"Because I'm not always out on a mission, and I need someplace to crash when I'm back. I'm a little too old to be bunking with the new recruits."
"You could crash here," I said before I could think of what I was saying, but it dawned on me what I'd said when Abe just stared at me. "I mean, if you wanted to." I shrugged as if it was no big deal, even though I knew it was.
"I think I would enjoy that,liefling."
I squinted at the man. "Lief-what?"
"Liefling. It is Afrikaans. It is the language of my mother's people."
"And where is your mother from?"
Abe's brown eyes twinkled as if thinking about his mother brought him great joy.
I wish I could say the same. I didn't hate my mother by any means, but we weren't close. I wasn't close with any of my family.
"My mother is from Namibia," he said. "My father is from Belgium. I was born in Sierra Leone."
"Wow." My eyes widened just a bit. "I was born in Boston. My parents still live in the house I was raised in, which is just down the street from the houses they were raised in, where my grandparents live in houses right next door to each other. I don't think they've ever even been out of the neighborhood."
"Your grandparents live in houses right next to each other?"
I nodded. "My grandfathers on both sides grew up together in England. They came to America after the Second World War. They married sisters, bought houses right next to each other, and raised twelve kids between them. My parents grew up together and married right out of high school, buying a house down the street, and raising their kids. I'm the youngest of five."
It was almost a family tradition. I figured between my grandparents, parents, and siblings, our family pretty much owned the entire block.
"When did you leave?"
"Just as soon as I graduated from high school."
Like, the day after. I'd been packed for weeks.
"Why did you leave?" Abe asked. "Sounds to me like you had a lot of family there."
"And that's exactly why I left. I was the youngest child of the youngest generation. They had problems letting me grow up."
There had been a few other reasons, but I wasn't going to talk about them, not right now. I really didn't like thinking about them.
"They didn't kick you out because you're gay?"
I snorted rudely. "They never knew I was gay. I never told them." I pretty much couldn't do anything right in their eyes. Being gay would have just been one more mark against me.
Wait.
I'd never told Abe I was gay.
"When did you meet the rest of the geek squad?" Abe asked, drawing my attention away from wondering how he knew I was gay.
I grinned. "My first day at the university, Ian beat up a guy who tried to dump me in a trash can. When his buddies showed up, Kaito and Ewan stepped in and protected us. We've been card-carrying members of the geek squad ever since."
"They sound like good friends."
"They are."
They always had my back.
"What's that?" Abe asked when my computer dinged.
I swung around and brought up the video feed from the front door. "I think the police are here."
