“You’re a werewolf, it’s literally zero work for you,” Marcus says when I glare at him while pushing the second one into position. He at least has the courtesy of moving his lazy ass a few steps to make way.
I glare at him some more. He sighs.
“Oooh, you split the murder boards. Wait, why do you have the human murder victims on it?” Sloan notices.
“I’ll explain once Meena joins us. She should be here soon,” I tell everyone.
They nod easily. Too easily. And why are they all so coordinated? This distinctly feels like a trap. When will I stop being so trusting and inviting traitors into my home?
“So, how are things going between you and Elliot? Mattwas telling us about the dinner,” Cami asks, confirming my suspicions.
I shoot Matt a betrayed look, which he acknowledges with an eye roll.Traitors, all of them. “Nothing is going on between us. It’s just casual. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that,” I warn them.
“On the contrary. Please,” Sloan does the ‘go ahead’ gestures. “Be as detailed as you want.”
I stick my tongue out at her.
“Wow, I’m surprised he even likes you,” she complains.
“He doesn’t. It’scasual,” I insist.
Cami tilts her head. “Oh, honey. You can’t do casual with your firsts,” she says sympathetically.
Are all experienced queer peoplethiscondescending?
“Oh, you definitely can,” Bree counters her.
Okay, so notallof them. “Exactly,” I say.
“Says the woman who moved cities after her first girlfriend broke up with her,” Cami throws at Bree.
“She was not my girlfr—oh.” she finishes, realization dawning on her. “Yeah, firsts are hard to get over,” she nods.
“Well, I’ve dated people before. He’s not my first,” I remind them.
“Yeah, but the first achillean relationship must also count as a first,” Marcus, the lazy traitor, points out.
“That’s homophobic, honestly,” I tell him, because well, we don’t have enough straight people here for me ever to say that.
Marcus looks caught off guard for a second. “No, it’s not.” He looks at Cami for confirmation.
She shakes her head. “It’s not. Nick, are you sure you’re okay with doing this?”
“While the concern is nice,” I start sincerely. “I am thirty-one, a lot older than when Bree had her first girlfrie—whatever she was,” I finish over Bree’s correction. “This isn’t even my first regular casual hookup, so I’m good,” I assure them.
Cami raises her hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. Butjust be careful, okay?”
I nod at her.
“That’s all great and well, are we getting the deets or not? I mean, I don’t know a single thing about Elliot. The guy is a closed book, shut tight with a rope then wrapped in cellophane for good measure,” Sloan complains.
Well, that’s the perfect description of the man. And I want to say I know everything about him, but in the last week since he stayed over, we’ve barely even seen each other. I was too busy with the other cases piling up while I worked on the murders.
I lured him for a quick lunch at a diner close to the precinct once, but he had to leave in half an hour because he had a surgery scheduled.
Anyway, all this talk about Elliot is just grating. “We don’t need to know much about each other to hook up, do we?” I drawl.
Matt blanches. “While I’m okay with whatever your relationship is with Elliot, I don’t want to know what you guys do in your own time,” he groans.
