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“And give up my first dibs on the bathroom? No chance. We have an agreement.”
The glib answer fell flat in its delivery. Something had changed. As if Nico needed to get away.
“That’s fine.” He shrugged and turned around. “Just thought I’d offer.”
“That’s really nice of you, but it’s fine. There’s no reason for both of us to get used to a new mattress.”
“Right.” He should have figured Nico wouldn’t put himself first.
Chapter Eleven
Nico
Isaiah: Seriously?
Nico: I so wouldn’t lie. It’s like it’s not meant to be.
Isaiah: Maybe it isn’t. But there are only 8 weeks left.
Nico: 6. I’m going home after the wedding.
Nico pulled the sheet back and climbed into bed. The king bed he still shared with Luke. “I’m sorry about this.”
“What are you sorry for?” Luke rolled over and faced him, raising an amused brow. “Unless you created the leak?”
“As if. I should have paid for next-day shipping. The mattress wouldn’t have gotten battered about and we’d have a working one by now.”
“Geez, Nico. Eager to get away from me much?”
Yes. No.
Every night, I want to reach across the crisp sheets and touch you.
Ugh. “Neither of us wanted to share the bed this summer, right?”
“Yeah, but it hasn’t been a problem,” Luke said swiftly. “At least not for me.”
Slam it home, Luke. The hug wasn’t enough. “Yeah, me neither.”
“Then this isn’t a problem.”
Nico shut his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, he felt Luke staring at him.
“And don’t you dare order it again with next-day shipping,” Luke said as if reading Nico’s mind. “Given one fifth of the summer is gone, it makes even less sense to pay for it.”
“Right.”
“You’re kinda quiet. You okay?” Luke asked softly.
Nico opened his eyes. Even in the semidarkness of the room, he could still make out Luke’s perfect form under the sheets, those dark eyes. “I’m good. Why?”
“I dunno. Since your run-in with Kent, you seem out of sorts.”
That was one way of putting it. “Nah, I’m over it.”
“Don’t let him get to you.”
“Why did you ever date him?” Nico winced. The words spewed out before the logical side of his brain could throttle his emotions. “Sorry. That was wrong in about a bazillion ways.”
“It’s okay.” The sheet moved as Luke rolled onto his back. “When he wants to be, he can be super nice. He’s funny. We like a lot of the same things: sports, music, sci-fi/fantasy.”
“You like sci-fi/fantasy?” How did Nico not know this?
“Totally. Our last date was to see Avengers: Endgame.”
“Gotcha.” Good thing he hadn’t suggested they go see that when they were in New York.
“And he was really sweet when I was having family issues.”
“I thought you and your family were tight?”
“We are, I meant . . . when I left last summer, Rosalie took it hard. She did the first two years as well, but this year seemed worse. Kent let me talk out my anxiety over what I thought I’d done to my sister. Which, before you say it, I know I didn’t do anything, but I still felt responsible. He helped me deal with my irrational guilt.
“He had family issues, too. Different, but I guess we understood each other.”
“That makes sense.” Nico wanted to know more but wasn’t sure how much he could ask. He rolled onto his side to face Luke. “How did you two meet?”
“At a frat party on campus.” Luke repositioned on his side again and propped his head on his hand. Was it Nico’s imagination, or was Luke a couple of inches closer to the middle? “He lives not far from Harrison. He had a friend who went to school there and came to the party. He goes to Penn State and was leaving a few days later.”
“Ah, long-distance . . . or at least semi-long-distance.”
“It wasn’t too bad. I took the bus to see him on weekends, and he had a car. He came home a lot to help his parents.”
“Is someone sick?”
“No.” Luke moved his hand and punched up a pillow under his head. “They . . . Please don’t repeat this. I mean, yes, he was an asshole to me, but I don’t want his personal business all over the place.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” Yes, you really should.
“I shouldn’t, but it plays into why he said he broke up with me. His dad worked for a big company his whole career. Started there out of college and worked his way up. Kent’s freshman year, his dad didn’t get a promotion he’d been expecting. A year later, he got laid off.”
“Wow, that’s harsh.” It probably explained a lot. Didn’t excuse it, but certainly put it in context.
“No and yes. It’s like the military. There are fewer spots the higher you go up. I mean, there is only one CEO, right? If you get passed over a couple of times, it generally means you’re not one of their top people and you’re not going to move up. In the military, if you don’t get promoted beyond a certain rank, they make you retire.”
