about Candy Land?” I asked.
She came into the living room, clutching a bright blue box. “Of course it’s you. No one wants to play those shit games, Felix.” Kelsey hopped on Marco’s lap and planted a kiss on his lips.
I placed a hand over my chest in mock agony. “My childhood is crying.”
“Your childhood can do better.” Rhys announced himself as he walked in. The slender guy was a live wire of energy, which made his ability to sit still and play some of the games on these nights a feat.
“Where’s your spawn?” I peeked around them.
My answer arrived a second later by way of a shriek. Sammy burst through the door, all golden curls and chaos.
“Hiii,” he called out in our general direction before toddler-speeding toward his room with a large stuffed d20 in his hands. Rhys’s boyfriend, Cole, entered last, a diaper bag slung on his shoulder. The guy was quiet, big, and brawny, and reminded me a little of Cor.
Except Cor was one of the few people I could spend all day with and be perfectly at peace. Fucking rare for a sarcastic ass like me. Normally, I needed more space than the average person because my family thought I would faint away at the slightest breeze.
Hell, even Aria and I were ships in the night most of the time. Yet I could spend a day out with Cor, grabbing a beer, talkinghistorical weaponry and other geeky shit. Probably another tally mark as to why Aria and I had broken up.
“So, what are we playing first?” Rhys stacked games over by the table. Cole dropped the diaper bag on the ground and swept in to plant a kiss on the side of Rhys’s head. My stomach flipped. Ugh, all these sweet-as-fuck couples made me ill. Maybe I shouldn’t have come out to Marco’s for game night. He and his friends were all happily coupled up, and I was a pit of grumpiness.
“I got the Cryptid game I’ve been eyeing.” Kelsey jumped up and extended a hand to Marco, the game still clutched in the other. He slid his hand in hers, and they walked over to the couch.
Marco cast me a glance. “Get your ass over here, Sulky.”
“What happened?” Cole asked, his eyes soft.
My skin prickled at the vulnerability. Apparently, Marco wasn’t keeping this under wraps.
“Living that carefree single life.” I winced at how droll that came out.