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I laughed and dropped my chin on his shoulder. “Play it.”

He hit the play button. We were making a videogame of us in the city. But I used the term us very loosely. Because Jacob was just this big beefy guy that carried me around on his back. I’d point somewhere in the game and he’d plow through traffic to get me there.

Actually, it wasn’t that inaccurate. Jacob often gave me piggyback rides when my feet were sore from my high heels. But he didn’t usually flip taxis like he just did in the clip.

“Epic,” I said.

“Yeah?” He smiled at me.

“I feel like the taxi should have hit that pedestrian though.” I pointed to the woman on the screen just standing there without much of an expression. She looked like the kind of person that should be hit by a taxi.

“Good thinking.” He started doing...something.

I honestly had no idea how to code. It was hard for me to pay attention when the teacher wasn’t smoking hot. I mean...Uncle James was fine or whatever. But gross.

“Done.” Jacob hit play. The woman screamed and tried to run but the taxi collided with her face, somehow slicing her head clean off. The decapitated body fell to the city sidewalk.

“Dark,” I said. “I love it.”

Jacob laughed.

I leaned across his keyboard and hit the submit button. “Now take me to the living room for measurements!” I stood up on the couch and jumped onto his back.

“It really sounds like you’re trying to measure Jacob’s dick,” Axel said.

“Why would I need to measure? I could just ask Scarlett.”

Jacob tried and failed to stifle his laugh.

Axel lowered his eyebrows at me.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

And Scarlett cleared her throat. “What next?” she said to Axel, pointing to his computer.

He shook his head and turned back to his screen.

Jacob somehow managed to stand up and carried me just like he did in the game.

I pointed down the hall and he laughed.

He slowly set me down in the living room and stared down at me. “Why are you purposefully provoking Axel?”

“To make you laugh,” I said.

Instead of responding, Jacob folded his arms and stared around the space.

The apartment was mostly empty besides for two of the bedrooms. And now our secret lair. It seemed like Natalivanka’s mom was about to start renovations but hadn’t gotten around to it. Which meant it was the perfect venue for our party. We didn’t even need to move anything.

“So many possibilities.” I rubbed my hands together. “DJ over there.” I pointed to the corner. “We can set up drinks here.” I spread my arms apart to help Jacob visualize. “Dancing in the center, obviously. Wait, are you guys still thinking you want strippers in cages? Maybe those should actually be in the center.”

Jacob laughed. “I was kinda only joking about that.”

“It could be just what we need to make people show up on a cold December night right before Christmas.”

Jacob looked down that hall we’d just come from, lost in thought.

“It could also be just what you need,” I said.