Page 31 of Something Unforgettable

“Too bad he’s straighter than a…something that’s really straight,” Ev continued, eyeing the man on the screen who was now in the middle of a training montage.

“An arrow?” Finn suggested.

“Nah,” Ev said, becoming engrossed in the movie again—or in Remy Dalton’s abs, at least. “That’s for someone who’s honest. Maybe a ruler.”

“A die,” Xavier said.

Finn and Ev exchanged a confused frown. Ev made a motion like he was throwing dice at a craps table and Finn tried not to snicker. He wasn’t twelve, goddamn it, but it looked like Ev was doing something entirely different with his right hand. Xavier chuckled and walked closer, leaning down to drop a kiss on Finn’s forehead.

“A die is a kind of metal stamp that has to be perfectly straight or it will snap under pressure. It’s where the phrase ‘straight as a die’ came from.”

“No, I was thinking of something else,” Ev said as he returned his attention to the TV.

Xavier shook his head, amusement hovering at the corners of his mouth. “Up. Both of you. Tacos are too messy to eat on the couch.”

“Tacos!” Ev shouted, bounding to his feet.

Finn was slower, his muscles still a little stiff and his arm aching. Xavier came around to help him. “We’ll get you some more painkillers after you’ve eaten.”

“Thank you, Xavi.”

Xavier paused, looking at Finn in a way that made him want to blush and squirm. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Stop,” Xavier interrupted, making Finn’s heart skip a painful beat. Then Xavier was cupping his face. “Don’t apologize. I love it when you call me that. I just didn’t expect it.”

Finn nodded, his heart rate not quite back to normal. There was something a little bit off in Xavier’s eyes, something he wasn’t telling Finn. Just as he was getting up the guts to ask, Ev interrupted them.

“How many tacos can I have?”

Maybe the conversation needed to wait until later.

They were just finishing lunch—or was it an early dinner? Finn wasn’t sure—when there was a knock on the door. Xavier pushed his chair back and went to open it. For the second time that day, one of Finn’s friends burst in, already talking a mile a minute.

“You two are theworst,” Micah exclaimed as he beelined for Finn. “I mean, I know from my dad that you’re okay, but you could have at least called me.”

Nick stepped into the room behind him and clapped Xavier on the shoulder.

Finn squeaked when Micah pulled him into a hug. “Sorry, I don’t have a phone anymore. Mine broke and I haven’t had time to replace it.”

“Oh,” Xavier said, walking over to a shopping bag he’d dropped on the bed. “I forgot. I picked this up for you.” He pulled a box out and handed it to Finn. It was a new phone, the same style as his old one, but the newest model. “The guy at the store said it’s easy enough to set up. I just didn’t have your password.”

“Not to the password-sharing stage yet?” Micah said with a grin as he dropped into Xavier’s abandoned chair and snagged a tortilla chip.

“Micah,” Finn hissed, cheeks heating. He turned the box over in his hands, not sure how he felt about this. “Thank you,” he said, finally. “I can pay you back.”

Xavier waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a gift.”

Finn bit his lip, unsure. The phone wasn’t a cheap one. His old one had been something he’d saved up for over months, and this was even nicer. “I can’t,” he decided. “This is really kind of you, but it’s too much.” He tried to give it back.

Xavier closed his hands over Finn’s, refusing to take it. “It’s not too much. You need a phone and I wanted to get it for you. You’ve had a rough couple of days. Please let me make things a little better?”

Well crap. How was Finn supposed to say no to that?

“Just go with it, Finn,” Micah said. “Xavier likes to spoil the people he cares about and it’s impossible to stop him. If you don’t take the phone, he’ll just come back with something more extravagant next time.”

“Micah’s right,” Nick chimed in. “Things are easier if you just let him have his way. Because he’s going to get it in the end.”

“Thanks for that,” Xavier told Nick. “You’re making me sound like a domineering asshole.”

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