2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Felix

“ I f you ask me that one more time, I’m going to stab my eye out.” I scowled at my brother from his couch. This was why I lived in the city and not the suburbs.

Space away from him and my parents.

“All I’m saying is that we have a spare room,” Marco called from the kitchen.

“And I already have an apartment. Just because my girlfriend is moving out doesn’t mean I’m homeless.” This was the bullshit I’d been hoping to avoid, but because I’d accepted Marco’s invite for game night, that meant the inquisition to follow.

“But you’ll get lonely.” His voice was still muffled from being in the other room, but I didn’t feel the need to budge from his comfortable sectional.

“Not lonely enough to want to live in your fuck palace,” I called back.

Marco strode in, a bowl of chips in hand, and plopped down on the couch beside me. My brother and I looked similar—glossy black wavy hair, same slender jawline as Dad—but he was taller and bulkier than me. Of course. Picture of health and masculinity.

Yeah, I was a little jealous. So sue me.

“Excuse me, it’s just a humble fuck house. I’m not made of money.” Marco popped a tostones chip into his mouth, making loud, sloppy noises as he chewed. “But seriously, I don’t like the idea of you by your lonesome up there.”

My shoulders twitched. “Cos I’m incapable?”

Marco gave me that intent “big brother” look that never failed to rile me. “You know that’s not it.”

Except that was exactly it. Just because I had a lot of seizures as a kid didn’t mean I couldn’t function as an adult.

“You realize the more you do this, the more I’m determined to become an old lonely spinster who gets eaten by cats.”

“Bachelor,” Marco said. “And I’d feel better if you had a cat. I could train it like Lassie or some shit.”

“Maybe I want to be a spinster.” I grabbed a few chips and crunched them down with an irritated vengeance. “When are your friends coming so you can stop annoying me?” I was only a few days past this breakup, and I dreaded having to tell my folks because if Marco was bad with the mother-henning, they’d be worse. Aria would be coming by to pack up tomorrow morning, and I didn’t want to be there, so I’d accepted Marco’s game night and crash offer.

Though hashtag regrets.

I was still confused about why Aria and I had broken up in the first place. We’d been fine, coming up on a one-year anniversary and then bam. Maybe not the best sex life, and maybe she was a Bruins fan like a goddamn traitor instead of rooting for her home team, but those weren’t deal-breakers.

The front door creaked, and I internally fist-pumped. Marco would lay off the constant worrying with his friends around, mostly because he was decent as fuck.

“Guess what game I got?” Kelsey’s voice rang through the house. She and Marco had started dating a year ago, when she and her baby daddy, Rhys, split up. The relationship was solid though, remarkable, considering she was also dating Marco’s wife, Ruby.

“Life? How about Candy Land?” I asked.

She came into the living room, clutching a bright blue box. “Of course it’s you. No one wants to play those shit games, Felix.” Kelsey hopped on Marco’s lap and planted a kiss on his lips.

I placed a hand over my chest in mock agony. “My childhood is crying.”

“Your childhood can do better.” Rhys announced himself as he walked in. The slender guy was a live wire of energy, which made his ability to sit still and play some of the games on these nights a feat.

“Where’s your spawn?” I peeked around them.

My answer arrived a second later by way of a shriek. Sammy burst through the door, all golden curls and chaos.

“Hiii,” he called out in our general direction before toddler-speeding toward his room with a large stuffed d20 in his hands. Rhys’s boyfriend, Cole, entered last, a diaper bag slung on his shoulder. The guy was quiet, big, and brawny, and reminded me a little of Cor.

Except Cor was one of the few people I could spend all day with and be perfectly at peace. Fucking rare for a sarcastic ass like me. Normally, I needed more space than the average person because my family thought I would faint away at the slightest breeze.

Hell, even Aria and I were ships in the night most of the time. Yet I could spend a day out with Cor, grabbing a beer, talking historical weaponry and other geeky shit. Probably another tally mark as to why Aria and I had broken up.

“So, what are we playing first?” Rhys stacked games over by the table. Cole dropped the diaper bag on the ground and swept in to plant a kiss on the side of Rhys’s head. My stomach flipped. Ugh, all these sweet-as-fuck couples made me ill. Maybe I shouldn’t have come out to Marco’s for game night. He and his friends were all happily coupled up, and I was a pit of grumpiness.

“I got the Cryptid game I’ve been eyeing.” Kelsey jumped up and extended a hand to Marco, the game still clutched in the other. He slid his hand in hers, and they walked over to the couch.

