“Yep. Did that.” He nodded because he’d totally bought a house. Bax decided he was tired of living life slow. Things happening fast was working for him, so he’d just embrace it. The opportunity arose, he jumped on it, and he really hoped Courtney might decide to move in.
“Like, today? You up and bought a housetoday?” Courtney asked, realization that this could actually happen apparently sinking in. “Nobodyjust goes and buys a house.”
“I did.” Linx raised his hand. “Bought it for Gibson.” Gibson lounged on his bed in Linx’s living room. He paused licking his paws long enough to look up at the mention of his name. At least he wasn’t lapping at his penis—he saved that for Courtney’s pillow.
“Hello, everyone.” Linx’s mom, Linda, strolled through the front door with Becca and his mom… on the video call.
“Mom, why don’t you just come stay for a while?” He snagged the iPad and held it up to his face.
“Your dad and I decided we want to give you space while you and Courtney sort things out,” Mom said.
Linda leaned into view, then looked at Bax. “Hank and I decided the opposite. We’re not going to give you space to muck anything up.”
“Hey, everyone. What’d we miss?” Becca asked, stopping to give Linx a peck on the lips then going in for a little extra.
Bax glanced away because while he was happy for his buddy, he felt a twinge of jealousy that Linx had what Bax wanted. Not Becca, but the woman, the house, and the potential for more.
Granted, now Bax had the woman and the house, but they were separate and not yet tied to a future together.
“Did you know that Bax bought a house?” Courtney turned, her growing belly making the motion adorably disjointed.
“Which one did you decide on?” Becca pulled her sunglasses up to the crown of her head and sat on the edge of the sofa next to Linx.
“I hope it was the one with the guest house,” Mom yelled, even though they could hear her just fine.
“Did everybody know about this?” Courtney asked, clearly confused.
He didn’t mean to confuse her—he also didn’t want to give her the opportunity to talk him out of it.
“The one across the street.” Bax pointed in the direction of the house he’d closed on that morning. “Figured it was the best option, since it’d be close to Courtney and Tiny Badass.”
“I’m not staying here forever.” Courtney frowned. He really hated when she did that. “I figure I’ll get an apartment soon.”
Linx shook his head. “Why? We’ve got loads of room here. Bax is across the street. Knox is going to be up on the cul-de-sac.”
Courtney did the owl-blink thing he’d become pretty fucking fond of. “Knox bought a house here too?”
“Not yet,” Knox said. “Working on it.”
A grin teased Bax’s lips. Knox was going to stay with him until his pink house was ready. Which, given the amount of work to be done, would be a bit. Unless Knox hung onto the pink bathroom carpet.
“Tanner and Mach don’t have the funds yet, but after the tour, we were thinking we’d buy ’em the house next to Knox’s as a ‘welcome to Dimefront’ present. They can share,” Linx said.
“No one has ever bought us a house before,” Mach said. “I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
“You’ll feel awesome about it because eventually you’ll buy each of us a house, and we’ll be even steven.” Linx grabbed his guitar and started playing some new song while watching Becca.
“Have you boys lost your marbles?” Courtney asked, finally closing her jaw. “Because you can’t just go around buying mansions whenever you want for whoever you want.”
“Why not?” Bax asked. “The owners were good to sell.”
“Was it even on the market?” Courtney asked, because she had not seen a “For Sale” sign out front.
“Nah.” Bax shook his head. “I had my lawyer pitch them a number. They liked the number, so we moved forward.”
“Wait till you see Knox’s future house,” Linx said with a snort. “Needs a whole renovation. Everything’s pink and pastel purple.”
“It’s not that bad.” Becca rolled her eyes. “Nothing paint can’t fix.”
