Page 49 of Zachary

“Yeah, not asking for them. But,” she side-eyes me, “are you guys… you know. Together? Dating? Hooking up? Thinking about any of the above?”

I hesitate. This situation is completely foreign to me. “I guess we’re dating. But we’re taking it slow. I… Well, making friends isn’t the only thing I don’t have a lot of experience with.” I avoid looking at her while I say it, but she squeezes my arm.

“Sweetie, you just needed some practice with the friend-making. Look at you now! You have three new friends who like you so much they committed a crime with you,andyou’ve been inducted into a bigger friendship circle with their significant others.”

I blink. “I have?”

“Pfft. Do you think guys like Asher and Micah would have let you be part of all this if they didn’t consider you at least friend-adjacent?”

Hmm. “I don’t think I really gave them a choice. After I robbed their cousin and told them all that their grandmother’s a bully I plan to blackmail, I was kind of in the middle of it.”

“Fine, don’t believe me. But they would have found a way to keep you out of it tonight if they didn’t trust you. Besides, now you and Zac are dating, so you’re almost part of the family. That’s another thing you achieved this week—you turned a maybe-truce into a maybe-boyfriend. With enough time, you could probably take over the world.”

I shudder hard. It’s completely involuntary, her words triggering the worst of memories, and it’s noticeable enough that she stops walking. “Ronan? What’s wrong?”

A smile is beyond me, but I manage to swallow down the bile that’s filled my mouth. “Nothing. Just… don’t joke about that, okay? Taking over the world. It’s…” I can’t tell her the truth, not all of it, just like I couldn’t tell Zac. The fact thatheplanned to take over the world and enslave all its peoples is highlyclassified, and my role in it is still something I’m ashamed of, even though I was brainwashed my whole life. “I was raised by a megalomaniac, and I have some PTSD.”

She hugs me, right there in the middle of the street. “I’m sorry. I swear, no more jokes like that. Just be proud of what you’re achieving, okay?”

The combination of her confidence in me and the hug warm me all the way to my toes. “I am,” I admit, then say it again, more firmly. “I am. And now I’m going to threaten an old woman and make her cower before me.”

Zoe snorts as we start walking again. “Out of context, that doesn’t make you sound like a hero.”

“Even good guys need to do bad things sometimes,” I inform her. “And it’s not like I’m actually hurting anyone. She won’t suffer because of this. I’m just going to bruise her ego a little.”

“True. But, getting back to what we were saying before… I’m not sure how much experience you don’t have, but I want you to know, I’ll help if you have questions. Though gay sex isn’t my area of expertise, so you might be better off with Cam.”

As much as I appreciate the matter-of-fact way she says it, I still want to die right now. I’m literally thousands of years older than any of them, and yet she can tell I need sex tips. Because she’s right—I have very little idea what I’m doing. I told her and Zac that I don’t have a lot of experience, but the truth is, I’m a virgin. A few experimental kisses and today’s blissful encounter with Zac are all I’ve ever done.

The thought of having to explain that to her, or to Cam, an incubus for whom sex is second nature, makes all my newfound confidence wither.

“Thank you,” I say. She’s being supportive.

“And you can always talk to Zac,” she adds. “You said he was happy to take things slow, right?”

I think about how gentle and patient Zac is, and how when things started to get really heated, he made himself stop to check if I was okay with it, and my concern melts. “He’s perfect.”

“Ugh, gag. Okay, new rule: I’m thrilled and supportive of your relationship and happy to talk about it, but only if you don’t gush over how amazing Zac is.”

Laughing, I stick out a hand for her to shake as we stop in front of Damaris’s house. “Deal.”

“Good. Now, before we beard the lioness in her den, I just want to go on record that last week I thought you and Zac would be a great couple and I was totally planning to push you together.”

I think back to the things she added to my list. “Is that why you wrote that he’s hot as fuck?”

She winks. “You bet.”

Cam’s the one who opens the door to us, and he grins wide. “Great job, Ronan! The beard burn on Zac’s neck is impressive.”

My face gets hot again. “Oh no. Is it that obvious?”

He shrugs. “I was looking for it, so maybe not to everyone. You’re just lucky he has a beard, or both of you would look like you have sunburned faces. I can give you a recipe for some lip balm that will bring that swelling down, by the way. It really helps.”

“Thank you,” I manage weakly, trying not to think about the fact that I’m about to face Zac’s whole family with my mouth all swollen from his kisses.

“Come in. We’re in the living room, and Asher just told the kids to go play with the toys he and Zac bought them when they got your stand mixer.”

They’re ready to start, then. Zoe and I strip off our outer layers, hang them neatly by the door, and follow Cam.

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