Felix clearly wasn’t buying it. “That depends. If you need me to help you buy a new wardrobe, no. If you’re asking me to move furniture, then yes.”
“I’m asking if you know how to read Chinese as well as you speak it?” Nico countered.
Felix scoffed. “Of course, I do.”
Nico flopped down on Amy’s bed, all the tension leaving him in a flash. “Oh, thank God. We really need you to help decipher Amy’s journal. It might be nothing, but it might be something. It’s time-sensitive. Can you meet us at your brother’s garage?”
Felix sighed like he was so put-upon. “I suppose.”
“Yay. Perfect.” Nico gave Mal a thumbs-up even though he’d been there for the entire conversation.
“But don’t think we’re not going to circle back to the whole mom thing in the group chat later,” Felix warned.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nico muttered before disconnecting the call.
Mal gazed at him with an intensity that made his stomach do cartwheels, a small smile on his face. It was crazy how much Mal loved him. It made no sense, but Nico was just selfish enough to not care. He was allowed to be selfish just this once, right?
One Uber ride later and they were at the garage. They found Arsen sitting on the metal stairs that led from the garage to his and Ever’s apartment. Ever sat on the stair just below him between his knees. They were splitting a comically large sandwich. It was almost cartoonishly big.
Mal watched, fascinated, as Ever practically disarticulated his jaw to cram one bite of the sandwich into his mouth, moaning as he chewed. “So good.”
“That’s…so impressive,” Nico muttered.
Arsen gave him a lewd grin that had Nico wincing. “He’s very good with his mouth, no?”
Mal snickered, but Nico recoiled. “Don’t say it like that, you perv.”
Arsen only laughed harder. Before Nico could say anything more, a rhythmic banging came from Jericho’s office. He frowned, face contorting in horror as the reality of what he was hearing set in. Mal grinned.
“Lunch date with Freckles?” Nico asked Arsen, grimacing at Jericho’s closed office door.
“Is it a lunch date if it started hours ago?” Ever asked, licking something off his fingers. “This is like their third or fourth go since he got here. It’s like he’s trying to get him pregnant.”
Nico gasped. “Ever!”
The small boy gazed at him with those large, round eyes, making him look a little like a woodland creature. “What? I’m just saying. They usually have quickies in there, but they don’t, like…make a day of it.”
“Hello, hello,” Felix called from the open garage door, his heels echoing off the cement floor.
Nico watched as Mal stared enviously at whatever it was Felix had chosen to wear that day.
Nico turned, brows raising as Felix strutted towards him like he was on a Paris runway. He wore what looked like a double-breasted black suit jacket tucked into a floor-length olive-colored satin skirt with three brass buttons. His long hair was free and his makeup was on-point. He looked…expensive.
When they all just gawked at him, he gave them an impatient look. “Well, where is it?” he asked, making grabby hands.
Nico realized he had his jacket sleeves pushed up and wore elbow-length, black opera gloves as well. “Did you come from a party?”
Felix dropped his hands back to his sides. “No, I came from a meeting with the board. I can’t exactly show up in rags now, can I? They’re so judgy.”
Nico’s eyes went wide.Theywere judgy?
“Even your rags cost thousands of dollars,” Arsen said before taking another bite of his sandwich.
“Don’t hate me because I’m rich. It’s simply a byproduct of marrying a Mulvaney,” Felix said haughtily.
“What does that mean?” Ever asked.
Felix gave him a cat-like smile. “It means I didn’t order it, it came with the meal.”
