Page 130 of Interference

Jon grimaced. “Sorry.”

I ran my hands over the box. “A MacBook Pro.”

My brother whistled. “Ooh, sexy.”

Yeah, it was. And they were expensive as hell, too. I turned to Anthony. “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course.” He squeezed my hand. Then he craned his neck toward the tree. “There should be one more.”

My jaw fell open. “One more? Seriously?”

He was serious, apparently, and I knew the instant I saw the box what it was. No, it wasn’t a ring—it was a little too early for things like that—but the distinctive box screamed smartphone.

Sure enough, it was an iPhone. One of the newer ones, I thought; I’d lost track of which edition they were on these days.

Oh, but there was more. Tucked into the box was a small envelope, and inside that…

“You…” I stared at Anthony. “You paid for my cell service?”

“It’ll cover you for a year—5G data, WiFi, unlimited everything.”

I was breathless. “Are you sure, though? This is so much. It’s—”

He stopped me with a soft kiss. “I’m sure.” Taking my hand, he added, “I want you to have the things you need. And want.”

I wanted to protest because holy shit, that was a lot of money. But I trusted that he wouldn’t try to use anything he’d bought as leverage—he’d been far too conscientious about our power imbalance—and that he genuinely did just want to help. That he wanted me to be happy.

As if I could possibly be any happier than I was with him.

“Anthony…” I damn near cried. This man had known me for all of six weeks, if that. He’d taken me into his home. He’d become my lover. He’d brought me home so I could spend Christmas with my family. And now this? It wasn’t that he was giving me fancy expensive things. It was like when he’d taken me to buy everything Lily and I would need out on the streets. The price tag didn’t matter. The fact that he cared—that he gave a shit about me when so much of the world had given up on me—moved me to the edge of tears.

Finally, I found my voice again and told him the same thing I had a million times before and probably would again: “You’re amazing. You know that?”

He flashed me a toothy grin. “That’s what my stats say.”

The laugh that burst out of me kept me from breaking down, and I took his hand. “Thank you. This is awesome.”

“You’re welcome.” He leaned in and kissed me lightly. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

And for the first time in a long time…

It was.

“Hey. Wyatt.” Jon nodded sharply toward the backyard. “Why don’t we take your dog out?”

My stomach lurched. I could read between the lines well enough: let’s go outside and talk where Mom and Dad can’t hear us.

That didn’t bode well. He’d been polite the whole time I’d been home, but there’d been a hint of frost in all of our interactions. Nothing overt, just a subtle undertone that said he had something on his mind that he wasn’t happy about.

I did need to take Lily out, so I walked her around the yard and let her do her business. Once I’d thrown away the bag, I joined Jon on the deck. “I’m guessing you weren’t just concerned about Lily.”

“No. We need to talk.”

My stomach flipped. Oh fuck.

Jon put his vape pen in his mouth and took in a long pull. Then he turned his head and blew out a cloud of steam. The scent was vaguely citrusy, and it brushed up against a memory I didn’t want to think about right then. One of my Army buddies had vaped, and he’d been all about the citrus flavors.

---