“Oh.”
Nico lasted about three minutes before his patience got the better of him. He whipped the door open. “I’m serious, Naomi. Go away. Go to the homeless shelter. Nobody is giving you alcohol or money. Don’t come back.”
He slammed the door in her face before she could respond, clicking the bottom lock then peeking out once more. He rolled his eyes as her pitiful voice came through the door, muffled but clear enough to understand. “Please, Nico. I know you have something in there. You’re college kids. I just need one beer. Just one. Then I’ll leave, I promise.”
Nico turned to face Shiloh, then leaned on the door. He closed his eyes like he was steadying himself. His voice sounded a little weaker than a moment ago when he said, “Go away or I’ll call the cops.”
They both waited, holding their breath. After a minute, he looked again and sagged against the door. “She’s gone…for now.”
“I’m glad Levi isn’t here for this,” Shiloh said. “Just seeing her hurts him. I think seeing how sick she looked today fucked him up a little. I know he sees her often, but probably not like she is now.”
Nico nodded, his eyes suddenly red. “She used to be really pretty. When we were younger, I used to think Levi looked just like her, except for maybe the eyes, which were his father’s. That seems like forever ago. Back when she could still work sometimes. When she was still trying to be afunctioningalcoholic. She was already hurting Levi back then, but I didn’t know it. None of us did. He always kept that stuff to himself.”
Shiloh sniffled, then swiped at the sudden wetness on his cheeks. Nico blinked, turning away from him, maybe trying to pull himself together, too.
Shiloh’s phone chirped. A little thrill went through him when he saw a text from Levi. Just three words.
Levi
On my way.
Shiloh
Are you coming to get us?
Shiloh’s heartbeat raced while he watched three dots dance, then disappear. Dance, then disappear. His excitement soured when Levi’s answer didn’t come, leaving his stomach slippery. Something definitely wasn’t right.
“Did something happen at the cabin?” Shiloh asked Nico, eyes still glued to those three dancing dots.
Nico’s silence stretched a beat too long before he said, “What? What do you mean?”
Before Shiloh could respond, Levi’s new text arrived, the words only worsening that roiling feeling in his tummy.
Levi
We’ll talk when I get home. Signal’s spotty. Love you.
Shiloh stared at the text.
We’ll talk when I get home.
We’ll talk when I get home.
We’ll talk when I get home.
His love you sounded more like the period at the end of a sentence than a declaration of his feelings. It was like he just wanted to end the conversation.
Shiloh finally looked up. Nico seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. “Did you talk to him while I was sleeping?”
“Maybe you should ask Malachi?” he said, his voice an octave higher than it had been just a moment before.
“I’maskingyou.” Shiloh frowned, looking around, realizing he hadn’t seen or heard from his brother since this whole conversation began. “Where is Mal?”
Nico grinned, seemingly excited to talk about anything else but Levi. “Hewastaking a shower…now, he’s just, like…primping?”
“Primping?” Shiloh repeated. “What is…primping?”
Nico shrugged. “My mom used to do it a lot when I was little. You know, like when girls do, like, face masks and hair stuff. Mal shaved and then went nuts using all the skin care and hair care stuff under our bathroom sink. It’s stuff Felix dumps on us all the time ‘so we don’t look like a leather sofa by the time we’re forty’ or whatever. We’ve never opened most of it. Mal called it self-care.”
