Page 69 of Talk Nerdy To Me
I…just stare at them for a second, unsure if I’m allowed to have a reaction until someone else does.
Rain snorts, then coughs over a laugh, then snorts again. Kode turns away, his entire body shaking with laughter. Sean meant to say that as loudly as he could, I think.
Dane even struggles to hold a straight face, which he is apparently determined to attempt.
“Just this once, could you be on my side?” Maverick bites out.
The kid smirks. “You make it too easy.”
Then the kid looks at me, rakes his eyes over me from head to toe with an unimpressed expression, and finally meets my gaze.
“You’re here with Britt?” he asks me.
“Are you the new squire?” I ask him instead of answering, when his name rattles around in my head. At least I can find some common ground with him, maybe.
He smirks. “Yeah.”
The way he says it is…no. I’m wrong. Have to be.
“What are you a squire for?” Maverick asks, confused.
“For the fire-hot Valkyrie Princess with the flaming red hair. She’s legendary on the boards. Her avatar has brighter red hair than she does, but most everything else is accurate, including her cleavage, and she’s the most coveted princess on the games,” the kid says, causing me to work real damn hard not to…react at all. “And I’m establishing a pivotal, bonding memory to set up camp in times where she was younger and happier. It’s called groundwork.”
Maverick and I exchange a confused glance, before returning our attention to the cocky, pre-pubescent kid.
“So in six years, when we happen to bump into each other somewhere neutral, I won’t be Sean, Maverick’s little stepbrother. I’ll be Sean; the guy who makes her think of a great time in her life, when she was at the highlight of her gaming presence. Sean—the short kid who grew into an irresistible man. Sean—the constant, subtle, dependable presence in her life.”
I have no clue how to react. Still. Like not even a little bit.
“I really hope I’m not hearing you right,” Maverick tells him, disbelief mixing in with adequate horror.
“Why six years?” I decide to ask, when Sean just smirks unapologetically at Maverick.
The kid levels me with a smug look. “Because I’ll be legal. Duh. Then she’s mine.”
This kid is twelve?!
“You know she’s like my sister, right? So it’s crossing a line to talk about her like this,” Maverick growls, eyes solely on Sean now.
Sean arches an eyebrow. “You’re currently banging my sister, so you can’t really use that argument.”
By some miracle, I swallow my laugh before it escapes.
“No,” Maverick bites out. “I’m currently wondering how well I’ll fare in prison after I smother you in your sleep.”
Sean glances at him from head to toe before seriously answering, “Not too well. You’re too pretty.”
“You’re—” I glance around, remembering there are kids out here, briefly forgetting a kid is in on this conversation as I word it semi-cautiously. “—hooking up with your stepsister?” I decide to ask, doing the math on that now.
Maverick points a finger at me. “Past the point of heckles, singer boy. She and I met before that revelation came to light. This is not about me.” Then he glares at Sean. “Go. Away. I don’t like you right now.”
Sean just smirks as he looks back over at me.
“You’re small for twelve,” I say without thinking, and the kid’s smirk falls as a flat expression steals his features.
“It’s always the ones they underestimated that they forgot were coming at all,” he says, the veiled threat not even subtle. “Remember I gave you six years. I’m charitable like that.”
“Thanks.” I can’t help it. I grin. How can I take this kid serious?
