Hell yes. “Oh my god, yes. You’re a fucking lifesaver.”
He looked at me over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow teasingly.
“I see how it is. You only love me for my cooking.”
Fuck. I laughed. Did it sound normal? “Yup, that’s it. Your baked ziti was worth the price of the ring.”
Riot’s answering chuckle was deep and seared right through to my soul. He wiggled his finger where the silicone band he wore in place of a real wedding ring was. We’d bought each other real bands after going to the courthouse to make our long fake engagement official, but Riot couldn’t wear his while working, so he had a whole collection of silicone wedding bands and kept his real one on a chain around his neck. It looked like he was wearing the one with mako sharks on it today.
Riot scooped out a generous portion of the ziti and a whole hunk of garlic bread on a plate before putting it into the microwave.
“Is it a beer or soda day today?” he asked.
“Beer.” Riot snorted but went to the fridge to get me the bottle of Dos Equis, my favorite brand. Another small part of my already shattered heart broke off as Riot took care of me. Why couldn’t he love me the way I loved him? Couldn’t he see how fucking perfect we were?
Honestly, I thought Riot might be aroace. In all the years we’d known each other, I’d never seen him date or even hook up with someone. And yeah, his teenage years had been dominated by raising his siblings and taking care of his mom, but he’d never even mentioned being into someone. Not once. Not even a fucking celebrity. While I’d been busy thirsting over Michael B. Jordan while watchingSinners, Riot had discussed race relations in the 1930’s South. He’d acknowledged he was hot, but moved on and never brought it up again. It wasn’t just men he didn’t seem interested in either. He’d never expressed attraction to a woman either.
Riot and I talked about everything. He had no secrets with me, and mine, well, I kept them to protect him. We’d had as many nights staying awake and talking about how he planned on getting away from his family or me crying while I shared all my memories of my parents and my life in Hawaii as we had arguing over who was the best superhero. No conversation was unimportant or silly, not with Riot. Yet, I could never bring myself to ask him about his sexual orientation.
The microwave beeped, and Riot grabbed my plate and drink, placing it in front of me before taking a seat in the chair directly next to me. He squeezed my hand.
“Anything in particular going on?”
I shook my head, mouth already stuffed full of ziti. “No. Just long. You know how it is around homecoming.”
He hummed in agreement. I’d been doing this long enough, from both the player and the coach side, for him to completely understand. “Where’s Wynter? The boys didn’t know,” I asked while shoveling a huge hunk of pasta onto my fork.
Riot rolled his eyes. “In her room.” We had finally gotten around to finishing up the basement and divided it into two bedrooms, with a small den in between them, so Knox and Wynter could each have their own spaces. Neither of them hadhad that before, so it had been a very emotional day when we’d surprised them. Rumor, Rebel, and Cruz shared one bedroom, Hawk and Storm another, and then Riot and I had the last one.
“And Cruz?” We hadn’t had a chance to talk about how he was doing. Riot made a face, one that meantmeh, not so great. He picked up my leg, the one with the old injury, and, without missing a beat, placed it in his lap to start massaging my calf because he knew it still got sore sometimes, especially when I had practice.
“He said he was fine. I didn’t want to push too hard, so I told him that we’re here for him if he ever wants to talk. He told me okay, threw his plate in the sink, and ran to his room. I let him be.”
Riot’s thumbs pressed into my calf. The way he had me positioned, my foot was practically pressed up against his dick. I could feel the outline of it around my socked foot. He was soft and seemed unfazed by the proximity. I put my hand over my lap, hoping he wouldn’t notice my pants tenting.
His fingers traveled higher, closer to my knee. I cleared my throat. “Oh, what’s this about Knox going on a date?”
“Rue is such a nosy little shit. He wasn’t even in the room when Knox told me about it.”
“Who’s this mystery person?”
“All I know is his name is Sam.” Last year, Knox had come out to us as bisexual. He hadn’t had much experience since then, as his priorities were school and the family. He had gone on a few dates with a girl in the Honor Society with him last year, but after the third, he’d come home and proclaimed he was never dating again. That had lasted about a year, which honestly was a long time for a seventeen-year-old. “He’s eighteen and a senior at Old Creek.” Our rival high school. “They met at a college fair and apparently have been texting back and forth. Today, he asked Knox to the movies.”
“And Knox, he seemed excited?”
Riot shrugged. “As excited as Knox gets, I guess. He wasn’t even totally sure if it was a date. But I hope it was for his sake. He seemed to really like him, even if he downplayed it.”
That was right about the time that Storm started to get fussy. I leaned over, unhooking him from his seat and putting him in my lap.
“Hi, Stormy boy. Want some noodles?” I picked up one piece of pasta and held it out to him.”
“‘oodle!” He grabbed it with his little hand, squeezing it between his fingers.
“Seriously?” Riot snapped, shoving my calf off his lap. “If he gets all saucy, you’re giving him another bath.”
“Hear that, Stormy? You want two baths today?”
Storm stretched out as far as he could manage and fisted a handful of saucy pasta as an answer.
