Page 24 of Heimlock

Opening the door, I strive to keep my voice even. “Thank you. I had a lot of fun. I hope you have a good day.”

Except there’s someone already there, hand poised for a knock — Fynn. Irritation and relief are like oil and water in my belly.

Why is he here?

To the woman, I repeat, “Have a good day.”

Please don’t make a scene.

“Careful,” the Elf snipes, shoving past Fynn. “He keeps a closet full of matching hoodies for the people he fucks.”

Fynn’s eyebrows shoot up as he slightly leans to the right to peer inside my home. I close the door as much as possible, scowling. There’s no need to address anything that happened in the last thirty seconds.

“Is everything okay?”

“Did she think I was here to fuck you?” Fynn asks, curious, crossing his arms.

I sigh; it’s clear from his demeanor he’s come here for a conversation. I step back to let him in. “I don’t know. I don’t care.”

He steps past me, pausing to open my closet and confirm the existence of the aforementioned hoodies. After closing the door, he walks to the couch.

Rolling my eyes, I lock the door. In case she tries to return.

Sitting on the chair across from Fynn, I eye him. It’s been three weeks since we’ve been in the same room. I took time off from work — much needed vacation time.

I haven’t wanted to deal with anything. After years of building myself into a responsible adult, a single hand on my shoulder and a simple sentence in my ear ripped apart the facade.

While I’ve been falling apart, Fynn is clearly coming back together. My brother looks fantastic, with those ruby red scales brighter than ever before. An inner light shines behind his golden eyes, even as his face contorts into one of concern.

“I needed to come check on you.”

Grinding my teeth, I talk myself from the frustrated ledge. I want to share with him; my soul won’t let me. “I’m fine. Just needed some time off.”

He looks around the apartment. It’s significantly more clean than when Kyrielle came over. She caught me at a bad moment — I’m not normally a slob.

“How are you keeping busy?”

I jerk a thumb over my shoulder toward the front door. “You just saw one of my hobbies.”

“You know, for someone who claims to respect women, you sure do fuck a lot of them.”

If I didn’t know my brother better, I’d say he was trying to be cruel. Fynn isn’t a mean man, so I take the comment with patience. “They’re consenting adults. I make them cum until they forget their names. I use protection. They get free hoodies as a prize for tolerating me. If anything, I’m disrespecting myself.”

“That Elf seemed upset.”

I give him a dry look. “She was upset because I wouldn’t let her stay here while I went to work.”

This earns a surprised look. “You’re going back to work today?”

I dig my nails into the seat’s armrests. This conversation was intended for the office. Apparently, my living room is the new venue for ‌tough conversations. “On one condition.”

“That is?” Fynn leans forward, forearms resting on his knees.

“I don’t want to talk about Father. Nothing about what happened at the Weyr reunion.”

“But—”

“At all, Fynn. I mean it.”