“I won,” Alex says, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
Mark shuts the door. “By a step.”
I straighten instinctively. “What the hell?—”
They don’t sit.
They don’t hover politely at the threshold.
They come in far enough that the room feels smaller.
Alex plants himself against the corner of my desk, leaning back just enough to invade the space without touching anything. Mark stops a few feet away, arms crossed, silent. Staring.
I shift in my chair. Then still, irritated that I noticed.
“You look,” Alex says, tilting his head, “like a guy who followed all his rules and somehow still feels like he missed something.”
My jaw tightens. “Get out.”
“Nope,” Alex says lightly. “We ran here. You don’t get to waste that.”
Mark doesn’t smile. “Let’s go over this again.”
“Let’s not.”
Alex scoffs.
Mark glares at me. “Did you ask her?”
“Yes,” I say. “Just a little while ago.”
Alex’s eyebrows lift. “Okay. Good start.”
“How did it go,” Mark asks.
“Fine,” I say. I hear the word even as I say it—too neat. Too contained. “She said she couldn’t go.”
“And you’re standing there,” Alex says, gesturing vaguely at me, “like that settled something.”
“It did,” I snap. “She has plans.”
Mark’s gaze sharpens. “And?”
“That’s it.”
Alex squints. “That’s… not it.”
I stand. I can’t sit anymore—not with them staring at me like this, like they’re waiting for me to say something I’ve already decided not to.
“I didn’t push,” I say.
“—you didn’t want to know,” Mark finishes quietly.
I stop.
Alex straightens slightly. “Did you ask why she couldn’t go?”
“No,” I say. “It wasn’t my place.”
