Page 60 of Rules to Love By

Eli nodded. “Okay. I’m… not trying to manage you. If anything, I’m trying to understand so I can manage my own expectations. So if we end up anywhere, hopefully, we end up there together.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“I just don’t want to be another guy Tris feels like he has to educate or shove under a bus for you.”

“Subway. There’s a chance a bus wouldn’t kill you, and Tris is very thorough. You’ll learn that about him.”

Eli snorted.

Marcus wanted to think some of the tension left his frame. “How do you feel aboutRagnarök?”

Eli shrugged. “The end times come to us all eventually, I suppose.”

Marcus grinned and patted the bed next to him. “Want to watch it with me?”

“Sure.” He kicked off his shoes, then got comfortable, with pillows up against the headboard. They watched superheroes and supervillains kick each others’ asses while Marcus finished eating.

Once he’d had his fill and set the bowl aside, Marcus propped a pillow against Eli’s chest, leaned back, and got cozy.

“Good?” Eli asked.

“Great.”

He didn’t know when he fell asleep or remember either the end of the movie or how he got under the covers, but Marcus woke to a house that felt alive, active in a way he’d almost forgotten. It reminded him of how the apartment had felt when he woke after his aunt had gone down to let in the first customers of the day.

Even though the sounds from below were muffled and indistinct, the building felt animated. It was almost like the walls themselves hummed with cheerful energy.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

He felt almost foolish for the stab of disappointment when he sat up and realized he was alone. All that quiet but vital energy around him turned from a warm hum to a jagged buzz under his skin, uncomfortable, almost sharp.

But why had he expected anything else? When had any of the guys eager to get into his pants ever been interested in staying in his bed all the way until morning?

Answer: never, apparently.

He shouldn’t have expected this time to be different. Just because Eli had surprised Marcus by taking charge like that and keeping Marcus in the moment didn’t mean he was a unicorn who gave a rainbow-coloured shit about what Marcus did or felt the next day.

The best thing for Marcus to do now was get up, gather his things, and sneak back downstairs while everyone was busy with the early-morning coffee drinkers. He’d clean the room as soon as he’d cleared out his things.

He couldn’t find both his socks, so he carried his jacket and shoes in one hand and the rest of his clothes in the other, then tip-toed down the hallway to the service stairs at the back of the house. Hopefully, there was less chance he’d run into anyone this way.

When he opened the door at the top of the stairs, he found the stairwell lit up bright. This wasn’t the nighttime glow of the safety light, but the brilliance of daytime business shooting painful cool-white LED off the white-painted walls into his brain.

Snippets of conversation drifted up. Kreed’s rumbling laugh, followed by Tris’s sharp squawk of indignation, punctuated Marcus’s morning funk. Then Lucky said something soothing, and all three of them laughed.

Marcus backed up and gently shut the door, eyes still watering from the cruel blue-white glare. He wasn’t ready for a walk of shame past all three of them.

He could go down the front steps, he supposed. And if he was lucky, maybe sneak out the front door, then around the building to the back verandah where he could get into his room through the patio doors.

Stuffing the room key into his loose sweatpants pocket, he hurried back the way he’d come.

At the top of the stairs, he paused. A room behind him opened, and he glanced over his shoulder. Tiffany—one of their more regular guests—stood leaning on her crutches in the hallway. She smiled and waved one of the metal supports at him.

“Don’t mind me.” She edged a narrow door open with a crutch and reached inside.

“Need help?” Marcus asked.

“Nope. Just getting an extra towel.” She grinned. “As you were.”

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