Page 30 of Uncharted

“It’s like…I know how big you are, and yet seeing you right now, it’s like I never realized how big you really are,” he said softly. Then frowned when he saw the smirk. “Not…that. I wasn’t talking about⁠—”

“I know,” I said, stifling the urge to make the joke anyway. My dad had always told me having a sense of humor was fine, but there was a time and a place for it, and warned me if I didn’t figure out that time or place, I was going to suffer a lot in life. He had been proven right so far, but I didn’t want Reno to be one of those things that caused that suffering because I couldn’t shut the hell up. “I dunno what to say to you right now.”

“Are you okay?” he asked unexpectedly. “Like…you know⁠—”

“I’m worried about you because you’re the one who seems not okay,” I told him gently. “I’m fine.”

“Of course you are,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Does anything bother you?”

“I mean…we came out here because I was bothered by something,” I pointed out and shrugged. “And ya did away with that, so, uh…congrats?”

He stared at me for a moment, and although he snorted, I could see the corner of his lips trying to tug upward. He was fighting the urge to laugh, but at least the urge was there. “Go me…I guess. Solved one problem, and…gave us, or me at least, something else to think about.”

Reno was watching me; we both knew that the proper end of that sentence was ‘and gave myself a new problem’ but for once, I thought it was better not to say what everyone was thinking. I knew Reno well enough to know that when something was bothering him, he wasn’t a lot different from when I was pissed off about something. The best thing to do would be to leave him alone and let him work through his thoughts and feelings.

“Jake,” he began, and I could see him searching for what he was supposed to say, or maybe just anything to say.

“Don’t push yourself like this, Reno,” I told him, squeezing his hand. “You’ve got a lot in your head right now; I get that. Don’t do or say anythin’ when ya can’t get your head on straight.”

He gave a choked laugh. “Talk about a choice phrase.”

“Huh?”

“Head on straight, you know.”

I blinked, and then it hit me. “Oh! Well…shit.”

Reno laughed, the sound cutting through the air, and he covered his mouth since we were technically close enough to the main building or science building that he might wake someone up.

5

RENO

Rain pattered against the window, but from what I’d been hearing, it wasn’t going to patter gently for much longer. Still, it was nice to sit for a while, pretend everything was okay, and that I was just a little kid enjoying a pleasantly glum day rather than facing the reality of my life.

Except reality, as usual, wasn’t so easily ignored as I sat up and looked around the bunk room I’d been sharing with Trevor lately, as opposed to hiding away in the loft above the science room that Mika and I used. Or had used. I’d been trying to spend less time in the loft because it was beyond obvious Mika and Aidan were desperate to have a place away from everyone where they could be alone. It was awkward not to rely on the little hidey-hole to get away from everyone, but if it meant giving my brother a chance to be happy, then I would take awkward.

That was…probably the only good thing I could think of that had happened lately. We’d spent days after our Boys Night Out being treated like slave labor by Xander. His fury and disappointment at our little bar brawl had taken too long to wear off, and we’d probably still be working our asses off if it hadn’t been for Colin finally deciding we’d been punished enough. I’d never thought I’d see the day when someone would willingly go toe to toe with a pissed-off Xander, but Colin had, and against all odds…it had worked.

Despite how much that entire thing had sucked, at least it had distracted me from the real problem. In reality, part of my problem was my doing because I was the one acting weird, distant, and avoiding Jake, making us both miserable. At the same time…what the hell was I supposed to do?

Maybe I was just being dramatic, but hell’s bells, what was I supposed to do or think? The two of us were supposed to be straight best friends, and that was that. Maybe there was a little strangeness because of how well the two of us got along and how close we were, but that was fine. We had taken it to a level I’d never dreamed was possible for me.

And to have enjoyed it like I did? That was a whole different level of mind fuck that I clearly hadn’t been ready to deal with because poor Jake still couldn’t get me to be in a room alone with him for more than a minute.

There was noise, and I tensed. A soft voice was next, and I realized it was just Colin talking to Cait. Everyone was bracing for the storm that was only a few hours away, and while it was definitely on my mind, it wasn’t taking precedence. That much was obvious, because there I was, tensing at the mere idea that it was Jake.

Colin appeared in the doorway, looking around curiously. “So you’ve been bunking with Trevor lately.”

“Sorry,” I said with a smirk. “Should I be sharing the loft with Aidan and Mika?”

“I’m more curious why you’re not sharing a bunk room with Jake actually,” he said, and I rolled my eyes, hating how insightful he could be sometimes, because now my gut was squirming. “What? I know I haven’t been here as long as some of you, but I’ve seen things, picked up on others. You two are supposed to be thick as thieves, and when you weren’t sleeping in the same room…or bunk, as Jake calls it, you crashed with your brother. I can see why you aren’t sharing a room with them any more than anyone would want to share a room with Xander and me, but…the rest? Not making sense.”

“There’s a lot of things that don’t make sense around here,” I pointed out, trying to hide the guilt that was working its way toward my chest.

“This being one of them, cute how you’re trying to evade my question,” he said with a snort, and a sense of dread was looming over me. Colin was new to the outpost, relatively speaking, and yeah, he was stupidly insightful and observant, but if he was seeing something going on between Jake and me, then the others undoubtedly did too.

The last thing I wanted was to have any of these guys stick their noses into that particular business. Not that I thought they would be assholes about it, at least not on purpose. I just…did not want to talk about what happened to any of them.