Page 80 of Uncharted

“I’m in worse trouble than you.”

“Dork,” I muttered and turned to reach out to my brother again. He gave me the filthiest of looks, but hell if he didn’t take my hand, holding it tightly as if I would suddenly fade out of existence if he didn’t.

My eyes stung as I remembered lying on the ground, too cold for a warm summer day, tucked against Jake’s body as he held me tighter than anyone should hold another. It had hurt like hell, but nothing had hurt quite like the sounds coming out of his mouth.

I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Not enough,” Mika said, his voice angry but steady. “Because you’ll probably end up doing something stupid again.”

“I’m not going to just stand there and let Jake be fucking killed by some jackass runners,” I snapped at him. “That’s what we do for each other. I don’t care if it’s saving someone from a river, or assholes with a gun. That’s what we do. So yeah, if I have to, I’ll do it again.”

“Fucker,” he muttered. “Stubborn, idiot fucker.”

“Idiot fucker? Technically true,” Jake said thoughtfully.

He only realized what he’d said when three heads turned to stare at him. Two in shock and surprise, and me? I was just irritated.

“I’m sorry…what?” Mika asked slowly. “What was that?”

“Nothin’, not a goddamn thing,” Jake said, but his eyes were too wide, his expression too guilty to be believed.

“I…guess we shouldn’t be surprised,” Aidan grunted. “We…all suspected it was going on. Even before I came along.”

Mika turned and stared at me and I could hear the thousands of questions coming to life in his head as he stared without saying a word. I stared back, waiting to see if he would give voice to those questions.

It was me who broke finally. “What? You thought it too.”

“I wondered,” he said, leaning forward. “When the hell did you end up being into guys?”

“When did Xander?” I asked dryly.

“Ah, well, that’s…” he stopped and frowned. “That doesn’t feel like the same thing.”

“Meaning you don’t like that I made a good point you have no counterargument to,” I told him, seeing him scowl at me. Aidan smirked, but was wise enough to pretend he was looking over his shoulder when Mika glanced back at him.

Mika huffed. “Aidan, can you go⁠—”

“On it,” Aidan said, bending down to kiss Mika on the temple.

I wrinkled my nose at the wistful look on my brother’s face. “Gross. Go be gay somewhere else.”

“Brothers,” Aidan muttered as he left the room.

“You have two of them!” Mika called after him. “Brat.”

“You’re one to talk considering…ow! What the hell?” I snapped when he slapped my chest.

“It’s your liver that’s shot, not the rest of you,” he told me with a scowl.

My eyes widened. “I don’t have a liver? No!”

Mika rolled his eyes. “You have a liver. Apparently, livers are great at regenerating compared to other organs. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to drink again, but not for months. But do you want to know what else is special about the liver?”

“Uh, it’s what lets me have my fun special juice that makes me warm and the room a little spinny occasionally?” I guessed.

His eyes narrowed. “It has a shit ton of blood vessels in it! You almost bled out! And you would have but⁠—”

“But what?” I asked, glancing around, and Jake caught my eye, tapping his arm and looking to Mika, who shot him a dirty look.