Marco cast me a glance. “Get your ass over here, Sulky.”

“What happened?” Cole asked, his eyes soft.

My skin prickled at the vulnerability. Apparently, Marco wasn’t keeping this under wraps.

“Living that carefree single life.” I winced at how droll that came out.

“Shit, that blows.” Rhys whipped around. “Unless it doesn’t? Was your ex-girlfriend a closet racist? Or did you get sick of her talking shit about your precious Flyers? Or was she a rabbit hoarder, maybe?”

My brows drew together. “Rabbit hoarder?”

“Man, my sympathies. Rabbit hoarders are the worst,” Rhys said with a straight face. Cole’s lips twitched, and he pressed another kiss to his boyfriend’s head.

“Let me go grab Sammy from his room while you set up the game,” Kelsey said. The toddler stomps made it clear where Sammy was, and Kelsey loped to the steps.

“Right, so games.” I forced myself up from the couch. Otherwise, my brain would melt with Rhys jumping to rabbit hoarders and why they were the worst.

“They’ll be a good distraction.” Cole offered me those sympathy eyes that pressed at my temper.

Growing up, I’d gotten sympathy eyes a lot because having a seizure in front of your class more than once tended to freak people out. Clearly, I had won all the awkward loner awards. Thank fuck IT was filled with awkward loners like me.

“Unless it’s another ages-long game that takes an hour of setup alone.” I sat at the table, the seat creaking. I enjoyed board games, but I liked ribbing my brother and his friends more. Marco did these game nights weekly, a tradition between him and his friend group for years. I’d always struggled with jealousy when it came to him—the healthy kid, the successful kid, the one who’d not just found the love of his life but two.

Meanwhile, I was the sick kid, the mediocre IT job kid, and the one who let relationship after relationship kick the bucket.

Yet Marco was too damn likable. Asshole.

Sammy and Kelsey burst into the room, and Sammy zoomed over to the couches and lugged out one of the containers of what looked like Duplo.

“Play, Mommy,” he said.

“In a minute. I’m going to take a look at the game.”

“Okay, but do we need to, like, jailbreak these rabbits?” Rhys pulled cards out from the Cryptid Café box.

“She’s not a rabbit hoarder.” A grin rose to my lips at the sheer ridiculousness. “Not even a hint of a supervillain backstory. We just didn’t work.”

The truth slipped out of me, past the layers of self-loathing and hurt. Ugh.

“It happens.” Kelsey shared a look with Rhys. A soft understanding passed between them. Out of anyone, maybe the pair of them would get it. They’d been best friends for ages, but their attempt at a relationship had fizzled out.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced at the text.

Did you see there’s a sword-smithing demo going on at the Renn Faire this year? We should go.

My heart thumped a little harder. The text from Cor lightened my mood. I didn’t know what magic this man was capable of, but I’d never felt the urge to glue myself to a friend like this before.

Hell yes. Count me in. I shot back the text, then added another one. Only if you’ll dress in garb though. Bet you’d rock the hell out of a linen shirt.

I licked my lips, loving the spark of adrenaline that shot through my veins. Teasing him was fun, and I’d become a bit addicted to his responses, even though they’d never go anywhere. Even if I were bi, I wasn’t the type of guy he dated. His last boyfriend—Luke? Lane? Lemur?—was all big and strapping like him.

If I’m wearing garb, you’d better be there in leather.

Interesting proposition. A shock of interest coursed through me, and I had to shift in my seat because my cock was taking notice. Clearly, the breakup had scrambled my brain. Still, my fingers moved on automatic.

Sold.

“Did you even listen to a little of the game explanation?” Marco asked.

“Uh, I’ll pick it up as I go.” I crossed my arms.

Rhys snorted. “You’re as bad as me.”

“Can I cite breakup brain? Is that a thing?” I leaned forward, taking in the colorful game pieces in front of me.

“You can’t beat the breakup horse for too long. Otherwise, it might start to like it.” Marco waggled his eyebrows.

“ Cabron , you leave your kink list out of this. Innecesario .”

The front door opened again.

“You guys better not have started without me.” Maeve’s voice boomed from the other room as she came stomping in our direction. The redhead was chaos incarnate and a little terrifying.

I settled back in my seat.

Yearlong relationship down the toilet or not, I had this. Whether my mom, dad, and brother believed it, I was capable on my own.

Even if the loneliness liked to keep me up at night.