Page 37 of Close Quarters

“You’re not getting away with anything at all,” I told him, now glaring. “Jesus, Reno, at least have the decency to apologize for being a prick.”

“It’s unnecessary,” Riley said, sounding slightly uncomfortable.

Reno continued glaring at me, and I waited until he either stomped off or snapped at me to mind my own business. Instead, his lips twisted downward, and he gave a soft sigh. “No, the idiot is right. I shouldn’t have done that, and I should have owned up to your face a long time ago. You didn’t deserve that, Riley. I was…well, I don’t have any good excuse. So, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

If Riley was anywhere near as surprised as me, he didn’t show it when he smiled at Reno. “Apology accepted. I forgave you for it already, but it’s nice to hear.”

I wasn’t sure what to be more puzzled by, the fact that Reno had outright admitted he’d screwed up or the fact that he’d done it at my prompting. Sure, he had been balls deep in me like half an hour ago, but unless there were magical switches in his head triggered by getting laid, I had no idea what was going on. He had been eerily calm ever since we’d recovered from our orgasms, and now this?

I was shaken from my thoughts when Dom sat across the table, looking at the two of us and sighing. “Do I want to know?”

“It’s nothing to worry about, Jesus, Mom,” I grumbled.

“Seriously though, what happened?” Dom asked, narrowing his eyes at Reno.

And so I said the only thing I knew would take care of the problem, looking Dom in the eye and, in my most deadpan voice, told him, “We had rough sex.”

The reaction was immediate. Dom looked horrified at the very idea I’d just put into his head. Riley burst into laughter, which sounded like a donkey, and Reno immediately started choking on his burger.

“What is wrong with you?” Dom demanded, covering his eyes and shaking his head like that would dispel the mental image.

“Plenty of things,” I told him, pounding on Reno’s back. “Don’t choke. I don’t want to have to stick my fingers down your throat. Plenty enough of me has been in there already.”

Which, of course just made him turn even more red as Dom bowed his head, sighing heavily. “Why did I expect you to give an honest answer?”

“I, for one, am personally offended,” I told him in my best haughty voice. “I opened up to you about my new lover, and you’re accusing me of lying?”

“Why…are you like this?” Reno demanded, though his anger was ruined by his wheezing attempts to speak.

“There are theories that I was dropped on my head as a child, but my dad never bothered to confirm or deny it. Maybe I’m just special,” I told him as his breathing eased. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to try the Heimlich before he passed out.

“Jesus,” Riley gasped, apparently done having a laughing version of a panic attack. “I wasn’t ready for that.”

“None of us were,” Dom grumbled, poking at his corn.

“You’ve known me too long to be surprised by what comes out of my mouth,” I told him with a laugh. “C’mon now, Dom, you know me better.”

“I said I wasn’t ready. I didn’t say I was surprised.”

“Kinda the same thing.”

“Not really. Now, can we talk about something other than your depraved fantasies? Reno looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel. Dunno about you, but it would probably look really bad if your bunkmate had a stroke because you’re an idiot.”

Riley continued snickering. “God, that’s one way to tell people to mind their own business.”

I wasn’t surprised my tactic worked. There were few things capable of making Dom swerve away from something. Riley, too, seemed dissuaded from asking, though he hadn’t struck me to be as much of a busybody as Dom, so that made sense. I’d apparently almost killed Reno in the process, but at least now, normal color was returning to his face even as he stared at me with what could only be called vexation.

“How’d the whittling shit go?” I asked, assured the topic could be safely changed without it reverting back.

Dom stared at me for a moment before grunting. “My dog turned out like shit.”

“Wait, that was a dog?” I asked in surprise.

“Well, yeah. I had a couple growing up, love the hell out of them. Wanted to get one once I got outta my parents’ house, but…probably a good thing something kept getting in the way. I don’t even know how they handle your parents when you get locked up,” Dom said with a shrug, a shadow crossing his face. He’d never told me what he’d done to get locked up, but there was always an air of deep unhappiness about him when he was reminded.

“Oh,” I said, seeing the concern flit over Riley’s face and knowing it was a bad idea for him to show concern. Dom wasn’t nearly as bad as Reno about accepting the better sides of people, but that didn’t mean he welcomed it. “I thought it was a pig with a birth defect.”

Dom’s gaze snapped to me, narrowing. “You’re an asshole.”

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