“Is Ross being an ass again?” a familiar voice admonished. Mel approached the table with smooth grace, her silky hair ruffled.
“What?” Ross asked innocently. “It’s not my fault she’s such a sensitive flower. Like a rose.”
Basil seized Ross by his collar. “You’re going to get a closer look at my fist if you don’t cut it out.”
Ross raised his hands. “No need to get so dramatic.”
Mel looped her arms around my waist, the scent of her lavender perfume calming me. “I leave these boys alone for two minutes!”
Kole wedged himself between the two men. “Let’s calm down.”
“And they say we’re the emotional ones,” I muttered.
“Surprisingly, my brother is the voice of reason for once,” she muttered back. “Who knew that was possible?”
Kole’s speculative eyes watched us. Unlike Basil and me, Kole and Melcouldpass for twins despite being separated by a few years. They shared an apartment not far up the road, where my trysts with her brother occurred the most.
Basil released his grip on Ross and shrugged the remaining tension off his shoulders. Ross slid further into the booth against the wall, making room for Kole and Basil. Mel and I took the bench opposite the men.
Mel leaned across the table, her face scrunched with suspicion. Then she gasped at my brother. “Is that… blood? Did youhithim, Ross?”
“What? No!”
Kole brought his hand to Basil’s mouth, swiping away the redness from my brother’s upper lip.
Basil’s eyes widened, catching mine before pushing Kole’s hand away. “I think we should get going,” he declared after pulling out an unmistakable golden pocket watch from his pants. For as long as our family had owned the old trinket, it had been useless. The dial remained stuck, no matter who attempted to fix it.
“What?” Ross protested. “Come on, Baze, you hardly come out anymore. I’m sorry.”
“Rahz and I have an early morning with the shop reopening tomorrow, and I need to prepare for a trip to expand our clientele.”
I kicked his shin beneath the table. “We just got here.”
“You can stay with us,” Mel offered, nudging my shoulder.
“I much prefer the comfort of my bed to that of your floor.”
“Who says you would sleep on the floor?” Kole mused at me. My cheeks heated. I kicked his foot. We’d managed to keep our on-and-off affair a secret over the past few years, thanks to Mel’s assistance. Basil rarely cared about who I spent my time with,exceptwhen it came to Kole.
“Anyone but him, Rahz.” It was the first thing he’d said to me after our first night at the Stinky Boot. Basil was so often in his head, mulling over his dreams, that seeing him with friends made me happy. I didn’t want to ruin that for him. When Kolehadtried something a few years ago, after countless flirtatious quips and lingering glances, I hadn’t told Basil.
Even after we had shaken on it.
I savored Kole’s attention. He wasn’t a man my grandmother was trying to pawn me off to. He was the opposite, in fact, of her ideal match for me. A little reckless, like me, with a hunger for physical connection. We respected that about each other, neither of us committing to anything more than the present moment.
Still, the guilt I carried by continually lying to Basil soured the relationship plenty. “Basil is the truest friend I’ve had in a long time,” Kole had whispered against my skin one night after a particularly ravenous session. “If we tell him now, he’ll never speak to me again. And it’s fun, keeping you a secret. Thrilling, isn’t it? That’s what makes this so good.”
I always nodded along despite the twinge of hurt. I didn’t want to be a dirty secret. We’d treaded this deceitful path for so long, and without any indication that he wanted a future together, I hesitated to ask him for more. So, I pretended to want the same.
“You’re bleeding.” Kole cocked his head at me. “What happened to your hand?”
Four pairs of eyes narrowed on my hand splayed on the table. Basil using Blood Sight had sobered me up plenty. It seemed, though, I was still not in my right mind enough to remember to bandage the cut along my finger. The bleeding had stopped, but a dried reddish-brown color coated my finger still.
“I must have cut it on something outside.” I tucked my hand under the table.
“On your knife, perhaps?” Mel wondered curiously. “I noticed it sticking out of your boot.”
I groaned internally.Mustthe Dolus siblings always be so stars-damned perceptive?
