Page 86 of These Wicked Hearts

“And whiny lyrics.”

“I’m going to burn this place to fucking the ground,” he whispers to me. There’s a dark curtain with a neon sign above leading to a room that says Adults Only.

I walk over to the rack of comics, but I don’t even know where to start. Which is why I got the e-reader. I figure he can download whatever he wants to take with him. His books won’t get ruined, and he can take unlimited comics with him to keep him busy on the road.

Although I don’t mind how much he’s been calling me.

I make my way to the figurines, looking at all the muscular men and voluptuous women. “White man, White man, White man.” Chen shakes his head, turning to the clerk. “Any Asian superheroes? Maybe ones from Singapore?”

The guy walks around the counter and over to us, pointing to a spot on the shelf. “This is Ghost Maker. He’s a rich vigilante like Batman. Very good at fighting. He takes a lot of pride in it, and he’s against killing people. He’s pretty badass. If you’re into X-Men, there’s Jitter. She’s a mutant. Very cool ability. I don’t have any action figures of her, but I can always order them.”

“Thank you.” Chen takes the action hero from him. “He’s pretty cool looking, right?”

I focus back on the shelf then turn to the man. “What’s the adult room for?”

“Oh uh . . .” The guy smirks. “It’s like adult toys and stuff.”

Okay, that intrigues me. “Can we go inside?”

“Are you not an adult?” Chen blinks at me, and I turn to him with a glare.

“Yeah, go ahead, uh . . . just don’t like, jerk off in there, you know?”

“I want to ask if that’s happened, but I’m scared to know the answer.”

“You already know the answer,” Chen whispers, giving me a flat smile and walking around me to the curtain. We move the curtain aside, and wow.

“Holy shit. Nerds are kinky, man.” There’s a wall of toys on display. All themed, I’m sure. There are outfits and tables of magazines in blacked-out sleeves. “Holy shit.” Chen walks over to the wall of toys and picks up a box, showing me a tentacle dildo. “Ouch.” His brows pop. “Although, those suction cups might feel nice.”

“Put it back!” I yank it from him and set it back on the shelf.

To my right, I see the rack of costumes that seem to be missing a lot of fabric. “Ninety dollars.” Chen looks at the price tag of a black leather lingerie suit that comes with a whip. “Where’s the rest of it? Ninety dollars. I pay less than that for a full fucking coat.”

“You’re a millionaire.”

“Uh, yes, and I will stay a millionaire by not buying expensive scraps of fabric. You may have forgotten what it’s like to be poor, but I have not. I know there’s a time limit on all this.” He waves his hand in the air. “I’ll be smart with my money. Don’t you dare come around and ask for any when you’ve spent it all on slutty costumes.”

I shake my head, but one thing sticks out to me. “A time limit?” I look at him. “What um, what’s your ideal time limit?” Chen holds up another obscene dildo in his hand.

“How does this even fit?” He reads the box. “A hellhound dildo with a knot and everything. Damn.” He sets it down. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought too much about it. I mean, we can’t do this forever, right? Although playing shows at like eighty would be sick.”

His words settle somewhere deep.

Chen is back to browsing the toys. “Why do I kind of want one? It’s been a while, I’ll admit.”

“Oh yeah? When’s the last time you hooked up with someone.”

“Oh god, I don’t know. Months at least. Maybe more. We’ve been really busy. Not all of us have giant muscular men just appear out of nowhere to have our dirty way with.” He laughs, shaking his head, then turns to look at me and his eyes widen as realization sinks in. I regret bringing him here. “His tattoos!” he yells, making me jump.

“What!?”

“You fucking like him!”

“I do not!”

“Gage, I’m getting secondhand embarrassment. I remember now. His arms, those delicious arms. They were covered in superheroes. Holy shit.” He folds forward, bracing his hands on his knees to laugh. “I’m going to cry.” He continues laughing. “The e-reader, the comics. When the fuck have you ever liked comics?”

“Am I not allowed to find a new hobby?!”