Wanda laughed. “My mom’s a corporate litigator.”
“You’d think I was trying to steal her daughter’s identity.”
“And instead you stole my heart.” Wanda giggled until Vasquez kissed her. The gesture was completely at odds with Vasquez’s hard-ass persona at the station. Also weird they were so comfortable with PDA when Linc wouldn’t even admit how much he wanted—
Shit.Maybe getting together like this was a bad idea. He’d only meant to find something fun and safe for him and Avery to do, but he felt like Vasquez was turning the whole thing into an object lesson about how safe it truly could be. Literally no one cared as she and Wanda nuzzled at each other.
For his part, Avery was watching Wanda and Vasquez closely. One corner of his lip was stuck beneath his teeth and his eyes were wide. The emotions on his face were always plain to anyone who bothered to look, but these made Linc’s chest hurt. Desire washed through Avery’s eyes, but not in the creepy horny way guys got when they watched two women kissing. More like...want. Longing. Like he wanted someone to bury their face in his neck the way Wanda was doing with Vasquez right now.
Double shit.
Linc turned back to his grapefruit beer before Avery’s eyes could meet his. He didn’t want to be the next person Avery saw after all those feelings...except he did. So much it made him ache. Damn Vasquez for putting the idea in his head.
* * *
The situation got worse two days later, when Linc—or, actually, Abe—and Avery were back in the Winterlands. Avery blasted the zombie troll with a blue-orange fireball that consumed it.
“What the hell was that?”
“I played a couple trials on my own the last few days. Learned some new spells.”
“You played without me?” He shouldn’t get so worked up about it. Avery didn’t owe Abe anything. No player etiquette said they needed to wait for each other. But, still, Linc was weirdly annoyed that Avery would be alone long enough to learn these new tricks. Did he have no other friends to spend time with? Linc should have found a way to see him again.
“You’ve been busy. And you kind of disappeared on me last time. Was that an air raid drill?”
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Didn’t realize it would be so loud on your end.” Linc’s teasing outrage died. What was he supposed to say without giving himself away? He should have said something by now. The longer he didn’t, the more he risked making something small into a bigger deal. But Avery kept up his happy chatter, telling Linc all about the spells he’d learned. Linc didn’t get an opportunity to say anything before they were already in the Winterlands.
They reached the top of the mountain, and the game zoomed back out to a map, asking if they’d like to proceed to the Diamond Mine or the Crystal Pass.
“What do you think?” Avery said.
Tell him. Tell him.
Except how was he going to tell him now?Hey, I know you think I’m some online stranger, but surprise! I’m your new friend. I just didn’t think you’d care, so I didn’t tell you before. Also, I might be into you, maybe, but only if you can handle that we can’t be together like that in public, even though everyone thinks we’re together anyway.
He was fucked. And he’d done it to himself.
“Abe?”
Linc’s throat was dry, but he swallowed hard. “Avery, I—”
“Ohhhhh...”
The low moan echoed up the hall and set Linc’s teeth on edge. He hadn’t seen much of Jordan since their conversation the morning after his birthday, partially because Linc was working and partly because he suspected Jordan had moved his sexual escapades to wherever Chelsea lived.
“Ohhhh...”
But apparently the reprieve was over, and the timing could not be worse.
“What was that?” Avery said.
Heat spread over the back of Linc’s neck. “You heard that?”
“Yes. Yeah. Just like that.” Chelsea’s words were so clear they might as well be coming from inside Linc’s bedroom.
“Is...Is someone there?” Avery asked.
Linc exhaled forcefully. He could explain this without coming off as some internet weirdo who played games online with strangers while his roommate had orgies in the next room. Right?
