Page 134 of Cohesion

“It’s actually just a house, but I like that better.”

“You want to talk about it?” Quinn asked Sebastian. “I know your house meant a lot to you.”

“Not right now. I can’t think about it beyond the surface level. I don’t even want to see it.” He paused. “Wait, where’s Persephone?”

“She’s with my sister; I’m going to get her back tomorrow. She’s having a great time getting spoiled, and it’s going to be a nightmare to get her back into any kind of routine.”

Sebastian drummed his fingers on the bench. There was a small cut on his thumb, like a paper cut. It could have been from anything. Work related or kidnapping related. They could take their pick at this point.

“What do we do now?” Sebatian asked. “Half our places are inhabitable.”

“We could move in together,” Will blurted out. Heat raced across his cheeks when they all looked at him. “Sorry. Too soon?”

Quinn rubbed his forehead. “A little bit.” He leaned a hip against the bench and tugged Will closer to him. “I’d need to get a bigger bed for something more long-term. But, if you want, there’s room for you here.”

Will put the finished fritters on a plate and poured more batter into the pan.

“Who is ‘you’?” Peyton asked, snagging one of the fritters and playing hot potato with it. “Ow. Shit. Fuck, that’s hot. Are you asking us all to move in with you?” He took a bite, mouth open as if he was trying to filter out the heat. That didn’t work. Will had tried plenty of times.

“I’m offering. There’s space here. And room to expand if we wanted to.”

Jericho tipped his head back with a breath, pushing back to balance precariously on two legs of his stool. “This is crazy, butfuck, why not?” He dropped back to four legs with athud. “I’ve done crazier shit in my life.”

“Crazier than moving in with four guys only weeks after you’ve met them?” Peyton asked.

Will wanted stories.

“Hunter will takeat leasta month to turn my room into something weird, so I’ve got a thirty-day return policy.”

“Does the policy go both ways if we want to return you?” Sebastian asked dryly. He picked up a fork and used it to cut a piece of fritter off, eating it more carefully than Peyton had.

“Nope,” Jericho said, popping the “p.” “No takesies-backsies.”

“I can’t believe you just said no ‘takesies-backsies.’ How old are you?” Peyton leaned behind Sebastian to tug at Jericho’s hair. It had been in a bun an hour ago. It didn’t like staying that way.

“Does that mean we’re doing this?” Sebastian asked, glancing at them. “Moving in together? That doesn’t seem certifiably insane to anyone else?”

“What’s sanity, really?” Will said, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.They were going to move in together. That meant they’d be in his space all the time. He could come home every night toall of them. And Persephone.

Maybe they could get a fish.

A turtle.

Birds.

Chickens.

No.

Will’s lips formed an “O.”

Ferrets.

Chapter Nineteen

Sebastian stared at thefilled bath and the extensive layer of bubbles on top of the steaming water. Something smelled nice too. Lavender?

“We’re having a bath.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a bath. Who had the time? Baths were for kids who had nothing to worry about except who would swap their apple for a packet of chips at recess the next day. The answer was normally no one, but even then, Sebastian had been able to convince people the sky was green.

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