“Yeah.”
When he didn’t continue, Cas rolled his eyes. “Come on, I have to call you something.”
“Jonah.”
“Nice to meet you, Jonah.” Cas’s heart was so light he thought he might float the rest of the way to…wherever they were going.
Jonah’s only response was a grumble of acknowledgement.
Well, he wasn’t much of a talker, but that could only be a good thing when you were talking about roommates, right? Jonah said Cas could only stay for one night, but Cas wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t know anything about Jonah, but nobody who worked that hard to convince Cas he was dangerous could really be that dangerous. Right? Even if he was, Cas would take a dozen Jonah’s over one Thump. Cas would find a way to get on Jonah’s good side or die trying.
Caspian
Present Day
Cas pushed his way through the double doors of the airport and took a deep breath, all the smells of the city hitting him at once and sending a rush of warmth through his blood. It smelled like diesel fumes, urine, and something that was entirely just New York City. The place was home, even if he’d been gone for five years, even if he’d lived most of his life somewhere else. A girl passed him, tossing her honey blonde hair over her shoulder, looking him up and down with interest. He grinned, arching a brow, and she flushed, cheeks pinking as she hurried away. She wasn’t his type anyway.
The sound of screeching tires caught his attention. A girl with emerald green hair and a nose ring hung herself out the passenger side window of an old Lincoln. “Get in, loser,” she shouted over the thrum of bus engines and overly enthusiastic greetings people used only for airport reunions.
Cas tightened his grip on his backpack, jogging to the car and diving through the open backseat window, landing on his side. “Why? Are we going shopping?” he asked with a laugh.
Briar turned so she was on her knees looking at him. “Uh-uh.” She produced two bags. One filled with pills of every conceivable color, the other filled with brownies. “No. I made sure we had plenty of refreshments for our private party,” she said with a little shimmy, her ample breasts spilling out of her halter top.
Cas flicked a glance in the driver’s direction. “Not as private as I anticipated.”
She grinned, sticking out her tongue and biting the piercing there. “Sorry, sugar. This is my boyfriend, Lux. We can still party, though. He likes pretty boys like you. Don’t you, baby?” she asked.
The guy—Lux—pulled away from the curb, glancing at Cas from the rearview mirror. Lux was the pretty one, all sleek muscle and high cheekbones, his blond hair skirting over one eye. He had an almost feminine quality to him that Cas found attractive, even if not desirable. Cas had always preferred boys to girls, but with enough E on board, his philosophy quickly became any port in a storm. Besides, what Briar lacked in masculinity, she made up for with a rather substantial dick, the only physical reminder left from when Briar had gone by her deadname.
Briar had left her old life behind, but they’d hooked up before she’d transitioned and a few times after, too. Briar was Briar, and she was one of Cas’s favorite people, even if she bore little resemblance to the shy, adorably nerdy head of their high school’s AV club Cas had once known. But, if Cas was being honest, there was little of the old Caspian left either, and she accepted him just as he was.
Lux was a wildcard, though, and Cas wasn’t sure he was willing to party that hard tonight. Now that he was back in the city, there was only one man on his mind. He forced himself to ignore the voice in his head screaming that coming back to the States had been a huge mistake.
Cas pulled himself into a sitting position, taking the brownie bite Briar held out like an offering. He chewed it slowly, head back, bathing in the streetlights and neon signs as they rolled through the city, the music pouring from the speakers wrapping around him like a blanket. By the time they reached Briar’s tiny one bedroom apartment, Cas’s edible had kicked in, and he found himself grinning like an idiot, hooking an arm around Briar’s shoulders as they walked the three floors to her door.
Briar’s apartment was as eccentric and chaotic as she was but in a strangely organized manner. The walls were covered in emerald, teal, and shiny golden peacock wallpaper. Cas pet his fingers over the golden spots, pressing his face to the wall. “Your walls feel nice,” he said, tone conversational.
Briar giggled. “Thanks. They think you’re swell, too.”
Briar floated around the space, but Cas’s thoughts were too fuzzy to pay much attention to her movements. She must have lit a candle or incense because a spicy, almost masculine scent unfurled its tendrils through the room. It reminded him of the last time he was in New York, his face buried in pillows that weren’t his, thinking about the man who wasn’t his either.
Lux sat on an overstuffed orange sofa, and once Briar finished whatever tasks she’d given herself, she melted into his lap, placing a pill on her tongue and holding it out for him. Cas watched as Lux swallowed Briar’s tongue and, presumably, the tab of ecstasy. Cas contented himself by watching the two make out a bit, wishing he felt up to partying. Being the meat in their sandwich might at least take his mind off Jonah temporarily.
“Hey, do you mind if I shower? I feel like I’ve been on an airplane for a week.”
“Yeah, you remember where it is, right?” Briar asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Cas took his backpack into Briar’s room and closed the door behind him, locking it. He took the clothing he needed out and then helped himself to Briar’s closet. He pressed against the back wall, relieved when the panel gave way easily. He ignored the stash of drugs, weapons, and cash, slipping his backpack inside, carefully replacing the panel so it was invisible to those not in the know. Briar wouldn’t mind him borrowing the space.
He walked to the bathroom, cranking the water to its highest setting before stripping bare and stepping under scalding torrent, letting it sluice over his back as he leaned his forehead against the tiles. It felt good to be back. Away from snow boots and parkas and shitty energy drinks, back where he could order Chinese food at three a.m. if he really wanted it.
For as big as the world was, something about it felt claustrophobic, like he was always a moment away from running into the wrong person or ending up on the wrong side of a gun. He supposed he should be grateful it’d taken five years for somebody to try to take him out considering the dangerous places his exploits had taken him.
He grabbed Briar’s body wash, sniffing at the bottle before looking at the label. Lavender and chamomile. Smirking, he poured some in his hand, working it into a lather, before he began to scrub the funk of travel from his skin.
Briar’s shower was bigger than the one he and Jonah had shared, but somehow thoughts of Jonah still managed to find their way into his memories. How many nights had he lathered himself in Jonah’s Irish Spring soap, closing his eyes and jerking himself off, imagining it was Jonah’s hand instead of his own? Cas tried to shake the memory away, glaring down at his semi-hard dick as though it had betrayed him and not his own thoughts.
