Page 26 of Healed Hearts

He pops up and looks at me. “I can’t find it. Can you call again?”

“Oh, don’t you worry. I found it.” I smile at him. It feels a little unhinged. Roman stirs, looking at me with sleepy eyes. In seconds, they clear, and he sits straight up, eyes now wide with a hint of terror in them.

“Chaos twink, Beckett? You’ve been calling me a fucking chaos twink?”

He blinks at me, and I watch as he swallows hard a couple of times. “Well, it’s um, you see… I—”

I cross my arms over my chest, glaring down at him. “You’ve been calling me a chaos twink. I’m going to kill you.”

He holds his hands up right as Roman chuckles. I turn my attention to him. “And you,” I spit, narrowing my eyes. “Did you know about this?”

He shakes his head, his shaggy brown hair flopping back and forth with the almost violent motion. “No,” he says, but theway his eyes dart away, and he swallows nervously doesn’t fool anyone, least of all me.

“You’re lying. You’re the worst fucking liar, Roman. Don’t even try to deny it.” I glare at him, but he’s not looking at me, so it doesn’t hit the way I want it to.

“Ooo, he full named you, Roman,” Beck says, so I redirect my ire to him.

“Beckett,” I growl.

He sighs, but then he starts laughing. “Seriously, Hold. Do you see yourself right now? Are you going to deny that you’re a chaos twink?”

“I’m going to deny that I know your whereabouts later when your dad comes to investigate your disappearance, that’s for sure.”

Roman bursts out laughing. I want so badly to join him. The fucking audacity of Beck. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to keep myself from breaking. But it’s fruitless. Beck stands and climbs back into bed with Ro before patting the spot between them. “Come on, CT. You’re not really mad. I know that face. Give in.”

I take a deep breath through my nose and glare at him. But between Roman’s puppy dog eyes and Beck’s pouty lip, I can’t keep it together. A chuckle breaks free, and I climb up between them, lying on top of the blankets. “I fucking hate you,” I say, but there’s no heat to it, especially not with the way I’m giggling.

“Love you too, CT,” Beck says, a smile in his voice.

Roman can’t stop laughing, and I want to punch him, but honestly, itisfunny.

“Are you mad?” Beck asks.

I sigh, finally getting control of myself. “No, I’m not mad. You’re a fucking menace. You know that, right?” I ask.

“Says the chaos twink.”

I groan, covering my face with my hands. “Ro, how could you let him say that about me?”

“I didn’t. I told him it wouldn’t end well,” Ro says. He sounds exasperated, but his voice is so full of love that it makes me smile.

“He also told me he agreed with me,” Beck chimes in.

“That’s enough out of you, Beckett,” Roman says. I look at Beck, and the shock on his face has me laughing more.

Once he’s managed to recover from his disbelief, he turns a pout on me. “I can’t believe you’ve brought my fiancé to the dark side with you, CT.”

I roll my eyes, even though I’m finding the entire thing hilarious. Not that he needs to know that. “Hey, you started it.”

“No. You did. CT was retaliation for Beckett. That meansyoustarted it,” Beck says with a grin.

“You thought he was a chaos twink before that, though, even if you didn’t say it,” Roman argues.

Beck gasps. “Whose side are you on here, beautiful?”

Roman glances at Beck over me, an incredulous expression on his face. “I think that’s pretty clear, Beck. Whatever side allows me to keep my life.”

Beck grumbles and I lose it, laughing so hard it shakes the bed. “I love you guys,” I say, giggling around the words.

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