Page 32 of Dice & Dekes

SuperKnova:2. If we did have one it would 100% be Knovik

BowBeforeBaylor:WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT

SuperKnova:You are strangely in favor of this

BowBeforeBaylor:Define strange? You’re my best friend. I wank you to be happy

BowBeforeBaylor:want*

BowBeforeBaylor:lil Freudian slip there tee hee

SuperKnova:What does Viktor have to do with my happiness?

BowBeforeBaylor:Because you obviously love him, duh

BowBeforeBaylor:You spend so much time together

I type out the words,Yeah, because he’s like my brother.But that’s clearly not true. Knight and I have a solid relationship, but there are things Knight knows that I’ve never told Viktor, and things I’ve told Viktor that I’d never discuss with my twin. Viktor gets the juicy secrets, but Knight gets the emotional ones.

I’ve never talked to Viktor about Mick. Why not?

I need those two areas of my life to be separate. They can’t touch, and I don’t know what would happen if they did.

Viktor emerges from the hallway, dressed at last. Took him long enough. “Ready?” he asks, like I’m the one holding up the show.

“One sec.” I delete my last text and compose a new one.

SuperKnova:Sorry g2g, Viktor’s going to take me on a shopping spree. Wife experience and all that…

He’s not wrong, though. Viktor’s been in every chapter of my life—even the ones I didn’t want to reread. My phone buzzes as Baylor’s responses, no doubt rife with exclamation points, roll in. I stuff my phone into the pocket of my hoodie and shuttle my dishes to the sink. “All right,” I tell Viktor. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

I used to love going shopping for clothes, but I guess my attitude changed after I enlisted. There are times when I go out into the world and don’t know where I fit into it anymore. My style is different from my bohemian, totally girlie mother’s, so we don’t usually enjoy shopping at the same places, and spending hours looking at clothes on my own can be… lonely, I guess. It’s not my idea of a good time.

With Viktor, it’s the opposite. He teases me about trying on frilly shit that doesn’t suit me at all, but he’s also got a shockingly good eye for the kinds of things Idolike. By the second store we visit, we’ve made a game of it. I start picking out clothes forhimto try on, including a sequin vest, a pair of footie pajamas, and a blue shirt in a vintage print that looks so good on him that he ends up buying it.

“I wouldn’t have tried that on my own,” he tells me as the cashier folds the shirt and adds it to our haul.

I do my best Humphrey Bogart impression. “Stick with me, kid, and we’ll have you looking sharper than a diamond cutter in no time.”

The cashier giggles. “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but you’re such a cute couple.”

“Aren’t we?” Viktor grins at her and wraps one arm around my waist. My body stiffens before it melts. Traitor. “She even cooked me breakfast. I think she likes me.”

God help me, I think I do.

We load Viktor’s car with bags and caffeinate ourselves with lattes that I’m pretty sure are ninety-six percent hazelnut flavoring and four percent cold foam. On the way back to his place, Viktor swings by the ‘rent’s house so that I can retrieve my car.

“See you at home, sweetie,” he tells me when I get out.

My fingers hesitate on the door handle. He said ‘home.’ Not your home. Not his. Ours.

And things keep getting weirder from there. When I return to Viktor’s place, he’s already unloaded the car and started rearranging my new possessions around the house.

“I’m putting your toiletries in the master bathroom,” he informs me. “I figured you’d want to get started on putting your stuff in the dresser. The top three drawers are yours.”

The drawers in question already stand open and empty. They weren’t like this last night. I’ve lived out of duffel bags for years. One apartment I rented after I left the service didn’t even have drawers.

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