Page 228 of Sorrow & Strangers

“Shush,” she says, and my lips twitch as we walk into the house. Rafe is sitting on the couch, watching the highlights of a sports game on television. I drop my bag at the front door and sit down next to him.

“How was school?” he asks, though he doesn’t pull his eyes from the screen, obviously still moping.

“Fine.”

“Just fine? You didn’t get excited to be near the books and learning and get a knowledge boner?” Rafe asks, glancing at me with a frown.

“Shut up,” I say, rolling my eyes. Rafe chuffs, a smirk lifting his lips. His phone pings, and he lurches to grab it, reading the message before sitting back with a heavy sigh. “Still not heard from her?”

“No,” he grumbles.

“Maybe she has a bad signal?” I say hopefully with a small grimace.

“Or maybe she gave me the wrong number on purpose,” he says, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Maybe it was one way, and this is her nice way of blowing me off.”

Alice sits on his other side, slurping a pouch of blood. “Mira isn’t a nice girl, Rafe.”

“What do you mean?” Rafe asks.

I chuckle. “She fucked you on a public beach the night she met you.” Rafe looks at me, his cheeks darkening. “Nice girls don’t do that.”

“What do nice girls do?” Rafe asks, his frown deepening.

“Well, first of all, they make love. They don’t fuck, and they don’t fuck people when they don’t even know their name.”

“Well . . .” Rafe thinks.

“Plus, she came back for more and more and more . . .”

“Okay, I got it, thanks,” Rafe says, glaring at me.

“I don’t even know how your dick is still alive,” Alice says, and Rafe shoves her.

“Gross.” Someone knocks on the front door, and Rafe sits up and looks toward it. “Who’s that?”

“Probably Max.” I push at Rafe’s shoulder. “Do you want to answer the door for your boyfriend? I know you missed him.”

Rafe flips me off, but I stand up to open the door for Max. He comes in holding beer and food.

“We were going to order food?” I say, looking at the pizza box in Max’s hand.

“I owe you a pizza,” Max says with a smirk.

My lips twitch, and I haul myself off the couch to go make margaritas for Alice and me. Max and Rafe settle on the couch to watch the game. Alice joins me to give them time to catch up, and we chat happily as I make our drinks and she puts some raw brimstone-seasoned meat cubes on skewers for Rafe.

“Have you told him all about her?” Alice asks Rafe as we rejoin them, handing him his food.

“Careful, Max might get jealous,” I smirk at Max as I hand Alice her glass and set the pitcher on the coffee table.

“You know, we males discuss these things in our own time,” Max says, flipping me off.

Alice snorts, taking a deep drink of her margarita. “Please. Don’t act like you’re not dying to know.”

“It sounds like they aren’t going to let this go, Rafe. Might as well spill it so they will stop squawking at us like harpies,” Max says, popping open a beer.

I nudge Max’s legs as I grab a slice of pizza and move past him to sit in the armchair. Rafe rolls his eyes and sighs deeply before taking a bite of his steak. He looks at each of us as he chews, but then he starts talking about Mira and doesn’t stop for the next two hours.

Max proved on our last night together how averse he is to anything resembling commitment, but to give him his due, he listens carefully and gives some fairly solid advice. I stay quiet and listen, smiling a little as I watch them. Connor would love to see Rafe confide in someone like this. Max is truly more like a brother to Rafe than most of the other Morningstar boys, and I know Connor would be relieved that Rafe has found another safe space that isn’t Alice and me and our craziness.