“It is.”
“And Specter is happy? Does he smile now?”
“Whenever Colson’s around he does.”
“If he can find love, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us.”
“If that’s what you’re looking for. I’m not.”
He pulls a shirt from his tote and folds it over his arm. “Yeah, guess I’m just talking shit. Love is more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Seems like it from where I’m standing. Maybe you get lucky sometimes, like Specter did with Colson, but most of the time it just ends in heartache.”
“Preaching to the choir, man.”
I nod, stepping closer to put my hand on his arm. “I know it runs deep, but no man is worth losing yourself over.”
“Oh, I know. It wasn’t even like that. It was…” His words trail off as his eyes turn glassy again and he looks away, focusing again on unpacking. “Complicated.”
“I get it.”
There’s a soft knock at the door.
“Come in,” Stealth says.
The door opens and Shadow steps in, looking surprised to see me. That’s my cue to bail.
“I’ll talk to you later, Stealth. Welcome home.”
“Thanks, man,” he says softly, focused on his clothes and not our boss.
Definitely something going on there, but fuck if I know what it is. I head back to the rec room, my thoughts shifting to the sexy hockey player whose moans I can still hear in my mind. Wonder what he’s doing tonight. There’s no game until Saturday, so maybe he actually just gets to relax.
I could text him and find out. Maybe he’d be up for meeting in between games. Fuck knows I sure would. He’s fucking hot and I want more.
Before I get too far in those feelings, I’m accosted by my brothers, wanting to know what Stealth wanted to talk to me about privately.
“Oh, I wrote something in the letter I sent and he just wanted to thank me. He liked all of our letters,” I add quickly.
“He’s good?” Whisper asks.
“Ja,bror, he’s good. He seems solid and clear.”
“Good.”
“But what the fuck was that vibe with him and Shadow?” Phantom asks. “You all felt it too, right?”
We all nod, and then I say, “I told him about Bellamy. He didn’t know.”
Specter pulls his head back. “The fuck did you do that for?”
“He asked.”
“Asked what?” Ghost says.
“If Shadow had anyone.” I shrug. “I didn’t think lying would be good, so I told him the truth.”
“Awesome.” The sarcasm is heavy in Carnage’s voice. “Shadow just told us not to tell him about Bellamy.”
