“If this pans out, maybe you’ll get Mal back sooner than you think.”
Shiloh hesitated, then decided to push just a little. “You say that like it’s not your decision.”
Micah snorted. “Don’t think, baby brother. Just do what you’re told.”
Something suddenly occurred to him then. Something he most definitely would have asked if any of this were real. “You’re…You’re not going to hurt Levi, right? You promised. Yousaid I—” He glanced at Levi, nervous, giving a tremulous smile when he saw the way he looked at him. Like he was important. Like he loved him. “You said I could keep him.”
Micah’s laugh was sinister, sending an icy shiver down his spine. “I’ll keep him alive, doodlebug, but do you really think he’s going to want you after he knows you betrayed him?”
“What?” Shiloh gasped.
Micah’s tone was casually cruel. “I mean, I suppose he might be stupid enough not to put two and two together. He does seem awfully attached…to parts of you, anyway.”
“He loves me,” Shiloh blurted.
Another long-suffering sigh. “Baby brother, you aren’t stupid enough to believe that…are you? I suppose you are. You believed the others, too. Your legs just fall open any time someone looks at you for too long. It’s embarrassing. I don’t know how you can be a guy and not realize that other guys will say anything to get in your pants. If you weren’t putting out, he wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
“That…That’s not true,” Shiloh said, fear swelling behind his ribcage, squeezing his heart. “He doesn’t even care about that.” That wasn’t even the point. “Please, don’t tell him about this. Y-You just fo-followed them out there or something. You don’t have to tell him it was me. Please, Micah. Please let me keep him.” The sob that escaped was real. “Please.”
Mal shot a concerned look at Levi, both of them standing. Nico continued to sit, bottom lip trapped between his teeth, watching Shiloh pace a path through their tiny living space.
“Okay, crybaby. Okay,” Micah said softly, like Shiloh wasn’t the only one roleplaying. Like Micah was donning the role of concerned older brother, one who cared for Shiloh’s wellbeing. “If your lead pans out and I get something I can use on the Mulvaneys, I’ll let you keep your little boyfriendandI’ll keepyour secret. But if he doesn’t want you, if I can’t trust he’ll be loyal to the family, he’s dead. That’s non-negotiable.”
Shiloh sniffled, trying to quell his tears, nodding even though Micah couldn’t see him. “Okay. But he’ll be loyal. He loves me. He really does.”
“I’m sure he does,” Micah said. “Now, pull yourself together before he wonders why you’re falling apart.”
“Yes, Micah.”
With that, he was gone. Shiloh checked to make sure the phone disconnected three times before he just let his legs collapse beneath him, sitting hard on the floor. The other three quickly converged on him, also sitting, Levi dragging him into his arms. “You did so good. You did amazing. Holy fuck, you were so believable.”
“He’s right,” Nico said, hugging Levi, squeezing Shiloh between them. “Even I believed you betrayed us.”
Shiloh groaned at the pressure on either side of him, but that didn’t stop Mal from hugging the three of them from the side, though his hand immediately cupped Nico’s neck, rubbing there like he was the one who needed comforting, not Shiloh.
They sat there like that, rocking for a bit before Levi broke free. “I need to let Jericho know we’re a go and that they need to make sure everyone is in place.”
“What time do we leave?” Nico asked, standing when Levi did.
“No.”
They both turned to look at Mal, Nico frowning. “What?”
Mal slow-blinked at him, his face a mask of calm. “Stay here with me.”
“But they need my help…” Nico said, tilting his head, his confusion evident.
“Ineed you here…with me. Please?” he added, like it was a foreign word to him.
Nico looked at Levi then at Shiloh who winced and shrugged, hoping it somehow translated what Shiloh wanted to say, which was ‘I don’t know why he’s like this either, but if you say no, he’s going to throw a temper tantrum of epic proportions and pop off like a deranged cartoon rabbit.’
“Um, I—” Nico started, flailing, his hand waving then falling to his side as he looked at Levi again.
“No, you should stay here,” Levi agreed. “You can…protect Shiloh?”
Shiloh nodded. “Yeah, you can protect me.”
“Yeah, okay. Sure,” Nico said, like his head was still spinning.
