Page 61 of Dear Mr. Brody

I reached down and tried to scoop my arms underneath him. He wasn’t a big guy by any means, but he sure as shit wasn’t as light as a feather. It wasn’t easy with him fighting against me, and it didn’t help that I couldn’t stop laughing, but eventually I was able to lift him.

“Are you fucking crazy? Put me down.” His laugh sounded more like wheezing as I tried to get a better hold on him. “If you drop me, Parker… So help me God...”

“Stop squirming, then.”

“I’m not playing. Put me down.”

“Go to the doctor.”

“Jesus, fine…” He stopped fighting, going completely limp in my arms. “Now put me down, before I pop a boner. All this aggression. I can’t be held responsible for what my body likes.”

I dropped him onto the couch like his body had burst into flames. “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

A shit-eating grin spread across his lips as he readjusted his blanket cocoon. “I like to be manhandled. Don’t kink shame me.”

“Are you going to let me take you to the doctor’s or not?”

“Ugh… I hate you,” he said as he kicked off his blanket. Clad in only a pair of pale blue boy-short underwear, he brushed past me, clipping me in the shoulder. “When we get back, you’re making me that fucking tea.”

There was nothing worse than being stuck in a waiting room at an urgent care. A bicyclist who’d probably seen better days sat across from me in her rust-stained shirt, dried blood on her chin and neck. Little kids with runny noses ran up and down the hall, screeching, while their parents fucked around on their phones. But the biggest drama queen happened to be sitting next to me, moaning like a sick cat.

“Marcos,” I said under my breath. “People are staring at you.”

“They’re probably staring at the bite mark on your neck.” He spoke loud enough the receptionist could probably hear him. The bicyclist lowered her eyes when I caught her staring at me. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Could you not—”

“You dragged me here, I might as well have fun with it.” He waved, wiggling his fingers at the guy sitting across from him. “He’s cute.”

“And married to the chick sitting next to him.” I shifted in my seat with a tight smile on my face as the guy scowled at us. “Please stop being you for like five seconds.”

“Tell me about your date with the app guy, and I promise I won’t make a scene.”

He drew an invisible halo around his head with a finger.

“There’s nothing angelic about you, my friend.”

He reached up and touched the mark Van had left behind. “Hooking up on a first date… didn’t your momma teach you to be a lady?”

We had the entire attention of the doctor’s office by this point, and I actually contemplated waiting in the car. I hadn’t had a chance to text Van yet, and after everything that had happened last night, I didn’t want him thinking I’d blown him off. But the rain hadn’t let up, and if I left, Marcos would follow. Pain in the ass or not, he needed to be here.

“You got home late… I’m assuming it went well?”

“It did.”

“What did he look like?” Marcos asked, lowering his voice this time. “I’m guessing by the bite mark he wasn’t a total troll?”

I’d never kept anything from my best friend. He was more like a brother to me. If I lied to him, he’d see right through me. Van hadn’t seemed too thrilled about Marcos knowing about us, and even though Marcos would take this secret to his grave for me, I needed more clarification from Van before I said anything.

“Definitely not a troll.”

“Details, please, I could be dead by tomorrow.”

I decided I’d skate as close to the truth as possible. Lies by omission were the easiest to forgive, right?

“Dark hair, light eyes…” Those light eyes were my favorite thing about him. The color of rain and storm clouds, and as deep as an ocean when he came. “He has a nice smile.”

“A nice smile?” He hummed and turned to face me. “You’re being vague.”

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