- James’s house is bad
- Darius’s apartment is bad
- My apartment is bad
“James’s house is big enough, but it’s too far out of town,” Holden said. “Darius’s apartment is too small, plus I don’t like having external building security. If we murder or abduct anyone, it’s difficult to carry a body inside without getting noticed.”
“I don’t like to bring work home,” Darius said, unperturbed, though he felt slightly tense.
Kit couldn’t blame him. Calling Darius, James, and Holden his boyfriends was bad enough. Holden was proposing a whole new level of commitment.
“My apartment has similar issues, plus it’s much smaller and shittier than Darius’s,” Holden continued. “Plus, the lease is up when the semester ends.”
The next page simply added a word to the existing title:NEED A NEW HOUSE QUICKLY
“It’s a seller’s market right now,” Holden said, as screenshots of real estate website listings popped up under the title. “Or a buyers-who-aren’t-us market? I don’t know much about real estate. Except there was this one serial killer who… Anyway. If you agree to this extremely reasonable proposal, we need to move fast. I found the perfect fucking place the other week. A million bedrooms, great location. Giant basement—we could keep the game den and convert the wine cellar into a nice murder cell. Everything. But it sold less than a day after it went up.”
None of them had time to comment on the murder basement conversion before Holden moved to the next pastel page.
BENEFITS OF LIVING TOGETHER.
- Reduced commute = reduced stress
- Better work-life-sex balance
“Especially taking traffic into account, we spend way too much time shuttling back and forth between houses,” Holden continued. “And by we, I mean you, because you still won’t let me drive. I’m not even counting the times Bishop picks Kit up for detective work. I have a chart tracking the time in the appendix.”
“This presentation has an appendix?” Kit asked, fixating on the details rather than the larger sense of overwhelm.
The bullet points continued.
- Using less gas and consolidating utilities is good for the environment
“Going green is always good.” Holden tapped to a new page that just had one word slammed across the center.
SECURITY
James exhaled, forcibly relaxing his shoulders. Kit caught his eye for a moment before James looked away.
“You’re all involved in dangerous shit,” Holden said bluntly. “Being this scattered isn’t safe, even if your individual homes are decked out with the latest from James’s family business.”
The use of the wordfamilyhad to be a deliberate prod at James, but Holden moved to the next slide. Another single word, this one even bigger among the pretty flowers.
KIT
“Moving in together will make Kit happy,” Holden said. “That’s all that should matter.”
It was Kit’s turn to exhale, as if the love and consideration were one-two jabs to his stomach. Holden was right. He wantedthis so fucking much—even more now that Holden had spoken his wish out loud.
Which would make it that much more painful if James or Darius refused.
Three seconds of silence, echoing with doubt. Four. Five. Kit was on the verge of breaking it when Darius asked, “What do you think, Trouble?”
The low question was as heavy as the arm around Kit’s shoulders. A deflection sweetened with a pet name.
“Fucking coward,” Kit accused, extricating himself. Standing upright gave him the chance to glare down his nose.
Darius leaned back, unperturbed. “Or I genuinely want to know what you think.”
