14. Micah

CHAPTER 14

MICAH

Gay for Lizard Dick: Where's Alien Rambo at? I wanna know if I can drink a Stellarian under the table. [An excessive number of beer emojis]

Good luck with that, Blunt Force.

If there was one thing my space adventures with Zig had taught me, it was that I would never drink him under the table.

Not unless he wanted me to.

Like when he got tipsy to calm his nerves the first time I topped him.

Such a skerry babygirl.

In the same way Stellarians controlled every cell in the body to heal instantaneously, they were able to metabolize alcohol faster than it could affect them. Ziggy often used this trick for loosening up his marks—extracting intel by pretending to get drunk along with them .

Having a permanent piece of Ziggy lodged in my chest had helped me hold my own, but I was currently drinking with a supe who possessed actual—like, for real, for real—Stellarian DNA.

Transparency is probably best in this case.

"Soooo… how do we get these stubborn star clusters to talk it out without blowing up the entire wedding?"

Gabe slow blinked, which made me realize he'd been intently staring at me for a full minute like a sexy psychopath.

The usual supe shit.

Which I don't mind coming from him.

"Hold up," he said. Then his gaze went weirdly distant before snapping back to focus. "Okay, now the line is secured."

Wait a min…

"Do you always listen in on each other's shit?" I gasped, more intrigued than offended by the idea Dre had been spying on us.

I don't know why Gabe thinks my powers are amazing…

These fools can literally READ MINDS.

"Dre and I just… exist in each other's heads most of the time," he hesitantly explained, which was super cool of him to do. "The only time we're not… well, in the past… we didn't if we were hooking up with separate people. But that's not really an issue anymore, obvi…"

He squirmed a little on his bar stool, which made my dormant predatory instincts flair to life, compelling me to zero in for the kill.

Don't ask, don't ask, don't ask ? —

"What's sharing someone like?" I blurted out, with obscene hand gestures, since running my mouth wasn't enough. When Gabe's pretty blue eyes widened, I quickly backpedaled. "I mean, you don't have to tell me. I'm just a nosey slut with no filter."

For real, for real.

He dropped his gaze and fiddled with one of our empty shot glasses. "Yeah, but I like that about you," he mumbled. Before I could ask which part, he frowned and refocused. "We share, but… not how you think. People see twins and assume we're crossing swords all the time. Dre and I have never even spit-roasted anyone together…"

Is he… disappointed by that?

Lord knows I am.

"Guilty!" I sheepishly replied, laughing in relief when he did too. "It doesn't help that you're both hot as hell, dude." When his gaze snapped to mine again, I started sweating. "Uh… Don't tell Dre I said that, though. Or Theo. I don't want him to, like, get mad at Ziggy just because I have a stupid crush."

Oh my fucking gawd, what is the matter with me?!

Gabe no longer seemed flustered by my horny babbling. Instead, he was now staring at me the same way Zion looked at Balty on a regular basis.

Like he wants to eat me.

Just gobble me down, Suarez…

Jesus CHRIST, Micah!

A filthy smirk stretched across his pretty face, and a cold chill pebbled my skin as I remembered I was facing one of the two most powerful supes alive .

Eek.

"You been crushing on me, huh, Salah?" he purred, making my chest— and my pants, let's be real —grow tight.

"Been dreaming of me fucking your body and mind at the same time?"

Well NOW I am!!!

Before I could continue saying stupid shit, Gabe rapidly blinked and shook his head, as if coming out of a trance. "Fuck. I'm sorry, Micah. I don't know where that came from…"

His hand was pressed to his chest, and my eyes widened this time as I noticed a faint glow emanating from beneath his signature black tee shirt.

Just like how Ziggy glows for me.

As much as my scientific—and horny—inclination was to keep pushing and see what happened, I didn't want my friend to feel bad for going into Dom Gabriel mode after I provoked him.

Hot as fuck Dom Gabriel mode…

"It's cool," I said, and I meant it, too. "I can handle you whispering bullshit in my head, Suarez."

His brow furrowed. "In your head?—?"

"What up, losers?" Balty suddenly appeared to sling an arm around his younger brother's shoulders. "Is Ziggy around here somewhere? Zion's in a meeting, and I'm bored?—"

"Looking for a challenge, Baltasar?" Theo also suddenly appeared—in the materialized-out-of-thin-air sort of way. "I'm also bored. "

That sounds dangerous.

"Hi, Theo!" I exclaimed, overly cheerful in hopes he'd forget he had drama with my man.

While distracting EVERYONE from the fact I'm uncontrollably flirting with his.

Why am I like this?

"Hello, Micah." Theo's attention was now unnervingly on me. "What happened to your ferocious guard dog? Are you considering trading him in for a prettier model?"

