"I will put snow in your bed," Silas threatens.
I take another sip, focusing on the burn of whiskey instead of the heat suddenly pooling low in my stomach. And I absolutely do not say out loud that I'm grateful for DuoBlocks right now…
Because without them, I'm pretty sure I'd be much more "distracted" by three very attractive alphas I’m currently snowed in with.
* * *
Two hours and a few too many rounds later, we’ve graduated to coffee.
I mean, “graduated” is generous as we keep "Irish-ing" our drinks with splashes from the whiskey bottle.
I’m tucked into one corner of the couch. Felix has somehow ended up beside me. Liam's in the armchair across from us, and Silas is on the end of the couch, one ankle propped on his knee. Guess we’ve loosened up around each other…
I’m halfway through a sip when a thought hits me.
“So, random question,” I say. “The clothes I'm wearing, the ones in the room. Whose are they?”
Three sets of eyes snap to me. Something in Felix’s face shutters. The easy smile he’s been wearing all night slips.
“Our ex's,” he breathes.
“Oh.” My stomach dips. For a second I picture the blacked-out face in that photo. I want to ask, but it's probably better I don’t. “I… see.”
“We were supposed to donate them,” Liam adds, fingers tightening around his mug. “We just haven't gotten around to it yet.”
Silas looks like he wants to say something and swallows it instead, staring into his coffee.
“Sorry about that,” I say. “Didn't mean to kill the vibe—”
“It’s fine,” Felix says quickly. “It's only clothes, and you look—” He stops himself, clears his throat. “They’re being put to use. That’s good.”
My chest pinches.
“Okay,” I say softly. “But just in case it's weird for you, just say the word and seriously, tell me and I’ll wear my one outfit."
That earns me a faint huff from Silas. “Not sure you'd be comfortable sleeping in that,” he mutters.
The silence that follows is different. Not awkward, just… loaded?
“So,” Felix says after a beat, purposefully light. “Anybody special out there panicking because you’re snowed in on a mountain? Some poor alpha, beta, or omega pacing your fancy apartment?”
I snort into my mug. The coffee is definitely more liquor than anything by now. “No. I retired from the ‘special someone’ industry.”
“Bad breakup?” Liam asks gently.
“Very,” I say, and I’m surprised how easily it comes. Maybe it’s the alcohol, or the altitude, or just their presence. “We were together before we presented. High school into college. Then, we found out we were scent matched, which was ahugedeal.”
Felix’s smile is gone completely now.
"Then, I got into Columbia Law, he got into some fancy university in Europe," I go on. "We were going to do the whole long-distance thing.”
Silas’s eyes are on me now too, unreadable.
“And then,” I say, attempting a laugh, “just as I was moving in on campus, he dumped me by text me. Said, and I quote, ‘I won't let biology decide my future.’”
Felix chokes. “He did not.”
“Oh, he absolutely did.” I lift my mug in a half-toast. “Poetic, but ouch.”
