Levi gave him a sly look. “Fishing for compliments, Dimples?”
Shiloh nodded without hesitation.
Levi smirked, shaking his head. “I knew I wanted to look at your face for the rest of my life.”
“What if I was a horrible person?”
Levi’s smirk spread to a grin. “Sweetheart, when we met, you were trying to kill me. I didn’t think it could get much worse than that.”
Shiloh’s heart twisted. “But it did. I brought all this chaos into your life.”
“Your brother brought chaos into my life. You were just the weapon he tried to use. The chaos would have happened with or without you. But I, for one, am much happier you’re here and not with your shitbag brother.”
Shiloh gave Nico’s closed door another look. “Do you think he’s annoying Nico? He can be a little intense, inappropriate, and…possessive.”
Shiloh shrugged. “Honestly, Nico needs someone to obsess over him a little. Not that he knows that. He’s convinced himself he’s going to marry for money, skip over all the romance stuff. But I think he’s just scared.”
“Well then, I really hope they’re fucking in there because Mal doesn’t do casual.”
Whatever Levi was going to say died as Nico emerged from his bedroom. He wore threadbare navy blue pajama pants and a ratty t-shirt.
“It’s four in the afternoon,” Levi said.
Nico made a face at him. “Thanks for the update, Big Ben. What’s your point?”
“Why are you in your pajamas?”
“Didn’t know I needed your permission to be comfortable,” Nico said, walking to the cabinets and pulling random stuff from his snack cabinet. Shiloh and Levi watched as Nico grabbed a grocery bag from inside a bunch of other grocery bags under the sink, then took chips, candy, cookies, and a bag of popcorn from the shelf, dumping it in the bag.
They had to shift out of his way when he went to the fridge and grabbed two Monsters and two bottled waters.
“What’s happening right now?” Levi finally asked.
Nico looked at him like he was stupid. “Dinner? Duh.”
“You… You and Mal…didn’t…” Shiloh began.
Nico stopped, head cocked like a puppy. “Didn’t what?”
“Nothing,” Shiloh said hurriedly. “Is he being…okay?”
“Okay?” Nico asked, face scrunched in confusion. “Oh, you mean is he being weird?”
Shiloh flushed, shrugging. “Well, yeah.”
“Oh, yeah. Totally,” Nico said, like it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. “He talks like a fortune cookie and a random fact generator had a baby. He knows the most obscure shit I’ve ever heard. And he just blurts it out without any prompting. I bet he’d be amazing at trivia.” Nico continued to shop his way through the kitchen as he rambled. “He told me that bone is dishwasher safe. He also said he sometimes thinks about those cake smashing wedding videos and how he low-key has intrusive thoughts about someone getting a dowel through their face. Which is just…insane.”
“I’m sorry,” Shiloh said.
Nico snorted. “Are you kidding? He’s amazing. He keeps telling me I’m pretty and touches my butt a lot, but he keeps asking for permission first. He said I’m supposed to tell you that so you don’t get mad at him.”
“Oh, my God,” Shiloh muttered.
Nico shrugged. “It’s cool. Most guys don’t ask. I finally just gave him blanket permission because he seems pretty obsessed with it. Not that I blame him. I do have a really good ass. He’s also super cuddly, which is awesome. Levi never wants to cuddle anymore and now that you’re here it’s only going to get worse, so in exchange for stealing my best friend and having to listen to you two having the loudest sex ever, I’m taking your brother as my new best friend. Sorry, not sorry.”
“Wow,” Levi said, pouting.
Nico shrugged. “He likes video games and anime.”
