“She did it before the woman died, don’t be so cranky,” Mason said with a roll of his eyes. “But what about Levi? Because, uh, last I knew, he up and disappeared without a trace. At least, that’s what the rest of us assumed.”
“It wasn’t like Dom was telling us anything,” Moira said, her memory clearly coming back. “He’d practically explode anytime anyone, even Mom, tried to get him to talk about why wesuddenly stopped seeing Levi and why Dom refused to say his name.”
I might or might not have failed to mention to my family that my best friend, who was also kind of a lover, had gone off to join one of the most infamous crime families in the country. The only thing I’d ever let them know was that Levi’s dad had reappeared in his life and that he was a piece of shit who was moral and legal trouble waiting to happen. They’d all agreed it was better for Levi if he just cut ties with his father, but there wasn’t much I could do to stop him.
So maybe opening my mouth had been a bad idea because now I wasn’t sure what to say next. I still didn’t want to tell them the truth about Levi back then, let alone admit what was going on now. Of course, I didn’t exactly know what was going on with him, but I knew it had to be big. Like I’d told him, there was nothing as far as I could see that would bring him back to Cresson Point after the way he’d left and stayed gone. I still wanted to throttle him for that, but that was a conversation for another time.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, because I’d never been good at evading things; that was Mason’s job. “We stopped being friends...not my choice, but what could I do, right?”
“Since we don’t know shit, we don’t know what you could have done,” Moira said dryly.
Mason shook his head. “And what he lacks in guile he makes up for in hardheadedness. We’re not going to get him to tell us.”
“Look, he reappeared, I saw him, I contacted him, and when I was on the phone with him...something, I’m not sure what, happened,” I said, which was...not a total lie. I was leaving out the fact that there had apparently been some explosion, but I didn’t know what kind or why. Okay, I knew it had been blamed on a gas leak at some warehouse that had been collecting dust and rust for years, but...alright fine, I was still leaving shit out.“He promised to get back to me, and he’s got...one hour of the time left before it turns out he’s a fucking liar.”
Moira glanced at Mason, raising a brow. “I can’t tell if he’s upset or just pissed.”
“I don’t think he can either,” Mason said wryly. “Makes sense, though. He’s never been very in touch with his feelings.”
“This is true, and Levi has always been a touchier subject than his parents,” Moira said with a nod.
“Alright, fuck both of you,” I muttered, flipping them both the bird.
“I think we’ve had enough pseudo incest in this family, thanks,” Mason said, the bastard actually winking at me. “But I’ll admit it’s kind of funny that you’re still touchy about him after all this time.”
“Not really,” Moira said with a shrug. “First boyfriend and all that.”
Both Mason and I stared at her, and before I could think about the implications of the words spilling from my mouth, I blurted out, “How the fuck did you know?”
Mason’s eyes somehow grew even bigger as he snapped his head up. “What? Excuse me? What the fuck did you just say? You and Levi...seriously?”
“Goddammit,” I groaned, realizing I had not only just confirmed what Moira had probably only suspected, but also told Mason something I’d always kept close to my chest. “Don’t you fucking start, Mason. I swear to fucking God.”
Mason stared at me, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. “Wow! I just...I wasn’t ready for that one. I mean, it was already weird for Eli to suddenly decide dick was for him, which I mean, good on him for seeing the light. Then it got weirder learning that Arlo is apparently still interested in dating...and a guy at that, and now you?”
“I don’t feel the need to talk about my sex life all the time, unlike you,” I muttered.
“Okay, well, it was enough that we knew you were a dirty little man whore. I’m not judging, but seriously?” he asked, wrinkling his nose and turning his gaze upward. “Hmm, was Levi the only one?”
“I’m not answering that,” I told him.
“Smart,” Moira snorted.
“I’m just trying to figure out if there was more so I can figure a type,” Mason explained. “Like, don’t get me wrong, he was cute. I mean, for a teenager?—”
I squinted at him. “You’re really not making this any better for yourself, just so you know.”
“Point is,” he said quickly, “he was kinda scrawny, but that was also years ago. Were you into twinks or just...him?”
“I don’t know what that means,” I told him.
“Liar.”
“Prove it.”
“So, does that mean you’ve seen him?” Moira asked, happy to ignore her twin’s bullshit, which, to be fair, she’d had plenty of practice at.
“Yes, a few times,” I said, hoping she understood from my lack of details that I wasn’t going any further than that.