EEK!

"Theo!" Gabe yelped, blushing adorably. "Micah is my friend. Stop being a fucking creep."

Note to self: Don't reach Theo levels of creepiness.

Too late, probably…

"Man, that would be wild if G and Meeks got together," Baltasar added unhelpfully, causing Theo's grin to turn feral. "Suarez-Salah Supremacy! WOOO!"

Thank fuck my Han Solo pants are already brown…

Luckily, Theo didn't unleash his samurai tendrils and attack me. If anything, he seemed weirdly into the whole thing.

Didn't Gabe tell me he used to host orgies?

Why is that kinda…

OMG STAAAHP, MICAH!

"Is there something different about you, Baby Hulk?" By some miracle, Theo had redirected his attention to Baltasar. "You… smell different…"

Okay, so dude is just a creep in general .

I expected Balty to brush it off—or make it awkward—but instead, he looked almost nervous. "Uhh… yeah. It's a new cologne I… borrowed from Zion… Yeah."

Theo was no longer smiling. He was now squinting at my brother-in-law in a way that had me wondering if I would need to step in with my tendrils to break up a brawl.

I hope not.

Ya boy's a lover, not a fighter.

Both Baltasar and I breathed a sigh of relief when Theo grinned again. Gabe just rolled his eyes.

"That must be it!" the Stellarian crowed. "Eau de Lacertus, hmm?"

"Okay!" Baltasar squeaked, rolling down his sweatshirt sleeves and pulling his hood on tight, his anxiety out in full force thanks to King Creep. "Imma just… go to the other end of the bar for a drink… To drink it. Over there."

"I'll join you!" Theo announced. "I never did thank you for the lizard lube Dre ended up with after the holiday gift exchange. Stellaria knows I haven't enjoyed a knot like that since before I landed on this planet."

With a hiss, I glanced around to see if anyone had overheard his crazy alien talk, but all the guests were supes, and the normie bartender was nowhere to be seen.

"You good, Balty?" Gabe grabbed his brother's forearm with genuine concern on his face. "Is something bothering?—"

"I'M FINE!" Baltasar bellowed, snatching his arm away as if he'd been burned. "I just need a drink, Jesus Christ!"

Uhhh …

"Good, because I'm buying." Theo slung his arm around the ex-Deathball player and steered him away, apparently uncaring if his company was wanted or not. "Let's leave these two sluts alone…"

Excuse me?

But, fair.

"Ignore him," Gabe muttered, texting furiously on his phone. "The only one who can handle Theo like this is Dre…"

"Are you telling Dre to come, uh, handle him?" I asked, nosey as hell.

The more the merrier for slutty friend time.

"No, I wouldn't need to text Dre to contact him…" He sighed heavily, setting aside his phone and returning his attention to me. "I was sending Balty cat videos… because he gets anxious."

Ughhh.

Why is that so cute?

We sat in silence for a moment that felt somehow both comfortable and uncomfortable before I opened my mouth again.

"If it makes you feel better, most of the Stellarians I've met seem to have a mischievous streak," I offered.

"Really?" Gabe perked up, and I wondered if Theo had told him much of anything about his kind.

Does Theo even know the truth about Stellarians?

Deciding that bombshell wasn't my responsibility to share, I focused on the interpersonal problem at hand. "Yeah. We even met one who was in the same Star Unit as Theo. "

Gabe tensed, and I immediately realized how that might freak him out. "Hey, it's okay! It's okay. They were actually thankful that he, you know, took out the rest of the unit…" I grimaced. "Listen. Ziggy and I learned some major truths about Stellarians that turned everything upside down—about his heritage too. It was a lot for him to process. Like, it hurt, but in a good way, ya know? Fuck. I don't think it's my place to spill the tea, but it changes things—changes why Theo was even considered a fugitive. The only reason Zig hasn't talked to Theo about any of it is because he hates to be wrong."

And he was wrong about Theo.

"It wasn't right for Theo to abandon Ziggy," Gabe softly spoke. "He knows that, but he also doesn't like to be wrong."

Well, fuck.

"How do we fix this?" I asked, gripping his forearm without thinking.

I gasped as lightning zipped down my spine, but when I moved to snatch my hand away, Gabe clamped his over mine and held tight.

Then, he began to resonate.

Oh, fuck…

The part of me that always felt like it was reaching for Ziggy—that was entwined with a piece of Zig at this point—throbbed in my chest, desperate to respond to the familiar resonance now calling to me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Gabe's eyes met mine, full of shock and awe and lust and horror and all the mixed-up shit I was also feeling.

"Fuck," was all he managed to say .

I couldn't have said it better myself, because this stupid, slutty little crush had just turned into something much, much bigger.

Houston, we have a problem.