Our apartment has the comfortable kind of messiness to it tonight. Two empty soda cans on the coffee table. A half-open bag of chips on the counter. Andres's hoodie is tossed over the back of the couch like we don’t have a coat closet right by the front door. The TV is on but muted, some late-night sports recap playing to an audience of none.
I’m on the couch with my feet up, phone in my hand, pretending to scroll while my brain replays the last away game like a highlight reel I can’t pause.
Andres is in the kitchen, rinsing dishes with the calm competence of a man who likes order even when he pretends he doesn’t. The water runs, plates clinking as he sticks them in the dishwasher. He hums something under his breath, low enough that it’s almost a vibration.
It’s peaceful.
Which is exactly why the knock at the door feels like a gunshot.
Three sharp raps. No hesitation. No “Hey, it’s me.”
Andres turns the water off instantly and I sit up.
We look at each other.
Andres wipes his hands on a towel as he crosses the room. I’m already moving too, bare feet hitting the floor, my heart ticking up for no reason other than my body not understanding the difference between danger and the unexpected.
Andres opens the door.
Kai and Gael stand there looking guarded.
“Kai?” Andres says, his voice instantly low. “What’s going on?”
Neither Kai nor Gael answers right away. Then Kai steps inside without waiting to be invited, like this is his house and the world is something he kicks the door in on when it threatens what’s his.
Gael follows, closing the door behind him and suddenly our peaceful night is gone.
“What happened?” I ask because Kai doesn’t show up like this for fun.
Kai pulls his phone out so hard it looks like he might snap it in half.
“Isla got a message,” he chokes out, and I can tell he’s struggling to keep his shit together.
“Steve,” Gael supplies, like Kai can’t even say the name without tasting something rotten.
My stomach drops.
Ah yes. Steve. Isla’s ex. The guy who didn’t take the breakup like an adult and instead turned into the kind of man you warn women about. Even though, according to Isla, he cheated on her the entire time they were together.
Kai holds the phone up.
The text is on the screen.
Steve
You let your brother fuck his baby into you… you nasty fucking cunt. It would be a shame if you just didn’t come home from campus one day, huh?
There’s serious intent behind that threat.
My throat tightens. “Holy shit.”
Andres's body goes still beside me. His hand finds the back of my neck automatically, thumb pressing once, doing his best to steady me.
Kai’s eyes flick to me.
“She’s pregnant,” he whispers, like he’s reminding us of the most important part. Like it’s the fact that makes everything else unforgivable.
“She’s mywife,” he adds, and the way his voice drops on “wife” sounds like a vow and a warning.
