My lips twitch at his red cheeks, the beads of sweat collecting on his forehead. “I had no idea you liked to dance like this.”
“I didn’t either. Until I tried it.” He turns the music down and grabs a towel, mopping at his forehead. “Now I realize I do like it, and now I’m determined to be a professional.”
“With the axes?”
“Yeah, with the fucking axes.”
I bite back a smile. “You think you can do that with just practice?”
“Hell yeah. I’m a killer with all the training Dad put us through. I can fucking learn to move in time with a beat.”
I stare at the sincerity on his face. “Yeah, I think that’s a great goal, Samson.”
“Fuck off. Why are you here?”
The temporary distraction of Samson moving out of time with a beat dissipates. Now I’m back to thinking about Neo and what I did to upset him. “I just needed some fresh air.”
He snorts and glowers at me. “Why? You never need fresh air. You actually hate the air.”
“I don’t hate air. I need it to live.”
“And you despise that you do. I remember you telling me you’d love to live on Mars. Just for the principle of it. Said you hated having to be beholden to oxygen.”
I blink at him, and he blinks back before tossing the damp rag he was just swiping across his chest at me. I shudder as it hits my arm and falls to the floor.
I shouldn’t tell him, but then again, Samson is probably the least likely to let something slip. He’s a grump but loyal.
“It’s Neo.”
Samson sighs. “Fuck. I like him. It’ll be hard to kill him.”
I shake my head and pinch my nose. “I don’t want anyone to kill him. I just… He’s acting funny after our date.”
“You had a date?” he asks, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and taking a long sip. It’s early in the day, but I don’t comment. If anything, I’m more likely to ask for a swig. Might help me face Neo again. “Since when?”
“Since he asked The Firm for one.”
His lips quirk. “He went to The Firm to ask you for a date?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck,” he says with a hoarse laugh. “I knew I liked that little shit.”
I rub the back of my neck. “I…like him too, but somehow, during our date, I upset him.”
It’s the first time I’ve admitted liking Neo, even to myself. But I’mnot a fool, despite what my siblings might believe. It doesn’t matter that I thought I was straight or that Neo drives me up the fucking wall.
I like him, and he’s upset. I have to fix it. I hate that I can’t just fucking fix it.
“Where did you go?” He sits down on the floor and spreads his legs. I debate sitting with him and then decide against it. I won’t be putting my thousand-dollar suit on the dirty floor.
“A retro arcade and then a seventies diner.”
“Fuck off,” he says with another laugh, and then holds up the whiskey for me to drink.
I grab it and take a long swig. It burns on the way down. “I’m not lying. That’s what we did. And I thought it went well, but now he’s ignoring me.”
“Sounds like you should talk about it with him.”
