“Tread lightly, bro, that is definitely a trap,” Asa said around a laugh, gathering Zane to his chest and burying his nose in his throat weirdly scenting his husband once more.
“Your ass is worth three times that. Just maybe we lie and say it was a birthday present.”
Felix gave him a pissy look. “My birthday is in December.”
“I know that. But does she?” When Felix continued to stare, Avi deflated. “Fine. An anniversary gift?”
“You took him to Greece for your anniversary three months ago,” Zane reminded him.
Avi groaned. “I can’t tell Madge Millbrook that I just spent fifty k so my husband would look sparkly with my tongue up his ass. She looks like Ms Frizzle but she’s a five foot demon from hell. That’s why my father loves her.”
“You didn’t put it on the corporate card. Do you really owe her an explanation?” Zane asked.
Asa scoffed. “Dad is going to want an explanation. You know he monitors all our spending.”
“Well maybe if you two didn’t insist on living off his money like freeloaders despite having successful companies of your own, we wouldn’t need to explain fifty thousand dollar rim jobs,” Zane admonished.
Felix nodded, threading his fingers with Zane’s then squeezing. “Zaney’s right, this is your fault. Nepo babies.”
Zane gave a firm nod. “Let’s take a nap, Lixie. I’m sleepy.”
“What are we supposed to do?” Asa whined.
“Go get us dinner,” Zane said around another yawn, wriggling free of Asa’s arms to curl into Zane’s. “Something expensive,” he joked.
“You hate rich people food, Lois,” Asa said, nibbling his shoulder for a moment before rolling to his feet, Avi mimicking the gesture. Felix’s heart did that squeezy thing it did, as Avi gently took off Felix’s boots, setting them next to the bed, then forced the two boys to untangle their limbs long enough for him to take off the necklaces.
As soon as Avi finished, Zane snuggled back into Felix’s arms, his thigh slotting between Felix’s knees, his head tucked under his chin, voice sleepy as he said, “So find me a gold plated hamburger.”
“Go,” Felix said, waving the boys off as Zane wiggled, burrowing deeper against him. “Forage. Bring home sustenance.”
“Sometimes I get the feeling we’re just here to provide food and shelter,” Asa griped as they got dressed. Felix watched through slitted lids as they grabbed their wallets and phones.
Avi bumped Asa’s shoulder looking back towards Felix and Zane curled up together on the bed. “But it’s worth it.”
Asa chuckled, opening his phone and snapping pictures of the two without asking permission. “This might be my new phone lock screen.”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep,” Zane said, voice muffled against Felix’s chest.
“You’re no fun, Lois. Can I at least make it my wallpaper for my home laptop? Please?”
Whatever Zane said was lost on all of them. Felix buried his nose in Zane’s curls, letting the scent lull him to sleep. This had been a really good fucking day. He had a lot of those lately.
As the door shut behind the two men, Zane whispered, “Night, Lix.”
“Night, Zaney,” he said, kissing his head.
Avi and I won’t be home tonight. Don’t wait up. Have fun.
Zane stared at the text from Felix for a long moment before sending a ? in response. His message went unread. That was weird. Felix always reads his texts. Zane stared at the unread message, something needling at him. There was something more to Felix’s message, a sort of message within a message and it irritated Zane like a splinter under his skin.
What wasn’t Felix saying? Why would the two of them decide to sleep elsewhere in the middle of the week? For any other couple, Zane would have said sex, but they had sex there all the time. Zane would venture to say that there wasn’t a surface in the apartment that one or both couples—sometimes at the same time—hadn’t fucked on.
This wasn’t like them at all. He sighed, shaking his head, rubbing at his abused eyes. He shouldn’t have worn his contactstoday. They were already getting on his nerves. Everything was. He just didn’t know why.
He shook the thought away, hitting a button to wake up his laptop, then went back to his article, getting lost in the Lo-Fi music pouring through his headphones until another text popped up on his screen, interrupting the music with an impertinent chirp.
Zane picked up his phone and read the message.
